Prohibitum

Chapter 2

Air, I needed air. I choked as I came back into consciousness, the feeling of air being forced down my throat as I tried to cough up water. The pressure on my mouth left and I reared up, turning to my left in time to spew up the water that was choking me. I continued to cough for a while and I could feel someone rubbing my back, soothing me. I looked up into Sam’s tear filled eyes.

“Oh my god, Evie, you almost drowned!” She sobbed, pulling me into a gentle hug.

I looked around at the almost empty backyard and realised that everyone must have left in the wake of my almost drowning. God, way to kill the party Evie, I thought as I felt a blush rise on my cheeks. I noticed Hannah still here, standing off to the side talking to Kate and another guy I didn’t recognise. Apart from that everyone seems to have gone home. I turned back to Sam to ask her what happened but before I could even get the words out she was explaining.

“It happened so suddenly and I didn’t even realise that you’d fallen in until Xav ran out here and was telling everyone to stop and he was dragging you out of the pool.”

Fallen? I hadn’t fallen, that ass Christian had pushed me and where was he now? Gone, because of course he splits at the first sign of trouble.

“Who said I’d fallen?”

“Kate, she saw the whole thing but she couldn’t get to you to help quick enough.”

Sure, sure Kate. I glanced in her direction but she was too busy looking at the boy standing in front of her. I focused back on Sam and asked my next question.

“Who’s Xav?”

“My brother, he’s gone to get you a towel.”

“Oh.”

There was a brief silence before I felt a towel wrap around my shoulders and I tugged it around me tighter, only just realising how cold I actually was.

“Thank you,” I said, turning to see who I can only assume to be Sam’s brother. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, maybe a twelve year old or a guy a little older than us but I wasn’t expecting what I found. He was a massive tower of muscle and tanned skin and he was dripping wet, liked he’d been swimming with the rest of us, only fully clothed. My eyes widened as I took in a very handsomely sculptured face, a slight beard adorning his chin and the thick brown hair that was plastered to his forehead with pool water. But it was his eyes that really captivated me, they were a deep blue and so hypnotizing in their depths that I found myself unable to drag my shocked eyes from his.

“Evie, this is my brother Xav,” Sam explained and I started a bit. I know she had just said that her brother was getting the towel but this man looked more like he was Sam’s very young father, he had to be late twenty’s at least. It wasn’t that he looked old, he wasn’t wrinkled and grey haired that’s for sure, it was just the maturity in his eyes that made me think he was a lot older.

“Hi, thanks for the towel,” I was able to mumble somewhat, looking away from him.

I was feeling incredibly nervous right now, more so than usual. It was like I could feel his eyes drilling into the back of my head when really I wasn’t even sure he was looking in this direction. He was probably very annoyed that we had him up at this time of night. Hell, what was the time? I reached into my pocket for my phone and realised with horror that it had gone in the pool with me.

“Oh no!” I groaned as I pull it from my dress’ pocket. I didn’t even bother to look over the dress, it was definitely ruined. I tried to turn my phone on but it didn’t even respond. Great, it was dead and I had no way of calling my mum.

“What’s the time?” I asked Sam.

She looked a little unsure but a deep voice answered for her.