Page 124 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
I ripped my goggles off, moving to hide how hard my hands were shaking.
Jackson slipped one of his hands over his head and then crossed his arms over his chest. “A burp. Really?”
“Yes.”
“The fuck didn’t you just say so?”
“Because you didn’t let me.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You just hauled me off. That wasn’t okay, Jackson. That…You shouldn’t treat me like that. And I-I don’t want to be down here. Itstinks.”
I started toward the steps.
He snatched my elbow.
“Don’t!” I arched back, preparing to rip away.
He sighed gustily and shoved my arm back at me.
Between his push and my overexaggerated pull, I stumbled, crisscrossing my feet. My arms pinwheeled, and I tried to right myself, but then the ship lurched, and down I went.
DING!
My chin drilled into the edge of the step.
Ouch.
Stars, that was abadspot to hit.
My neck gave a sickly crunch as my head snapped back, and big, neon checkerspots dropped in front of my eyes.
“Shit, babe!” Jackson rushed to me.“Fuck.”
He grasped my shoulders.
I batted him away.
“Babe, I’m sorry.” He tried to heft me onto my feet.
I shrugged him off and stood on my own. My legs shook though, and I had to grasp on to the stair railing when my knees threatened to nope out.
Pain mushroomed along my jaw and fanned across my skull.
And this was all my stupid fault for overreacting the way I had.
So why,why, did I feel a gnawing fear in the pit of my gut?
Was it Jackson’s fear?
Mine?
Alistair’s?
Someone else’s?
I couldn’t tell.
But with my face throbbing and terror stabbing at my insides, all I wanted to do was curl up somewhere quiet and safe. Like the top of Alistair’s head.
Instead, I rubbed at my jaw and mumbled, “I’m going back up, Jackson. I promise I won’t blacken your reputation by puking in front of the people you’re trying so hard to impress.”
