Page 3 of Suddenly Beck

I feel alive, the thought pounds through my mind in a fierce rush, only to be replaced two short seconds later with the thought… oh my fucking God I’m going to die.

I’d been so preoccupied with the wild romance of it all, I’d somehow managed to miss the giant wave heading straight for me. It crashes over me, sweeping my feet out from under me and dragging me forward into the churning tide.

I kick as hard as I can, spluttering as my head breaches the surface, but another wave hits me, pushing me down into the swirling vortex, forcing me down and rolling me along the ocean floor. It’s littered with tiny sharp stones which scratch and stab at my hands as I try desperately to grab on, anything to stop myself being swept further out to sea.

It’s truly remarkable what goes through your head in that split second when you’re facing imminent and certain death. You’d think it would be something deep or profound, something you could comfortably engrave on an epitaph and preserve for posterity. But no... I can tell you that is absolutely and categorically, one hundred percent not the case.

My first thought was, you’re an idiot, followed rapidly by, oh my God, I finally grew the balls to run away from home, only to wind up accidentally killing myself on a pretty coastal stretch of Cornwall, followed lastly by the really random thought, what if I don’t die and get swept out to sea, only to land on a desert island like Tom Hanks inCastawayand doomed to spend the rest of my days in a dodgy loin cloth and talking to a basketball with a bloody handprint for a face?

I kick for the surface again, my arms flailing, and for a brief second, I manage to suck some oxygen into my starving and panicked lungs before being forced under once more. This time, I’m under no illusion that I’m going to die. My arms and legs are tiring, moving sluggishly in the water as I’m battered by the crashing waves. My vision is blurring, and my lungs screaming for air. I stop struggling, but as I slowly sink down, a strong pair of arms wrap around me.

My head breaches the surface, and this time, I’m being towed back toward the shore. My body feels like a dead weight. It’s a struggle to move my exhausted limbs as I feel myself being hauled out of the water and dragged further up the sand away from the icy waves.

There’s a man hunched over me in concern as I lie on the freezing wet sand, wheezing and coughing the seawater from my lungs and spread out, rather unattractively, like some sort of graceless starfish.

I blink again, but all I can focus on is a pair of incredible hazel-coloured eyes. They’re staring at me, hovering just above my face. For a second, I’m still disorientated, so caught up in the golden amber and vivid green depths encircling those dark pupils, I almost miss the flash of fury until his sharp words penetrate the fog surrounding my brain.

‘What the hell were you thinking?’ he snaps angrily, raising his voice above the violent boom of the waves and the howl of the wind. ‘Are you stupid? Have you got no sense of self-preservation? Why the hell would you stand that close to the water’s edge during a fucking storm? What the fuck did you think you were you doing?’

It immediately raises all my hackles.

‘Re-enacting the shrimp boat scene from Forest Gump,’ I snap indignantly in response, humiliation burning my cheeks. ‘What do you think I was doing?’

For a second, we stare at each other breathing heavily, and just when I think he’s going to yell at me again, I see the corner of his mouth twitch in reluctant amusement.

‘Well, Lieutenant Dan, did you make your peace with God or were you trying to prematurely join him?’ he asks after a moment.

‘Neither,’ I huff and find myself impulsively grinning at the ridiculousness of my current situation. ‘It’s just the latest example of my rather questionable decision making skills.’

He blinks at me as if momentarily dazed, and my smile dims at his silence. He’s gorgeous I realise, swallowing hard. He looks to be in his twenties the same as me. Those piercing hazel eyes are set in a beautiful, tanned face with a firm jaw and high cheek bones. His blond hair is long, hanging almost to his shoulders and plastered wetly to his face.

I glance down, and, in that moment, realise two things. Firstly, that I’m gripping onto his firmly muscled biceps as he leans over me, and secondly, that he’s actually laying between my spread legs, his weight braced on his arms with his hands placed either side of my head. With that sudden heady realisation my cock instantly hardens. I squawk in embarrassment and shove him, but his body is so solid it’s like trying to move a bloody rock.

‘Off,’ I croak, hoping desperately he can’t feel the firm press of my dick.

He climbs off me, standing slowly as he watches me. I roll to my side, pushing myself onto my knees and breathing deeply. My heart is pounding in my chest so hard it feels like I’m going to crack a rib. I silently try to will away the uncomfortable stiffness of my rebellious cock, but it seems to be thoroughly unrepentant when presented with such a beautiful man to look at.

Christ, what the hell is wrong with me? He’s probably not even into guys, he’s probably just some buff off-duty lifeguard who spends his free time saving idiots from trying to accidentally baptise themselves with the ocean.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ he asks in concern. ‘Did you hit your head when you went under?’

‘No.’ I shake my head feeling more in control of my traitorous body as I push myself to my feet and turn to face him. Holy shit, that’s even worse. Now that I can see him fully, I realise he must have discarded his jacket and shoes when he dived in after me because he’s standing, soaked to the skin, in nothing but jeans and a white t-shirt, which clings wetly to every single ripple and rock-hard ridge on his torso. ‘Er, I… I’m fine,’ I stutter. ‘No head injury, believe it or not, this is actually normal behavior for me.’

His face breaks into a wide smile, and once again, I blink.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, the boy has dimples. I stare in fascination at the tiny little creases at the corners of his mouth. Fuck, there goes my dick again. I seriously need to get that maniac under control before he gets us both in trouble. But before I can do or say anything, my attention is drawn by a blur of golden-coloured fur bounding across the sand heading straight for me.

‘It’s alright she won’t hurt you,’ the stranger manages to get out a second before the golden retriever jams her nose straight into my crotch.

‘Jesus,’ I wheeze as I double over.

Dick instantly deflated, mission accomplished. I reach down and cup her jaw, gently removing her face from my crotch and leaning down to look at her. She stares straight into my eyes, letting out joyful bark as she wags her tail.

‘Sorry, I’m just not that sort of boy,’ I tell her as her tongue lolls out in a canine smile. ‘And that’s really very forward of you, you didn’t even buy me dinner first.’

The stranger laughs again.

‘I’m really sorry,’ he apologises. ‘She’s mine. She has no manners or concept of personal space.’