Stay Away | Eric Coulter [1]

twenty-two

Drew steps forward again, this time with his right leg and I lean back as he really takes a punch this time.

Ducking under his arm, I rush forward pushing my shoulder into his body to take him down.

Drew lands on his back with a loud thud and I quickly get on top of him in a grappling position as he wildly punches out at me. His fists collide with my jaw a couple of times, though, in such a vulnerable position, his hits don't pack as much punch.

Raising my arm, I bring my elbow down on him, hitting him in the temple as he pushes at my face.

He bridges his hips and rolls to his side, in an attempt to throw me off him, but that only exposes his back to me.

I take the opening he'd given to me, pressing his back to my chest, I wrap my arm around his neck and squeezed.

Drew continued to struggle against my hold, throwing his elbow back into my ribs. Until he finally goes limp in my arms.

I immediately loosen my hold on him, scurrying back on my hands and feet until I hit the edge of the ring.

My heart was racing so quickly that I could hear it beating in my ears. I was vaguely aware of everyone's beady stares on me, but I couldn't even bring myself to care.

As I stared at Drew's motionless body, it felt as if the ground was closing on me and I just couldn't fucking breathe.

"Alright, that's enough!" Eric's voice booms across the room, "Nothing to see here. All of you get lost!"

My mind is getting so hazy that I barely even register the sound of feet shuffling against the floor until Eric's face appears in front of me.

"Nessa, you need to control your breathing," He says, cupping my cheek with a gentleness I didn't know he possessed. "You did nothing wrong. I need you to calm down for me."

I frown at his words, only realising then that I was hyperventilating.

"What the fuck are you standing around for?" Eric throws over his shoulder at Tobias who looks frozen in his spot and jerks his chin at Drew, "Get him the fuck out of here, she doesn't need to see this."

That seems to spur Tobias into motion and he quickly makes his way over to Drew and drags him out of the room by his hands.

I close my eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths trying my best to calm myself down. Feeling Eric's thumb as it rubs soothing circles on my back.

"He's not...he's not dead, right? I didn't kill him?" I manage to choke out eventually.

"He'll be fine. Just passed out." Eric replies, "Stay here for a minute, alright? I'll be right back." He says, pressing a kiss to my temple.

I look up to see him conversing with Uriah, who constantly steals worried glances at me and I shoot him what I hope is a smile to let him know that I'm okay. Uriah only frowns at me. Not a smile, then.

I see Uriah nod at something Eric says. Then, Eric stalks back towards me, not even bothering to give me a warning before lifting me into his arms.

I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck as he carries me out of the room.

"I can walk on my own," I tell him, but he just lets out a grunt and continues walking.

Before I know it, Eric is taking a set of very familiar steps two at a time and we emerge on the roof.

There, he lets slides me down until my feet touch the gravelled ground.

His gaze softens as he takes me in and he reaches up to wipe the hair off of my face.

"Talk to your friends," He says. I look over my shoulder to see Marlene, Uriah and Lynn all waiting by our usual corner, all their faces pulled taut with concern. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Eric," I call before he leaves, "Could you check on Drew for me?"

Eric looks like he wants to say no, but eventually nods.

"I will."

Before I could overthink it, I raise on my toes and press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you."

Eric offers me a small smile before he turns on his heel and disappears down the stairwell.

I must've looked really bad because when I turn back to face my friends, Marlene doesn't even tease me about the kiss and instead, immediately comes over and pulls me into a tight hug that was soon joined by the rest.

On the roof where we've solidified our friendship, I told them all what a monster Marcus really was as they held me and felt like I was ten pounds lighter by the end of it, now that I had people to share the weight of those secrets with and knowing they would always have my back.