Atlas’s voice made me tense. I chanced a glance at him over my shoulder. He hadn’t gotten in the water yet, but the sight of him had my breath literally stuck in my lungs as I momentarily forgot how to breathe.
His chest was bare, his muscles sculpted and perfect. His swim trunks hung low on his hips, accentuating the ridges forming the infamous V shape. He had a small black tattoo on his chest, the letter C with an arrow shooting through the center.
My skin heated as I pulled my legs up to my chest.
“I think she’s scared,” Ty chided, giving a smug grin.
And those were probably the only words that could take my eyes off Atlas. Challenge burned in my chest as I stood and crossed my arms. “You think I’m too scared to jump off a freaking rock?” I asked, incredulous.
“Aren’t you?” Ty asked, and Knox shoved him hard.
“Don’t listen to him,” Knox said.
But it was too late. There was no way I was going to let Ty think he was better than me. Maybe he was being an asshole, but I couldn’t let the asshole win, right?
I turned and marched to the boulder the boys had been jumping off. I hauled myself up to the top and glanced down at the water below. It wasn’t that high. Ty and Knox swam below as Ellie and Atlas watched me from the shore. Atlas had his hands on his hips, brow furrowed.
I had taken swimming lessons at the YMCA when I lived with my grandmother. The high dive had become my favorite, and standing up on this rock felt like nothing. I considered doing a backflip like Ty, but I also wanted to one-up him if I could. My eyes darted around the area, an idea forming. The boulder sat next to other, similar rocks that butted up against the base of the high rock wall. If I climbed a few rocks over, there was a decent ledge that jutted out from the earth, large enough for me to stand on and jump from. It wasn’t ridiculously high, barely higher than the rock I was on now, but it looked cooler.
My eyes shifted down to meet Ty’s, and I grinned wickedly before I scurried up the rocks toward the ledge.
Someone called my name, but I didn’t look back and within the next minute, I pulled myself up onto the ledge. I turned toward the river with a triumphant smile. Ty swam toward the boulder I’d come from, his face shifting from his usual carefree expression. Atlas wasn’t on the shore anymore, but I didn’t look for him. The ledge was covered in moss and slightly slippery, so I focused on my feet. I looked down, gauging where I’d land. I figured it wouldn’t be far from where I’d land jumping from the boulder. My heart fluttered beneath my ribs. One step and then I’d fling myself hard from the ledge.
The muscles in my legs coiled, ready to spring. I took the first step, but the ledge was slicker than I thought, and I careened sideways. I barely got my other foot on the ledge to push me away from the craggy stone wall. It threw my whole trajectory off and instead of sailing gracefully off the ledge like I had planned, I fell.
I fell hard, my body flipping head over heels in an uncontrollable plummet until I smacked into the surface of the river below and my whole world went dark.