Page 109 of Ominous: Part 1
I can’t resist poking at how unsure of himself he sounds when he drops the watch and his hand from my chest, my arms still crossed over myself. “It was just a game, Eli.” I roll my eyes, scoffing, but it doesn’t come out with the bite I want it to.
Lightning heats the clouds overhead.
I know we should get out of the pool, but neither of us move.
“Oh yeah?” He loses his skittishness, if he ever really had it to begin with. He doesn’t move, but somehow, he feels closer.
I look up at the gray and blue and purple sky.
“Yeah.” I repeat his word back.
“Do you want to keep playing?” It sounds like a challenge.
I think of my heart. I don’t look at him. I remember his hands all over me. Forcing me down. Panic in my veins. I replay it over and over on a loop, so I don’t lose the memory anytime soon. And I know exactly what I’m saying when I say my next words. This time, it isn’t a slip.
“Shut up.”It comes out through clenched teeth, mainly to stop my lips from trembling.
Silence stretches between us.
Even the thunder waits.
A second passes. Another. Anticipation nearly makes my knees tremble. That out of control feeling in the water, I didn’t know what to expect. It was scary, in the moment.But I want the moment back.
His hands find my chest, and I shrink back, gasping, hating myself for the fear and the flinch as he pushes me against the rocky ledge of the pool, the stones warm on my flesh.
I instinctively reach for his forearms, but I know there’s no way I could fight him off, and he doesn’t let go as I stare at him, my chest heaving.
Maybe I need to leave.We’re both edging up against danger here, with all these drinks in our system; unsupervised, fucked up kids.
I need to leave.
“Don’t run,” he says, his lips over mine as his grip shifts and he loops his fingers through the metal of my choker. “When you’re free,don’t run.”
“I wasn’t going to—”
“You were going to go home. I saw it. You were scared. You can pretend you’re above it all, above fear, you can pretend these nasty things don’t eat you alive, Eden, but we all get scared.”
I glare at him, fingers still wrapped tight around his forearm. “I’m not scared of you.”
“You can lie to your mom, and you can lie to yourself, but you can’t fucking lie to me, baby girl.”
“You don’t know me.” Panic makes me feel sick, and I’m not even sure why I’m panicking. “You don’t even—”
“I know you more than you think.”
“Shut up, Eli. Just shut.Up.”
He tilts my chin up, forcing me to look at him.
I know we’re both thinking the same thing.
Are you going to cross the line?
“I’m going to pretend those words were an accident.”
I’m barely breathing as his nose touches mine.
“You don’treallywant me to hit you, do you?”
