Page 89 of The Plan

I can’t hear her coughing anymore.

“Vidia!”Was she dragged under?My heart is pounding in my ears. It’s all I can hear, but I think I’m yelling; I can’t tell.Where is she?!I’m spinning in circles, looking for her familiar hair, but everything begins to blur with how quickly I scan the water.

“Do you see her?” the guard asks someone. I think he’s talking to me, but I can’t answer him. I need to find her.

“Vidia! Vi—” The minute I spot her, it’s like my hearing comes back as I zone back in. “Vidia, are you okay?!” I scoop her up and quickly bring us to shore.

“Sire.” I can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying, but I can’t bring myself to look down at her in case it's the latter. I lay her on the sand and crouch down to her level, cupping her face. She lightly laughs as she pushes my hands away, but I grab her face again, needing to hold her.

“I’m fine. God, that’s embarrassing. I swear I can swim.” She turns to someone, the lifeguard, I think, but I pull her back to get a better look at her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Sire, I’m fine.” The playful look on her face vanishes when she notices the panic that’s most likely still in my eyes. “The current was just stronger than I thought, and I couldn’t get my balance. I’m fine.” I shake my head and pull her closer.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have thrown you in like that. You could’ve drowned.” Why the hell did I do that? This isn’t a pool. She could’ve been dragged under. I know what that feels like.I don’t want her to know what that’s like, not for even a split second. Why would I throw her like that?!

“Sire, I’mfine.”She pulls away again and holds my hand right above her heart, and the soothing beat of it suddenly calms me. “I wasn’t drowning. You don’t need to apologize.” I take in a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

“Hey, are you okay, V?” Sage comes over with the others, and Vid tells them she’s fine. “Sire?” I only give Sage a nod, and she doesn’t look convinced, but when she looks over at Vidia, she gives her a nod. August and Hazel are close behind, but after they see Vid is fine, they all turn back, giving us space.

“Breathe,” she whispers. I take a deep, ragged breath. After a couple of seconds, I take it all in, and I don’t feel like I’m suffocating anymore. “I didn’t know drowning still triggered you so much.”

I don’t say anything and get up, wanting to put more distance between us and the waves crashing behind us. She keeps her hand in mine as we walk back to our blanket. I let my eyes fall shut as I sit back down.

I keep my eyes on Vid, and when she turns to me, she offers a weak smile. “You’re still shaking.” She takes my hand again, and I leave a soft kiss on the back of her hand. “Sire, you were fine at my boat party in college. Did something else happen?”

“I was fine because you were by my side, Vid. Nothing else happened, but I thought you were in danger again.” When I look up at her, she’s gazing at me with the softest look in her eyes.

“Well, I wasn’t,” she says softly, and I only nod in response, trying to convince my brain that she’s fine. I need to get this fucked up memory of drowning out of my head.

I’m about to look back at her when I see something gray in the sand. I pull it out and smile softly at what it is. A toy stingray, about the size of the palm of my hand. I look up at her, and her eyes are on the toy with a small, almost sad smile on her face.

I hand it to her, and she turns it in her hands and then looks back up at me. “We’re not going back in the water for a while, so get comfortable.” Her smile grows a bit. She doesn't object and lays next to me on the blanket. I lay on my back as she’s on her stomach, and we tan in silence for a while.

“You two have been lyinghere for almost an hour. You're going to burn.” I put my hand over my eyes to look at August.

“Fuck off.”

He kicks sand in my face while laughing, and before I can even sit up straight, he takes off running. Little bitch.

I turn over to Vid before I go after him. She’s lying on her back now, so I lean on my elbow and hover over her so that I’m blocking her from the sun.

“I feel better. Thank you for staying out of the water with me.” I quickly lean forward to kiss her forehead and get up before she can reply.

I walk toward August, and he’s still running ahead of me. “It was just a joke, Sire. Don’t hit me.” He says it like I regularly abuse him or some shit. He puts his hands up, surrendering as I make my way to him.

“I’m not going to hit you. Stop backing away, August.” He eyes me suspiciously, then stops.

“If you hit me, I’m telling Sage.” He always says this and never tells her. When I reach him, I give him a smile and then kick his feet from under him. As soon as he hits the sand, I start kicking a bunch of it in his face.

He starts yelling about it being in his eyes, but I keep kicking it on him so it gets in his mouth. “You always have to be extra!” In a blink, he grabs my feet, and I’m on the sand next to him.

“You started it!” We start wrestling and rolling in the sand. “Ouch!” I feel a sharp pain in my back, but it doesn’t feel like he punched me. When I turn, there's a football behind me. I look up, and Hazel is standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and another football in hand.

“That asshole has good aim.” I let go of him because she gets ready to throw the next one. Little menace. He stands and then quickly kicks a bit more sand on me but doesn’t run this time.

“Don’t call her that, and yeah, we've been working on it.” He smiles proudly and puts his arms up to catch the ball. When she throws it, she completely misses and hits him right in the—

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