Chapter 38
CECE
I poked at my oatmeal, the spoon scraping against the bowl. The fresh blueberries I had tossed in mine burst in my mouth. Lina sat across from me, her arms crossed and her lips pressed into a thin line. She reminded me of Sophie. Actually pouting.
And just like I always told Sophie, you choose to eat and you choose to be hungry.
Lina hadn’t said much since last night, but her silence was louder than any complaint she could’ve mustered.
She wanted someone to ask her what was wrong.
Needed someone to give her the attention she was obviously desperate for. It wasn’t going to come from me.
I did not play that game. And I sure as hell didn’t play it with a grown woman. She was a year younger than me and acting like a petulant child. I came out on the dive to be with adults. If I wanted to watch a brat push blueberries around their bowl, I could have stayed home.
Grady was at the head of the table, his focus on his phone in one hand and his cup of coffee in the other.
I knew he was looking at the weather report.
I had checked and it looked fine. Felix, ever the peacemaker, was chattering about the chest we found and his hopes for finding more pirate booty.
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to diffuse the tension or just ignoring it altogether.
“So,” Felix said, glancing around the table. “Looks like we’re in for another perfect day. Clear skies, calm waters. Those are ideal conditions for diving.”
I nodded absently, my mind already on the wreck.
What we had found yesterday was just the beginning.
There had to be more. If that chest was still there and intact, it was unlikely anyone else had dived on it.
We were bound to find more artifacts and clues about the ship and its crew.
I could feel it in my bones, that electric pull of discovery that made my heart race and my palms itch.
“Cece.” Grady’s voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and commanding. I looked up, his eyes on mine. “You good?”
“Just ready to get back out there.”
There was a flash of heat in his eyes but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “Good. We’ll head out in five. Everyone gear up.”
I rinsed my bowl and left it in the sink to take care of after the dive.
I was wearing my usual cargo pants with my swimsuit underneath.
Lina was in her typical getup. I would be too afraid to wear something like that under my wetsuit.
Peeling off the wetsuit was hard enough without worrying about pulling a string or accidentally flashing the world. No nip slips for me.
I slung my pack over my shoulder and joined the others. We walked down the dock with Felix and Grady leading the way. I couldn’t help but admire Grady’s bare back. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and his water shoes. All that wide expanse of back muscle was making me hot to trot.
He was older and I wasn’t normally attracted to men his age but fuck me. His defined muscles and deep tanned skin proved age was just a number. That man’s body was a work of art. I wished I would have had more time to study it up close. With my tongue.
“Hello? Did you hear me?”
I blinked and looked over at Lina. “What?”
Good god. Was I drooling? I wiped my mouth just in case.
“Are you going to stick with me or ditch me again?” Lina asked.
“I’ll do my best,” I said, choosing not to tell her she was the one who had abandoned me the day before. I didn’t want to argue.
Grady reached out to help us into the boat.
We all suited up, anxious to get to the fun of exploring.
The captain took us back to the wreck while we talked about the plan.
Instead of going in the wreckage, we were going to survey the outside and surrounding area.
It was very likely time had scattered other bits and pieces than the chest I’d found.
Felix, Lina, and I circled each wreckage piece.
I hovered thirty feet off, kicking through schools of fish that swam around the structure.
It was a beautiful day. Streams of sunlight provided some light.
Grady was slowly moving through the water back and forth in a grid pattern.
Felix took pictures of every inch along the sea floor.
Lina was ahead, scooping silt from crevices, insistent on uncovering something no one else had. Good for her, I thought.
I checked my depth gauge. All good. Twenty-eight feet.
Normal. Controlled. Safe. We weren’t doing enough to stir anything up.
I swam past a cannon embedded in seaweed.
There were no human remains visible, thankfully.
I brushed my hand along the wood. The idea of touching history was so incredible to me. I loved it.
Swimming around a broken plank, I realized Lina wasn’t near me any longer.
I hadn’t seen her in a bit, actually. My hand instinctively reached for my tank valve.
Had she already resurfaced and went to lay out on the deck?
I still wasn’t sure why she insisted on being in the field.
It clearly didn’t interest her. I wondered if it was pressure from her family or something.
Or maybe it was just something to brag about on social media.
I slowly turned and scanned the area. Grady was on the opposite side of the ship, studying something. I moved ever so slowly to avoid stirring up the silt. Speaking of which, there was a plume of silt drifting near a gap in the ship’s exterior, at the stern part of the wreck.
I glanced back at Felix; he was peering at something on his wrist monitor.
He looked calm and completely unaware of what I was pretty sure I knew what was happening.
The plume wasn’t natural drift; someone had disturbed the seabed.
Surely not me. And not Grady. My breath clipped as clarity knocked the wind from me.
Lina had gone inside.
