Elena turned red, and Carey stood up out of her chair. “You’re making a big mistake if you think you can come here and challenge us. You’re a nobody.”
I laughed out loud at how pretentious they were. “Go bother someone else.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Or you’ll regret it.”
Carey put her hands on her hips. “This is your last chance.”
“What are you going to do?” I challenged her.
Elena and Carey exchanged a glance, then moved for me at the same time. I kicked Elena in the stomach before she could grab my legs, and she fell back with an oomph as the breath was knocked out of her. I laughed at the face she made as her ass hit the ground.
“You bitch,” Carey hissed as she grabbed a fistful of my hair.
Blind rage turned my vision red. I swung my elbow toward her face, but I put the entire weight of my body behind the movement. She shrieked and let go of my hair before I could make contact.
Carey’s scream attracted the notice of the people in our immediate vicinity. They stared, but I stood up to face off with Elena and Carey. There was no turning back at this point. My blood was boiling, and I was ready to let go of everything I’d held back for so long.
“If you think I’m going to cower in front of a couple of spoiled little rich girls, then you’re going to be very disappointed,” I told them with a feral grin.
Letting everything out like this was fun. I hoped they would come after me again. Yeah, I was definitely drunk. Abby was right - I was a lightweight.
Elena glanced around at everyone watching us. She couldn’t back down without losing status. If she let a nobody like me tell her off, then she’d lose control of everyone else that she bullied.
“You’re going down,” Carey said confidently. “And the Wilders aren’t going to help you.”
“Dawn,” Elena called to a brunette in the watching crowd. “Help us teach her a lesson.”
Dawn hesitated, but she moved forward obediently when Elena glared at her.
I held my ground, keeping all three of them within view. “I have nothing to lose,” I said with a laugh. “Unlike you.”
I took a running start, and slammed my body into Elena’s. She stumbled back, and we both went over the edge of the pool. The water was colder than I’d expected, and I hadn’t realized we were standing near the deep end.
I panicked when I realized I couldn’t touch the bottom, and I grabbed onto Elena. She shrieked and went under as I tried to climb up her body to reach the air. I managed to get a breath before she kicked me in the stomach, and my head went under again.
Elena’s elbow slammed into my face, and I lost my grip on her. I thrashed around in the water, but she kicked my shoulder, shoving me deeper into the pool. I looked up at the sunlight that seemed too far away for me to reach, and my lungs burned for air.
An arm wrapped around my waist, and I was pressed up against a hard body. I struggled against him but stopped when I realized he was propelling us up. My head popped up out of the water, and I gasped in the fresh air.
“I had no idea you were such a wildKat,” Maverik chuckled in my ear as he pulled me into the shallow waters. “But you probably shouldn’t jump into a pool if you can’t swim.”
Relief flooded through me as my feet touched the bottom of the pool, and I was able to stand on my own two feet.
“She started it,” I told Maverik defensively. I took a step away from him to put some distance between the two of us. “And I’m surprised you didn’t let me drown.”
Maverik flashed a smile at me, and my heart stuttered. It was like, for a moment, he forgot he was supposed to be an asshole to me.
My face was bright red, but it was more from being pressed up against Maverik’s muscular form than it was from my near-drowning. Once again, he had unexpectedly jumped to my rescue, and I wasn’t sure what to think about it.
Kingston swam over to us and splashed in my direction. “Dad frowns upon us drowning people in the pool,” he laughed. “But I’m going to give you extra points for style.”
I scowled and dunked my head back so I could get all the hair out of my face. My head swam with drunken dizziness, and I decided to get out of the pool. I didn’t want to drown myself in the shallow end. That would be beyond embarrassing.
Carey and Dawn were standing on the sidelines, looking like they couldn’t wait for me to step away from Maverik so that they could continue the attack I’d derailed.
“I’ll take care of them,” Maverik told me with an amused quirk of his mouth.
Kingston laughed as I waded to the steps and got out of the pool. On the other end, Elena was being pulled out by two guys that I didn’t recognize. Maverik strode in that direction, but our eyes met when he glanced back. There was something new that wasn’t there before. Respect, maybe?
I squished the water out of my hair as I marched back to my chair. Abby ran up to me with more drinks in her hands.
“That was amazing!” she gushed. “I’d never have the guts to take her on like
