Want me to pull out my phone?”
They heard a slap of water, then another. It didn’t sound like waves. Was the gunman in the cave? Surely not. He’d be in the same predicament they were. He was likely outside of it, though. Instinct prompted Aria to reach her hands out and find David’s.
Her hands moved over his wrist. She felt his hot breath on her forehead and wanted to jump a foot back but remained frozen. They both stood still—aside from their shivering—and quiet. Each minute seemed like an hour in the frigid water. When she was confident she didn’t hear any more slaps, it was all she could do not to run out of the cave. But even if she tried, she knew the force of the incoming tide would bounce them around the small rocky entrance. They wouldn’t make it back out without getting slammed into the rock walls.
They needed to find the tunnel now. Because every other option meant severe injury...or worse.
David moved only when the tide surged, in case there was a gunman waiting outside, listening. He doubted there’d be anyone, though, judging by the depth of the water. High tide was coming fast.
Aria’s hand remained on his wrist, pulling. Her slow movements complemented each gush of water. She was graceful, just as she had been the last time they thought they were doomed. Only then, they had used their phones to find the other exit, and didn’t have two men out to kill them.
She grunted and jerked his wrist up a foot. Ah, she’d found the ledge. He climbed up after her, relieved to be out of the water. She spun around, trembling. David pulled her in close and squeezed his arms around her. “You’re freezing.”
He felt her nod against his chest, but the shaking lessened only a bit. His heart was certainly shaking more, though.
“They can’t see us now unless they come all the way in,” she whispered. He didn’t trust himself to answer. His shoulder stung. He was angry at the situation and confused by this woman that still made his heart ache.
She tugged on his wrist again, then let go. He missed her touch the moment she left. A small glow erupted from her hand. Her phone was on, but she was covering most of the screen with her other hand. It was enough to see the second crevice deep within the cave. The one they would need to escape. Shuffling, they made their way through. So far, so good.
“Duck,” she ordered.
He dropped to his knees, the hard, slimy rock pressing into his palms. Yes, he remembered this place well, but mostly the kisses, not the emergency exit route. His shoulder chose that moment to smart again. The frustration returned and he almost welcomed it—maybe it’d help keep him focused. His fingers accidentally brushed against her calf. Her skin felt like ice.
“Why’d you stop moving?” he asked.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Her voice was husky, filled with emotion. She had to be thinking about George again. Aria was a smart woman, brilliant—a visionary even—but she led with her heart more often than logic, and she kept it all to herself until she burst. He loved the way her mind worked during the times she did open up, but he could never anticipate when an emotional tidal wave was coming and would take charge.
He suspected it was the exact reason she’d said she needed space after she got his card. He still hated himself for telling her his feelings through a love letter. He’d intended for it to be romantic, though, and a keepsake she would cherish and show their children someday. He scoffed. A bad decision only trumped by their phone conversation shortly after she said she’d received it.
He had expected her to gush with returned feelings of love and instead she’d said she needed space. The word still made him cringe, but hanging up on her had effectively closed any chance they had at a future. He’d tried to apologize in person, driving the six hours from his job in Northern California to Portland, only to find her gone from her apartment. He didn’t give up, though, until he found her parents’ house also empty, a for-sale sign posted in their yard.
And now he was letting his own feelings cloud his thoughts.
“Keep moving,” he pressed. “I’ll tell you if I’m not fine.”
“That sharp curve and rise is coming.”
He took a deep breath. Last time they’d emerged with long lacerations etched on their foreheads. They’d been prescribed healthy doses of penicillin. Their parents, there for a Christian construction workers conference, had lectured them both, despite the fact that David was a twenty-two-year-old man at the time. When he had pointed that tidbit out, his mother snapped, “Once a parent, always a parent.”
David supposed the darkness wasn’t helping keep the memories at bay. He trailed her and tried to keep his head down low in preparation for the curve. A flicker of light crossed the surface of the rock directly underneath his hand. They were almost out. “If those guys don’t kill us, when our parents find out we did this again, they’re going to want to try.”
She remained silent—either she hadn’t heard him or she didn’t think his attempt at humor was funny. He pressed forward until he saw the sky.
Aria was already above him, facing him on her hands and knees, looking down into the tunnel. She slapped what resembled a tree root that dangled in front of him. His shoulder ached as he pulled himself up and collapsed onto the long grasses. Drizzle hit his face. The snow had turned to a sprinkle of cold rain. They were perched on a small overhang covered in tufts of beach grass, the rest of the cliffs behind them.
David needed a moment to catch his breath.
“I never thought we’d do that again,” Aria murmured.
“I don’t think we should make it a tradition.”
She cracked a half smile and threw a thumb over her shoulder. “That path is still there, around the corner. I think it’ll wind us behind some of the buildings and, if I remember right, get us a lot closer to the cottages.” She lifted her face and closed her eyes as if welcoming the drizzle. Her eyes flashed open, and she groaned. “But we’ll have to find a place to cross the creek.”
“I’m really getting sick of water.” He jumped up. His shoulder throbbed but seemed to have stopped bleeding. The path was easy to find and, to their advantage, hugged the cliff’s edge. The tall beach grass and boulders outlining the dirt would act as good hiding spots should the men still be scouting for them. Over their heads was the state park. It was an outcropping of forest that sat almost like a floating peninsula above the coast.
They took turns stepping over a chain that hadn’t been there years before. It held a metal sign that read Restricted. Aria squeezed her hands together, the distress evident on her face. The state park likely deemed the trail unsafe, but it was safer than facing the gunmen. It’d have to do. He plowed forward, determined to get to the cottages in record time.
“David!” Her body slammed into his back.
* * *
Aria knew David’s physique was different since the last time she’d seen him but now her sore cheek attested to the rock-solid change. She patted his back. “Sorry. I’m fine. Just slipped.”
“I hope no one heard you,” he grunted before continuing.
She
