48. Sable
SABLE
Liliana stands right by her side, and another two girls flank them.
Arabella must be stronger than she looks because I know that bucket has to be heavy.
I swallow hard, not sure what their goal is, but I'm sure it can’t be anything good.
I’ve been afraid of water since that day, and I’m definitely afraid of a five-on-one fight—I’ve already learned how terribly unfair that is.
The girl with the red curls steps farther into the room.
The other four follow, and quickly, there are five people to my one.
The redhead moves to my back, while the other two I don’t know charge toward me.
It all happens so quickly that I don’t even remember their faces, and I suddenly realize how very hard it must be for some people to describe their attackers.
Hands grip me, trying to force me to the ground, but I’m not about to go easy.
A fist collides with my cheek, and a burst of color pops in my eye.
It dazes me enough for them to get an advantage on me, and the tallest girl twists my arms behind my back.
She kicks me in the back of the knee, and the pain is only beaten by my kneecaps hitting the tile next.
Arabella and Liliana watch as I scream. I get why they want revenge, but this is too much.
“What the fuck?” I start to complain, but another fist hits me in the mouth. I try to get up, but a firm hand on my shoulders keeps me down. Pain radiates from my knees, and their laughter surrounds me. With blood spilling inside my mouth, I manage to give my best friend a fake smile.
“Hi, bestie,” I say, spitting that blood at her feet.
Anger flashes on her face, but my satisfaction doesn’t last long.
Liliana steps closer and, without saying a word, smacks me across the face.
More blood flies from my mouth, and her viciously pointed nails slice into my skin.
A hot, wet ball hits my neck, and I realize the girl at my back spit on me.
“Whore,” she says.
Resentment is bitter on my tongue. I never signed up to be anyone’s whore, but I won’t break character for them.
Liliana won’t see me sweat. Despite my best intentions, Arabella steps forward with the fucking water I’m so afraid of.
My eyes shift between Arabella and Liliana, and panic grows in my chest.
“You should have stayed underwater, Sable,” the woman who I used to call my best friend says before her new best friend grabs my hair.
Arabella is rough, ripping the strands and tipping my head to the side just to test her strength on me.
Liliana laughs, and my heart breaks again.
Arabella wouldn’t be able to overpower me under any fair circumstances, and here we are.
Fuck, no no no.
Fear shakes me, and I eye that bucket of water as if it were the whole ocean.
It feels big right now as I understand what they’re planning.
I scream, nonsense flying from my lips, but it’s too late.
Arabella shoves my head into the bucket, forcing my face beneath the water.
The surface of the water blocks the sound of their laughs, but my screams bubble in front of me.
Too late, I realize that I should have held my breath.
The pressure on my back, neck, and head is insurmountable, and I struggle against it, but they only hold me down tighter.
My legs and arms twitch and struggle, nails digging uselessly against the tile, but they’re all over me, making sure I can’t move.
I hate myself and these boys for keeping me caged, and now I’m not strong enough to save myself.
It occurs to me as I inhale a lungful of water that these bitches are going to murder me, and I’m not even entirely sure that’s their intention.
A lot of fucked-up shit happens in this school, but how are they going to hide a body, and one that people would notice missing?
No one gives a shit about me, but who would they talk about if I were not here?
My lungs sting, screaming for air, when a fresh wave of panic hits me with the certainty I’m about to die.
If not drowning, maybe from a heart attack, but death is coming for me.
There's not much time left before I lose consciousness. Please, I silently beg, but I don’t believe there’s anyone there to listen.
My body thrashes, and they hold me still, hands digging into my skin, and with my last moment of consciousness, I wonder how ironic it is to die in a bucket when I survived a river.
The weight over me lessens me, almost as if they’re hands are gone.
I really must be dead, because they’re hands wouldn’t magically disappear.
A force pulls me up. Water sloughs off my face and rolls down my shirt.
My soft limbs accept the command, and I struggle to take an unexpected lungful of air, my nails scraping over the leather collar.
A pathetic scream sounds, and I realize too late that the strangled sound came from me.
The collar loosens around my neck and falls pathetically over my lap.
