003: She Can’t Swim

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:LEXTER ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

✦ ✧ ✦

There she was.

Sloane Carter.

Standing by the poolside entrance like she'd materialized out of thin air. The girl I'd just had my fingers inside twenty minutes ago.

And fuck if I knew why I could still taste her on my lips. Still feel the way she trembled. Still hear those soft broken sounds she made against my mouth.

The truth is Sloane Carter didn't exist in my world.

She was the girl who practically lived in the library. The one with the thick glasses who kept her head down and her earbuds in. The straight-A student who made everyone else feel stupid just by existing.

We didn't run in the same circles.

I only ever caught glimpses of her when I passed by the library. Usually buried in a book. Always alone.

The bet was simple. Twenty grand to make Sloane Carter think someone like me could want someone like her. Then ignore her like she never existed.

Ashley's idea... her twisted little game. Payback for the day Sloane embarrassed her in the library with that quiet whisper, "Maybe worry less about my face and more about your grades."

And apparently, Sloane added insult to injury by staring at me a second too long. Because Ashley Sinclair thinks she owns me.

And I let her. Not because I give a shit about Ashley. But because having someone claim ownership keeps everyone else away.

So I took the bet.

It wasn't for the twenty grand. My trust fund pisses that amount daily.

Why did I do it?

Because I'm fucked up. Because I get off on this shit. Watching people break. Being the one who breaks them. It's the only thing that makes me feel anything anymore.

And honestly? Making out with Sloane Carter was nothing like I thought it would be.

It was supposed to be boring.

Forgettable.

But she kissed like she'd been saving it. Like she'd been waiting her whole life for someone to kiss her like that. When she came apart on my fingers, biting down on my shoulder to keep from screaming, when she looked at me like I'd just shown her heaven… yeah, that was good.

Better than good.

But that was the point.

Everything that happened in the past weeks was textbook. Passing by the library. Checking in on her. Staring just long enough. Everything in that pool was just me getting what I wanted.

And it worked.

Now she was standing in my pool entrance. In her damp yellow dress. Her brown curls, clinging to her shoulders. Eyes red.

And I could tell… she'd heard everything.

"I just came to get my cardigan," she mumbled softly, almost like she didn't want to be heard.

Ashley laughed beside me. "Is that all? Or did you come back to finish what you started with my boyfriend?"

Ashley Alexander is not my girlfriend.

The others laughed. Tyler. Mia. Styles. All of them sprawled across my furniture like Sloane was tonight's entertainment.

Which she was.

"Oh Lexter," Ashley moaned, loud and theatrical. "Please don't stop. I'll die if you stop." She clutched her chest, rolling her eyes back.

The others howled.

"Still got tears streaming down your legs, Four-Eyes?" Styles added.

Ashley stood, circling Sloane. "What were you thinking? That Lexter Gray would ever be interested in someone like you?" She laughed. "Not even in your wildest dreams. It was just punishment for staring at my boyfriend too long and running that smart mouth of yours."

Ashley looked over at me. "Tell her, Lexter."

That was cue for 'finish the job, Lexter.'

I pushed off the couch and walked over until I was right in front of Sloane. Close enough to see the goosebumps rising on her caramel skin. To smell that scent again.

Not cheap perfume and poor people like Ashley said. Try grapes crushed under bare feet… fermenting into something stronger. Something that could fuck you up if you weren't careful.

I should know. I wasn't that careful.

I leaned in, noticing every detail of her face. "If you came back here for more…" Her breath stuttered. "Sorry to break it to you." I glanced at the pool, "But that?" Then back at her. "That was painful. Pure fucking torture,"

Her heart-shaped face just… crumbled. Like a sketch someone dragged a hand through and ruined. And still…

"Honestly?" I shrugged. "I've had better chemistry with my own reflection."

