Page 99 of Tide and Seek
“Royce,” I screamed, choking on seawater, my voice raw and broken.
Another wave crashed over me, shoving me forward and then yanking me back with vicious force.I struggled to swim toward him, tried to grab for him, but my fingers closed on nothing but water and foam.
The cave was filling faster now, the water rising with each surge.I had minutes, maybe less, before it would be completely submerged.Before it might be impossible for either of us to escape.
I took the deepest breath I could manage and dove into the churning water toward Royce.
Chapter Eighteen
Royce
The water had risen past my chin an hour ago—or was it two?Time had stopped meaning anything in the darkness.The fentanyl still clouded my system, slowing my thoughts and making my limbs heavy and uncooperative.
The chill was worse now.I couldn’t stop shivering, my whole body trembling violently beyond my control.The water was colder than I’d expected for summer, and in this cave where the sun never reached it seeped into my bones.Some distant part of my brain registered it as my body’s last attempt to generate heat, to keep me alive.
But I was so tired.Exhausted from fighting the waves, from forcing myself to stay conscious, from shivering endlessly.My coordination was gone—partly the drug, partly the cold turning my muscles to stone.
It would probably be over soon and I’d be put out of my misery.The water was still rising, filling the cave with nowhere left to go.It was a grim thought, but I was so fucking weary of fighting to stay alive, it might almost be a relief to just let go.To just let the ocean take me.
I truly had fought to survive at first.I’d tried to find the opening earlier, when I’d first woken up disoriented and confused, but the drugs had made coordination impossible.I’d only managed to scrape my hands bloody on the barnacle-covered walls before another wave knocked me down.Now I was too weak to try again.It all felt so futile.
The water surged higher with each wave, lifting me off the rocky floor and slamming me back down.The struggle was monotonous.At this point the only thing that kept me fighting was the desire to see Max again.He’d be home by now and aware I was missing.He wouldn’t understand what had happened to me though.Might never know.Would my body ever be found, or would the ocean carry me out to sea?Would Max simply be left with questions that would haunt him forever?
At least he knew I loved him.At least I’d gotten to tell him yes, to put that ring on my finger and imagine a future we’d never get to have.The ring was still there too.I could feel the comforting squeeze of it even through my numb fingers.
I frowned when I thought I heard a voice yelling in the distance, barely audible over the roar of water echoing off stone.Was it my imagination?Wishful thinking?But when I heard it again, my heart began to race.I didn’t want to get my hopes up.It could so easily be the fentanyl playing tricks, or my oxygen-starved brain creating comfort where there was none.
“Hello?”I shouted, coughing when I accidentally swallowed sea water.Gasping for air, I strained my ears, listening.But it was so hard to hear anything over the churning water.
But then I heard it again, closer.“Royce.”
I felt like I was in a dream.The voice sounded like Max, but that couldn’t be real.Terror cut through the fog in my brain at the thought of him entering this cave.The water was rising fast, the current vicious and unpredictable.Max was a strong swimmer, but these weren’t normal conditions.He could drown.
“Don’t come in,” I tried to shout, because no matter who it was, it was too risky.But my voice came out slurred, my jaw not working right from the cold and drugs.“Too dangerous,” I mumbled.
A wave crashed over my head and I went under, my already exhausted body tumbling in the churning water.When I surfaced, coughing and gasping, I saw a figure moving in the dim light near what I’d thought was just a shadow in the rock.At first I thought the drugs and cold had finally broken me, but then recognition hit like another wave.Max.His dark hair was plastered to his head as he fought his way deeper into the cave.
He was going to die trying to save me.
“Go back,” I croaked, my voice raw and shaking.“Max, please—it’s too dangerous—”
But he kept coming, getting slammed against the rocks with each wave, his dress shirt clinging to his body, and his red tie wrapped around his neck.The moment was surreal.I couldn’t believe my eyes.But then he went completely under and didn’t resurface for long, terrifying seconds, and I thought my heart would burst.I tried to move toward him, but the waves knocked me back.
When his head finally broke the surface, he was gasping, coughing up seawater.But he was also closer.Close enough that I could see a cut on his cheek, and the wild determination in his eyes.
“Go back,” I shouted, panicked that he was going to drown right in front of me.“Max, go back, please.”
“No.I’ve got you, Royce,” he choked out, reaching for me.
“It’s too dangerous,” I mumbled, wanting him to leave, but also so fucking happy to see him, I felt like crying.
His hand closed around my arm with surprising strength and he hauled me toward him.Another wave hit and we both went under, tangled together in the churning water.I felt his grip slip, felt myself being pulled away by the current, but then his fingers found my shirt and held on with desperate willpower.
We surfaced together, both gasping for air in the rapidly shrinking space between the water and the cave ceiling.Maybe two feet of breathable air left now.Less with each wave.
“Are you strong enough to swim out?”Max shouted over the roar of water.
“I don’t think I can,” I slurred, staring at him like he was a hallucination that might vanish if I blinked.If I did manage to swim, it wouldn’t be for long.I had maybe a few strong strokes buried inside, then I’d be out of steam.I didn’t think that would be enough.Not against these waves.“I’m all out of fight, Max.”
