Chapter 44
IVY
I swim to the surface, a little disoriented since I can’t make out anything in the shadows. I tread water for a few seconds before I hear a splash nearby. Someone else jumped.
As a few more seconds pass by, my eyes adjust to the little moonlight shining that gives barely enough light to see the surface of the water but not enough to distinguish much else.
I feel a hand grip my waist as Luca says, “You good?”
“Yeah.” I find the spotlight in the distance and swim towards it. Stroking through the water feels natural. There’s a little stiffness in my shoulder, but not enough to faze me.
I’m concentrating on my movements when I feel a grasp around my ankle before I’m pulled underwater. I kick, struggling to get away from the strong grip but eventually do and swim back to the surface.
Luca sounds frantic as he thrashes around. “Ivy, where the fuck are you?”
“Someone pulled me under.” I gulp in a breath, preparing to hold my breath if I’m pulled under again. I wasn’t expecting it and inhaled a bit of water.
He moves closer to me. “They’re trying to scare you. To make you panic.”
“No shit.” The antics don’t scare me. Their desperation does.
“Stay next to me,” he says, and I swim nearby, anticipating being hauled under again.
After a while, between the fast pace and choppy waves, my shoulder aches, and I slow down. It’s been months since I’ve trained and these are not the conditions I was used to anyway.
“Do you need to rest?” His arm loops around my waist, his chest to my back as I feel him supporting me in the water.
I pull out of his secure hold. “I’m fine.”
We continue on for a few minutes before I hear random shouts in the distance. And between the commotion, the silence is thick and deafening.
“What the fuck touched my foot?” Remy shrieks.
Probably the same someone who grabbed me, though it sounds like his head stays above the surface because he’s still shrieking as we continue on.
By the time we reach the pirogue, I’m spent. I cling to the side, catching my breath while every muscle in my body burns. There’s no way I’m this out of shape in the short time since I trained. But I guess it was a solid half mile swim in less-than-ideal conditions.
Luca pulls himself into the boat, and when he reaches over, I take his hand with my good arm and climb in. He unties us from the buoy before we both grab a paddle and start to row, taking a minute to sync up.
“How the hell do we get back on the bridge when we reach it?” I ask, watching as a few random vehicles pass by in the distance.
“We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
“Great.” Not like we have another choice. Visibility is no better as we follow the faint red light that’s hopefully the position of the bus. But once we’re back under the Causeway, there’s no way up.
“There,” I point to a rope hanging nearby. I dread the climb, worried my shoulder will give out, but what choice do we have.
“Told you we’d figure it out,” he says as we both grab a rope and begin to climb.
It’s barely seconds later when the rope gives and we’re plummeting into the water. I surface, coughing and cussing, “Yeah. We totally figured it out.”
“It’s a trick. We’re not supposed to go back the way we came.”
“This is utter bullshit,” I shout, hoping they can hear me.
“It’s almost over,” Luca says as he searches around then starts swimming. “This way. Looks like a shoreline in the distance.
“Great,” I quip as a splatter sounds behind us. “Someone else fell for the trick too. I bet the bastards are laughing at our misery because they’re miserable as fuck too.”
“Probably,” he agrees surprisingly.
When we reach the bank, we climb onto it and sink ankle deep in mud. There’s a ladder nearby that we trudge to. I’ve never been scared of snakes, but I really don’t want to find any right now. Once we get close, I ask, “What if it’s another trick?”
“Won’t know until we try.”
“True.” I notice he bounces on the first step before he says, “Come on.”
I follow him and hope we don’t crash to the ground. Mainly because I’m ready for this to be over.
“Welcome back,” Decider announces before he informs us, “you’re the first team to jump and the first team back.”
“Yippee fucking yay,” I mumble. Exhaustion weighs on me as I sit on the pavement. Maybe the orgasm challenge wasn’t as bad as I thought. Because it was a lot more enjoyable than this.
I hear Micah shouting before I see him and Brooke approach. She drops down on the ground beside me. “That was horrible.”
Remy arrives then as he plops next to us, “Who are you telling? I think a gator tried to swim up my ass.”
Decider announces, “Back on the bus.”
“Oh my God,” Brooke gasps. “Where’re Matthew and Hannah?”
Micah chimes in, “Doesn’t matter. We made it.”
Four more of these idiotic events then I’m done. Unless I lose my mind and do something hasty first.