Authors: S. Jackson Rivera
Chapter 12
E
veryone scrambled to help them back on the boat. Paul motioned for Rhees to go first, but she was so spent, she couldn’t pull herself up the ladder with all her gear on.
“Just a sec,” he said patiently and helped her remove her BC. He handed it up to Mitch, who took it and quickly handed it off to someone else. Paul put her hands back on the ladder. “Hang on.” He dived down just far enough to remove her fins for her, tossing them onto the boat and guiding each foot to the lowest rung on the ladder so she could stand. She still labored to pull herself up.
“Mitch. Get her out of the fucking water!”
Mitch obeyed and took one of her arms. Christian hopped to his side and grabbed the other and they hoisted Rhees onto the boat. They set her down on the platform at the back of the boat, and she collapsed backward, taking the deepest breath of the freshest air she’d ever breathed.
Ulla handed her some water and told her to drink it. “Do you guys need oxygen?”
Paul climbed onto the boat just seconds after Rhees. “I don’t think so, but keep an eye on her. Mitch. Shanni. Gear up. Go get my tank. My bottom time is fucked for the day.” He saw them give each other a quick glance. “Wait, you two, together, all alone down there? I don’t want to be here all fucking day. Christian. Go with Mitch.”
Shanni frowned but she didn’t want to challenge Paul when he was in an obviously bad mood. Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing by the look on their faces. Shanni and Shelli helped Mitch and Christian into their gear and over the side.
“Shelli! Why didn’t you do a buddy check?” Paul boomed as soon as the two men submersed. His expression raged fierce and everyone took a step back.
Shelli froze. “I—I did.”
“Her dump valve was tangled. Her BC wouldn’t hold air. Not only should you have noticed that as a buddy, but you’re her instructor for heaven’s sake. You should have noticed her missing!” The volume of his voice escalated and he yelled by the time he finished.
Shelli stood silently, torn between feeling remorse for her gross error and angry that he would treat her so harshly.
“How much weight did you put on her?” he managed to ask in a quieter tone.
Shelli hesitated to answer. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, taking a minute, realizing it was going to be bad. “Twenty-four,” she whispered.
Paul’s eyes grew cold and his jaw set. His cheek twitched, but he didn’t say anything.
“Shelli!” Ulla, Shelli’s closest friend, gasped. “Did you do that on purpose . . . because of . . .”
Paul’s eyes grew wide. It had never occurred to him Shelli could try to hurt Rhees because of him. Shelli jumped to her own defense.
“Ginger told me it was best to weigh the newbies down until they learned to control their buoyancy. She said it was easier to put a little more air in the BCDs than to have to pull them back down every five seconds.”
Paul’s brow furrowed in disbelief and fury. “Twenty-four pounds?” he asked incredulously. “Look at her! Even if—”
“She’s got boobs!”
Paul closed his eyes, unable to comprehend what Shelli could have been thinking.
“Ginger was your favorite. She trained you . . . I thought, if she did it, everyone did?”
“You’ve been doing this to all the newbies?” The words came out hoarse. He had to work to keep it steady, but everyone recognized a ticking bomb. “Has anyone else been doing this?” he snarled as he glanced around the boat at the others.
Shelli dropped her gaze. Paul’s mouth tightened into a straight line and he closed his eyes again. He had to bite his lip from the inside in an attempt to stay calm. He finally turned away from Shelli, glanced quickly at Rhees, who appeared to be asleep, and then hopped up onto the side of the boat. He stood there for a few seconds, looking at the horizon, and then he dived into the water.
oOo
Paul swam away from the boat and kept swimming until they could barely see him in the swells. They watched, keeping an eye on him, but they were relieved to have a break from his extremely foul temper. No one had ever seen him so angry before.
He didn’t get back to the boat until the divers had returned with the empty tank and were on the boat. Paul climbed in.
“Get us home, Randy.”
Paul watched Rhees jump slightly as the boat’s engine roared to life. She lay on her back with her arm draped across her face. Everyone thought she was asleep but he knew better. He climbed onto the back of the boat, next to her. He lay on his stomach, propped himself on his elbows, and looked down at her.
“I thought you were sleeping. Are you all right? Any pain? Itching? Headache?”
She sniffed and shook her head but didn’t speak or remove her arm.
“Don’t cry,” he said in a soft request. She didn’t move and he finally leaned over and bumped her shoulder with his own. “So . . . what did you think of your first dive? Didn’t I tell you you’d love it?”
