An Ocean Between (Beachside Sweet Romantic Suspense Book 2)

by Rimmy London

  “He should respond quickly,” Jordyn announced, finally finished. “But I believe we will be here for the night at least.” He reached for his pack. “We have a little food, and a few supplies.”

  “I’ll take the first watch,” Givanni said, but Jordyn shook his head. “You need to rest, I can see it. Here—we’ve got a few supplies.” Givanni’s hand dropped to his side in annoyance, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to argue, and with a grunt took the rolled mat Jordyn offered.

  Chapter 17

  With how we were all soaked in seawater, the temperatures in the hollow of a mountain seemed much too cold. But the fire Jordyn and Max tended was just enough to fight it.

  I glanced at Givanni again, knowing he couldn’t possibly be sleeping. His shoulder hadn’t bled through the cloth Enrica had wrapped, and that was a good sign, but I still couldn’t help but watch his forehead for any signs of fever. That would bring an entirely new obstacle. Our sleeping mats were only feet apart, and I had so many questions. If only he hadn’t settled so quickly.

  I rested my head on one arm, still watching him. His breathing seemed much too shallow to be sleep induced, but that was not what held my attention. It was the way his face, darkened with days of growth, looked healthy and capable. His shirt was holding together in sections, and clearly he was keeping his strength up. I squeezed my eyes closed, rubbing my hands over my face quickly. With a gust of breath, I settled my head again, but his eyes were open and watching me. I swallowed. He was entirely too close.

  “Are you okay?” he whispered.

  “I just… can’t sleep.” I tallied the questions in my head, debating on where to start.

  “Loriel,” he said. My eyes flicked up, measuring his face and waiting. With the way his lips were set he definitely had something to say. The green of his eyes simmered as he looked from one point of my face to the next. “I have some questions for you,”

  I almost smiled… almost. It was ironic that we should both be plagued with questions. But for me, it was obvious what those should be. With no idea what he’d been through, or how we were leaving this island, I could start there. But from his end, I couldn’t imagine what information I could possibly give.

  “This past week felt more like a year.” he said quietly, his eyes scanning the cave wall. After a sigh, he continued. “There’s a lot that I will never share.”

  I nodded, agreeing with him. But if I was being honest I was disappointed. I wanted to know everything about him, especially his struggles.

  “But in the time between, I... thought about you. And I realized something.” Propped up on his good arm, he reached for my hand with the other, grimacing a little. I tangled my fingers around his, loving how well we fit together. “I know almost nothing about you, Ella.”

  My face fell—nothing about me? Hadn’t he been to my home? Met my dad? Witnessed, embarrassingly, all my worst fears? But then again, almost all of our time in Italy had been spent with me learning about him. His family, his youth, all to convince them of our mock relationship. I huffed, not enjoying the realization.

  “Can I ask you these questions that I never thought I’d have the chance to ask?”

  His eyes were wide and sincere and I smiled easily, not really caring at that point if he knew everything there possibly was to know about me. “Okay.”

  He shifted a little, and his breath caught before he relaxed again. “Who are your best friends?”

  A little stunned, I tried to look like I was narrowing it down... but wasn’t he my best friend? Wasn’t I his? I brushed this option away; clearly, this wasn’t what he was looking for. Surely I had a life before Givanni—maybe that was what he was referring to.

  “Well, to be honest,” I began, hoping the rest of his questions wouldn’t make me feel quite so pathetic. “I never really had any best friends. Unless you count Luke…” I stopped, checking his reaction quickly. But on his face I only saw interest, so I continued. “But he’s always been more like a brother to me, that’s all. My roommates were a lot of fun, but we just went separate ways.” Givanni waited, and with a little reluctance, I continued. “My mom died when I was young, and my dad raised me with a lot of responsibilities. I think he regrets that, but I don’t. It made me stronger.” Clamping my mouth shut I resolved to leave it at that, not wanting to confess that I’d never needed anyone until I met him.

