Page 32 of Rule 4: Never Get Stranded with a Sports Reporter

This is bad.

I look around to find Jason, but he’s disappeared completely, and I clutch onto the jet ski handles, suddenly aware of every wave, of how far I am from shore, of what might be in the water. Like sharks.

I’m completely alone.

On a jet ski that doesn’t work.

And if no one finds me...

Tears sting my eyes, and the world wobbles. No. I’m not going there.

I stand on the jet ski gingerly. I look down at the waves. How far down is the ocean floor?

I hold on to the handlebar, then wave my arm. “Jason! Jason!”

He doesn’t come.

I’m alone.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jason

The wind whips past my ears as I gun the jet ski across the open water. I can’t hear anything but the roar of the engine.

For the first time all week, I’m free.

Something like joy bursts from my chest, and I whoop into the glittery paradise.

Sapphire waves bounce around us, and glimmering fish swivel past, smirking at our need to hire jet skis in order to gawk at their beauty. The horizon has long since swallowed the hotel, and now there’s nothing else in sight.

I wonder if Cal is enjoying this and glance back.

He’s not there.

I frown and slow the engine. I scan the ocean. He can’t have disappeared.

Except it seems like that’s exactly what he did.

A knot tightens in my gut, and I turn in a wide circle. The world is water and sky. Nothing else.

The knot in my stomach tightens.

“Cal?” I shout.

Nothing.

I turn around, hoping I’m heading in the right direction. Because fuck, there are no landmarks here. It’s easy to get lost.

Finally, I find him. He’s barely more than a speck. His jet ski is motionless as the waves toss it this way and that, and he’s standing on top of it, grasping awkwardly onto a single handle.

My stomach sinks.

He flails his other arm wildly. Even from here, I can tell it’s not a look-at-the-cool fish wave. He’s frantic.

Fuck.

I head toward him. The closer I get, the more I realize something is wrong. Cal’s face is red, his clothes are wet and cling to him, though mine do too. These waves are brutal.