she said, jerking her hands out of his.
“I have to go,” Jeremy said when they turned toward the parking lot.
“We can give you a ride home,” Sammy said.
He paused, gazing at Kai and Leilani as they continued to argue. Kai cared for her. He was more a friend to her than he’d ever been.
“That’s all right. I have a way home.”
“Leilani misses you too.”
Those words etched into his heart more than he wanted them to.
“Maybe some other time. I’ll see you on the beach soon. I promise.”
8
H e couldn’t even last twenty-four hours. Jeremy shook his head as he walked down the beach to the exact spot where he knew he’d find Leilani and Sammy. He should’ve walked away and headed in the opposite direction, but nope. His stubborn feet were leading him right to them.
Not that that he hadn’t tried to fight it. He’d laid on his bed for hours, listening to the roar of the ocean’s waves, unable to get a wink of sleep. All he could think about was them. It was useless fighting against all the reasons why he shouldn’t see them. So he’d caved.
There was a lightness to his steps as he turned the corner to the section of the beach where Sammy and Leilani liked to hang out. And, yep, he was right. There was Sammy, wet hair plastered against his face as he walked out of the water with a bodyboard.
Jeremy gazed out toward the ocean, expecting to see Leilani with him.
“Jeremy! You’re here!” Sammy ran to him.
“Of course I am. I told you we’d hook up soon.”
“Check out the new bodyboard Kai got for me! Wanna go for a ride with me? You can use my old one.”
Sammy pointed to another bodyboard sitting next to Leilani’s surfboard.
“Sure,” he said, scanning the beach. Her board was there. So where was she?
“Cool. We have to wait until Leilani finishes her exercises.”
“Where is she?”
Sammy turned to the ocean, placing a hand over his eyes, he squinted. “Over there. I think.”
He looked at the direction Sammy was pointing. There was nothing but blue water.
“Where?”
“See that water bottle with the little red flag poking out of it?”
He focused his angelic vision, searching past the white-crested waves until he saw a floating bottle. No Leilani.
This was not good. There wasn’t a boat in sight. And her surfboard was on the beach. What the hell was she doing? He had a funny feeling about this.
“I see it. So where is she?”
“She’s sitting on the ocean floor doing her exercises,” Sammy said, his voice sounding nonchalant as he flopped down on the sand.
Sitting on the—!
Okay, relax. Leilani wasn’t that foolish. Maybe she had on scuba gear.
“What do you mean exercises? Like scuba diving?”
“Nah, that’s sissy stuff. She’s freediving. She swims to the bottom and sits there holding her breath as along as she can before she comes back up.”
“SHE WHAT?”
The girl was insane. He was about to go in after her when he suddenly stopped. He’d done this before. He’d attempted to save her when she had wiped out. She hadn’t needed saving, and she’d ended up pissed. That was the last thing he needed. Still, he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that he should be out there dragging her crazy ass back to the beach.
“Chill, Jeremy. She’s done it before. It’s been a while, though.”
Jeremy bounced on his feet. He didn’t like this at all. How could Sammy sit there and be so calm? And where the hell was Kai? He should’ve never thought that the man-child had the ability to take care of her. This was his fault.
“How long has she been under?”
Sammy reached into his pocket, pulling out what looked like a waterproof stopwatch. He glanced at it. Color drained from his face.
Shit!
“How long Sammy?”
“Three minutes.”
“Three minutes!”
“Yeah, but she did four easy a couple of years ago.”
Jeremy nervously looked out into the water.
Wait or go? Wait or go?
Sammy stood, dropping the stopwatch onto the sand as he slowly