“Are you okay?”
I freed myself from him immediately. “I’m fine,” I replied, although my trembling voice would have suggested otherwise.
“Good. What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.
I looked around and spotted the ocean wave hitting the same rocks along the bottom of the mountains, which were only a few feet behind us. Rick had landed closer to them than I had. I wobbled in the water and Rick grabbed a hold of me again.
“Let go of me. I can swim, you know,” I whined, heading toward the shore. My body was exhausted from the crash, but I willed myself to make it on my own.
He caught up with me and pulled me to one of the rocks by the cliff for support until I caught my breath. I avoided looking at him but noticed he kept his focus on me.
“That was a real stupid thing to do, Amy. What were you trying to prove?” He looked around the empty ocean and beach. There wasn’t a body in sight. “And to whom?”
“What are you doing here? How did you get up there?”
“I followed you.” His voice was quieter and less demanding.
“Why?” My voice was still shaky, and my teeth were beginning to chatter. I was safe and had lived through this, yet I was having a hard time calming down. Rick, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed by the fall, other than a few goosebumps I noticed on his arms.
“C’mon. Let’s get you out of here. There are sharks out here, you know.” He gave me a pull toward the shore, and I swam the rest of the way. He stayed behind me. We finally reached shore, and I started walking, but I was exhausted. My knees finally gave in, and I plopped down just as a small wave thrust into me from behind.
“Not quite there.” Rick came up behind me, lifting me by the waist. He led me to the warm, dry sand before letting me plop back onto it. He dropped himself right beside me.
We sat in silence for a moment, watching and listening to the waves, still catching our breaths. For some reason, the ocean seamed meaner than I’d ever known it to be. There was a sudden change in the sound of the crashing waves. They seemed louder and enraged, as if the ocean was no longer a friend, but a challenging opponent.
“Should I bother asking, or are you going to launch another defense bullet at me?” he finally asked, still looking out deep into the water.
“What, like no one does it?” I said, relieved that I’d found my calm voice again.
He gave a short laugh, although I could tell from his concealed anger that he found nothing funny about this. I guess the if-your-friends-jumped-off-a-cliff theory wouldn’t work here.
“I needed to prove something to myself,” I replied.
“Did it work?”
I looked at him. “Did you see me leap from a forty-foot cliff?”
“Yeah, I was right behind ya.”
“What were you doing out here?” I was really curious this time.
“The same thing you were doing.” He turned to me. “Going for a swim. I was in the water and saw you heading up there,” he paused. “So I followed you.”
“So how many times have you made that jump?” I asked after an awkward moment.
“Once…including today.” He raised his eyebrows.
I glared at him, surprised.
“I may be a water sports instructor, but I’m not insane.”
I felt my cheeks turn red and pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.
He smiled to himself.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“It was kind of incredible,” he admitted.
