“Survive? She thinks he’ll hurt her if she doesn’t pretend she likes him?”
“I meant survive socially — at Twisted Pine. She can’t risk pissing off Braden. She knows she has to be nice to him or the school will turn on her. If she accused him again, it’d be even worse than last time. He’s their star player now. He can get away with anything.”
“That’s wrong.”
“It’s why I don’t want Twisted Pine building another school. They cover shit up. Silence people who tell on them. The place is corrupt.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be hanging out with the principal’s daughter.”
He sighs. “Just drop it, okay? You don’t know what’s going on.”
“Because you won’t tell me.”
“When it’s over, I will. Until then, you just have to trust me.”
We both get quiet. I’m angry he won’t tell me what he’s doing with Kristen. It’s bad enough he’s keeping a secret from me, but it’s even worse that the secret’s about Kristen.
I feel Jackson’s hand wrap around mine. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I whisper, my anger being replaced with sadness, but I’m not sure why. It’s the kind of sadness that comes on suddenly and overwhelms you.
“It’s not nothing,” Jackson says, giving my hand a squeeze. “I could tell when you got in the car that something was wrong. Did something happen with Brock?”
I shake my head. “It’s my dad.”
“What about him?”
“I found a business card. It fell out of Brock’s desk. It was for the rehab place.”
“So you found Devon. That’s great! Where is he?”
“I don’t know. I called and they said he left weeks ago.” I pause. “Shayla said she saw him here on the beach around the same time.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he be in La Jolla? Was he here to see Brock?”
“Maybe. She doesn’t know.”
“Was she sure it was him?”
“No, but she said it looked like him. I don’t think she’d tell me this unless she really thought it was him.”
“Did you try calling him?”
“Yeah. No answer. And I haven’t had any more strange phone calls.”
“So what are you going to do? Keep calling him?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess that’s my only option.”
“What if we went to his apartment? If he’s not there, we could wait. See if he shows up.”
My eyes go to Jackson’s. “You’d really do that? You’d take me there?”
“Of course, if that’s what you want to do.”
I reach across the seat and hug him. “I want that more than anything. I need to find him.” I sniffle as a tear slides down my cheek. “I need to find out why he doesn’t want me.”‘
Jackson gently pushes me back. “I’m sure hedoeswant you. He’s probably just too messed up to do anything about it. Sounds like he can’t even take care of himself right now so there’s no way he could take care of someone else.”
