Honeymoon From Hell - Part 4

I pushed away from the sandy ocean bottom with my flippers, looking up toward the surface. My body rose only slightly. I kicked again, but rose only a few feet before sinking back down. My brain screamed for air. My lungs hurt, and my head felt heavy.

The tank weighed me down. I fumbled at the buckles holding the tank to my body, and slipped out of the harness. Then, I kicked hard for the surface as blackness crept around the edges of my vision.

At the surface I gasped air, treading water and trying to clear my head. I located the boat, and swam for it. A crew member met me by the ladder, helped me up over the edge of the boat and onto the deck.

“You hurt, senora?” he asked, as he reached into a storage box for a first aid kit. “Where is your tank?” He asked.

I tried to stop shaking and calm myself. He swabbed my cuts with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol.

I motioned out to the ocean. “Out there, somewhere.”

Where was Matt? Didn’t he wonder where I was?

I collapsed onto a bench, my head spinning. I tried to focus on the waves slapping against the sides of the boat and the gulls, crying as they hovered overhead.

A diver broke the surface and swam toward the boat. As he climbed aboard, I saw that he carried something with him. My air tank.

The crew member carried it over. “Senora, no air,” he said, pointing at the tank’s gauge. “And these weights, too much for you.”

I stared at the weight belt that had been looped around my tank.

“Jennifer!” Matt crawled up the ladder into the boat and then hurried across the deck to me. “I’ve been swimming around down there, looking for you. What happened?” he asked as he took in the cuts on my hands and arm. His weight belt was gone. His face looked worried, but I couldn’t see the same worry deep in his eyes.

“Where’s Sarah?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I was looking for you. Who cares where she is?”

“We were looking at the reef. Something slammed into me, forced me into the reef. The mouthpiece flew out of my mouth. By the time I straightened things out, I was alone down there. And by then, I wasn’t getting any air; my air tank was empty.”

Someone shouted. A diver surfaced and swam for the boat, pulling another diver with him. Several of the crew dove overboard to help bring the man in. As they pulled him over the side, I recognized Ryan. He groaned as they lowered him to the deck.

Matt and I rushed over. The captain held smelling salts under Ryan’s nose; his eyes jerked open and he twisted on the deck.

“Ryan! What happened?” Matt asked, leaning over him. Ryan looked at us in confusion. Suddenly, a dripping wet Sarah pushed her way through the group of people kneeling around her husband. Ryan glanced up at her, then his eyes rolled back and he closed them again.

“Did he hit his head?” Matt asked Sarah.

She pulled back from her husband. “He swam off alone, into the reef. I don’t know what happened.” She folded her arms and stared down at Ryan.

“Probably tried to follow a school of fish into the reef, got stuck and panicked,” Matt said.

My husband’s mouth uttered the words, but they seemed to come from a stranger. I had been attacked and nearly drowned, and now Ryan had nearly drowned, but Matt had no sympathy for either of us.

 I stepped away from the group and eased down onto a bench. What I was thinking wasn’t romantic or loving. It had been Matt’s weight belt wrapped around my tank. We had each bought half a million in travel insurance just before leaving for this trip.

 Was Matt trying to kill me?

 “Oh, Ryan, chill. You both panicked, that’s all.” Sarah rolled her eyes and leaned into my husband in the taxi’s back seat. “Jennifer turned the valve all the way open and the air ran out, and Ryan, you always push your air to the limit. Is this all about getting more attention?”

Ryan rested his head against the window glass. I turned to face the road ahead of us. My head was splitting, and the scratches from the coral stung.

Back at the hotel, Ryan and I took the elevator up and each went to our respective room. I’d had no choice but to leave Matt and Sarah together downstairs. My head pounded, and I no longer had the will to try to keep them apart.

Hours later, when Matt returned to the room, I lay in bed awake in the darkness. I felt the bed move as Matt crawled in. He didn’t reach for me.

My plan had solidified. If my suspicions were right, I had to save myself.

 

At breakfast, I learned our parasailing adventure was set for later that morning. Matt and Sarah had contracted with a vendor on the beach last night after Ryan and I had gone to our rooms.

“I’m not up to it, Babe. Really I’m not,” Ryan said. “Let’s just spend the day at the pool.”

“Are you kidding?” Sarah roared. “When will we ever get to parasail in Acapulco Bay again? I’m going.”

I turned to Matt. “Don’t know that I’m up for it either, honey. I still have a headache. A really bad one.”

Sarah shoved her chair back from the table. “We have to go parasailing. I put down a deposit. Come on.” She stalked away from the table, grabbing Ryan by the arm as she passed him.

I looked at Matt. He and I had hardly spoken since the previous afternoon. The bruises and scratches from my fall into the coral made personal contact painful.

“I’m so sorry about what happened yesterday,” he said, stroking my hair and cheek with one finger. He’d said the same words when we first got out of bed this morning.

He seemed subdued, and concern wrinkled the skin around his eyes. I shifted my look to the window, and the bright blue cloudless sky.

Did he really care about me?

