My stomach drops. “Fuck. Did I … please tell me I didn’t force myself on you?”
Her head jerks up, eyes wide. “No. God, no. Nothing happened that I didn’t want to happen. Until it was over anyway.”
“Then I’m gonna need you to use your words, Stormy,” I say, my voice rough. “Because I honestly have no idea what I’m being accused of here.”
She studies my face like she’s searching for a crack, a lie. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
I throw my hands up. “Obviously not.”
Her lip trembles again, and this time, I step closer without thinking. She steps back just as fast.
“Tell me,” I say quietly.
She closes her eyes. “It was the night you graduated. We were in your backyard, by the bonfire. We were doing shots of moonshine.” She opens her eyes, looking past me now. “You sat down beside me, and … you kissed me.”
My chest tightens.
“It was my first kiss,” she says softly, lifting a finger to her lips. “You said my lips were soft.”
A flicker of memory sparks—firelight, laughter—but it slips through my fingers before I can grab it.
“Marty Pasour’s brother started teasing us,” she continues, “and you asked if I wanted to take a walk. So, we did. We ended up down by the barn.” She swallows. “We went inside so we could have some privacy and …”
She stops.
“And what?” I ask, my voice barely there.
“And everything.”
The implication hits me like a punch to the ribs.
Fuck.
“Afterward, we heard Holland calling your name,” she goes on quickly. “You freaked out. You got dressed fast, told me you were sorry, and took off. I just lay there quietly for probably twenty minutes or so. Then I adjusted my clothes and slipped out. I was too embarrassed to go back to the party, so I walked all the way home.”
“Shit, Stormy. I was really fucked up back then.”
Her eyes graze over me. “You look pretty fucked up now.”
After that story time? I sure as hell am.
I stare at her, my head spinning. “I was wrecked,” I say hoarsely. “Pop and I had a blowup right after the ceremony. I told him I wasn’t going to college—that I wanted to rodeo for a while. Figure out what I wanted. He told me if I didn’t pack to leave for the University of Wyoming, I could pack up and get out of his house.” I shake my head. “That’s why I got so wasted. I was pissed. And when I woke up in the morning … everything was a blank.”
A tear slides down her cheek. She wipes it away with the back of her hand. “That’s why you acted like you did at the diner the next day.”
“How did I act?”
“Like nothing had happened. You were with your girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. Whatever. You didn’t even speak to me.”
“Fuck,” I choke out, the word tearing out of me. I turn away and kick the tire of a nearby truck, pain shooting up my leg. “Fuck!”
Silence stretches between us, thick and heavy.
Then the door swings open.
“There you are!” Harleigh’s voice rings out. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Shelby’s gaze holds mine for one last second before she schools her face and looks over my shoulder. “You found me.”
