Page 47 of Ruthless Game
He processed this, face getting red from anger—and helplessness, because what was he going to do?
“Stop—don’t get nearer.”
“Here’s the deal, Melvin,” I said easily, striding slowly toward him. “I don’t really care if you call the police on me. I have friends in high places, and they’ll have me out in an hour. Hell, maybe faster than that.” By now, I’d reached him, and I pushed the door behind him shut, looming over him. “But you’ll care, because after I’m out, I’ll come find you, and if you didn’t like being dunked under water a few times, you’re going to hate it when I tie a brick to your legs and throw you in the gorge. Think you can blow bubbles under water for that long?”
He stared at me, mouth wide. “You—you wouldn’t.”
I shrugged again, grabbing his jaw in my hands and squeezing hard enough that he coughed, water dribbling out on his scrawny chest.
“Want to try and see what happens?”
I jerked his face to the right and the left, shaking it.
“Exactly. No you don’t. Now, you’re going to drop out of Emma’s class, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone, well, I’ve heard rumors about fish in the gorges that like the taste of human meat.”
With that, I released him and took my hand off the door, opening it for him like a real gentleman. Not taking his eyes off me, he edged out of it, leaving all his things behind so he could scamper off to safety.
That handled, I went back out to the pool.
There were whispers, looks of shock and awe, and one girl—the one who’d grabbed my ankle during our first class—looked like she was about to swoon.
“Lawson, that was awesome. I mean … damn. How do I get you to defend me like that?”
I smiled, but my eyes tracked Emma, who had her arms wrapped around her waist, a frustrated look on her face. Jealousy? Hopefully.
I had no interest in testing it or playing games.
“You don’t,” I said. “My white knight shit is only for one person, sorry.”
Emma snorted. “I’m not sure I’d call almost drowning someone white knight shit.”
“Agree to disagree,” I told her, and she hid a smile.
The girl glanced between us, looking like she’d just swallowed something sour. “Her?”
Still speaking to the girl, I winked at Emma, and the blush that bloomed on her chest made me hungry. “Always her.”
“Well,” the girl started.
Emma interrupted, “I hate doing this, but if all of you agree to keep what happened in class today to yourselves, Maya and I will stop taking attendance. You’ll still have to pass the swim test at the end of the semester to pass the class and graduate, but showing up for each class won’t count toward your grade anymore.”
Maya opened her mouth. “Um, I’m not sure about this.”
Emma lowered her voice. “Please, Maya.”
Maya shrugged. “Whatever you want is fine with me. Taking attendance is annoying, anyway. It’s not like I know all their names.”
Staring at me, Emma asked, “Everyone agree?”
There was a chorus of sures, yeses, and even a “that asshole deserved it for what he said, so I’m not about to say anything,” but I barely heard them, my focus fully on Emma. Because after everything I’d done, she had no reason in the world to protect me. If anything, she could’ve and should’ve used what I’d done as an opportunity to get me expelled so I’d be punished and she’d be free. Instead, she’d gone against her own principles to protect me, and that alone made me feel like I’d blocked a hundred shots in a row. I wanted to drag her out of the pool, rip her suit off, and show her how grateful I was.
Instead, I waited as Emma told everyone class was over and that she’d see us next week. I needed to talk to her, but I didn’t even know what to say, so instead I waited. Waited, as she and the rest of the class headed into their respective locker rooms. Waited, minutes ticking by, until everyone must have been dressed. And then I walked into the girl’s locker room.
Maya was still there, chatting away to a bemused looking Emma, who was dressed in one of her black knee-length, retro dresses, hair done, lipstick back on.
Maya saw me first. I jerked my head at her.
Is she safe with you? she mouthed.
