He starts dragging me away.
“Get the fuck off me!” I fight as much as I can, but any movement just pulls my hair tighter and sends a sharp sting through my scalp, making my eyes water.
He hauls me into a room beside the gym, and I don’t have time to swim in the relief of him letting go of my hair before I’mswept into his arms, the ground leaving my feet and he throws me. Fucking throws me into a tub.
The agony is immediate. An explosion of razor sharp, white-hot burning consuming every millimetre of my skin as I land in what can only be ice water. The ice cubes pound into me like gravel, the gelid water like a million needles shooting into my skin. He’s chucked me into the ice bath. He’s lost his fucking mind.
I don’t get a chance to come up for the air that’s been whipped from my lungs as he holds my head underneath the water. It fills my nose and mouth as my garbled screams bubble out, filling my throat and lungs. An inferno of panic explodes, and I fight for my fucking life. It feels too long to even still be conscious when he brings me up, my body dragging in every speck of air it can.
“You chilled out yet?”
“Fuck you.”
I’m plunged straight back underneath the surface. He’s going to kill me. He’s going to drown me. The thought pierces through my agony. Maybe it’s not a bad thing. I could finally just let it all go.
I stop fighting, let the millions of needles rake my skin, let my lips part and the water flow into my mouth. There could be worse ways to go than drowning. I believe my brother’s fate was worse than this. Another example would be being made to stay alive long enough to die as Caden Blackwood’s wife.
It doesn’t take long before he’s pulling me up, clearly not getting as much of a kick out of not having me fight back.
I splutter and gasp and cough as his voice comes in close. “I’m so sick of you being a brat, Elodie, I really am. But I can keep this up for the rest of our lives. So keep trying me. You’re not going anywhere.”
I don’t even respond, what’s the point? We’re dancing to the same track every fucking day and my feet ache. I’m tired.I’m done.
He pulls me out of the tub and dumps me on the floor, shivering violently. “Go to your room. I don’t want to see you again for the rest of the night.”
When I don’t move, when my body refuses to function enough to gather myself up, too busy spasming and racking great shivers, he sighs. It sounds as tired as I feel.
How can he be this obsessed with pleasing his dad that he’d choose to be miserable too? He’s got all his priorities twisted. All he has to do is let me go, but perhaps it’s become a case of proving himself. Ego’s gotten in the way, and he won’t admit defeat to a girl. Or a Valor.
His footsteps thump through my ear pressing on the cold ground as he walks away from me. My body’s seizing up. I need to get dry and warm quickly, but I just can’t move. He’s going to leave me here to die.
I don’t know when my eyes close, but they shoot back open when large, warm arms scoop me up. Immediately, I know who they belong to. I melt into Alfie’s chest as he carries me away.
“Fiz is running you a bath now, it’ll be ready by the time we get up there,” he whispers softly.
I try to move my lips to thank him, but it doesn’t work.
He holds me so tight to his body, and I greedily try to absorb his delicious warmth.
He carries me all the way to the bathroom, where Fiz is sitting in the armchair by the sinks. He doesn’t look smug, or menacing, or downright annoying. He looks unsure, deep divots in between his brows, a thumb running over his lips like he’s in deep thought about something.
Alfie doesn’t waste time taking off my clothes before placing me in the tub. It’s not piping hot, it’s perfect enough to fight off the burn of the cold.
He perches on the floor beside me, a hand dangling into the water by my leg.
We all sit in silence for a while, no one knowing what to say. I don’t know what to say with Fiz here, unsure if he’s here because of Caden, or for something else.
Alfie rakes his teeth over his bottom lip a few times before saying, “It wasn’t just dinner that pushed Cade to that tonight, was it?”
I shrug. “Prick can’t take what he dishes out.”
He sighs. “I don’t know what to do to fix it.”
This swells a lump in my throat. “It’s not your fault. Not even your responsibility to fix it.”
“You could stop running your mouth to him,” Fiz mutters.
Alf closes his eyes and sighs through his nose. “Fiz.”