  Givanni glanced over as Enrica took Jordyn’s place by the cave mouth, surrounded with weapons. I could only imagine what she could do with those. The water level had lowered, exposing more of the jagged rocks below. That we had whipped through them without a snag was unbelievable. I glanced at Jordyn, trying to see even a glimmer of doubt, a chance that he might have betrayed Givanni. But I couldn’t, and Max was even more impossible for my mind to frame. Even Enrica was obviously not capable, at least not when it came to Givanni. It was clear she still cared for him very much—maybe he was her Luke. My eyes lingered on her smooth white-blonde hair and creamy skin. How had Givanni not fallen in love with her?

  Feeling suddenly self-conscious my eyes darted to the side—to where Givanni watched me silently. I swallowed, sure that even a stranger could read my face then.

  “Don’t feel like you need to answer this next one,” he said. His expression softened, which always had a way of igniting the color in his eyes. “How did your mom die?”

  I relaxed, finding this memory easy to talk about. Being only five years old, I remembered more the influx of love and concern from everyone around me than I did the pain. But pain eventually made its way through. As I explained the accident that took her life, a car crash as senseless as they come, I finished in a cracked voice and wiped at the tears quickly. His thumb smoothed the back of my hand, and when I met his eyes again I caught a sheen of moisture tinting the green. Again I wished I could know all that had happened the last few days—it had definitely had an effect on him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “that was too personal,” He shook his head when I tried to object. “It was. Especially for…” with a quick glance at Enrica as she checked gun after gun he continued. “For being in this dark hole. We should be sitting at a café on a sunny afternoon.” His expression changed quickly, lifting as he spoke. “Okay, last one. If you could pick a place—anywhere, where would you go?” My lips curved into a smile—this one was easy. I knew the answer immediately but took my time sharing it.

  “England.” I finally confessed, a flood of images coming to mind with that one word even though I’d never set foot there. Givanni’s eyebrows lifted and he nodded appreciatively.

  “England—I’ve actually never been there. I’d thought for sure you would say Paris.”

  I laughed, and the sound seemed to cause a stir. Max and Jordyn looked up from their card game, both with the hint of a question in their eyes. And Enrica flicked her hair back to stare at me with a warning on her face. Apparently, happiness wasn’t allowed in times like these. I sighed—the feeling was gone anyway.

  After meeting all the eyes that had turned in our direction, Givanni leaned a bit closer. I tried to keep my thoughts from scattering the way they liked to do whenever he was so near. “What’s so funny?” He asked. The smoothness in his voice something he didn’t even realize he possessed.

  I shrugged my shoulders, rubbing a hand across my drowsy eyes. “Well, nothing really. That would be my second choice, so you’re not far off.”

  “Hmm...” The way he studied my face before continuing had me wishing I could read his mind. “Okay, so which part of England?”

  “That detail I hardly care about,” I thought through the trip I’d planned my senior year of high school but had never taken. “I just want to find the most amazing wilderness they have. Somewhere near the coast. Of course, the countryside in Paris is probably just as beautiful.”

  He nodded, confirming my suspicions that he had been to Paris. “Ah, oui, d’une beaute a vous couper le soufflé”

  Great heavens, was he speaking Fren
ch?! Sure my cheeks had warmed to a glowing red, I was for once glad the light hardly afforded us a good glimpse of each other. “Pardonez-moi?” I asked, feeling like my voice was a pathetic imitation compared to whatever his lips had just created.

  He acted impressed anyway, and his mouth pressed into the smile I loved best—the one that formed a perfect crease along one side of his face. “Breathtakingly beautiful.” He whispered, “The French countryside. But I have never been to England, I’m sure it’s beautiful too.” He winked. “It just sounds better in French.” A hushed laugh was all I could manage, heartily agreeing with him.

  The buzz that erupted from the green box behind us turned to tapping, and Jordyn scribbled on a pad of paper until the sound stopped. Givanni was on his feet before I had the chance to try and help and he held a hand out, pulling me up in one quick sweep.

