—- Chapter 5 In the chaos of it all, I caught sight of Blake racing toward us, and beside me, Leila pretending to be flustered and afraid. A wave of anger surged in my chest. Men who flirt with every woman that passes by-they’re the worst. Without wasting another second, I turned and swam hard toward her. Achoice between the two of us? Did I look like the kind of woman who waited for a man to come save her? Not only would I save myself, but I wouldn’t let her be saved by him either.
Leila clearly hadn’t expected me to know how to swim. Her expression was pure disbelief. When I reached her, she began thrashing wildly, trying to push me away. All the while, she kept crying out, “Blake, save me! Save me…” —- Watching her flail around like a hog before New Year’s dinner, and seeing Blake already preparing to dive in, I didn’t hesitate. I raised my hand and chopped her neck cleanly. She went limp instantly.
Without an ounce of politeness, I dragged her back toward the shore. Thankfully, we hadn’t drifted too far out, and a few strong strokes later, I reached land. Blake stepped forward to help, but I snapped at him, my voice sharp with fury, “Get lost! Touch her today, and you can propose to her tomorrow!” I dropped to the ground, breathless, watching as people gathered around the unconscious Leila. Blake cast a dark look at her, then pulled off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
“Come on, honey. Let’s go home.” The moment he said it, Leila suddenly sat upright, as if the dead had just risen. Her voice rang out, shrill and trembling. —- “Blake, you can’t leave!” Everyone turned to look at her. Her lips trembled as tears welled in her eyes. “Blake, Joyce pushed me into the sea. Are you really going to defend someone who tried to kill me?” Gasps erupted around us. One of the more hot-headed women stormed over, pointing at my face and yelling, “Unbelievable!
We thought you were straightforward and decent, but turns out you’re rotten to the core. What did Leila ever do to deserve this from you?” Another chimed in, “Tsk, girls from out of town are always trouble.” Voices around me blurred into a mess of blame and accusations. Iclenched my fists, staring at these people and at Leila, who now had a faint trace of smugness behind her watery eyes. Rage burned through my veins. My vision narrowed. I
—- wanted to go up there and smack that smugness off her face. But before I could move, Blake grabbed my wrist. I turned to him, furious. As if I’d wanted to come to this godforsaken island in the first place-couldn’t eat well, couldn’t sleep well, and now I was being falsely accused. And Blake-he didn’t even believe me. Of course. In the end, he still chose to believe his childhood sweetheart. Fine. Once I finished beating up everyone who needed it, I’d file for divorce.
“Joyce would never do something like that. I believe her,” Blake said. Then he turned to Leila, voice cold. “And Leila, did you forget that you were last year’s swimming champion?” The blood drained from her face in an instant. —- Someone from the crowd echoed, “Yeah, Leila, didn’t you win that swim meet last year? Why were you calling for help just now?” Suspicion spread across the crowd like wildfire. Leila began to panic for real now. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I-I fell in all of a sudden. I was so shocked, my legs cramped…” She sniffled, forcing her voice to tremble. “If Joyce hadn’t reached for me, I wouldn’t have panicked so much.” Still clinging to the lie that I pushed her? That was it. I’d had enough. Iyanked my arm out of Blake’s grasp and marched up to Leila. With no warning, I slapped her across the face. Twice. The sound cracked through the silence. Red welts bloomed on her cheeks, swelling —- immediately. “You hit me?!
How dare you!” she shrieked, losing all composure and lunging toward me, claws out. I met her with a swift kick that sent her sprawling to the ground. Dusting off my hands, I stared down at her clutching her face, still sitting where she fell. Acold laugh escaped my lips. “You think I need to check the calendar and make an appointment first for that?”
