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He didn’t take that lightly.
Tully was yanked backward before she even passed the pool. Erik forced her to look at him, and her breath caught at the sudden change in his demeanor. His face was red, and a vein jumped in his neck as he clenched. “Don’t walk away from me, you bitch.”
“Let go—” Tully jerked her arm out of his grasp until he let go.
Unfortunately, he let go much easier than she expected.
She stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet as Erik watched her from where he stood safely in place.
Swinging her arms, she desperately tried to regain her balance, but the more she flailed the more she realized that wasn’t going to happen.
For a moment, her back hit something solid and warm. Relief flooded through her when arms held her and she thought that she had been saved from making more of a fool of herself. But then the unsteady wall started to tilt too, and both she and her attempted savior started the free fall off the edge of the pool.
Chilly water engulfed her entire body.
Tully’s eyes squeezed shut, and it took a moment for her to reorient herself as the bitter taste of chlorinated water entered her mouth and nostrils.
With the little unprepared air she had in her lungs, she exhaled and bubbles rose over her as her feet pushed off the bottom of the lit pool.
Her head breached the surface, coughing stinging water out of her nose and mouth.
Her hands wiped at the water dripping down her face so she could open her eyes.
She wished she hadn’t.
What felt like hundreds of pairs of eyes looked down at her. Laughs and whistles rang through the air. Tully met Stephanie’s horrified gaze, and Erik’s that held not one drop of remorse.
He laughed along with everyone else, like he wasn’t the reason she was in there.
She glared at him like she’d never glared at anyone in her entire life, and wished her eyes would leave wounds on him.
A splash hit Tully and she spun as another figure popped up, right next to her. She yelped and stepped back as much as the chest-deep water would allow.
Her stomach dropped. Eyes widening, she watched Nathan Rondeau cough just as she had, wiping the excess water from his face and slicking his water-darkened brown hair back.
Maybe she should go back under the water. Let it fill her mouth again and swallow as much as she could until she drowned.
He opened his eyes and met her mortified stare.
She could die now. She would fully accept it if she was struck by lightning or something at this very moment, and she would never have to live through the embarrassment.
Nathan’s brow furrowed, surprised.
She could have been sick right there in that pool.
She stood there, mouth open, looking as wet and sloppy as a fish. Neither of them said anything, even as mocking laughs continued to ring through the air.
Tully flinched and gritted her teeth together so hard she could forget the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.
Hold it together.
She had to.
The fight in her was washed away by the watered-down chemicals, and whatever confidence she’d built up—as minuscule as it had been—evaporated.
This was a very bad idea from the beginning, and now she was here, floating in Nathan Rondeau’s pool after knocking him in there.
She needed to leave. Right now.
