He grins at me, then slides through the water until he’s treading right in front of me.
“This way is more fun than all the others,” he murmurs.
His shift in behavior leaves alarms blaring in my skull.
“Liam, we shouldn’t…” I swallow hard and move away from him. “I need to get back inside. Saint—”
“I’m so fucking sick of hearing about Saint.” His words are slurring badly now, and I start to really question his overall state of being. “I warned you about him, didn’t I? I said he ruins lives. He’ll drag us all down if we let him. You’re too good for him. Too…”
I put a hand against his chest and say in calm voice, “Liam, you’re really drunk. Maybe we should get you some water?”
“We’re surrounded by water.”
“Water you can drink,” I clarify.
A grin tugs at the corners of his lips. “That’s not what I want.”
Before I can respond, he moves closer, leaning his face toward mine, looking for all the world like he’s going to kiss me. I don’t have time to react, or time to get away. His lips draw closer and closer to mine, and I freeze.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
The sharp voice whips across the water to slice at me. I gasp and look to find Saint standing on the edge of the pool, glaring down at us. Liam pauses his advances on me and turns narrowed eyes up to his best friend.
“Can I help you with something?” he asks, his drunkenness so obvious, it’s painful.
Saint ignores him and turns his frigid stare to me.
“We’re leaving. Get the fuck out of the water.”
“Stop telling her what to do.” Liam sneers. “Maybe she doesn’t want to leave with you?”
I do, though. I really, really do. I try to disentangle myself from Liam’s hold so I can swim to the edge of the pool.
“Mallory—” Liam starts in a strained voice.
“Get your hands off her before I break your fucking fingers,” Saint snaps down at him, his tone vicious. Before I can drag in a breath, Liam releases me as Saint continues, “Pull your shit together so you don’t fall apart like last time.”
I don’t know what that means, but it shuts Liam up. Reaching the side of the pool, I gaze up at Saint, who thrusts his hand down to me.
“Come on,” he says.
I stare at his long fingers for a brief moment and then reach up to accept them.
7
After Saint hauls me out of the pool, I follow him back through Liam’s house, leaving a puddle of shame in my wake. I can feel everyone’s eyes searing into us as we walk by, and when I shiver both from cold and embarrassment, Saint drapes his arm around my shoulders and tugs me against his side. He at once warms and shields me, and I don’t know how to react. So, I tuck my head and press closer into him, ignoring the murmurs and snide remarks that surround us as he ushers me out of the house and towards his shiny black Range Rover. He doesn’t say a word as he opens the passenger side door for me and nods irritably to my seat.
Once I’m settled, he stalks around the SUV to slide into the driver’s seat and fires up the engine. He still doesn’t talk to me as we pull out of Liam’s driveway and make our way into traffic.
It’s not long before the silence becomes unbearable, and I blurt out, “What did you mean when you talked to Liam about getting his shit together? What happened last time?”
His jaw tenses, and he glares straight ahead at the red blur of brake lights. “Doesn’t matter. It calmed him down, didn’t it?”
“Saint—”
“Let it go, Mallory.”
“I didn’t intend to end up with him like that.” I don’t know why I feel the need to explain myself. How many times have I told him he can’t tell me what I can do or who I can’t hang out with? Yet I strangely feel…guilty.
For some inexplicable reason, I want him to know that it wasn’t my fault that I ended up in the pool with Liam.
“Whatever,” he growls. “Like I give a fuck.”
But he does. It’s so obvious that the air inside the car crackles with tension.
“Can’t you just tell me what last time meant?”
This time, he doesn’t bother to respond to me at all. He continues to keep his focus on the road and we fall into an icy silence. Releasing a huff of frustration, I turn my gaze out my side window and count down the minutes until we’re back on campus. If he’s going to be a moody dick, I don’t want to deal with him.
Hell, I shouldn’t want to deal with him at all considering all the shit he’s put me through.
And yet, here I am.
I spot the corner we need to turn at to continue on to Angelview coming up, but he doesn’t slow down. To my surprise, he speeds right past it, and a nervous knot forms in my stomach.
“Where are we going, Saint?” I murmur, glancing toward him.
He doesn’t answer. He still won’t even look at me.
“Saint.” This time, my voice is firmer. “Where the fuck are we going?”
Instead of speaking, he goes faster, and my heartbeat accelerates. I know he won’t hurt me, but he has other ways he can torment me if he wants to punish me. My breathing grows heavy, and I gulp down the pressure in the back of my throat.
“Saint! Answer me!”
“Shut up,” he snarls, but that’s it. He doesn’t offer an explanation, and I’m getting more anxious by the second.
At length, I realize exactly where we’re going all on my own, and my panic goes into overdrive. I spin around in my seat to face him fully, grasping his bicep with both my hands.
“No, please. Saint, I don’t want to go there.”
“It’ll be fine,” he insists, almost dismissively.
“Saint, I’m serious!” But it’s too late. We’re already pulling up to his family’s beach house, and I tremble with dread. I haven’t been here since the morning after his birthday party, and after everything I’ve learned about his family—and mine—since then, I had no intention of ever going back. This is the last place in the entire world I want to be.
It’s the last place I think I’ll ever feel safe, even with Saint.
He circles the massive driveway and parks the SUV right in front of the double doors then moves to get out.
“Come on,” he orders.
“No.” He pauses and glances back at me. I glare at him as I continue, “Take me back to campus right now. Why would you bring me here after everything that’s happened?”
He stares down at me for several long moments, before spitting out, “Either hitchhike back, or come inside. It’s your choice, Ellis.”
Slamming the car door shut, he storms to the front door of the house without a backwards glance. I’m shocked to my core, to be perfectly honest. I’d expected him to be cold, I even expected him to be cruel, but this … this is inhumane. I sit stewing in his car, determined not to go in.
Maybe I’ll call his bluff and hitchhike home after all.
Except it’s dark and I’m not all that interested in getting assaulted by a stranger today.