Page 56 of Survival

I couldn’t helpbut smile at that. God, I missed riding. There was so much freedominvolved and the feel of the throttle in my hand amped me right up.He must have noticed the brightness in my face as the thought of mybike brought back happy memories ofmy dad andme.

“From my dad,” I said. “He taught me to ride dirt bikes when Iwas young and then we moved on to the street when I was old enoughand got comfortable. He was a Harley lover, but I’m more of aDucati fan. What about you?” I asked.

“I had always beenintothem, but my mom thought they were too dangerous. That didn’tstopme,though. Mybrothers and I all taught ourselves to ride, and I now own severalbikes.”

“Will I ever get to see them?” I asked. I really wanted toknow what he had. It actually excited me alittle.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “If you’re good.” His eyes flicked up tomine as a slight smirk crept into the corners of hismouth.

Inodded.

We talked moreabout our love of riding and all the fun experiences we’d had overthe years. I was surprised at how easy I found it to be talking tohim when we had something in common. I suppose we did have a lot ofcommon ground; I just didn’t want to admit it.

During ourconversations, we snacked on some fruit and crackers and shared asalad while enjoying the breeze from the water. Darren then got upand took off his shirt, throwing it to the side of the blanket.Damn, he looked good from this angle. In this light, he looked alittle too muscular for my taste, but he was impressivenonetheless.

“Come on, let’s go for a swim,” he said, holding his hand outto me.

I thought aboutsecretly breaking off the handle of the champagne glass, sneakingit into the water,shankingthe shit out of his neck, and letting him bleed out until thecurrent took him away while some sharks finished himoff.

God,I’m so murderous!

It was prettyfar-fetched anyway, so I set the glass down, took his hand, and lethim pull me to my feet. We walked hand in hand, as we made our wayto the shore, my hand engulfed by his giant one while he tugged mealong.

When the water ofthe shore splashed over my feet, my skin tingled at thetemperature, which was a little bit chillier than yesterday, but itstill felt nice. I stopped for a second, wondering about my collar,but trusted that Darren wouldn’t lead me to certain death if he hadanything to say about it. . I was pretty sure he’d die along withme anyway.

Darren startedpulling me into the water faster than I would have liked; the waterwas now at my knees and much colder than I was readyfor.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I screeched, pulling him back. “Can’t Ihave some time to adjust?!”

“Sure.” He smiled, and then picked me up and tossed my bodyinto the water, fully submerging me. How in the hell had I not seenthat coming? I emerged from the water, splashing around whiletrying to regain my composure.

“That’s not what I meant, asshole!” I yelled, splashing athim. His laugh was genuine and light as he walked toward me throughthe water.

“I bet you’re used to the water now.” Hegrinned.

I scowled at him,turned, and dove into the water. I only got a few feet beforeDarren caught up to me and wrapped his arms around my torso,pulling me from the ocean.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked,grinning.

“Iwasgoing for aswim. That’s why we came out here, wasn’t it?” I asked as he pulledme to his chest.

“Well, yeah, butyou took off without me.” He almost soundedsad.

“Not my fault you can’t keep up.” Ishrugged.

“I’m pretty sure I caught up to you fairly quickly,” he said,tightening his grip on me for emphasis.

“What do you want, a medal?” I asked,sarcastically.

Damn, I washilarious.

“Nope, having you as a prize is just fine,” he said as helowered us deeper into the water. He just seemed so playful andcarefree today. I wondered what had gotten him in themood.

He pulled us outpast the sandbar until it was up to his shoulders and well past myhead. He let me go, and I had to kick my feet tostayafloatwhile all hehad to do was stand. We swam around for a while, and I floated onmy back here and there, just enjoying the warmth of the sun whilethe taste of salt water lingered in my mouth. When I opened my eyessome time later, Darren wasnowhereto be found.

I turned around inthe water frantically as I looked for him, but hewasnowhereinsight.Hopefully,he drowned?Yeah, right, as if a man like him would go down like that. But Istill secretly hoped as I continued to scan the water for him.Maybe I could head back to the shore, grab his phone, and unlockthe shit around my limbs; maybe get the fuck out of here. Butbefore I had a chance to move, I felt a presence rising behind mefrom the water.

Darren pulled mefrom behind to his chest and sank us both under the waves.Instinctively, I fought against his arms, but they acted likechains around my waist and there was no use escaping them. Hetwisted us under the water and then finally pulled us back up forair. He kept a strong hold of me as I gasped for air and splashedaround. He chuckled heavily behind me.