On this beautiful morning, it was hard to imagine he had really tried to kill me yesterday. Maybe it was my jealous streak combined with an overactive imagination.

I was ruining my honeymoon. I had let Sarah take over my emotions. Well, her control of my honeymoon would end today.

We found the vendor waiting for us on the beach, and he led the way to the small dock where his motor boat was tied. His partner waited on the sand, holding the parasail harness.

“Who first? Senora?” he asked, motioning at me.

“No. I’m not doing this; I’m just along for the ride.” Matt looked at me in surprise.

“What? We set this up for you and now you really won’t do it?” Sarah sputtered.

“No, I won’t. My body is already in enough pain. You go. I’ll watch.” I climbed into the boat, picking up a life vest and strapping it on. My body was shaking. I sincerely hoped nothing was going to happen on this adventure, but if it did, I would make sure it didn’t happen to me.

“That’s ridiculous. Okay, Ryan, you go,” Sarah demanded.

Ryan shrugged and followed my lead. “Nope. I’m sitting this one out, too.” He climbed into the boat and sat across from me.

Matt looked from me to Ryan, and then at Sarah. “Well, you know, you were the one who was so hot to do this. You go ahead, and then maybe I will. Ladies first.” He crawled in and sat next to me, his arm carefully circling my neck and gently patting my shoulder. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

Sarah’s eyes were wide. She stared at the driver, and his accomplice on the beach. “Should I? I mean, is it okay?” she stammered.

The Mexican shrugged, “Si, senora, you okay.” His partner helped her put on the harness, and then hooked the parasail line to the back.

Standing on the beach as the boat moved away from the dock, Sarah kept looking at the harness, feeling the thick nylon straps. I watched as the man beside her tapped her shoulder, pointed at the boat and then poised himself to help with her take off. Suddenly the boat motor roared and in an instant, Sarah was airborne, pulled along by the brightly colored sail. Her feet were kicking, and she was gripping the harness tightly above both shoulders. The boat headed out into the bay, making a slow lazy circle. The sail dropped lower, and suddenly, Sarah dropped into the bay, screaming.

The boat motor roared as the driver circled back around to where we could see Sarah floating in the water. She wasn’t moving, but her vest was keeping her head above water.

            Matt and Ryan both jumped up, but I grabbed their arms and kicked off my beach shoes as I quickly stood. “I’ll get her. I’m a lifeguard. I’ll need both you guys to pull her into the boat.”

            I dove in and swam to where Sarah floated with eyes closed, feeling the salt water sting on yesterday’s cuts. The boat circled and picked up the sail.

            “Sarah,” I said, slapping her cheeks lightly. “Sarah, you okay? Let’s get you back in the boat.”

            She opened one eye just a slit. “You get back in the boat, bitch,” she hissed. “Matt will rescue me. He won’t admit it, but he still loves me.” Her eyes blazed.

            “I don’t think so. Swim to the boat yourself.” As I turned away Sarah pushed my head under the water.

            I kicked away and surfaced, gasping for a quick breath. Matt and Ryan stared from the boat.

“Didn’t you hear me? She’s trying to drown me!” Sarah screamed.

I shook my head and swam toward the boat. Suddenly, I felt a tugging on my legs, and was pulled under water again. Sarah clawed over me, pushing me down. I kicked away and surfaced.

“Bitch!” she screamed as she lunged at me again.

“Stop it!” I yelled, shoving her away with all of my strength.

She lunged at me again. I slugged her. I’d been told as a lifeguard only to use the technique as a last resort, when a drowning person panicked and was trying to drown the rescuer. In this situation, it was all I could think of. Dazed by the blow, she blinked at me. I got behind her and took hold of her vest, pulling her the five or six yards to the boat.

“Here, you guys take it from here,” I said, moving away from Sarah and from the boat. I tread water as the two men reached over and plucked her from the water. Then I swam back over to the boat and reached up to heft myself over the side.

“Take my hand, honey.” Matt leaned over the side. I reached out for him and then climbed into the boat. He handed me a towel from my beach bag.

As I dried off, Ryan scowled at Sarah. She huddled on the seat, glaring at me.

“Look what you did, bitch!” She pointed down at the red welts that streaked across her upper chest from my finger nails. “Matt, see? She wanted me to drown.”

I laughed. “Ryan and Matt both saw I was trying to save you. Your game’s up. From here on out, stay away from us.” I looked at Matt, hoping to see agreement but not really needing it. If agreement wasn’t there, I had another hotel room waiting for me to move into, and a stand-by flight back to the States this evening.

Matt slipped his arm around me. I turned into him and let him kiss me. The boat driver turned the boat toward the small dock on the beach.
 

“Did you sleep with her?” I asked Matt as we walked together up the sandy beach toward our hotel.

“No! I admit I was flattered when she flirted with me, but I would never cheat on you. I love you! You know me better than that!” He said.

I smiled. “There are a lot of things we don’t know about each other,” I said, remembering all the things I had wondered while I was green-eyed over Sarah. “But we’ve got lots of time to learn.”

 

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