Page 152 of Ecstasy
This week, he stayed.
That’s when it was all real for me.
“Fucking answer me!” he screams at me, planting his hands flat on the concrete to haul himself up.
But Eli moves fast, and he jerks him back, his arm wrapped around Alex’s neck. “She’s not yours anymore, Alex. Let her go.”
I get to my hands and knees, crawling forward. My body is so cold and I’m shaky and my nose is still running, and I can’t fight either of them. I can’t pull them apart. I can’t stop them with my hands, but my words… Maybe I can stop this. Maybe I can fixthis.
Alex doesn’t even fight Eli, and Eli must sense it because he loosens the hold around his throat without letting him go as they float back in the water, Alex’s gaze still on me.
“Fucking say something, Zara!” he screams at me, the tendons in his neck under Eli’s arm stark against his skin. “Say something!” he pleads with me.
The concrete is rough against my hands, against my knees, but I crawl to the edge of the pool, darting my eyes back and forth between Eli and Alex and back again. Eli is staring at Alex and Alex is staring at me.
What’s real?
Which one is real?
The psychopath? The asshole? Neither of them?
Am I fucking real?
Eli’s words echo in my head:Does it feel good now?
No. No. No.
“Eli.” My voice is hoarse, and I’m still staring at Alex. He’s waiting for me to heal him. Waiting for me not to break his heart.
“What did he do to you?” he demands, and Eli pushes his forearm tighter against Alex’s throat, cutting off the last word.
I shake my head, my hands trembling beneath me. “He…he…” I can’t get the words out.
Alex grabs at Eli’s arm, trying to yank him off. He succeeds, long enough to say, “I fucking know he did! What did he do to you? I saw it.” His voice cracks and Eli is still glaring at him, holding Alex’s back to his chest with the force of his forearm. “I fucking saw it in the trash, Zara, I know that he did something to you!”
Eli slams his forearm back against Alex’s throat and I see Alex gag from the force.
I stand to my feet, my knees trembling.
Eli glances up at me, his eyes narrowed as he chokes Alex. Alex tries to force his arm off his windpipe, but Eli is the wrestler. Eli is the one with the power here.
And not just in his strength.
Alex is strong, too.
But Eli knows things, he told me. He has secrets.
“You think you hurt Cari that night?” Eli says, his voice low, a smirk pulling on the corners of his mouth.
Alex freezes, no longer fighting, his eyes wide. His face turns an alarming shade of red as Eli cuts off his air supply.
Cari.This must be the girl. Eli told me he knew the truth.
My fingers are trembling as I hold my hand to my mouth, unable to breathe. To think. To speak.
“You think it was you, huh? You fucking idiot.” Eli laughs, his mouth against Alex’s ear, but he speaks loud enough for me to hear him. “It was me.”
My hand falls from my mouth.