Her eyes had rings of tears now, threatening to spill. Those thin rose-tinted lips of hers trembled with each breath. For a second, that was all I could hear. Loud enough that if I leaned in just a little more, I could count every single one

And I felt it. That sick satisfaction... my fucked-upness, needing its fill.

I leaned in even closer.

"And the thought of fucking you?" A tear slipped down her cheek. "I wouldn't do it if it was the last fuck on earth and my life depended on it."

The cheers. The laughter. The howls. Everything I lived for.

She swallowed so hard I heard it. "I just… I just want my cardigan. Can I get it? Please?" She swiped at the tear, like it hadn't been there.

I stepped aside, letting her walk to the deck where her cardigan lay crumpled.

She grabbed it quickly, clutching it to her chest like it could protect her.

"Awww," Ashley blocked her path. "Want to run?"

"Please get out of my way." Sloane mumbled, trying to sidestep.

"And if I don't?" Ashley stepped closer. Sloane stepped back. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I just want to leave." Another step back.

Ashely's face hardened. "You made out with my boyfriend."

Sloane's eyes flicked to mine. Those misty brown things said really? you're just going to stand there? "I didn't know," she shook her head. "I didn't know he was—"

"Everyone at Passion knows he's mine. But you just had to be a whore and get a taste, didn't you?"

"I just want to leave."

"No." Ashley turned to the others. "Not until she gives us a show. Show us how you sounded with Lexter and then you can go."

And they started cheering. Like they were at a game waiting for a score.

"You humiliate me in the library, then you crawl into my boyfriend's pool and start making out with him like you belong there?" Ashley laughed brutally. "Oh Four-Eyes, you are going to give us an encore."

Ashley kept advancing. Sloane kept retreating.

"Go on. We want to hear it."

"Please," Sloane whispered.

"Maybe she needs help!" Styles shouted.

"Oh touch me, Lexter!," Ashley mimicked in a high breathless voice. "Please, Lexter. Oh right there."

Mia joined in. "Yes yes yes. Don't stop. More. Please… more."

The room was howling.

Sloane had tears spilling over now.

And Ashley… she didn't let up. If anything, the way she came for Sloane tonight was on another level of vicious.

"Oh, she's a crier," Ashley announced. "Even better."

"Come on, Sloane," Ashley continued. "Did you beg him to fuck you right there in the pool?"

Tyler started making obscene gasping sounds. Styles joined with groaning. Mia clutched invisible shoulders and threw her head back. Everyone was acting out some pornographic version of what they thought happened in that pool. Sloane just kept backing up. Sobbing.

And me?

I was posted up against the wall, watching the room rot in real time.

"Show us how you begged for it." Ashley's acting pitched higher. "More Lexter. Harder. Faster. Deeper. Don't stop!"

That's... not even close to what happened.

Sloane sounded more….

Fuck you if you remember how she sounded, Lexter.

"Go on." Ashley's voice pitched into my drift. "Make the sounds or you don't leave." She kept pressing closer.

"Please," Sloane whispered again.

"Please what? Please fuck me? Please make me cum? Please use me like the desperate little slut I am?" Ashley was so close now.

Another step back. Sloane's heel hit the edge of the pool.

I straightened off the wall without meaning to.

"Show us how you begged, Sloane!"

The entire room picked it up. A sick, synchronized chant.

"Show!"

"Show!"

"Show!"

One second Sloane was still there.

The next…

Her foot gave out.

She tipped backward and hit the water hard. The splash was loud enough to cut the noise.

For a moment.

Then everyone started laughing again. Cheering.

Ashley clapped.

But Sloane didn't come back up.

Not fast enough.

Not at all.

Wait.

Where the fuck is she?

My chest locked, everything narrowing to that spot in the water where she went under. She should be up by now. Gasping. Thrashing. Cursing us out. Instead the water stilled.

"Oops," Ashley snickered. "Looks like Four-Eyes is…"

We didn't cross the shallow end. Because she said she'd never…

Oh fuck.

FUCK.

FUCK.

I was already diving in.