Page 36 of Lawless (Dauntless Island #2)

“Put your bloody knife away, copper,” Nipper Will said.

A wave bumped him closer—it tickled my collarbones and my breath caught.

We were running out of time. Will put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, and then disappeared under the water.

A moment later I felt his big hands closing around my ankle.

He didn’t wrench though—he just felt, and then he let go.

He stood again, spitting out water. “Well, this is a fucking mess.” He looked at Dominic.

“I reckon we can shift it. Natty, give me that torch.”

He went down again for another look, and I lifted my chin as another wave pushed more water into the cave.

“I don’t want to die here,” I said, and Dominic reached out and held my hand.

“You’re not going to die here,” he said.

I winced as Nipper Will tugged at my leg.

Dominic squeezed my hand, and I watched the dark water flow over our clasped fingers. I imagined my hand opening underwater, pale fingers twitching like the tentacles of an anemone. Or like the gills of a mud crab—dead man’s fingers.

“We’re getting you out of here,” Dominic said again.

My lungs lost the battle with my fear—I couldn’t get enough air. My chest ached and my heart raced, and the water was creeping higher with every wave and?—

“Breathe,” Dominic said. He curled his free hand gently around my throat, thumb rubbing my pulse point. “Slow and steady. Breathe in for four, hold for seven, and out for eight. That’s it. Two, three, four. Now hold for seven.”

My panic receded.

“And out for eight,” he said, and counted it out for me as Nipper Will came up for a breath. “Again.”

“We can shift it,” Nipper Will said. “We only have to move it an inch or so and he’ll be able to get his foot out. With both of us, we can manage it. I reckon I can brace my feet against the wall, get some leverage that way. I’ll pull it up, and you can shove it over.”

“Sounds simple,” Dominic said.

“Piece of fucking cake,” Nipper Will said, but even the darkness couldn’t hide the worry in his gaze as he looked at me.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out slowly, the way Dominic had told me to. I only opened them again when he pulled his hand from mine.

“Let’s do it,” Nipper Will said.

They both pushed their way under the water, and it churned around me like someone had thrown chum to a bunch of sharks.

I braced my hand on the rough cave wall.

A rock would be easier to lift underwater, right?

If you only had something to brace against. Someone kicked me hard in the back of my left knee, and I stumbled—I had no idea how that would have ended up if I hadn’t caught myself.

As it was, I overbalanced enough to get a face full of water.

Just breathe. In for four, out for—I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter. Just breathe.

Just breathe for as long as you can.

The swell of the water caressed my throat. Underneath it, rock scraped against rock, reverberating in my bones, and I tugged my foot. It shifted, but not far enough. A moment later, both Dominic and Nipper Will resurfaced.

“Almost got it,” Nipper Will said, and down they went again.

And again.

And again.

And again, until I stopped counting and the water lapped at my chin.

“Wait,” I said, reaching out and gripping Dominic’s shirt. “Wait, both of you. Can I say something, just in case?—”

“Shut up,” Nipper Will said. “It’s not going to happen.”

“Can you stop treating me like a little kid for once? Just for fucking once !” If I wasn’t stuck in one spot, I would have lurched forward and punched him in the face.

“This is serious, and it’s real , and you don’t need to lie to me about it!

” I pushed my knuckles into Dominic’s shirt.

“Neither of you. Will, can you tell Mum?—”

“Christ’s sake,” Nipper Will muttered.

“Let him finish,” Dominic said, his voice strained.

“We’re wasting time!” Will growled.

“Tell Mum I was okay,” I said. “Whatever happens, tell her it was peaceful, Will, please .”

Will pushed his way through the water so that we were standing nose to nose and I had to tilt my head back to meet his gaze in the gloom.

He glared at me. “You think I’m gonna tell Mum that the sea’s taken another part of this family?

Not in a million fucking years. Fuck that.

” His face twisted. “Copper, let’s bloody do this. ”

“His name’s Dominic,” I said. “And he’s my boyfriend.”

“Time for him to fucking prove it then,” Nipper Will said.

Dominic nodded sharply, and then they both duck-dived.

I didn’t believe in God or anything like that.

