Ecstasy

Alex

I’m gasping for air, my lungs burning with it as I massage my throat, but there’s no time for that. There’s no time because my roommate is a fucking psychopath and he’s currently holding the girl I love under water.

He’s going to kill her.

He did it. I know he did. Without him telling me, without her confirming it, I fucking know that needle was his doing. And the blood? I bet it was hers.

And I bet he made her bleed.

He made her fucking bleed.

He almost sent me to fucking prison.

He let me think that night was my fault.

He said fucking nothing.

He put a needle in Zara’s veins.

He goaded her into fucking around with him.

He almost killed me.

He’s killing her.

I lunge for him in the water, doing exactly what he did to me, my forearm going around his fucking throat.

I haul him backward, and he stills in my arms, probably trying to conserve his strength. I know he knows how to fight better than I do, but between the two of us, I’m the fucking angriest, and that shit has to count for something.

Zara bursts up, to the surface, panting and rubbing water out of her eyes, shaking her head, trying to clear her vision.

God she’s fucking beautiful.

She sees me, but she sees the net, too, and she grabs it.

Eli is still strangely calm in my arms.

I loosen my hold.

And that’s exactly what he’s fucking waiting for.

He lunges toward Zara, apparently wanting to get to her more than me right now. But Zara is ready, too.

She holds up the net like a shield, horizontally. He laughs because he’s fucking insane, and grabs it, pulling it almost effortlessly from her arms.

She grits her teeth, not waiting for him to attack. She attacks him, her hands going for his face.

And I’m right behind him, to help her.

This time, I don’t go for his throat.

This time, I cross my arms and bring them down over his fucking head, forcing him under.

Zara’s mouth falls open and she steps back, out of his reach.

He struggles against my arms, but underwater, and with me having the advantage of being above the surface, he can’t get up. He can’t break loose.

When he tries to, I just wrap one arm around his body, keep the other on his head, forcing him to stay under.

He’s still struggling, and Zara is staring at me with wide eyes. Those beautiful fucking ocean and emerald eyes.

She’s in a bra and underwear, and she’s shivering, her hands down by her sides, but she doesn’t look away from me.

Time passes.

I don’t know how much, but soon, Eli’s struggles are more sluggish. Less violent. Soon, it’s easier to hold him under.

Soon, he stops moving altogether.

“Alex.” Zara says my name with a hint of desperation, but she doesn’t move toward me. She doesn’t look down at Eli.

I don’t speak. I just swallow down the lump in my throat as Eli stops thrashing beneath my hands.

“Alex,” she whispers again, “you don’t want to—”

“Did he do it?” I ask her quietly as Eli goes still beneath me. “Did he stick that fucking needle in your vein?”

She doesn’t answer me, but she doesn’t need to. I can read the answer on her fucking face.

That motherfucker.

I don’t let go of him.

I don’t let go, and as the sun fully rises and casts the world in a promising shade of orange, I still don’t let go.

I don’t let go until I know Eli is gone.

Until I know I’m safe.

Until I know Zara is safe, and Eli Addison will never fuck with her ever again.