  “Guadalupe… cover…” Jordyn looked confused, rewriting the message twice before finally shaking his head. “They don’t realize we are trapped, but I don’t want to send too much information.” He glanced up briefly before turning back to the box. “Guadalupe… is… compromised.” He tapped away on the tiny lever, looking up with his eyebrows raised when he finished. “Anything else?”

  “Assist.” Givanni glanced at the dimly lit sky, rubbing his hands along the sides of his pants. He wouldn’t wait another day, that much I knew about him. The rest of the group was restless as well, and Max took to gathering the few items we had removed from our packs.

  “We can’t—” Enrica’s words were silenced as the machine clicked to life again, and Jordyn scribbled away, but it was silent after only a few seconds. He didn’t look happy. “What is it?” Enrica asked. Crouched down next to him, she glanced into his face before settling her pale eyes on the pad of paper.

  “Coordinates?” I asked, leaning in to look at the numbers. Although, I wasn’t sure why they would send something like that. Jordyn looked at Givanni, and then Max—the three of them seemingly understanding each other. Jordyn sat back on the sand covered rock with the pad of paper dropping to his lap.

  With a long look at Enrica, he finally answered. “Coordinates and a single word—resolve.” He sighed, “They’ve given us our meeting point, but they want us to fix this before we leave.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Fix what?” I asked, looking from one unresponsive face to the next. What would we fix? Hadn’t we done what we came for?

  Max finally broke the silence. “So they want us to claim this compound? The five of us? With…” His eyes swept the room quickly. “Not nearly the weapons or ammunition we would need?”

  “Yes,” Jordyn sighed. “It just doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t he come for us?”

  We each looked from face to face. No one seemed to be able to explain the strange demand, but no one dismissed it either. It now seemed like our only way out.

  “So they expect us to what… kill everyone here?” I asked, shaking my head with the question.

  Givanni shrugged, “It’s not possible anyway, we would die trying.”

  An idea made its way into my thoughts, and I mulled over it while waiting for someone else to present a plan. But, they just stood silently. “What if we could scare them into evacuating?” I asked. “Could we set a fire or something?” I thought back to the terrain and knew this wouldn’t work – there were hardly and trees and the low shrubs were sparse. I was sure the idea would be brushed aside.

  “That’s a great idea,” Givanni said. I looked up, surprised. Jordyn was nodding and Max lifted his eyebrows in a silent compliment. Even Enrica had the hint of a smile on her face. Givanni took the lead. “This will only work if the’re ignorant to the fact that the storage bins are empty.” He explained. “The oil was drained years ago, but even so, the evacuation alarms should go off in the event of any explosion or fire.”

  Everyone was nodding, and for the first time, it looked like we had a plan that might actually work.

  * * *

  It wasn’t long before we had our packs strapped on and stood watching the water, waiting for the lowest tide we could get. Givanni’s face had become expressionless, and I assumed he was planning what was ahead. It wasn’t until Max and Jordyn started a debate on strategies that he awoke from the rigid trance he had fallen under.

  He walked toward me suddenly, and looked determined to the point of breaking. No one seemed to notice as I backed up quickly and nearly met with the stone by the time he stopped in his tracks. Puzzled, I only watched his face, waiting for those green eyes to meet mine.

  “Ella,” He breathed. “If anything goes wrong I want you out of here. Do not for any reason…” he glanced across my face. “let them take you.” He swallowed, looking on the verge of breaking completely. “Please Ella, please—just keep yourself safe or I will never live through it.”

  There wasn’t time for me to take it in. He only wrapped himself around me for a torturous moment and turned on his heels.

  It left me shocked, and completely in awe of how he could feel so deeply and somehow manage to keep it all in. But there was no way I would let him sacrifice himself. And with his martyrs’ speech, I knew that was exactly what he intended to do.

  Chapter 18

  I slipped off an unbalanced rock, and my leg plunged into the ocean. With a cringe I struggled to pull myself out, trying not to panic. The water had receded surprisingly low and I thanked the moon, but even the memory of those massive shadows under the surface was unnerving.

