Deep by Bates A.L

Author:Bates A.L. [A.L., Bates]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

IT WAS RARE that Joel felt helpless. He stood outside the infirmary and watched as his crew worked. Normally he wouldn’t have been so troubled; he could trust the doc would do his best to save a patient. But it was Sean lying on that table, bleeding out and so close to death. Joel was close to giving up hope. Harvey sat beside the young doctor, transfusing his blood and willing the boy back to life. Karl and Selena urgently worked on Sean’s body. They were good enough to assist Sean in the infirmary, but not to carry out surgery on their own. The scene was too chaotic; they were making too many mistakes.

“What the hell happened, Joel?” Mia asked him, her shoulders as tightly coiled as his.

“That bilge-rat, David, faked the whole thing. He rigged the alarm thinking we’d abandon the ship if there was a chemical leak. Then he’d sail off with the booty. Same thing he did on his other ship, before he crashed it.”

“Did the doc know?”

Anger rose up in Joel. He turned and grabbed his sister. “Don’t you dare say that! Sean had nothing to do with this. The boy’s on his deathbed. I don’t want to hear any accusations about him, you hear me!” Realizing his own hypocrisy, he let her go. “I need to get back to work. Someone should be manning the ship.”

Joel’s head was swimming in a riptide. When he closed his eyes he could see Sean slipping away from him. When he licked his lips he could taste Sean. His body felt like it was in freefall and he had no idea how to rein it in. The doc was going to die and it was all his fault. He knew their interloper was no good—he knew, and he still let Sean stay with him. Just like he knew Sean would never go against the crew and yet he accused him anyway.

Throwing himself into the cockpit, Joel had to fight the compulsion to smack something. He slumped into the pilot seat and stared out at the dark ocean. How long before he had to float Sean’s body? Joel swallowed a growing lump in his throat. His eyes were welling up, but he refused to succumb.

He reached behind his chair and pulled out his emergency whiskey. He took a comforting mouthful and then glanced around at the empty cockpit. The doc had sat in the chair beside his and they had shared the bottle between them. Each burning mouthful had stripped away Joel’s inhibitions. If he’d kissed Sean that night, the doc would never have gone to David. Another regret to toast.

The spark between them still burned fiercely in him. He wanted to ignore it and pretend it wasn’t there, while at the same time he was drawn to the only piece of light and warmth he had within him. How long would it take for it to go out? Would he move on quickly—after all, it was only one

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