Cleo stands over me as I try to shove myself out again. She grinds her stiletto into my hand. I scream and fall back, spluttering as my head goes under.
“Cleo, you bitch.” Gabriel splashes her. Cleo shrieks and leaps back, but she’s giggling. Any attention is good attention.
My lips still tingle from Gabriel’s kiss, but the burn of humiliation in my cheeks overpowers it. Gabriel sends another wave of water over the side of the pool, but Cleo’s too far back now and all he manages to do is drench the waiter who’s offering drinks. He doesn’t even apologize.
“Mackenzie, wait.” Gabriel dog-paddles toward me. Behind him, the waves of laughter cascade over my head. It stings worse than the freezing water.
“Leave me alone.” I dive away from him, ducking between entwined couples. I swim to the steps at the other end, kicking a guy in the chest as he tries to grab me. He leers up at me, his eyes bloodshot from some cocktail of drugs.
It’s too much.
I see red.
The red of rage, the red of losing control.
The red of blood staining my reflection.
I run toward the house, the laughter following me. The logical part of me knows on some level they’re not laughing at me. They don’t know me. But logic can’t force its way through the blood—
SMACK.
I slam into something hard.
The impact sends me sprawling across the patio. A fresh wave of laughter ripples through the crowd. My head swims. At first, I think someone has closed the glass doors on me, trapping me outside. But then I focus on the shape looming over me.
Noah, his eyes blazing, his hands curled into fists at his sides.
“Get out,” he hisses. “You don’t belong here.”
You don’t belong here.
“I was invited,” I snap back. It takes all my self-preservation to keep the sob from my voice.
Someone’s behind me. Warm hands lift me under my shoulders, hauling me to my feet. It doesn’t feel comforting with Noah bearing down on me. It makes me feel weak.
I’m not weak.
“Fuck, Mackenzie, I’m so sorry.” Gabriel’s silky voice caresses my ear. A note of distress creeps into his words. But it’s an act. I know it’s a fucking act. Gabriel pulls pain out his ass on stage every night, and we all believe it’s real.
I believed it was real.
I shrug Gabriel off me. I realize too late that one of my heels broke in the fall. I pitch forward. I throw out my hands and steady myself on the only thing that will break my fall – Noah. I grab his shoulders, my wet body pressing against him. I feel the warmth of his skin through my sodden outfit.
His entire body stiffens under my touch, and I imagine even his heart shriveling in his chest. This close, I catch a whiff of Noah’s deep, inky scent – shadowed and strange and tinged with salt and jasmine. Noah’s breath hisses out between clenched teeth, and something hard presses against my thigh.
An erection.
He’s hard.
I think I’ve imagined it, but no. I freeze in place, and his cock grazes my naked thigh, giving a little jerk like a nod of approval. Noah’s hard as a rod.
For me.
“No one wants you at school, at our parties.” Noah’s lips press against my earlobe. His hatred stains my skin. “Not after what you did.”
“I was thirteen when your brother died,” I whisper back, my lips grazing his ear in return. I enjoy the way his body squirms. “I had such a crush on you. It’s on every page of my diary, your name and mine circled in broken hearts.”
On impulse, I reach down and cup him through his pants. I know people must see this, but I don’t care – this moment is for Noah and me alone. This is our battle of wills.