Her body convulsed with a quick laugh, a bit strained, but a laugh all the same, and he couldn’t believe how relieved it made him feel.
“Come on. Let’s get you into the boat. I wouldn’t want you getting thrown back into the water . . . not until tomorrow, anyway.”
She finally moved her arm and glanced up at him to judge his seriousness. His eyebrow cocked, waiting for her response. He laughed when she groaned.
oOo
As soon as everyone finished putting the gear away, Paul made an announcement over the speaker. He asked Dobbs to take care of Rhees’ gear and kept her in the office to protect her from being bombarded with questions.
“I want everyone at the gazebo in five.”
It took a little longer than five minutes, but everyone finally gathered, jabbering speculatively about what Paul had to say. The news of what happened had already spread so the people who weren’t on the boat were alerted to Paul’s unpleasant mood.
“I want everyone to go home,
now
. There’s no point in waiting around for tomorrow’s schedule because there isn’t going to be one.” There was a collective gasp and that only made him angrier.
“I’m
fucking
pissed!” he said with great emphasis. “And I don’t think anyone wants to be around me any more than I want to be around
you
right now. I want you all to read the chapter on buddy checks and be here, on the deck, tomorrow morning at nine o’clock. There’ll be no move dives scheduled until I am sure
everyone
understands how to do a proper
fucking
buddy check.” He glared at Shelli when he said it. Shelli glared at Rhees.
Rhees mouthed, “I’m sorry,” but Shelli extended her middle finger in an obscene gesture before turning her back.
Paul saw the exchange and it blew him away. Rhees had nothing to be sorry about, but her empathetic nature made her feel bad for all the flack everyone seemed to be giving Shelli over the accident. He shook his head.
Unbelievable.
“If
anyone
is missing tomorrow, we’ll wait until the next day and the next, until everyone is here, so pass the word. I’m only going to do this once and there will be no dives until it’s done.” No one answered. He finally yelled, “Understand?”
When he finished, everyone stood around talking about the accident, the lesson, and the cancelled dives.
“Get the hell off my deck!” he roared and everyone finally scrambled to leave, except Dobbs and Claire, who stood in disbelief. Rhees moved to leave too—slowly. She was exhausted and could barely move. Paul gently took her by the arm and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Not you. Please stay.”
Her guard went up. She could think of only one reason he would want her to stay. She prepared herself for a lecture about the accident. At least it’ll be in private—one consolation, to know she wouldn’t be publicly humiliated any further, but she was so tired. She didn’t have the stamina to deal with his mood and had to fight the urge to cry again.
The deck finally cleared except for Paul, Rhees, Claire, and Dobbs. Once they were alone, Claire put her arms around Rhees and held her. It was Rhees’ undoing. She burrowed herself into Claire’s embrace and broke down into full sobs. Dobbs and Paul looked at each other, relieved that Claire was there to handle the emotional outburst.
“You’d better not be planning to berate this poor girl.” Claire scowled at Paul.
He looked wounded. “No, it’s not like that between us anymore.” Claire didn’t stop glaring. “Danarya, tell her.”
Rhees stopped crying to glare at him with fire in her eyes.
Paul put his hands over his face and exhaled as he rubbed his eyes, sliding his hands to the side of his face, pulling on the skin around his eyes. He pressed on his temples like he had a headache. He grabbed his left shoulder with one hand and his elbow with the other.
“Are you bent?” Dobbs asked.
“No.” Paul seemed confused. He sucked in a breath. “I just thought . . . I was
protecting
her. Think about what would happen to her out there tonight—after my outburst.”
Claire and Dobbs both agreed in unison.
oOo
The four of them spent the entire evening together on the deck. Claire ordered pizza and Paul paid a generous tip to have it delivered, since the restaurant didn’t normally deliver. They sat around one of the tables in the gazebo, eating and drinking the wine Paul had grabbed from his stash at his apartment.
“So what happened?” Dobbs finally asked, directing the conversation back to a more serious topic. All eyes zeroed in on Rhees.
“I thought it was just me. Everyone looked so comfortable hanging out on top, but I kept kicking and filling my BC. I looked down at my gauges for . . . just a second, and the next thing I knew, I was under water and falling. It’s like, once I completely submersed, I couldn’t stop.” Shame crept across her expression.
“I didn’t think to dump my weights. It was one of the first things Paul did when he found me. I should have . . . I just didn’t think of it.”
