Ashlyn hasn't spoken a word since the age of eight, and her heart's never felt more protected. But, when the confident and ever so charming Derek stumbles into her quiet little world, her emotions-and forbidden desires-have never been so loud.
...
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Something moved in the sand, like a rock, but the colors were all wrong. It was much too large to be a rock, Ashlyn thought, it's mass taking up the majority of the space around it. The longer she looked, she realized that it wasn't moving. It was struggling. The poor thing was caught.
Her hands fell to her side when Derek stepped past her to take a look. His phone was already out of his pocket, his fingers entering a phone number. She reached out to stop him, grabbing onto his arm.
'What if it's not safe?' her eyes asked when he looked back at her. They were the only ones on this part of the track, and if something happened, she didn't know what she would be able to do to help.
"I have to help it, Ash," his voice was raw, his sorrow and concern for the animal evident. She could see it in the way he looked back towards it, he was doing this with or without her support. His heart was too good to stand by and do nothing.
Ashlyn nodded, letting her hand fall away.
Carefully, Derek stepped down from the path onto the rocks below, and then the sand, his movements slow as not to startle the sea turtle.
Ashlyn hesitated at the edge of the path, her thumbnail between her teeth. With each slow step that he took closer to the turtle, her mind was screaming for him to be careful. Derek glanced her way as though hearing her thoughts, and gave a short nod.
Ashlyn crouched at the edge of the rocks and watched as he walked around the front of the turtle, the water rising to hug his ankles before retreating.
When he was close enough to touch the turtle, he crouched beside it, placing his hand on its shell to inspect the damage, before he pulled back. Whatever Derek saw, it didn't look good, judging by the pinched expression on his face.
He swore under his breath, and his phone was at his ear almost immediately, his eyes roaming over the turtle to assess for any other injuries.
Ashlyn craned her neck to see what Derek was seeing, fear for the situation turning in her stomach. But all she could see was the turtles mass, and something black buried in the sand around it. Sand continued to flick around it as the turtle continued to struggle. Ashlyn's heart broke a little more.
"...I've got an injured leatherback sea turtle here that's in distress. Her front left leg and neck appear to be tangled in an old fishing net... I can see multiple wounds where the net has rubbed.." Ashlyn's heart sank at his words.
"...She's got to be about four, four and a half feet...No tags or markings that I can see..." He walked around the front of the sea turtle to check her flippers on the other side.
" I can cut most of it away, but I don't want to hurt her...Yes, okay...No, we're just off the main road. Maybe half a mile into the Bayview track around the base of the Sandstone cliff face."