  Max turned his head with a start and my breath caught in my throat. A fin sliced through the closest swell of water before disappearing just as quickly. I waited for Max to look back at me, but he didn’t. Maybe he thought I hadn’t seen it. It could just be a dolphin. I shook the thought off even as it entered, knowing that dolphins were smarter than that—smarter than us.

  “Okay,” Givanni said. “We round this edge of the island and it will be right in front of us.” He waited for me to join their small huddle, and Max looked to the ocean again.

  I swung my head around, not able to help myself. There it was again, the grey fin that was most decidedly shark.

  “We need to split up. Max and Enrica, wait here and keep an eye out. If I try and radio you or communicate at all, take it as a call for help.”

  We separated, with me following Jordyn and Givanni as we navigated a muddy path up from the beach. The sun had lightened the sky enough to feel exposed, with the landscape becoming a drab mix of tropical and desert, containing mostly tan colored grasses and faded green shrubs. Just as the heavy fronds we were navigating through began to lessen, Givanni dropped to one knee.

  Jordyn and I followed suit, waiting silently. He motioned for us to lower down and we practically hugged the ground. When we’d made it alongside him he pointed to a dirt road ahead of us. I nodded, wondering why it would be of interest when we were trying not to be seen. Jordyn met Givanni’s eyes, and the two whispered out a nearly mute conversation.

  Suddenly Jordyn stood, walking with purpose straight ahead. I looked at Givanni with wide eyes before catching a distant string of Spanish dialect. Jordyn spoke as if to an old friend, and the conversation became hushed as they moved away from us.

  I inched closer to Givanni. “I thought they didn’t like visitors,” I whispered.

  “They don’t,” He ran one hand across the perspiration on his face. “But locals from the mainland bring items for trade all the time.”

  I dropped one eyebrow. “Jordyn looks like a local?” He smiled with a shrug of his shoulders. We continued on through the field and I left my questions behind. The sand at our feet turned to a dry dust and as we approached a hill our progress slowed.

  A grey metal structure came increasingly into view with each step. Guards became visible, too. When we reached the peak of our hill with the building fully in view, it was a plain, boorish, stark contrast to the impressive design of Shellbrook. I doubted that Givanni had a hand in building it.

  “Ella,”

  I
hadn’t noticed Givanni stop and I hovered precariously close. He was watching the building as he no doubt thought over our next steps. I swallowed, wishing through the silence that he would just continue and give me some type of order. It was torture to be so close. Just tell me what to do—say something!

  “Ella,” He repeated, but this time his voice had my heart pounding in my chest. “This will work,” He soothed. “There are never any supervisors out here. They just fill it with bodies who know how to follow orders.”

  I blew hair away from my face with a gust of breath. “Yes… it’s just that,” My eyes followed his knees, watching the way they sunk into the dirt to settle against mine. “You disappeared—almost forever. If it wasn’t by some crazy mishap that I found Max and Enrica, I wouldn’t even know you were alive.” His hand touched my face, and suddenly I knew exactly what to say. “Enrica told me once that I was dispensable, and I think you are in that category now too…” I held my breath for a moment, before finally letting it out. “We should just run. Forget this plan. Forget following orders. We just need to get out of the country.” I wasn’t sure when my mind had created this option, but it felt good to say it. The more we tried to untangle ourselves with this group, the more trapped we became.

  To my surprise, Givanni nodded. “You’re right, I am in that category now. But I intend to change things. And not just for myself.” He looked at me long enough for my nerves to calm. “The IM—Its reach… it can’t continue.” He turned to survey the building again and I pushed off the dirt, bottling the emotions that had come so close. But before I’d balanced my feet, Givanni’s hands moved through my hair. In the time it took me to look up his lips had settled against mine. With a start, I wrapped my arms around him to keep from falling over. He held me just off the sun-warmed grass, leaving me feeling draped in his strength. And as much as I tried to kiss him back, I mostly just shutdown. Every thought, fear, concern… vanished.