Where Sea Meets Sky(37)

But Nick is next, blasting down the ropes like a stripper on a pole, and he gives Gemma a hard high five, accompanied by a few Tom Cruise-ish hoots and an “Aw yeah, awesome!” If I let my real caveman come out, I would have to club him over the head with a rock and steal her from right under his nose.

Soon we’re all gathered on the overgrown canyon floor and Blair is leading us toward the stack of inner tubes. Once we’ve each picked one up and swung it on our shoulders, we’re told to flick on our headlamps and follow him into the cave.

It smells like, well, like a cave—dank and earthy—and while at first there’s a lot of height to the ceiling, it gradually slopes lower and lower until we’re all hunched over. The sound of water increases to a roar, and through the glow of our headlights I catch glimpses of a river. The light from the outside world is far away, a dim glow of blue at the end of the cave.

I shiver. “Has anyone seen the movie The Descent?”

Amber glares at me, her face washed out against my lamp. “Shut the fuck up, don’t talk about that movie while we’re in here.”

Blair laughs. “Every day, someone brings that film up. Well, rest assured, we aren’t going to be squeezing into any tight spots, and there are no creepy half-man, half-animal blind cannibals hiding in the dark. Besides,” he says, reaching forward and grabbing Gemma’s biceps, “it looks like Gemma here can take care of them herself.”

Gemma gives him a small smile at the slight intrusion, but Nick immediately smacks Blair’s hand off of her, stepping in between them with his chest out and his neck muscles all strained and ropey.

“Hey, ease off,” he snarls, getting in Blair’s face.

And I thought I was the caveman here.

Blair’s eyes go wide and he raises his palms in surrender. “No harm, mate. I was just saying she’s pretty strong. No monsters will mess with her.”

Nick jabs his finger into Blair’s chest and I hear someone in the back of the cave suck in their breath. “She’s not yours to touch.”

I exchange a look with Amber, both of us uncomfortable as hell. Everyone is, especially Gemma, who is going beet red and looks like she wants the ceiling to collapse on her.

“Nick, it’s fine,” she says, her voice low but harsh, like she doesn’t want to bring further attention to herself. “Just forget it.”

Nick doesn’t seem to hear her. He stares at Blair for a beat before jerking his head at him like a posturing dog. Then he turns around, putting his arm around Gemma and leading her away to the back of the pack.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m naturally a jealous person. I’ve gotten in fights over ex-girlfriends before, I don’t like it when guys hit on my woman, and I can be fairly possessive—if she’s mine, she’s mine. That said, I could see that Blair meant no harm, and I wonder if Nick is always blowing his top like this around her, or if it’s a new thing. Gemma doesn’t seem like the type of person to put up with it.

Then again, maybe the Gemma I met in Vancouver wasn’t really her at all. What did she say about Halloween again? Everyone wants to pretend to be someone else? I put that revelation away for now.

Blair attempts to shake it off, though as he addresses us for the rafting procedures, he avoids looking in their direction. I’m barely listening to him myself. I look over my shoulder at Nick and Gemma. He’s still staring at Blair with murder in his eyes, but Gemma briefly looks at me. I give her a sympathetic smile that she doesn’t return. Her eyes shine dully in my light.

“All right, let’s do this,” Blair says, clapping his hands together. “Let’s do four to a group, which seems to work out perfectly here. I’ll take the lead.”

Blair walks to the edge of the black river with his tube. I look to Amber, feeling like I missed something. “Wait, what’s going on?”

She rolls her eyes. “Way to pay attention.” She peers at Nick and Gemma. “Were you guys at least listening?”

They stare at her blankly. She sighs and looks even smaller under the weight of her helmet. “When we get in the river, we have to attach to each other by hooking our legs on each other’s shoulders.”

I glance at the gently rolling water and observe the other four in our group, trying to sit in their tubes and splashing awkwardly in the water.

“Come on,” Blair yells at us, now sitting comfortably in the black tube and holding on to the riverbank with one hand, his white boots glowing against the black. “You don’t want to be left behind.”

Seeing that we’re in near-pitch dark except for our headlamps, which paints the rugged and slick cave walls in an eerie glow, while an underground river rushes past us and disappears into the fathomless depths of the cave, no, it’s not a place we want to be left behind in.