“Fine, I’ll go by myself,” Niall said lightly.
“It’s my kill list,” I growled, picking up my rock and pointing it at him. “You don’t get a say in how the kills go down. This is my revenge, and I want Mateo there when I cut Cedric’s tongue out and shove it up his ass, just like I want you there too, Hellfire.”
“Fine,” Niall spat, drumming his fingers on the surface. “But we gotta wait until the heat dies down around yer escape. Have ya seen this shit?” He tapped onto another tab, bringing up a news report with mugshots of me and Angry Jack alongside a bunch of the other inmates from Eden Heights.
“Ooh!” I cooed, leaning in closer to read the article entitled Dangerous Criminals at Large. “Oh my god, Niall, look -look! They have a bounty on my head. Fifty thousand dollars, that’s a lot, isn’t it? Holy tits, there’s a hundred thousand on AJ’s head – oh but they’ve got his name wrong. Jackson Door.” I giggled, shaking my head. “They’re not going to find him if they can’t even remember his first name.”
“This is bad,” Mateo said in a low tone, leaning in to read the article. “Mi sol can’t leave this place until this news dies down.”
“That’s precisely what I just said, ya big donkey,” Niall said, coming off of the page and going back to the photo of the judge’s swimming pool. “Anywho, that’s deep there. I can cut through it underwater no problem. It’ll keep the sound quiet.”
“But I can’t swim,” I whispered, staring at the water longingly.
“Well now I’ve got time to teach ya,” Niall announced, getting to his feet. “Go get yer swimsuit on.”
“Ooh, should I wear a bikini? Or a tankini? Or a mankini?” I ran out of the room towards the basement, snatching the keys off a hook by the door and letting myself in to get my stuff. A roar preceded a battering ram colliding with me just as Niall shouted, “No!” and I was knocked to the ground beneath the weight of a mammoth.
“Oh hey, AJ!” I squealed with glee as I hit the floor like a sack of potatoes and wrapped my arms and legs around him in a hug. His big body squashed me real good, and I couldn’t say I hated that. I was an ant in love with a boot, the big shoe coming down on my head while I smiled my way through my death.
Angry Jack paused, staring down at me in shock at what he’d done. “Rook.”
That was all it took for Niall to appear, slamming into Jack and smacking him over the head with a frying pan. Jack tumbled off of me, shoving to his feet and throwing a powerful swing at Niall’s head. He jerked back a second before it could impact with his skull and Niall lurched forward and hit him over the head with the frying pan again. Jack stumbled backwards, clearly dazed by the blow and Niall kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him crashing down the basement stairs.
Niall slammed the door behind him, locking it tight with a triumphant laugh before his eyes fell on me and he hauled me to my feet, twirling me around to inspect the back of my head which had bumped against the floor.
Mateo appeared beside me, but before he could reach me, Niall took the remote control for his shock collar from his pocket and pressed the button on it again.
Mateo hit the floor under the assault of electricity and I gasped as Niall whistled lightly and went back to inspecting my head for injury.
Brutus was barking and snarling, but as Niall snapped his fingers, he fell surprisingly quiet at his command.
“Is it cracked open like a nut?” I asked in concern. “Is a squirrel going to come and feast on my brains?”
“I can’t see any brains,” Niall said, rubbing his thumb over the ouchy part of my head. “But that might be because you don’t have any.”
I whipped around, punching him in the gut and he wheezed a laugh. “That’s for Jack and Mateo.” I folded my arms. “How am I supposed to get changed into a swimsuit when all of my swim thingies are down there?”
“Just stay like that for yer swim,” Niall decided.
“But my swim thingies won’t fulfil their destinies,” I whispered in horror.
“They can fulfil their destinies when ya can actually swim. You wouldn’t want them to see the shame of you flailing about and unswimmable, would ya? Now come on, love. You want to be the best swimmer in swimsville, don’t ya?” He strode away from me, kicking Mateo in the gut as he stepped over him and my Dead Man growled in rage as he managed to get up.
“The best swimmer in the whole of swimsville?” I breathed in awe, moving to Mateo and gripping his shirt in my fists as I looked up at him. “Did you hear that? The whole of swimsville, Dead Man. Do you really think I could be that good?”
“Maybe one day, if you practise.” He skimmed his thumb along my cheek.
I released a squeak of excitement, grabbing his hand and towing him after Niall, spotting him outside by the pool. I shoved the back door open, jogging out there as rain dotted my cheeks and Niall worked to wind the cover off the pool. Steam coiled up from it into the cool air and I hurried towards Niall in anticipation, leaving Dead Man to sit on one of the loungers at the edge of the water.
Niall had a coil of rope with him and he moved forward to tie it around my waist, securing a knot in place. Then he took hold of my skirt, unbuttoning it and making a breath get stuck in my throat, never to come out. It was going to live there like a bee in a jar, throwing its buzzy little body at the walls.
Niall shimmied the skirt over my ass then let it fall to my bare feet. I stepped out of it and his green eyes fell down my body for half a second before he picked me up and threw me into the pool.
My scream was lost as I hit the surface and went under, sinking deep, deep, deep, sending my arms and legs out in every direction as I tried to get back to a source of air. But every time my leg kicked, my arm flailed in the opposite direction and I sent myself spinning instead of swimming.
The water burned my nose as I accidently inhaled it and I gave up thrashing and tried playing dead instead.
I released a stream of bubbles from my lips and sank deeper, my back hitting the tiles at the bottom of the pool. Light danced far above me at the surface and the droplets of rain sent a hundred thousand ripples across it. It was such a pretty way to die, but I didn’t like the ouchies in my lungs. Maybe if I laid here a while longer, I’d float on up to that lovely light and break out into the rain where it could tickle me all over.
But the longer I lay there, the more my lungs felt like they were going to pop instead.
Two shadows appeared above the water and they seemed to be struggling with one another, shoving, fighting maybe. A final bubble left my lips and that was it, the last piece of air I had to give. It danced its way to the surface, doing a little rumba as it wiggled its bubble butt left and right then popped at the top.
The rope suddenly went tight on my waist and I was hauled skyward a second before a huge body dove into the water.
Mateo appeared, swimming forward and grabbing hold of me with wild eyes and a bruise swelling on his jaw. He swam faster and my head broke free of the surface, beautiful air tumbling into my lungs as I took a massive breath. Niall kept reeling me in with the rope, forcing me out of Mateo’s arms to the edge of the water and yanking me up out of it.