Page 113 of Ecstasy
“Fine.” Alex turns to me, offers me his hand. “Let’s go, baby.”
I shake my head. “Y-you can’t drive,” I whisper in the dark, but I take his hand anyway. He threads his fingers through mine. “You can’t drive.”
And I can’t drive because I’m not just drunk, I’m tripping, and…
“I don’t care. We’ll walk. I’ll carry you.” Alex starts to pull me up off the bed.
But Eli laughs one more time and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Alex hears something in that wicked laughter, too.
He stops trying to pull me to my feet, and turns to face Eli.
I hold my breath, knowing what he’s going to say. Knowing it and hating it. Hating him.
“You said you wanted to experience everything, Zara,” Eli says softly in the dark as Alex and I stare at him, Alex’s fingers tightening around mine. “Isn’t that right?”
No one says a word.
Even with the music and the people upstairs, no one says a thing.
I hear shuffling, and I imagine Eli getting dressed, even though I can’t see him. I can’t see him, and still no one speaks.
My heart is beating too fast in my chest. Too fast, and I can’t breathe. I still can’t breathe.
“Oh, now you’ve got nothing to say, baby girl?”
Alex’s fingers tighten painfully around mine. His grip is so tight, his hands clammy. “Whatthefuck are you talking about?” he asks Eli in the dark.
I can almost hear Eli smiling.
No.
He wouldn’t do this.
He wouldn’t fucking do this.
“Ah, well, since she seems to be so shy now, I guess she won’t mind if I say it for her.” He blows out a breath. I screw up my eyes tight. “Just before I had my fingers inside of her at our house, she was just telling me how she wants to experience everything.”
No one moves.
It feels like no one breathes.
No one says anything.
Does anything.
My pulse is so fast, the blood pumping so hard in my veins, I can feel it everywhere. Behind my eyes. In my head. In my hand, which, for now, is still in Alex’s.
But that doesn’t last long.
He lets go of me and stumbles away from the bed.
He doesn’t look at me when he says, “What are you talking about?” And the scary part? He doesn’t sound angry. He doesn’t sound jealous either.
He sounds genuinely confused.
Maybe even hurt.
