Saint (Angelview Academy #1) - E.M. Snow Page 0,101
my flushed chest.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
This is the second most awful night of my life. The first was the night of the accident. The night of the fire that killed James. He shouldn’t have been there that night. He shouldn’t have gone running into the house because I wasn’t in there.
“Mal, wait…”
I trip over my own feet and stumble forward in shock at the voice hitting me from behind.
Slowly, I turn and meet Saint’s blue gaze. I can’t believe the balls on him. The fucking nerve to approach me now, after what he just did to me.
I don’t think. Instinct takes over completely as my feet swallow the distance between us and I bring my hand back.
The sound of the slap is like a thunderclap and everyone around us, everyone who’s leaving the assembly, goes silent. Saint’s head jerks to the side with the force of my hit, and he looks momentarily stunned.
“Let me—” he starts after several beats, but I slap him again, this time harder.
Fuck letting him do anything. Saint and I are done.
“If you come near me again, I’ll kill you. I will end you,” I scream, uncaring of the crowd gathering around us. “I mean that, Saint. I will kill you, so you and your psycho bitch just stay the fuck away from me until I—” The breath I draw in burns my lungs, but I manage to stand upright and finish, “until I leave.”
Before he can gather his wits and respond, I turn and storm away to my dorm.
He doesn’t follow.
By the time I get to my room, my phone is blowing up. Texts with pictures of my burned down house, photos of my hospital records, and nasty messages telling me I should die. A small, manic part of me is almost impressed with how quickly the students of Angelview not only found pictures of my destroyed home, but all my personal information as well. The only text that isn’t cruel comes from Loni, asking me to please open my door so she can check on me, but I’m too ashamed to answer her. Too embarrassed of the real me being exposed to someone who’s done nothing but defend me.
I throw my phone on my bed and begin to pace. My brain is running a million miles a minute, and I can’t latch onto a single rational thought. I’m overwhelmed, confused, and heartsick.
Why would Saint do this to me? Laurel, I completely understand, but him?
I thought we were past all this, but Liam was right about him all along. He found what made me bleed, then slit my throat to drain it from me.
It’s no use. I can’t think straight. I drop down onto my bed and put my head in my hands. There’s too much noise in my mind—so much fucking noise—and I can barely see straight.
I decide to go to my safe haven.
Maybe if I swim long enough, I’ll stop feeling so powerless and out of control. I push to my feet and grab a spare swimsuit, as my school one is wet and soaking in the locker room laundry. As I step out of my room, I look around to make sure the hallway is empty before I make my way through the building and back outside. I stick to the shadows as I head to the rec center, avoiding anyone I come upon, though thankfully it’s not a lot.
There are still remnants of the swim meet around the pool when I arrive. Banners are still hung to encourage and motivate the team. The trash has been picked up and the bleachers are clean at least. I don’t think anyone will disturb me here tonight. Putting my phone on silence, I lay it and my towel on a bench near the pool, then shed my t-shirt and sweatpants. I move to one of the starting blocks and dive into the water.
For a moment, I try to pretend it’s a few hours earlier. Before the assembly, when everything seemed to be going right for me after years of everything going wrong.
Before Dylan appeared, and shattered my world.
Before Saint ripped my heart out and broke my soul.
I push myself, swimming harder and faster despite my body being tired from the meet. I don’t care, though. I need to exhaust myself. Need to force myself into oblivion. As I cut through the water, I focus on my strokes and my breathing. My exercise soon turns into a mediation as I go back and