Page 134 of Sin Like the Devil

Another strobe of lightning. Reflections dance off platinum hair and alabaster skin. I’ve definitely lost it. There’s no way he’d be here to save me, not when he’s obsessed with bringing about my end.

A beam of light breaks through the obscurity. It’s pointed in my direction and moving closer. Squinting, I realise that I’m seeing a phone’s flashlight heading towards me.

“Found yourself in a spot of bother?” he utters in a cool voice.

Light shines in my face, making my eyes water. I blink through the haze, waiting as the image of Xander settles. Hair rain-soaked and plastered to his face, his polo shirt is soaked through and jeans mud-streaked.

“You’re not really here.”

He stops at the pool’s edge. “Hearing whispers, little toy?”

Another loud clap of thunder rumbles overhead. The water is tickling the base of my throat now. Even if I crane my neck, I don’t have much time left. It’ll be in my mouth and nose soon.

“You disappeared.” In his phone’s weak light, I see him frown. “I dislike losing track of my own property.”

“You’re normally more focused than that,” I rasp.

“I was searching for Raine. Only to find him passed out in the medical wing and you gone. Is this some kind of elaborate suicide plan?”

“I didn’t tie myself up!”

His forehead puckers in concentration. “Ah. Lennox was rather cagey about how he discovered Raine in such a state. But it wasn’t him, was it?”

Half-drowned and gasping for each breath, icy water kisses my throat and chin. I tilt my neck at a painful angle, hoping to preserve my air supply for as long as possible. Perhaps long enough for someone to follow Xander and find us both.

Watching my predicament, he takes a seat on the tiled edge. Xander studies me unhurriedly, disregarding the rapidly rising water. His eyebrows are pulled together like he can’t decipher his own thoughts.

“I suppose he’s making a point,” he muses. “Drowning his problems instead of burning them alive this time around.”

“X-Xander.”

“Yes, little toy?”

I can’t bring myself to beg. Not to him. Not again. So instead, I suck in each precious mouthful of air left, battling to keep the water level beneath my chin. The rain has to stop sometime. I can still make it.

Xander watches me bob, his head cocked to one side. “I’ve dreamed of watching your corpse turn blue so many times. In the Z wing, I played out different scenarios in my head while they tortured me.”

Funny that.

I’ve done the same thing for him.

“Then I came here. I started watching you. Following you each day to observe your new routine and patterns. Learning about the person we created, rather than the obsession I once had.”

He watches me spit up a mouthful of water that crashes into me in a miniature wave. His stare has hardened from one of intrigue to something akin to concern. If soulless psychopaths can display such emotion.

“I’ve watched you beat and threaten. Sob when no one is watching. Eat, sleep and take medication. Fuck for the thrill of it. Fall for the one person you never intended to. Hurt those you so clearly care about.”

The water sloshes over my mouth and touches my nostrils.

Xander just watches me struggle. “I stopped seeing an object.”

Whatever epiphany he’s having, I don’t want to hear it. Not with my last gasps of oxygen. Water laps at my nose, rising those final few centimetres faster than ever. The panic has come swarming back with a vengeance.

“I want you broken.” Xander gracefully draws to his feet. “But I don’t want to watch others break you.”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a familiar black pocketknife. The same one I used to free myself once before. Taking a final breath before I’m taken under the surface, I see him frown at the blade.

Then… nothing.

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