He falters.
I take another step forward and he has to step back. “I’m going to tell you this one more time.”
The street goes quiet enough that I know people are listening.
“You do not get to talk to her like that,” I say evenly. “You don’t get access to her. You don’t get any of her.”
He scoffs, still retreating. “You don’t know anything about us.”
“I know enough,” I snap. “Lose her number. Forget about this place. Anyone who shows up drunk and acting like this doesn’t deserve a second of her time.”
He takes another step back and his heel catches the curb. He goes down hard, landing on his ass with a startled grunt, and some of the tourists gasp.
I take another small step until I’m standing over him.
“This is where it ends,” I say quietly. “Leave her alone. Or I will fucking end you, okay?”
For a beat, all I hear is his breathing. Then I turn away and I don't look back.
I go straight to Sadie. She’s shaking. Not visibly crying, just… rattled. I pull her into me immediately, one arm around her shoulders, the other at her back, holding her close enough that she can feel how solid I am.
“You’re okay,” I murmur, just for her. “I’ve got you.”
She nods against my chest, fingers gripping my shirt like she needs something real to hold onto. A few seconds later, police lights reflect off the lake.
forty-four
Sadie
We’retuckedintotheback of Cherry Pit while the officers sort through this mess. The place smells like citrus cleaner and fryer oil that’s finally gone cold, an end-of-night scent that usually means relief. Tonight it just makes my stomach roll.
When Nick came in—clearly drunk, loud in a sloppy way that’s meant to look charming but never is—and Birdie clocked it immediately, she didn’t hesitate. One look at the way he swayed, the way his voice cut too sharp through the room, and she was already on the phone calling the police.
I’d basically begged them to move us out of sight from the front windows.
One: this is humiliating. Two: I’m painfully aware that Colson probably doesn’t want a single extra photo floating around out there.
When I saw the tourists across the street, phones half-raised the moment someone whispered his name, my chest dropped straight to my feet. Golden Harbor has been different for him. Quiet. Normal. No spotlights, no performance. Just lake water and fireworks and easy smiles.
Now it feels like I’ve ruined it.
Maren slides onto the stool beside me, the vinyl squeaking in the empty bar. She was walking to her car from putting in some late night hours at the flower shop and stumbled onto the disaster that was Nick. Cherry Pit is officially closed—servers stacking chairs, thedishwasher humming in the back—while the cops talk to Colson and Nick near the storage hallway.
“What the hell do you think he was even doing here?” she asks, knocking back her vodka soda like she’s mad at the glass. The bar might be closed, but Birdie didn’t even pretend this wasn’t an exception.
My hands shake as I lift my drink. I notice Maren’s doing the same, which somehow makes it worse. “No idea. I haven’t heard from him in over a year. Like… truly nothing. Out of sight, out of mind.” My throat tightens. “Until he called tonight. And then just showed up.”
Nick was a lot of things, but aggressive had never been one of them. Not like this. He specialized in passive-aggressive digs, in rewriting reality until I questioned my own memory. He could convince me the sky was green if it served him, and could suck joy out of a room without ever raising his voice. I didn’t even realize how small I’d become until I was already gone.
“I can’t believe he just showed up, like a bad wish granted by some shitty genie,” Maren mutters. “Where is he even living?”
“Downstate. Hours away.” I stare at the condensation ring my glass leaves behind.
Maren shakes her head slowly. “I’mshockedColson didn’t punch him square in the face.”
“Oh, he wanted to.” My chest aches at the thought. Colson’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles went white, then shoved behind his back like he didn’t trust himself. Like he needed to physically restrain the part of him that wanted to protect me.
Fuck. It stings.