“Breathe now,” someone speaks into the shell of my ear as I massage my free neck.
That’s all I want to do, cough and breathe. Something hard and rhythmic hits my back, and a moment later, I understand it’s the fist of someone who cared enough to stop this. Soren is the first crazy thing my brain thinks. Did he come for me again?
“You can’t be crazy enough to take something that belongs to me.” The voice is low, masculine, and fucking scary. I don’t know him well enough to tell if it’s him or not.
My eyes open slowly, lashes heavy, trying to make sense of the scene.
Arabella and Liliana are steps away from me now, their expressions torn in something that can only be described as terror.
The other three are closing the circle around me, their faces mirroring their leaders.
And behind me, letting me soak the warm wall of his chest is Lex .
The sense of safety that immediately fills me takes me by surprise.
I didn’t realize he had wormed his way in so far already.
“We didn’t do anything—” Liliana lies.
“Are you stupid? Insane? Does your daddy not pay enough attention to you?” Lex cuts her off. His voice is so low that for a second, he sounds possessed. Arabella nods, agreeing with him. Too terrified to disagree.
“We thought it would be funny,” Arabella tries.
“It would be funny if I dissected you, and that was the next big game day prank. Your rotting fucking corpses for the birds.”
“We didn’t mean—” Liliana cries.
Lex only stiffens. “You did.”
He’s tried to scare me so many times now, but this is the first time he’s succeeded. Rage courses through his body, and blankets my skin, pricking goose bumps over my arms. I shiver in response, and Lex comes even closer, his arm a bar against my stomach, keeping me flush against him.
“Leave,” he tells them at once. They don’t need a second warning before they scurry away, tail between their legs. “And Arabella?”
She’s just reaching the stairs, but like a good bitch, she turns to face us once again. Liliana is such a bad friend that she doesn’t stop for a second before she disappears down the hall.
“Let everyone in this school know that anyone who dares to touch Sable will beg for death when I’m done with them.”
Fear is the only thing commanding her. I see it when she nods and runs away, afraid that Lex will make her an example and not the messenger. I watch her go. She looks so small now, when she was the most terrifying in my life when they had me on my knees in front of that bucket.
Warm hands touch my cheeks, turning my head until I’m facing the bright green of his eyes.
“Who let you out?” he asks, and his question is a slap on my cheek by comparison.
I yank myself back, trying to escape his hold, and I’m surprised that he lets me go.
I push myself up, and my legs wobble under me.
The fear really did a number on me, but I don’t want to be soft in his arms when he has the keys to my cage and he’s so fucking eager to lock me back in.
“Aren’t you ashamed to even have to ask that?” I spit, hugging my midsection. “Do you feel like a big man because you can lock my fucking door, Lex?”
He blinks as a response. Finally, he gets up, his movements more graceful than mine, but that only makes me angrier with him.
His green eyes shine, and he drags his steps to me, like a demon coming to collect my soul.
I step back toward the door, hoping to escape, but I know that’s not possible.
He cages me, and the warmth of his chest is especially obvious with my upper body soaked and the chill starting to sink in.
He stares at me with all the intensity he can muster. “Why do you think someone is always escorting you from your bedroom?” His hand reaches out and he touches one of the injured spots on my cheek.
I shake my head to avoid his touch. “Control?”
This time, he chuckles, it’s dry and humorless, and it brings goose bumps all over my arms.
“I have all the control I need, Sable,” he whispers. “Use that little head. Why would I need to watch your every move?”
My eyes go over his shoulder to the bucket of water, but Lex’s fingers pinch my chin and bring me back to him alone.
“I don’t know,” I finally say.
“This is a place for predators, and the Offering is nothing but a little lamb sent here to be slaughtered.”
My jaw sets. “I’m not a lamb.”
His touch changes, hand moving to my cheek until his fingers curl behind my neck. His eyes lock on my neck, and for a second, I think he’s going to put that damn collar back again, but he surprises me by glancing back to my eyes and agreeing with me for the first time.
“No, you’re not a lamb. You’re something else.”
Curiosity wins, and I ask, “What?”
His gaze traces every detail of my face, but he never replies. Instead, his mouth dips, and he kisses me.