The look in Ever’s eyes turned weighted. “‘I look at you and I would rather’—”
Shuffling footsteps, the sound of someone traveling fast across the sand, made Ever and me startle apart. I scrambled to my feet. He followed suit, only slower. My heart pounded. Who could it be? No one ever came out here.
The man came into sight, squinting. “Ruth? Is that you?” Fred Fortenot stopped in his tracks. A red flush climbed his neck. He was dressed for boating, in long sleeves and deck boots, a black duffel bag slung over a shoulder.
His eyes flicked to Everett and his whole demeanor changed, like a curtain falling. His open mouth snapped shut, eyes narrowing.
“Mr. Fortenot.” I tried to push down my nervousness. Whenever I was around Fred, I felt like he’d caught me at something, and now, horrorof horrors, he had. For a fleeting moment I wished for one of those hospital pills that made me numb. The ones I lied to my mother about, pretending to swallow every day—and lied to Everett about, pretending I always spit them out. “What are you doing here?”
“What amIdoing here?” Fred’s eyes flicked between me and Ever, and suddenly I realized the picture we made—our disheveled hair, the sand pressed into our skin, my two-piece suit. Fred’s face flamed red. “Ruth Cornier, of all the girls.” He thrust a finger at me. “Was it you who taught Beth how to be a whore?”
The shock and shame were knee-jerk, immediate and lancing. Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Hey,” Everett snarled, and lurched forward. I grabbed his shoulders to hold him back. “Apologize to Ruth and walk away.” His voice was nearly shaking. He radiated an intensity beyond any I’d witnessed, even that day in the swamp. Hatred, sure as the day was long.
“Don’t act like you have authority over me.” Fred’s hard eyes glinted. “Look at you. Your father’s spitting image. Seducing poor girls who don’t know any better. A rotten apple from a rotten tree.”
Anger burned bright in Ever’s eyes. “Where are you going, Fred?” He jerked his thumb. “The Fortenot Fishing docks are that way.” The way he said it was like a veiled threat.
Fred’s expression slackened. He and Ever stared at each other for a long, charged moment. Then Fred turned to me. “You should be at home where your daddy can watch you.”
“I’m eighteen,” I whispered, scared even of this small rebellion.
His eyes roamed my body. The shame was so hot I wanted to carve off my skin wherever he looked—so much exposed in my first bikini. “You may be grown, girl, but you’ll always belong to your daddy.”
Motorcycles roared from the highway, followed by the gunshot sound of an engine backfiring. Fred tensed, head cutting in the direction of thesound. When he turned back to us, he hitched his duffel higher and thrust a finger at me. “Stay away from him. Mark my words: he’s unnatural.”
Fred turned his back on us and stalked all the way to the bend in the shore, where he disappeared. His words hung in the air.
“Do you think he’s going to a dock on the other side of the inlet?” I forced my voice to come out light. “It’s strange, right? I thought his personal dock was next to the Company’s.”
Everett didn’t respond. His eyes were fixed on where Fred had disappeared.
“I hate him,” I said.
“Sometimes I think he’s right.” Ever’s voice was hollow. “I am unnatural.”
I frowned. Normally Ever was impenetrable, shielded by a suit of armor no one—not the kids at school, or our teachers, or his dad—could crack. His imperviousness to Bottom Springs was a force I depended on. “That’s ridiculous. You know you can’t take anything Fred says seriously. He’s awful.”
Ever’s eyes cut to me. “Is it still happening? With Beth?”
“Worse.” I’d been keeping the secret out of respect to Beth, but I felt compelled to share with Ever now, shake him out of this strange mood. “She’s pregnant.”
“What?” For once, I’d managed to shock him. “How old is she now?”
“Seventeen. She won’t tell anyone who the father is. No matter what Fred or my dad threaten. I heard my parents talking. They think she’s protecting some boy she’s in love with from school.”
“What’s going to happen to her?”
I was almost afraid to say it. “They’re making her get an abortion.”
Everett’s eyes grew hard. “I thought that was an unforgivable sin.”
“Fred told my parents if she has the baby, the whole town will shun them. It would hurt the Company and the church.”
“Heshouldbe shunned.”
“My father said Fred’s too important. It would be better if no one knew.” It had been a shock to hear.
