Page 107 of Corrupt Me

Cold water rushedover my body as I sank to the bottom of the pool, fully submerged. It didn’t entirely register that I’d jumped. Not until my arms were slicing through the water, seeking the surface. Panic dug its claws into my chest, the adrenaline of it propelling me forward as I swam to the center of the pool toward the floating form.

“Mom!” I cried as soon as my head came out of the water.

She didn’t respond. She didn’t move. Long strands of her hair haloed around her like an eerie crown of death.

My tears mixed with the rain as I reached for her, securing my arm around her waist. All I could think was I had to get her out of the pool. Some part of my mind knew it was too late, thatnothing I could do would help her. I couldn’t save her, yet I had to try. She was my mom.

Water burned my nose as I choked on it, but I continued to fight, taking Mom with me as I battled the water and my panic to get to the edge. Before I had a chance to think about how I would get her out of the pool, someone was beside me.

They were talking to me, but I barely heard their voice over the roaring in my head.

Tristan. He was just there. I hadn’t seen him, not until he took my mother from me. “I’ve got her,” he said. “Ever, you can let go. Get to the edge. I won’t let her go. I promise.”

Tear-stricken, I nodded, hardly able to see his features, but it was his voice assuring me.

I released her into Tristan’s care, rushing to the side of the pool and hoisting myself out. It took me three tries before I was out of the water. By that time, Tristan had my mother lying on the hard, cold concrete. She didn’t belong on the ground. She deserved better. So much fucking better.

I crawled over to her, lifting her limp head onto my lap as I brushed the clinging wet strands of hair off her face. “Mom,” I sobbed. “Mom, please.”

“Ever…”

My gaze lifted to Tristan’s.

“Help her, Tristan. We have to save her. I can’t let her?—”

“The ambulance is on its way.” He didn’t say it was too late, but I could see it in his expression.

“Tristan—” My voice broke, every inch of me trembling. I was freezing but not as cold as my mom. I brushed my knuckles over her cheek, shivering from her skin’s lack of warmth.

Rain slashed through the night, hitting the pool and scattering the ribbons of blood. I hugged her to my chest, rocking back and forth as I sobbed against the woman who had been my rock. Despite battling her demons, she’d been the onlypresent parent I’d really had, my father too busy with work to be home. She used to joke he was married to his job, not her.

A thought I found repulsing now.

Why wasn’t she moving? Why wasn’t she waking up?

Some part of me knew but refused to accept it. Even when I saw the cuts on her wrists.

No. No. No.

“Mom? Mom? Come on, open your eyes. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me. I need you. Don’t leave me alone.” I continued to rock, unable to sit still and yet having no idea what to do to make the anguish stop.

As the seconds stretched to minutes, I noticed something glinting at the bottom of the pool. A knife. Horror squeezed my heart. Harder. Harder. Harder. I couldn’t breathe.

“Someone must have broken in,” I muttered. “Someone must have done this to her. She was attacked.” My mind tried to puzzle together a reason that made sense…that I could accept despite knowing deep down she had been the one who had sliced her wrists.

But did the why really matter?

She was gone.

She wasn’t coming back.

She would never take me shopping at the mall again. We’d never have picnics on the beach. Or suntan on the deck. A hundred more important moments we’d never get to experience flipped through my mind.

Tristan pulled me into his arms, the racking sobs taking over my body. I didn’t even have the strength to fight him. My muscles went lax as I slumped against his chest.

I wailed, my cry of pain traveling to the black clouds blanketing the sky. The sound was unrecognizable. I’d never heard anything like it…not from me…not from anyone. Tortured. Broken. Inhuman. Gut-wrenching. Soul-splintering.

My throat burned from the pain of the scream, and my ears rang.

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