After we sit, I face him squarely and snap, “Look, Chase, just spit it out, okay? Whatever it is, just say it.”
It’s his turn to nod. He takes a deep inhale and blows it out through pursed lips, then runs his fingers through the hair flopping onto his forehead, pushing it back to no avail. It flops right back over his forehead and most of his right eyebrow. “I’m sorry I didn’t speak upand tell everyone it was bullshit. That you didn’t come onto me.” He fidgets with his hands, looking down at them.
When I don’t respond, he stops and looks up into my eyes, squinting a little in the waning sun.
Something in his eyes calls to that place in me—that heartbroken place that knows the pain and doesn’t want anyone else to ever feel it. But the hell I went through fights with my soft, forgiving side. It’s trying to win. “Yeah, why didn’t you?” I don’t trust myself to say more.
His cheeks puff with an exaggerated exhale. He looks back down at his hands. One reaches up to rub back and forth across his forehead. “The short answer is I’m a pussy.”
I smirk at his frank honesty, the begrudging side of me losing ground.
“The longer answer is that Kendall and her family have a way of convincing you they own you. Right after we started dating in high school, it’s like the rest of my life had already been planned out for me.” He begins fidgeting with his hands again, head bent low.
“So, what changed?” I’m genuinely curious. I’m not quite ready to forgive and forget but hearing that Kendall may have treated him like shit too sways me further.
“Via didn’t tell you?” That sideways, squinted look again.
I shake my head, meeting his gaze directly, waiting for him to continue. But my breath is a little shallower, my heart rate a little faster. My fingers curl around the edges of my seat as my lips press tightly together.
“It’s an even longer story that I don’t have to bore you with, but the short version is that Kendall faked her suicide attempt.” He stopsfidgeting to stare at the palms of his hands, then begins rubbing them together.
It was all a lie.I let his words sink in. The surge of outrage seizes my chest within seconds.It was all a lie.I scoot to the edge of my chair, still gripping the sides, and hang my head. I try to take deep breaths. I can’t get enough air into my lungs. I claw at my chest.
Chase flies off his chair and kneels in front of me. “I’m sorry, Evvie. Fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I swear.” He doesn’t touch me, but his hands brace on either side of my chair, locking me in.
It only adds to the panic rising in my throat. “I can’t . . .” The more I try to catch my breath, the more out of breath I feel. My hand clutches my chest. The darkness creeps in at the edges of my vision. My fingers and toes begin to tingle. Chase suddenly disappears from before me. He flies back onto the sand about five feet in front of me, landing on his back with another figure landing on top of him.
Julian!
My vision clears.
Julian clenches Chase’s shirt in his fists, lifting the top half of his body off the beach while he straddles the lower half.
What the fuck?
“What the fuck? You’ve got about two seconds to explain yourself before I make you really fucking sorry you ever set foot on this beach.” Julian jerks Chase’s face to within an inch of his as he hisses his threat through clenched teeth.
The good news is it rips me out of the throes of my panic attack. The bad news is Chase is seconds away from Julian beating the shit out of him. And I have no doubt he will.
“Julian,” I screech and lunge at his back. Hooking my hands onto his biceps, I pull back with all my strength. It doesn’t budge or faze him in the least.
Chase’s hands are raised on each side of his head in surrender.
“Julian,” I plead his name, still pulling uselessly at his arms. “Julie,” I whisper-cry into his ear.
The tension in his muscles eases a little under my curled fingers.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her, man, I swear.” Chase lowers his hands to the sand, trying to gain some leverage to right himself.
“You shut the fuck up.” Julian shakes Chase by the shirt as he says it before shoving him back onto the sand and releasing him. “What the fuck, Ever?” He turns his blue eyes on me, although almost none of the blue shows around the dark, angry pupils taking over. He lifts his body off Chase, kicking sand as he stalks to the water’s edge. He stands in the darkening glow of the sunset with his hands locked on top of his head. Frustration oozes off him like lava.
“Chase?” I swivel my head from Julian’s silhouette and say over my shoulder. “We’re not done, but I . . . I need a minute.”
He nods and pushes himself up off the shore, dusting off sand as he stands. “Sure. I’m just gonna . . . go find Ryan. Come find me when you’re done . . . if you want.”
I nod and turn toward Julian, who’s now standing with his hands in his pockets still facing the sun, which is now just a thin orange line on the horizon. Over my shoulder, I add, “I want to hear it. That’s what I want. I’ll be up in a minute.” With that, I take the few steps to Julian. I want to put my arms around him, but I don’t. Despite the calm façade, I see the rigid line of his jaw, the crease between his brows. I stand next to him, watching the fading orange line.
He doesn’t look at me when he says, “What the hell just happened? What’d he do?”
