Page 55 of Shattered Darkness
“You sound worryingly unsure,” Nate points out.
“That’s because I am,” I reply.
“Great,” Kyle adds. “Well, I say we give him five more minutes if he doesn’t resurface in that time, then we go in after him.”
I nod, feeling relieved that he’s come up with a plan, as I reply, “Yeah, that sounds good.” I pause as I feel the bond link flare, “Ah shit, Sage is on the Bond Lines.”
“Don’t tell her, it could be nothing and you don’t want to worry her unnecessarily,” Nate suggests.
I nod, “Good point.”
“Everything okay?” Sage asks via the Bond Lines. She sounds a lot more relaxed than she did when we first left, and I know that’s thanks to Erin being there, and the other guys no doubt distracting her.
“Everything is fine. We just got to the lake, so Jax is taking his time refueling,” I reply, and then I wonder why I didn’t try to get to him through the Bond Linesto see if he’s okay. However, there’s always a slight chance that Sage could hear, if I don’t block the other lines well enough or even because I’ve blocked the Bond Lines, I make her suspicious, and then she starts to worry anyway, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.
She’s got so much to worry about at the moment that I don’t want to add to it unless we really have to, and there’s no real sign that Jax is in trouble. He’s just been under the water for slightly longer than he normally would be.
Okay, it's a lot longer than he usually would be.
“Good, I’ll leave you to it then. If anything seems hinky, let us know, or just get back here as soon as possible. I still haven’t heard anything from Cain, and that’s making me a bit nervous. Other than Maria and the guys, he’s our only ally here, and we need him.”
“We will, don’t worry. I wouldn’t worry about Cain, either. If we’re right about what he means to Nyx, then I’m sure that she’s making sure that he’s absolutely okay before she sends him back, just like you would do with one of us.” I reply, trying to reassure her while I keep my eyes on the water.
“Yeah, that’s true. He must have been more affected than even we thought, and we knew that he was affected.”
“Exactly,” I reply.
“Thanks, Hunt. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” I reply, and the lines go silent again.
Once everything is back to normal and I’m alone in my head again, I turn to the other two and ask, “Did you see any movement?”
Nate shakes his head, “Nope, not yet.”
“Shit,” I curse and then start to toe off my shoes. “Looks like I’m going in.”
I strip so that I’m just in my sweatpants and then move to the edge of the lake, preparing to jump in. Just as I’m about to jump, Jax’s head breaks the surface of the water with a giant smile adorning his face.
“Oh, are you coming in?” Jax asks.
“Dude, if you worry me like that again I’m going to kick your ass on fucking principle,” I snap back.
“What he said,” Kyle adds.
“I’ll help,” Nate adds.
Jax’s eyes go wide as he stares at us, looking confused about why I’m yelling at him, “What happened? What did I do?”
“You’ve been under for an hour,” I explain, and then because I feel bad, I add, “Sorry for yelling, you scared the fucking shit out of me. I was just about to come in after you.”
“We thought something had happened to you,” Nate adds.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry, guys. I thought I’d only been under for like twenty minutes maximum like I usually am,” he replies, looking genuinely sorry.
“It’s not your fault, dude. You obviously needed it, and you were clearly weaker than we’ve seen you before,” Kyle replies with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I honestly hadn’t realised just how bad it was. I mean, I knew that I was getting pretty desperate and that I’d pushed it a lot further than I should’ve done by not coming to the lake sooner, but it wasn’t until I was struggling to keep up with you three, which never happens that I realised that I was in trouble,” Jax replies honestly as he moves towards the banks of the lake.