Page 42 of Rot

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice called out. “What’s this?”

I pulled my mouth off Jordan’s, whipping my head around to see Dana and Carly standing near our clothes.

“I think I’m going to have to confiscate these,” Dana called out, bending to pick up my clothes. Even my boots. My phone was in that pile, too. Beside her, her friend picked up Jordan’s clothes. To Carly, she said, “Come on. Let’s leave the two lovebirds alone for a while.” Another giggle came from her, and she and her friend hurried away, taking our clothes with them.

I watched them go as I listened to Jordan sigh, my thoughts running wild. Did Dana think I wouldn’t walk out of the water naked? Did she think she had me trapped in the water all night? That, since I was a girl, there was no possible way I’d ever get out and strut my stuff in front of everyone?

Jordan would. He was a guy. Hell, all he had to do was cup his junk and all his private bits were covered. For girls, it was a little more complicated than that.

And then I turned my head back to Jordan to find him staring at me. His expression was one that confused me. He said not a word, nor did he go to release me from his grip. Whatever passion he’d tried to instill before had gone utterly sour.

It hit me that he’d been on his phone when he’d refilled his beer, and a new thought rose in my head. “Did you plan this with her?” I asked quietly, my voice even. Almost monotone. I didn’t sound upset, because I wasn’t. How could I be upset when I didn’t care?

“I’m sorry, Sloane. It wasn’t my idea. Dana wouldn’t leave me alone. You know how sisters are.” Actually, I didn’t, but all that sounded like excuses, Jordan trying to push the blame onto someone else when he in fact had a hand in it all the same. “She just wants to make a point. If she doesn’t come back, I can go out and get our clothes—”

He said more after that, but I tuned him out. He still held onto me, but that didn’t stop me from imagining taking his head and pushing it under the water and leaving it there until the bubbles from his screams stopped and his lungs filled with water.

Of course, he was stronger than me, so if I wanted to take him down, I’d have to catch him off guard, so that wouldn’t be the way to do it.

“Let me go,” I whispered.

“Sloane, come on. It’s really not a big deal. I—”

I think Jordan was misunderstanding me. I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t pissed. I didn’t hate him for being in league with his sister. No. I was simply done with this. With him, with Dana’s stupid game. How utterly juvenile.

Again, I told him, “Let me go.” This time, my voice came out darker, lower. This time I sounded deadly serious. It was a voice I’d never used on Jordan before, the kind that my grandmother had warned me never to use unless I wanted people to know about the rot in me.

Jordan’s arms dropped, and he released me. He started to blabber on more, but as I pushed away from him and got to where I could stand with my head above the water, I said, “I would stay here if I were you.” Meaning: don’t you fucking follow me.

I held Jordan’s surprised stare for a few moments before giving him my back and resuming my walk to the shore. He didn’t follow me. He might not comprehend it yet, but he’d finally seen the real me.

Let him. I didn’t care. These games were childish and I was done with them. Bored of all of this.

The night air was crisp and cool, especially cold on my naked, wet body. My nipples puckered and goosebumps ran up and down my arms and legs, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t care to. I marched right back to the party as if nothing at all was wrong.

Dana thought she’d won by stealing my clothes? Please. She was a fly and I was the boot.

Dana and Carly sat by the fire, giggling to themselves, but when they spotted me on the edge of the party, standing there, naked, they stopped talking. Jordan’s friends were still gone, I assumed having their own make-out or fucking sessions somewhere in the woods.

Slowly, everyone at the party turned to look at me. Some were shocked at seeing me naked, others—mainly girls—covered their boyfriends’ eyes so they wouldn’t look at me. The guys who were there single whipped out their phones to get me on video.

My eyes surveyed each and every one of them. My fingertips buzzed with the need to do something rash, something that would undoubtedly be stupid. It was me against the crowd; there was no way to win this. Not tonight. Not here. Not like this.

And then, as my mind wandered, a large body stepped in between me and everyone else. My eyes flicked up at Elias’s face, quickly noting the tightness of his lips and the flaring of his nostrils. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to kill me or everyone at this party.

Before I could say a word, before I could explain why I stood there, naked in front of everybody, Elias grabbed the back neckline of his shirt and pulled it over his head in one smooth motion. He dropped it over my head and pulled it down over me. It was long enough to cover my ass, thanks to our size difference.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me along, taking me straight through the party, through the giggling crowd and the embarrassed ones. When we passed a group of guys who had videoed the whole thing, Elias’s free hand shot out, grabbed one of the phones out of their hands, and, without a second thought, chucked it into the nearby campfire.

As the guy whose phone got tossed went to try to grab it out of the fire—and failed spectacularly since it was a flame that had been burning for a while—his friends started to posture and act all tough in the face of Elias, but Elias growled out, “If you swing at me, I’ll break your fucking arm.” Not a threat. A promise.

Dana and Carly were so shocked at it all, they were speechless, their mouths agape as they watched Elias drag me away.

We made it to his car, and he pushed me against the hood, demanding, “What the fuck happened?” His voice came out so furious, it took a moment for me to comprehend the words he’d said.

Elias was a certain kind of delicious when he was filled with fury. The look in his black eyes was one of fire, his jaw tense and a vein popping out on his forehead. He definitely looked like he wanted to kill.

I told him the truth, “Jordan and Dana schemed behind my back to get me to go skinny dipping in the lake. While Jordan tried to preoccupy me, Dana and her friend stole our clothes. You didn’t see her come back with them, did you?” Now that I was thinking about it, she and Carly didn’t have any clothes with them, which means they stashed them somewhere in the forest only they knew.

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