I didn’t believe in any higher being that was right now listening as every cell in my body screamed that I wanted to live.

But I believed that Dominic was never going to give up on saving me, and I believed in Nipper Will and his “Not in a million fucking years.”

I drew a breath and gritted my teeth.

Rock scraped against skin and bone, and pain as white as lightning flashed in front of my eyes.

But behind it, there was something else—a change in the dull, throbbing pressure, a tickle of cold water as a fraction of space opened up.

I wiggled my foot, and felt something shift.

A strong hand—I don’t know whose—gripped my ankle and wrenched.

It hurt like fuck, and I tumbled backwards into the water, but my foot was free . I knocked my head against the wall, and I barely noticed it, because the next wave that pushed in the cave lifted me and held me aloft.

“You good?” Nipper Will yelled at me.

“Yeah!” I swam towards the path that climbed upwards to the high up chamber, with Nipper Will and Dominic following. I dragged myself out of the water and tried to stand.

My ankle gave out, and I stumbled to my knees.

“Take the torch,” Dominic said, and shoved it at Nipper Will. He helped me to my feet. “Come on, Natty.”

Nipper Will led the way up the path. Dominic helped me limp after him.

“I’m alive ,” I said, shivering. I turned around to look into the black water. “Holy shit.”

He pulled me into a hug and pressed a kiss to my temple. I leaned into him and closed my eyes. I never wanted to move again.

“Hurry up!” Nipper Will called back.

So much for that.

It was slow going up the path. Everything hurt.

Not just my ankle, though it hurt the most, but the rest of my body too, just from holding myself in the same position for the last few hours, fighting the push and pull of the waves so that I didn’t fall over.

But I was alive , and I didn’t give a shit about anything else.

Except—

“What the fuck is all this?” Nipper Will asked when we reached the chamber, the beam of the torch bouncing off the black plastic-wrapped packages stacked neatly on the sandy floor.

He spun around and levelled the torch at me.

The light hit my eyes like one of those old spy movies where some guy was about to be interrogated for the nuclear codes. Or maybe a cop movie.

I looked at Dominic.

His face was a mask as he helped me sit down.

“Natty,” Nipper Will said. “What the hell have you been up to?”

I shook my head. What was the point of saying anything? All that euphoric relief I’d felt at being alive drained away.

Dominic pulled his multitool out and knelt down on the floor. He grabbed the first package and neatly sliced the plastic open. His stony expression transformed into one of confusion when he revealed the packaging below.

“What the hell?” he asked, turning the carton over in his hand. “Is this—are these bloody cigarettes , Natty?”

I nodded, my stomach twisting.

Dominic sat back on his arse heavily. He inspected one of the cartons with the French writing on it—the yachties picked them in New Caledonia for Young Harry Barnes—and then he laughed . It wasn’t a happy laugh. It was verging on a crazy laugh.

“Dominic?” I asked, shuffling close enough to reach out and touch his knee.

He looked at me, wide eyed. “Did you almost die for cigarettes ? Not heroin, or cocaine, or meth, but cigarettes ?”

“It’s illegal,” I whispered.

“It’s a tax law,” Dominic said. “A federal tax law. Jesus Christ. I don’t give a fuck about tax laws, Natty!

” He tossed the carton of cigarettes across the floor of the chamber.

“Just... don’t do it again, alright? Because it will be really awkward if I ever end up on an episode of Border Force explaining how I didn’t notice my boyfriend was smuggling cigarettes into the country. ”

I blinked. “You’re not going to arrest me?”

“No, but I might throttle you.”

“Get in line, copper.” Nipper Will sat down beside me. “Me and Young Harry Barnes will be having words tomorrow, and you and Button John had better not do anything stupid like this again.”

I was too tired to argue with him. “Okay.”

“Shift up,” Nipper Will said. “You’re cold.”

“Okay,” I said again.

Dominic leaned forward and dragged a couple of the packages over. “Elevate your ankle.”

I nodded. I was too tired to argue with him as well. Too tired, and too cold. So I shut my mouth and did what both of them told me, and eventually dozed off between them, sharing their body heat as we waited for the tide to turn.