“I guarantee you’ll never forget again,” Claire said.
“I’ll buy you new pockets. You can dive with a weight belt until then.” Paul reached for her hand on the table and squeezed.
Rhees’ expression caught. She didn’t understand how they didn’t know, how they couldn’t know, but she didn’t intend to dive . . . ever again.
“You’re not giving up because of this.” Paul leaned down, looked straight in her eyes. He shook his head resolutely, showing her he wouldn’t accept anything less than her accomplishing what she’d come for. “You can’t give up now. I won’t let you, not after everything—I won’t.”
“Then what happened?” Dobbs jumped in, obviously hoping to spare them all another argument between Paul and Rhees.
“Um.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember where she left off. “I kicked like crazy, and I made progress, but kicking made me breathe harder, faster. Then my breathing scared me, I knew I’d use up my tank too fast. I knew I needed to rein it in, and I told myself not to panic. I tried to stay calm even though I was sure I was going to die.” Her voice tapered off.
“That’s what I want to know. How did you survive?” Dobbs asked.
“I thought I’d wait on the shelf. I thought they’d notice I was gone, and they’d find me on the shelf. The next thing I knew, the shelf was there but I wasn’t. I just kept falling. I kicked to the wall, but it took forever. I swear, the wall repelled me . . . like the wrong pole of a magnet.”
“Down current,” Paul said. Claire and Dobbs nodded in agreement.
“I finally made it, and I grabbed on to the first thing I could. I was so scared, I just hung on for dear life, afraid to let go but I knew I couldn’t stay there. I started climbing with my hands. Every time I let go, I’d sink again. So I climbed, concentrating so hard on keeping a hold. I couldn’t tell if it was doing any good or not. My instincts just told me to keep climbing. The next thing I knew, Paul grabbed me from behind.” She glanced at him and felt a strange energy pass between them. “After the initial shock, I just knew . . . I was going to be all right.”
“You were deep. I’m surprised your air lasted, with you filling your BCD over and over, the panic, the depth. How did you have any air left?” Dobbs asked.
“Her tank was empty when I reached her,” Paul chimed in. “I don’t know what she was breathing.” The thoughts that went through his mind when he thought he’d never find her were uncomfortable, so he joked about it.
“I think God saw her coming and said, ‘Hell no. I don’t want that stubborn girl up here yet. Paul’s an ass, let her bust his balls some more’.” Paul tried to stifle his grin. He didn’t mention the prayer he’d said when he found her alive.
They all laughed but suddenly fell silent as they thought how differently it could have turned out. The conversation moved on to what Paul, Claire, and Dobbs liked to talk about the most—the shop. Rhees rested her head on her arm across the table. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, but it took the other three a while to notice.
“She’s wiped,” Paul said. “We should get her to bed.”
“Her place is pretty far away,” Dobbs said.
Paul thought about it for a minute. “She can stay at my place.”
“Bollocks!” Claire glared at him.
“Shit, Claire. My couch! Do you really think I’d do that when she’s like this? I know what I am, but, I like my women . . .
caawnscious
!”
“She’s staying at
our
place, on
our
couch.” Claire and Dobbs lived in the same building as Paul, just a few doors farther from the shop.
Chapter 13
T
he next day, a group of the shop students were still on the mainland and hadn’t gotten word about the special meeting. Paul told everyone they’d try again when the group made it back to the island. He sent everyone home, as he’d promised he would if everyone didn’t show up.
Paul knew Rhees needed to get back on the horse, or in the water, so he, Dobbs, Claire, and Randy took Rhees, with much urging—or more like strong-arming—out for a private boat trip.
“Look at the water. You can see the bottom from the boat,” Randy said. Everyone stood around her, rubbing her arms, her shoulders, trying to help her calm down.
“I can’t do this,” Rhees whined, almost in tears and refusing to get into her gear. They could see her trembling.
“This site is only forty feet at the deepest point,” Dobbs said.
“We’re all certified instructors, and we’re here just for you. We’re not going to let anything happen to you this time.” This from Claire.
Rhees covered her face with her hands and nearly hyperventilated. The others all looked at each other with concern. Dobbs shrugged and each of them understood it as a suggestion to give up.
“Rhees,” Paul said, resting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her to face him. “Look at me, okay?”
