Being stuck on a sailboat with the both of them is probably not an ideal situation.
“If you all get on,” Lake instructs, “I’ll sail it out and then we’ll go from there.”
We all climb onto the large sailboats, and I go over to the railing, away from Waylen and Lake, and stare out at the beautiful water. Fallon and Ember join me, and we enjoy every second as we cast off. Lake sails us out into the middle of the water where there is nothing else around and then slows it down.
“Okay, who is up first?”
I throw my hand up with such force everyone laughs.
“Step on up then, beautiful,” Lake murmurs.
Fallon rolls her eyes with a big grin, and I can’t help but notice Waylen’s tight-lipped glare. I walk over and Lake goes over everything, showing me exactly what to do and how to sail the boat. I give it my best shot, but my god I suck at it, and I become frustrated rather quickly, even with his gentle guidance.
“I can’t do this,” I bark, stomping my foot in frustration.
“Take a breath, you’re overthinking it,” Lake says, stepping up behind me and guiding my hand in the right direction.
“You’re showing her wrong, that’s what the damned problem is,” Waylen mutters, walking over and practically shoving Lake out of the way.
Bad move.
“Waylen, you need to back off, right now,” Lake grinds out, stepping back up.
“If you showed her how to correctly do it, she wouldn’t be struggling,” Waylen says, unbothered by Lake’s anger. “Move and I’ll show her.”
“I’m teaching here, get out of the way,” Lake shoots back. “Fuckin’ now.”
Oh boy.
“Can you two stop, please?” I say, turning and taking a step back to get out of their way.
They don’t hear me, at least, they don’t show that they do.
“Back off,” Waylen grunts when Lake steps closer in warning.
Lake steps right up to Waylen’s face. “You’re walking a fine line, back down.
“Fuckin’ touch me, Lake, and see what happens.”
Waylen steps closer, Lake steps closer, and then Waylen shoves him, just a little. That’s all it takes. Lake shoves him back, even harder, and the two go to lunge for each other.
“Can you two stop!” I cry, throwing my hands up.
I try to avoid their argument and take a big step back and don’t realize there are ropes and items in the way. I stumble and, before I know what’s happening, I go right over the railing. I fall, screaming as I go down. I hit the water hard, so hard it knocks the breath out of me. I can’t breathe as I struggle to surface from the cold water. My entire body hurts, and I’ve taken a mouth full of liquid that I can’t expel.
Freaking out, I scramble, choking, trying to get to the surface as my heart rate increases.
Hands go around my waist and I’m being hauled out of the water. I surface and immediately cough and gasp as the water tries desperately to escape my lungs. Lake is the one who dove in, and he’s hanging onto me, slamming his hand over my back and telling me to breathe, but I’m freaking out.
I can’t breathe.
I just keep coughing.
Throwing my hands in the air and waving them around, I can’t seem to stop the coughing long enough to get air into my lungs and the more that happens, the more I panic.
“Willa, you need to calm down. You’re freaking out. Calm down.”
He rubs my back, over and over, and, eventually, I begin to breathe. It burns, but with every breath, my rapid heart slows and I’m able to understand what’s going on around me. That’s when the anger comes into play, wild, wild anger. I don’t appreciate two grown ass men fighting the way those two just did. It’s pathetic, and it’s nothing but a show of dicks.
“Let me go,” I snap, shoving Lake away.
“Willa, here,” Waylen calls, lowering the side ladder so I can get back into the boat.
Fallon and Ember are both at the railing, their faces worried. The second I start swimming over, they practically shove Waylen out of the way and come to help me up. Once I’m back on board, Ember wraps a towel around me and Fallon steps up. She’s not afraid to say what she thinks and oh, does she unleash on the two men. Lake is back on board now, dripping, his hair wet, and Waylen is standing a few meters away from him, a glare on his face.
“You two need to tuck your swinging dicks away. What you just did then could have fucking killed her. We’re not in high school anymore, yet you two are acting like love-struck teenagers who are about to get their dicks wet for the first time. Not with my girl. Not here. You owe her one hell of an apology and you’ll be lucky if I don’t report both of you. Now get over there and kiss her god damned toes because she deserves better than both of you scumbags.”