Free Underwater by Maayan Nahmani Page A

low as tremors passed through his body. I knew it was a bad idea and that I should stay the hell away, but for once, I wasn’t going to listen to the whispers in my head. I was going to go with my heart. I took a step forward, my intentions clear, but was halted from moving further. Ella’s hand, which was still clasped in mine, held me in place. I tried to free myself, but after a few failed attempts, I realized that it was a lost cause. She was looking at me like I was crazy. She was right about that.
    “Don’t go there,” she begged. “He scares me.”
    “Ella, it’s okay. I know him. Trust me.”
    She looked unconvinced, but she freed my hand anyway, and then nodded once. I smiled at her with gratitude and turned around. My eyes sought him, this enigma of a man who, no matter how much I thought he was wrong for me, I couldn’t walk away from. He stood in the same place. He hadn’t moved even a muscle. I moved toward him, stopped an inch from his body and did the craziest thing I ever did in my life.
    I embraced him.

 
    I n an instant, I was in motion, marching directly towards her. My eyes were fixed on Tiny without wavering, afraid she would disappear from my sight if I dared to blink. Even from this far away, I could see she was distressed and a shot of anger hit me hard, making me feel like a loaded gun, ready to go off and kill any minute.
    This motherfucker messed with the wrong person.
    I pushed forward through the sea of bodies, not caring who I bumped into in my quest to get to her. All I could see was her , and I had only one goal in mind – protecting her.
    Before long, I was behind him, gripping his shirt and jerking him back, far away from her. I didn’t realize that forcibly removing his grip would cause her to lose her balance.
    I didn’t think.
    I only reacted.
    I let my instincts take action and prevented her fall by holding her forearms. She let out a cry and held onto me tighter. I pulled her body against mine while still keeping my eyes on the fucker.
    I wasn’t done with him yet.
    Goddamn. I needed to calm the fuck down. Feeling her stare, my eyes sought her in a flash. The vibrant green in her eyes held me captive. I could get lost in them for an eternity. And just like that my anger began to fade. This girl…she held a power over me and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Our eyes probed, searched and scrutinized one another. I wanted to pick her up in my arms and take her away from here, to a place where we could be alone and I could keep staring into her big jade eyes. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.
    I wanted to keep her.
    But first, I needed to get rid of the source of my rage.
    I tucked her behind me, shielding her from him. I looked into the fucker’s eyes and saw fear. Good. Most people didn’t come close enough to anger me, but this one messed with what was mine. And even though I couldn’t beat the shit out of him (I would never let Tiny see me like that) I would make sure he didn’t step foot in this place again.
    Marching forward, I yanked him by his shirt and brought him inches away from my face. I tried my best not to touch his skin, although his physical closeness started to tick me off. “If you touch her again I will end you.”
    “Dorian.”
    It took only a few seconds before her soft voice broke through my fog and washed over me, relaxing every stiff muscle in my body.
    She assured me she was well and asked me to let him go. I didn’t want to, but I nodded anyway, because she asked me to. I turned back around and said, “Get the fuck out of here.”
    I shoved him back and he fell on the floor. Then, he was up on his feet and out of my sight in a blink. Pussy.
    I lowered my head and tried to even out my breathing, needing to calm down. I didn’t want her to see me like this. I felt the waves of anger engulfing me again as I stood rooted in place. I wasn’t aware of my surroundings and barely registered the noises around me. I