It took her a second, but she did. Using his eyes, he gave her everything he had. The trick worked far too often on women—he didn’t understand why, but it did, and he’d perfected his most valuable weapon. In this case, he used the power of his baby blues for good, for the benefit of someone else, not himself.
She stared back and within seconds, her anxiety seemed to lessen, but Paul soon felt the need to look away, releasing her. It was only the second time that had happened and both times were with Rhees.
“You’re right. I have to do this, don’t I?” She tried to smile. She covered her face again, but this time she inhaled a deep breath and let it out with resolution. “I’m doing this. Oh my gosh.”
“There’s our girl,” Dobbs said, beaming with pride. Paul slinked to the other side of the boat to put on his gear, still wondering what had just happened—why it was so hard to look her in the eyes. Dobbs and Claire went to their gear as well and suited up, but when Dobbs did his back roll into the water, Rhees whimpered.
“I forgot about the back roll.” She was visibly terrified again.
“I got this,” Paul said to Claire, quietly. “Give me a second. You follow last, after I get her in, okay?”
Claire nodded and watched him climb up onto the platform at the stern, all geared up except his fins. He held them in his hands.
“Hey, Princess Danarya,” Paul teased. “There are other entrances than the back roll—back roll is the safest one from this particular boat, but you could always try this.” With that, Paul did a flip off the boat and landed in the water.
“Piece of cake,” he said with a grin when he popped back to the surface, and then put his fins on. Rhees looked like she was about to hurl her breakfast. “Hey, just kidding. Don’t puke on my boat. Claire, hand me her gear. We’ll suit her up right in the water.” He swam over to the ladder.
Claire filled Rhees’ BC with a puff of air and lowered it into Paul’s waiting hand. She turned to face Rhees. “Put your mask on and climb down the ladder into the water. I’ll hand you your fins.”
Dobbs made his way to the ladder and waited to help as he caught on to what Paul intended to do. Rhees slid into the water and Claire handed her fins to Dobbs. Paul swam up and took Rhees in his arms from behind. She gasped at the contact.
“Okay?” he asked.
She nodded but didn’t seem too convincing. Paul helped her guide her arms into her BC and fastened all the buckles while Dobbs submersed himself and put her fins on her feet. Paul did a quick buddy check, and Rhees caught him paying special attention to the dump valves. She gave him a knowing but nervous grin. Lastly, Claire handed down a weight belt and Paul slipped it around Rhees’ waist.
“Let’s just snorkel for a while,” Paul suggested and took her hand. “Ready?”
Again she nodded and they both put their faces in the water, breathing through their snorkels and finning along the surface. Claire and Dobbs didn’t wait to descend, but followed along underwater where Rhees could watch them from above for the next fifteen minutes.
“I’m ready now, I think.” She lifted her head out of the water to speak.
“Let’s get wet, then.” Paul’s smile grew to mammoth proportions. He felt so proud of her. They put their regs in their mouths and gave each other the okay signal and then a thumb’s down, and both slipped below the surface.
oOo
Rhees earned her Open Water Diver certification those two days Paul waited for the students to get back from the mainland to hold his meeting. She had her C-card, had started the dive master course, and felt pretty good about life, even if the other students at the shop acted like they didn’t like her anymore.
Shelli’s pride never recovered after the accident. She moved over to Island Divers, with Paul’s blessing. He’d made it clear he didn’t plan to touch her again, and her resentment toward Rhees only grew more obvious. Putting some distance between the three of them seemed like a good idea.
It stood to reason that Shelli’s best friend, Ulla, and the Coitus Club groupies would side with Shelli, but Rhees didn’t know why the others at the shop shunned her too. The dynamic of the group had changed without Shelli, but Rhees would overhear the groupies talking about Paul’s new attitude toward her at their Coitus Club meetings.
They speculated that Paul still wanted her and only hoped to get into her panties by trying kindness for a change. They joked, laughing about how surprised they imagined he must have been to realize his previous method of angered torment hadn’t worked.
Their discussions about it disturbed Rhees, and she wondered when they’d finally realize it would never happen and move on. Paul and Rhees were friends now, nothing more.
It hurt to think about being shunned, so she didn’t. At least she tried not to. One theory might have had something to do with the way Paul reacted to her dive mishap. They thought it better to avoid her than risk doing anything to bring his wrath down on them again if something else should go wrong concerning her. Then she had the idea that they, just like everyone at home, had finally figured out that she just didn’t belong.
