I don’t let go of him, and he makes no motion to move, either.
“How do you do that?” I ask, my voice deep and low.
“Do what?” His gaze dips to my mouth. My palm sweats from the heat, between us, from the sun.
“How do you make everything else feel so insignificant?”
He chews his bottom lip. “Aaron—”
“How do you make it so easy?”
“Make what so easy?” he asks, placing his palm against my abs.
But I don’t answer him. Because just as I open my mouth, I see Chris, stumbling down the beach with a beer in his hand and a scowl on his face.
“Chris, what’s—”
“I’m done,” he says bitterly. Jacob pushes away from me.
“What’s wrong?” Jacob asks. Chris sits on Jacob’s towel, drinking his beer and I realize he’s drunk.
It’s barely eleven o’clock and he’s completely shitfaced. I’ve never seen him like this.
“Everything,” he bites.
Jacob looks at me in question. I shrug.
“Fuck if I know.”
Jacob sits next to him, pulling his legs up. “Do you want to talk about it?” His words are awkward, and I can tell he doesn’t really want to but doesn’t know what else to do. That makes two of us.
“I’m not doing the party,” he says. “I quit.”
My eyes widen in shock. “You quit?”
He nods.
“I never wanted this. I just want to do my own thing instead of what my dad wants me to do, you know?”
His words are heavy. I do know.
“I know the feeling,” Jacob says. “Your parents pissed?”
Chris shrugs. “Not as pissed as they’ll be when they find out why.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because I got a job with Tempest.”
The world stops as I process his words.
“What? Chris, what are you talking about?”
Chris takes a swig of his beer.
“Rob offered me a better deal,” he says. “I took the deal before coming here but things were still being finalized—”
“You knew this whole time, and you said nothing?” I bite. “Fuck, does Garrett know?” I can’t hide the disappointment in my voice.
