Page 10 of Ecstasy
“Hey,” I mumble as he keeps rubbing my skin, gazing down at me. All I can hear now is the music, like someone turned it up. Or my brain turned everyone else’s voices down. I speak a little louder, “I shouldn’t do this.”
He grins at me, grabs my wrist and trails my hand over his chest, diverting my attention. I take in his six-pack, his lean body and tall frame. His skin is smooth, and I trace one of those freckles under his pec, then down across his abs. I have them memorized.
“Ready?” he asks me, catching my hand again.
I chew my lip, looking up into his eyes.No.
But I nod in answer to his question, and he pulls me closer toward the pool. But then we bypass the steps and as I stumble over the concrete, fear starts to creep in past my intoxication.
“Hey, I told you I—”
“And I told you I wouldn’t let you get hurt,” he cuts me off as we come to the deep end. Eight feet, if I’m seeing the black number on the edge of the concrete correctly.
His toes are at the edge and mine are too, my hand still in his.
“You ready?” he asks me, squeezing my hand.
I shake my head. “No, you get in first and then you can—”
“You know how to swim, Zara.” It’s a statement, because he’s taken me to the beach a few times and we’ve jumped the waves together and his parents have a pool and he’s seen me swim completely naked in it that one weekend when they were out of town.
I nod in agreement but try to pull out of his grip. I don’t think I’m explaining myself properly, or he doesn’t care.
I think about him breaking that guy’s nose on the field, right after the Caven Camels had won the game. Right before he picked me up from across the fence and spun me in his arms. I’d been high on Addie then too, and his coach had been yelling at him because Nate’s nose was dripping blood and the paramedics were on the field, but Alex didn’t care.
Alex didn’t care.
Because Nate was the quarterback for ECU, and I’d fucked him before. I guess he’d been talking shit to Alex during the game and Alex doesn’t like when people talk shit.
And I guess he really, really doesn’t like when his girlfriend cheats on him because this punishment seems a little…much.
I swallow as he pulls me closer to the deep end, my toes going over the edge of the concrete. I try to enunciate clearer, but I know I’m just sounding more and more drunk with each word. It’s like trying to speak underwater. My thoughts aren’t coming out right, but I give it another try anyway. “Yes, Icanswim, butI’m drunk—”
“Yeah, here’s the thing, princess.” He leans down close to me, his words against my ear. “You should’ve thought about that before you put Jamal’s dick in your pretty little mouth.”
He jerks my hand as he jumps.
I stumble in, too, the water surprisingly warm.
And that’s all I can focus on. The temperature of the water.
Chlorine burns my eyes, which are still open, seeing the foggy way the lights shimmer beneath the surface. It burns my nose, too, and I realize Alex is still holding my hand.
Yanking me all the way down.
I turn to look at him, and then he lets go.
I’m at the bottom of the pool.
I feel my feet on the smooth concrete, my head heavy as I blink underwater. I see some people’s blurry legs, at the shallow end, and I force myself to walk toward them.
I hear something that sounds like yelling above the surface, and I look up. I can see it. The surface is less than three feet above my head.
I just have to move my legs. Push up.
The chlorine starts to burn. In my eyes. My nose.
My lungs.