Even Tracy and Regina dodged being too friendly in public. At home, they tried to make it up to her by being sociable and even apologetic. Rhees assured them she understood and didn’t hold their standoffish behavior at the shop against them. She’d grown up with friends of that caliber and was used to it.
Only Claire and Dobbs held true and never faltered in their kindness toward her, and then there was Paul. He kept his word about being friendlier to her, and he no longer scheduled her for tank and bathroom duty, but she showed up at the shop bright and early every morning anyway. Rhees couldn’t stand sitting around the apartment alone while Tracy and Regina slept the mornings away.
Paul would be waiting, with two cups of coffee and two donuts from Miranda’s shop, for Rhees to show up. Conveniently, Dobbs or Mitch and two students were scheduled each morning to take care of tanks, so Paul would have the time to share breakfast with her and enjoy their now friendlier bantering.
It amazed her how easily they’d gone from enemies to pals, though it still made her uncomfortable to find him watching her. The murderous glare moved away, but she didn’t quite know how to describe the new look that had moved in.
She began to notice—admire a few of his good traits, qualities she hadn’t allowed herself to believe existed before. Paul worked hard. Her father had instilled in her the value of hard work at a young age, and she had no respect for lazy couch potatoes.
Paul played hard—knew how and when to have fun, and when he did, he didn’t hold back. He scared her to death when she had the opportunity to watch him kite surf one day. One gust of wind had taken him so high for so long, she feared he’d wind up in Africa.
Intelligent—freakishly so, she suspected. He tried to hide it, but she caught glimpses. She’d heard him speak so many different languages around the island—a telltale sign. And shy—the most surprising observation of all. Paul was, overall, a quiet man. He communicated well and had no trouble getting his point across when necessary, but in a social setting, he preferred to listen more than he spoke.
His looks hadn’t taken her long to notice. Even when she didn’t like him, she had to admit he was a very handsome man. As she got to know him better, she found herself watching him sometimes, thinking about his six-pack abs, his Adam’s apple, his glorious smile, and his eyes—
Oh, his eyes!
He made her feel safe, and that scared her. It had been a while since she’d felt safe—like anyone in the world looked out for her. She’d always been looked after by her parents. She found it hard not to get sucked in by Paul’s commanding nature, his self-confidence, and his
very
strong sense of protectiveness.
Claire warned her against that sense. “It’s common. It’s a real
thing
to feel safe with someone who’s saved your life, but he is not safe for you. Paul is the most dangerous thing you’ve ever happened across.”
oOo
Dobbs and Claire took a couple of days off to spend time on the mainland while Paul and Rhees worked together like a well-oiled machine, running the shop themselves—together. Paul walked out of the gear room just as Dobbs handed Rhees a brown paper bag the day they returned.
“What’s this?” she asked. She opened it and squealed when she saw the contents of the bag. “Peanut butter! Oh my gosh! For me?” She almost got emotional over it. Dobbs was too tall for her to reach when she tried to hug him, so he leaned down and she didn’t let go for several seconds. Dobbs seemed uneasy, like he didn’t quite know what to do with a young, pretty, hugging girl.
“I can’t believe you found peanut butter, and for me,” she said with a wide smile, giving his shiny, completely bald head a rub as she released him from her excited show of gratitude. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Dobbs tried to get her to release him from her hug when he noticed the way Paul looked at him as he came around the corner. Rhees didn’t notice.
“
Claire
and I found it,” he clarified, pushing away. Rhees ran into the office to thank Claire too.
“You seem to be very fond of her,” Paul said to Dobbs.
“She’s a sweet girl.”
“Does Claire know about your little crush?”
Dobbs jerked around to face the accusation. “I’m just being a friend, nothing more. She could use one right now.”
“Or maybe you’ve been fixating on the revelation we all had a while ago about her. Are you sure you’re not hoping she might just give it up to the creepy but
nice
old guy?”
“You’re lucky I’m not a violent man because I have a strong urge to punch you right now.” Dobbs, the larger man, leaned down into Paul’s face. “You’re out of line.”
“Really?
I’m
out of line? I’m not the one who had his hands all over the ‘sweet’, young virgin just now.”
“So help me, Paul,” Dobbs hissed. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled. “You haven’t noticed because you never think about anyone but yourself, but because of you, Rhees is always either the object of every man on this island’s sleazy fantasies, or she’s being snubbed by every girl.”
Paul felt like he
had
been punched. Dobbs shook his head and walked off.