Page 81 of Boy of Ruin
It doesn’t take long for someone to do exactly that.
Sid is coming out from underneath the waterfall, at the edge just a light spray of water, slicking back her wet hair, her chin tilted up, face to the sun. She’s sexy as fuck, and I watch her from beside Nicolas and Ria, leaned against the grassy ledge adjacent it, the squish of the river beneath our feet.
People are crowded near her, waiting for their turns under the lighter part of the stream, but there’s a few fucking college kids—judging by the AU T-shirts they peeled off before they jumped in —causing a fucking scene. One of them knocks into her, walking backward and laughing, shaking water from his hair.
He’s way bigger than her, and she stumbles backward, a scowl on her face as she turns to face him, dropping her hands by her sides.
He immediately whips around, the smile leaving his face as he holds out his hands.
“Don’t make a mess,” Nicolas says under his breath beside me, and I clench my jaw. “He’s just going to apologize and walk away.”
I dig my short nails into my biceps, watching, hoping exactly that happens.
Ria laughs, and I shoot her a glare, her own hair in a sloppy, wet bun. But she doesn’t look at me. Instead, she’s smiling at Sid.
“Sorry,” the frat boy says, but that smile is curling back up on his face as he steps closer to her, and I see his eyes rake over the half of her body out of the water. “I’m so sorry,” he says again, his voice taking on a more flirtatious tone.
I bite my tongue.
“She can handle it,” Nicolas says.
But I think about Cindy dancing in my lap at his party. What if she wants to pay me back for that? Because that’s what she does.
Still, I force myself not to move, drowning out everything around us except their conversation. I’m not that far. I can reach them in seconds. But if he puts a finger on her…
She glances over at me at that moment, and her eyes connect with mine.
Then her lips pull into a smile and Ria laughs again as Nicolas says, “Oh, fuck, Sid, come on,” dragging out the last word.
She turns to the fuckboy. “It’s okay,” I hear her breathy voice. “No worries.”
He steps closer to her. “You come here by yourself?” he asks, glancing around the plunge pool before looking back at her.
She chews her lip, cocks her head.
This little fucking brat.
“No, I came with my friends.”
Fuckboy is undeterred. “Oh yeah? Well, we’ve rented a cabin not far from here, if you and your friends wanna—”
“Ah, come on, leave her alone,” another fucker calls from opposite the pool. “She doesn’t want to hang with a bunch of idiots like us.” He laughs, like it’s the funniest fucking thing.
Sid smiles, tucks a lock of wet hair behind her ear. “That’s okay,” she says, and I feel relief flood through my veins, hear Nicolas sigh and Ria scoff. “Have fun with your friends.” Then she turns to go.
And this fucker puts his hand on her arm, pulling her back.
I don’t walk through the water. I fucking swim, getting to them in seconds, my hands going around his throat as I shove his head under the water, drag him behind the stream of the waterfall as I do so no one can see me drown this useless piece of shit.
Sid is calling my name, splashing after me, but I don’t care.
The asshole’s hands are scratching at mine on his head and he’s kicking at the bottom of the river, trying to push himself up.
“Jeremiah,” Sid warns, “let him go.”
No one is back here, and I smile at her, her pale face, wide eyes. “You wanted to play with me, baby?” I ask her through gritted teeth, my body jostling as I press harder on his head, keeping him down. “You wanted to fucking play?”
“Let him go,” she says. “He was just…” She shakes her head, smacking her hands against the water. “Dammit, just let him go.”
