Page 53 of SNOB

“You’re not leaving.” Mac’s paint-covered hand grabs me when my hand touches the doorframe.

“Mac, she saw us together.” That shouldn’t have happened. None of this should have happened. “I need to stop her.”

“You only need to do what I say,” he says, stepping in front of me. Still naked. “I thought I made that clear.”

I blink. “Mac, Greta just?—”

“I have my first game tonight and you’re coming with me.” He moves to grab the robe from his stool, finally putting something on to cover that hard rod. Moving back to me, he grabs my wrist in a tight hold. “Now.”

FIFTEEN

MAC

“Mac.”

The way Ember says my name as she struggles in my grasp doesn’t take those vile voices out of my head. The same voices that rang in my head in Riviera’s class.

The same voices that say to make her mine.

“Mac, you’re hurting me,” she whines, my grip tight on her wrist but I hardly hear her. I’m too focused on my fuck up.

I needed to show her my power. I needed to regain it.

Keep telling yourself that.

“Mac,” she cries again, both of us covered in drying paint as we walk through the quiet university halls.

We may as well be covered in blood with what Greta saw.

How could I be so fucking stupid?

Ember wriggles her wrist, stumbling over those outdated Oxfords but I’m not letting her go. The stakes are too high.

“We need to find her,” she says. I can hear the panic in her voice. It matches the panic inside me but I’m not allowing my mistakes to fuck with my future. Tonight’s opening game is my priority. I need to show Coach and my team that I still have it. No matter what this Valley Vermin did to me.

The Valley Vermin you keep fucking.

Destroy. I want to destroy her. I can’t forget that.

“Mac, are you fucking listening to me?”

My jaw tightens. I need her to shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down. Pulling her through the polished doors to the locker room, I check for anyone inside. I’m relieved when I confirm it’s empty.

She keeps calling my name as I drag her through the lounge, past my name-plated locker and into the marble-floored showers.

“Wait, is this a locker room or a hotel?” Our surroundings distract her enough for me to push her into one of the frosted glass shower stalls. “Wait, no.” Ember tries to push around me but I’m too wide for her to fit through. One shove makes her fall against the glass as I pull the door closed behind me.

“Stay there,” I demand, reaching for the golden handle. Water streams over us, her shoulders falling as the marble tile turns into a rainbow, colours swirling down the drain.

“Are you gonna talk to me?” she asks.

My hands fall on either side of her as I let the warm water pour over my hair. It’s soothing, but I can't escape the smell of her. Water streams down my face as I open my eyes to her bloodstones. Her brows tense as she nibbles her lip. Her clothes stick to her body like when I brought her out the lake.

“What are we gonna do, Mac?”

“We’ll take care of it.” Her brows settle as she searches my eyes. If she thinks I’m some beacon of hope, she’s mistaken. “I’ll take care of it.” Something falls from her eye, and I can’t tell if it’s water or tears. There’s also a smudge of red paint on her cheek, making it hard to focus. With my thumb, I wipe it off, her cheeks hotter than the water. Being alone with Ember in a shower stall is a bad move, but no one can hear us with the running water. And this way, I know she’s not going anywhere.

“Hey, Mac…”

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