Page 117 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

I lose track of time, swimming back and forth until the stars fully fade and the sun crests the horizon.

Finishing what could easily be my three-hundredth lap, I flip over onto my back and let myself float. With my ears below the water line and the rhythmic sloshing of water from my strokes silenced, all I can hear are the thoughts in my head.

I’ve been such a fool.

Lakeland. Isla Cara. Fuck, even this shit with Riale.

Something needs to go right, and soon.

I can’t breathe with this constant tension and fear that the worst will come to the people I love.

Maybe if I weren’t in this house, feet away from the spot where my parents died, I might be able to be more pragmatic.

But as it is? I’m a fucking ball of terror and regret, and I don’t have the tools to deal with that.

At all.

I twist back onto my stomach and slice through the water toward the end of the pool. Getting into a rhythmic trance, I almost reach the tiled wall when something explodes next to my head.

“Excuse me, mister!” I stand in a flash, wiping the water from my eyes and opening them to Tempest’s annoyed expression. “We wanna go swimming, and you’re in the way.”

I clutch my chest to keep my heart from bounding out of my ribcage.

My mouth drops open as I search for how to respond to that. A sharppssst!shoots across the space, and I face the edge of the sliding doors leading into the house. Raiden stands there, watchful and half-hidden in the shadows.

He looks scared, maybe of me, so I try to appear as friendly as possible.

“Good morning, Raiden,” I say, raising my voice and waving. “And good morning to you, Tempest.”

I smile. Tempest still doesn’t.

“Where’s your mom?” I ask Tempest, and she scowls at me hard before marching away. Instead of heading inside the house, she grabs Raiden’s hand and drags him back to her vacated spot.

“Mommy is sleeping, and we’re bored. We saw your pool and we wanna swim. We’re great swimmers,” Tempest says, speaking for herself and her brother.

“Tempest, you know Mommy doesn’t let us swim alone,” Raiden says, wrenching his hand from his sister’s. Tempest smacks her lips.

“Ugh, you’re no fun,” she says, rolling her eyes in a move that’s entirely too adult.

Raiden looks unsure—his arms cross tightly over his chest, and he glances at me, then back at the sliding door.

Goddamn it, what the hell do I do?

“We could just put our feet in,” I offer gently, patting the tiled lip of the pool near their feet. “Just until your mom wakes up?”

Raiden shakes his head and takes a step back.

“I’m telling Mommy.”

He turns and bolts into the house, feet slapping on the patio as he disappears inside.

I glance back at Tempest, expecting her to follow him, but she doesn’t. Instead, she sits down at the pool’s edge and dips her toes in the water with a sigh.

“He tells on me for everything,” she mutters. “Even when I’m trying to make things more fun.”

I swim a little closer but keep my distance, careful not to intrude.

“Fun is important,” I say. “But safety’s important, too. Your brother’s not wrong.”