Page 4 of Drown Like Heaven
“Anyway, I know you’re just dying for an update on that cardiothoracic gunner bitch that tried to make me look stupid the other day. Right?”
I laughed again. “Well, duh. Of course.”
Honestly, I never understood half the stuff Mila ranted about, but Icouldunderstand when someone had their nose in the professor’s ass and wanted to make everyone else look bad for not doing the same. As if so-called ‘competitive’ med school specialties were the only ones worth pursuing. I’d get just as heated as Mila would, because she was a gem and she didn’t deserve any bullshit.
“Amazing. I also thought we could watchSilence of the Lambstonight, since it’s been a while for that one.”
“Perfect.” I nodded.
Mila took a deep breath, then launched into a recap of all the drama I’d missed.
Chapter 2
Dakota
I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, salty air brushing over my cold cheeks as it came off the ocean. I didn’t have work today, and class didn’t start for a few days, so I’d taken myself to one of my favorite places.
Shifting how I was sitting on the rock on the shore, I set my chin on my knees and inhaled deeply, sucking all that chilled air to the depths of my lungs. The waves pulled in and in, then retreated back into the dark ocean, leaving behind a silhouette of seafoam like lace on the sand. Over and over, I watched them roll up and down the beach, reaching, clawing their way towards the rocks. The tide was coming in, and I’d have to move soon.
A heavy calm descended on my shoulders, brought on by the constant, soothing movement of the water. It’d always been a reliable escape for me; the sound of splashing waves and gritty sand was a lullaby for my soul. A sharp-toothed hypnosis wrapped in riptides.
The Pacific Ocean.
Black-winged birds soared above the water, dipping and rising on the wind. It was like a dance, the way they dropped through invisible currents of air before being swept back up into the clouds. Each caw from their beaks was stolen by the clouds, soothed by precipitation.
Movement caught my eye down the beach and I turned, my eyes settling on the shadowed figure of somebody walking along the sand. They were coming in my direction, but I didn’t think they’d seen me—I was relatively hidden by the cliffside. I almost never saw other people when I came and sat here. I fixed my eyes back on the continuous tumbling of the turquoise waves.
Mist danced across my face, accumulating into a small bead on my upper lip, on the tip of my nose, on my eyelashes. I sniffled, tucking my hands against my body as a stray lock of hair blew across my forehead, sticking wet and dark and slick to my skin.
It was times like this where I always rememberedhim.
It was hard not to. He loved taking me here, getting me out of my normal life for a while, away from all the fighting and the cloying scent of alcohol, the haze of cigarette smoke. I loved it, too. Loved his attention, his kindness, his interest in me.
But I hadn’t known at the time just how long it was going to take me to realize what he did to me was wrong, how long it would take me to eventually detach myself from him.
Some days, I still missed him. As fucked as that was.
The figure from up the beach was closer now, close enough for me to tell it was a man. He had brown hair that was made darker by the water dripping off it into his face, a cut jawline, a strong brow. He was tall, darkly alluring. A storm-veiled danger. I shrunk back on the rock a little bit, even though he hadn’t noticed me. It was instinctive.
My pulse skittered nervously through my veins. I had a knife in my pocket, but I wasn’t ignorant. Between me and this man, he’d win every time. Especially on a beach as isolated as this.
He began undressing himself, tossing his clothes in a pile on the beach. I stared down at the ground, focusing on the grains of sand below my boots, trying to go unnoticed. When I dared to look back up, I saw him in a pair of black swim trunks, facing thedistant boundary where ocean met sky. It was foggy that far out, and the horizon was hardly visible. I glanced back at the man.
Even from the distance, I could tell he had two massive scars on his muscular back, stretching from his shoulders towards his spine on either side, slanting downwards.
Interesting.
I didn’t know what scars like that would come from; it looked like he’d been hung by two large hooks, and then they’d been ripped out of his skin, the wounds never stitched afterwards, only left to heal as they were. Torn edges of skin fusing together, bridging a large gap of raw flesh.
The man started wading into the water, and goosebumps broke out along my arms. I knew that water had to becold.
But he didn’t stop, didn’t slow his pace. He skimmed his palms over top of the waves, his head tilted towards the sky. I traced the contours of his arms with my gaze, his strong shoulders and back, those twisted scars carved into his skin.
And then he ducked underwater.
I could breathe a little easier with him out of my sight, and I squinted up at the clouds, misty rain tickling my cheekbones. There wasn’t much for me to eat back at home, and I wouldn’t be paid for another two days—not that the paycheck would really do me much good. It was never enough money.Nothingwas ever enough money. I was so fucking sick of it.
Maybe Eric could find me a few extra shifts, or I could scrounge up a few more things to sell. I was holding out hope that once I graduated, I’d be able to get a better job, get out of here. But I still needed to manage my expectations, not expect a degree to fix everything for me. Because I knew it wouldn’t.
