Owen’s face went pale beneath the bruises.
“Harlow…”
“You owe her an apology.” I stepped into his space. “A real one. Not some half-assed I’m sorry you were hurt bullshit.”
“I will apologize, I swear…”
“You need to get your shit together.” He stepped back. “You’re leaving a trail of damage everywhere you go. This whole mess with Cam and Trystan. The fight. Jax’s wedding weekend, which is supposed to be about him and Kaia and not your emotional meltdown.” I paused, and my next words came out quieter. “Including me.” His face changed. “You told me you and Cam were over. That night. You said you were done, and I believed you.”
“We were, Har…”
“But you weren’t.” My eyes burned, but I refused to cry. “You hadn’t actually ended it. You were still together, and I didn’t know that because you let me think otherwise. Now I have to live with being the other woman. The dirty secret. The mistake you made when you were too drunk to remember.”
“You’re not a mistake.” His voice broke on the word. “Harlow, you’re not…”
“Yes… I was. You’ve made that very clear.”
He flinched.
“I know you didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t make any of this go away, and now you need to fix it.”
I spun and walked away, leaving him alone at the end of the pier to reflect on everything that happened.
CHAPTER 11
OWEN
I stared at the waves,trying to let the rhythm calm the storm inside me. The ocean always helped, at least it used to.
The sound of footsteps in the sand made my shoulders tense. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
“What do you want, Cam?” I asked, glancing back over my shoulder.
“I think we need to talk.” She stepped up beside me, and I hated how aware I was of every inch of space between us.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
“Do you want to take a walk with me?”
My toes dug into the sand. Part of me wanted to say no, to stay angry, to hold onto this hurt like armor. “I don’t know. Is your boyfriend going to jump out and attack me?”
“Come on.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and I noticed the goosebumps rising on her skin. “You were way out of line this morning.”
Our eyes met, and shame washed over me. “Yeah.” I dragged a hand down my jaw, feeling the stubble catch. “I was.”
She jerked her head toward the pier, and I fell into step beside her. The wind pushed against us, and I hunched my shoulders against it, or maybe against what was coming.
“Why did you come into my room this morning?”
“Because I wanted to apologize again.” My voice was barely audible over the waves. “I couldn’t sleep. I feel terrible about hurting you, but…” I swallowed hard. “I didn’t. Did I?”
“Yes, it hurt me, but...”
“But I was only a rebound.”
“Owen...” She stopped, turning to face me.
“I was here to make him jealous.”
