“No!” My body lurches in a blind, useless attempt to get away. “Stop!”
I don’t even know if I’m actually screaming or if the sound is only in my head. It’s quickly drowned out by his low, triumphant laugh as his grip tightens when I try again to shove him off.
Isaac, please.
This time, I’m not begging him for mercy.
I’m begging him to save me.
Grant keeps touching me, working my jeans open. A part of me wants to just close my eyes and let my mind go somewhere else, but I don’t stop fighting. Even if all my energy and strength are gone. Even if there’s no hope.
“Get the fuck off him!”
The angry, desperate shout pierces through the cold and my fear, echoing off the trees.
Grant spins to face the voice.
Mercifully, his touch disappears as Isaac’s hands grab him by the back of his coat, ripping him backward with a force so sudden that everything else seems to snap into motion.
Grant stumbles. Isaac slams into him, tackling him to the ground. They both hit the asphalt so hard I swear the bridge quakes, fists and elbows and fury blurring into one violent tangle.
“Isaac!”
I push myself to my knees, dizzy, but I can’t get my body to move fast enough.
Grant, bigger and heavier, gets the upper hand first and swings. Isaac’s head snaps sideways from a punch to his jaw, and he collapses, his head slamming against the ground with a sickening thud.
Just like that, my own fear is eclipsed by something stronger, hotter.
Rage is the only thing that gets me to my feet.
Grant rises too, breathing hard, scowling down at Isaac who groans but remains still.
This fury is like something physical, already on the move. A surge of kinetic energy inside me, hurling me into motion until my entire body weight is barreling into the bigger man. He staggers, boots sliding on the crust of ice over the bridge.
We’re both at the edge.
He reaches for me. To grab or pull me over with him, I don’t know.
But I’m done being afraid.
I shove him.
Hard.
His eyes widen as he topples backward, arms flailing.
He vanishes over the stone wall.
A distant crack splits the night as his body slams into the frozen river, followed by a deep, echoing splash as the ice fractures and gives way.
The silence that comes next is filled with a new, growing kind of horror.
I want to check on Isaac. I need to make sure he’s okay.
But something outside of me is pulling the strings.
My breath comes in ragged gasps that burn my lungs. My legs shake so badly I can barely stay upright, but somehow,they manage to hold me up and carry me forward toward the guardrail.