We’d gone over the rules multiple times. No one was supposed to be diving inside. And even if we did, it was buddy system or bust. The fearful voices in my head screamed as I realized the danger. She was breaking the rules. She was risking everything.
Stupid fucking girl.
She was so jealous that I had found something cool and she didn’t. Now, she was risking her life.
I flicked my flashlight beam at Grady, which grabbed his attention. He frowned and gave me a “what’s up?” gesture. I signaled frantically, gesturing to the silt cloud. I saw the second he realized me and Felix were visible but not Lina.
He nodded and followed me toward the green blur. At the hole in the boat, Grady stopped me and gestured toward my dive line. I unspooled the strong cord and handed the end to him.
Grady’s eyes locked onto mine. He was staying calm and cool but I could see the concern in his eyes.
Lina was in danger, simply by being in there alone.
He took the end and tied it securely to his belt.
With that done, he gave me a quick nod, a silent promise that he’d be careful, and then he was gone, disappearing into the murky green haze of the shipwreck.
Felix approached. At first he looked confused.
When he realized what was happening, the always calm, slightly goofy Felix was clearly pissed.
It was the kind of anger that came from being afraid.
Like when a kid darted into the street to grab a ball.
No matter how many times you told the kid not to do it, they did it and put their life in danger.
And now Lina’s stupid, selfish choices were putting Grady’s life in danger, too. That straight up pissed me off. When he pulled her out of there, and I knew he would, I was going to kick her ass.
How dare she do something so selfish and ignorant?
She was a grown woman. I hoped like hell Grady kicked her off his TA service.
She didn’t deserve a second chance. Although that would definitely cause problems for him because of who her mother was.
Still, her behavior could not go unchecked. It wasn’t fair to Grady.
I hovered outside the gaping hole in the hull.
I kept my breathing regulated, but I could feel my heartbeat in my ears as I fed the line out inch by inch.
The silt cloud was thicker now, swirling around me like a storm.
My flashlight beam cut through it, but it was useless to see into the wreckage.
I couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead.
Every second felt like an eternity. My mind raced with worst-case scenarios: Lina trapped under debris, her air running out, her regulator knocked loose.
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay calm.
Panicking wouldn’t help anyone. If Lina panicked, she could hurt Grady.
It was a known fact people that were in deadly situations often killed their would-be rescuers because they were freaking out.
The line went taut in my hand, and I stopped unspooling.
Grady had reached the end. I waited, my pulse thundering in my ears.
The seconds dragged on. Too long. Way too long.
My fingers tightened around the line as I fought the urge to yank it, to signal him to come back.
But I couldn’t risk startling him or making things worse.
Grady wasn’t my boyfriend, but dammit, I was going to be super pissed if I never got the chance to flirt with him again. Or kiss him.
Get it together, Cece. The man’s life is in danger and I’m thinking about riding his dick.
I needed help. Lina’s reckless need to prove herself could end up killing the man I was falling for.
The man who’d told her explicitly not to enter the wreck.
The man who was now risking his life because she couldn’t follow simple fucking rules.
Then I felt it. It was a sharp tug on the line.
Relief flooded through me for half a second before dread took its place.
Something was wrong. I started reeling in the line as fast as I could, my muscles straining against the resistance of the water.
Felix reached out to help, both of us pulling slow and steady to avoid stirring up any more silt and putting all of us in danger.
The silt cloud shifted, and suddenly Grady emerged, his arms wrapped around Lina’s limp form.
My stomach dropped. Her mask was askew, her regulator dangling from her mouth.
Her eyes were closed, her body slack in Grady’s grip.
He kicked hard toward me, his movements urgent but controlled.
He gestured upward with one hand. I got the message.
Surface now . No decompression stop. This was an emergency.
I nodded and followed him as he shot toward the surface, Lina cradled against his chest. My mind raced with questions—what had happened? Was she breathing? Was she even alive? The water grew lighter as we ascended, but my fear only deepened.
Worse than the immediate danger of being trapped, the bends could be an issue.
The wreck was just deep enough to warrant a stop about halfway up to the surface, just for a few minutes.
Moving to the surface too fast was dangerous.
Nitrogen bubbles could form in her bloodstream.
The thought made my stomach clench. I’d seen divers with decompression sickness before.
The agony as nitrogen bubbles literally boiled in their joints and organs.
The way they writhed in pain, begging for relief that could only come from a hyperbaric chamber.
And we were miles from the nearest hospital with that kind of equipment.
If Grady was willing to risk that, it had to be bad. He was choosing the lesser of two evils.
I pressed my lips together, tasting the bitter rubber of my regulator. We broke the surface with a splash, and Grady immediately ripped off his mask.
“Lina!” he barked, shaking her shoulders. “Lina, wake up!”
Her head lolled to the side, her lips blue-tinged and parted slightly.
Shit .