“This guy…We talked to each other about real stuff,” Alexsays. “He was the first person I told I was gay. He said he lived in Kimber Cove, and at one point we talked about meeting up. We had this whole plan, and I was excited. But I wasn’t an idiot. I’d heard horror stories about this kind of thing. Seen all the documentaries about creeps trying to hang out with kids or whatever.”
I nod, but my stomach ties itself into knots.
“So anyway, I did some sleuthing. Checked out the Kimber Cove yearbook, looked up some databases. It was so obvious this guy didn’t exist, and I felt like a freaking fool.”
“Billy,” I say, my fists tightening by my sides.
Alex blinks, his eyes wet and glassy. “I basically shut off contact with him, deleted my account. Everything. But then at school one day, I opened my locker, and right there were the print-outs of our entire conversations.”
“No.” I cover my mouth with my hand.
Alex nods. “Billy goddamn Godwin was standing right behind me, smirking like an asshole. He saw me holding the papers and did this dumb little wave. Then he walked right up to me and asked me to solve the same problem we’d been working on in the forum.”
“I’d kill him,” I say. The words come out like I have no control over them. “If he hadn’t…already…Shit.”
Alex shakes his head. “I couldn’t figure out why he did that, but then I realized that was his shtick. Being an asshole. He was taunting me for being gay, even though who the fuck cares. So, I said screw it, he’s not going to out me before I out myself. That’s why I told everyone. After that, he never talked to me again, like I had ruined his prank.”
“Did you ever tell Ethan?”
Alex nods. “Yeah,” he says, sucking in a big gulp of air. “Ethan said not to take anything Billy did seriously.”
“He didn’t kick his ass?”
Alex shrugs. “You know Ethan. He just wanted to keep the peace. Trevor told me to ignore Billy, so that’s just what I did. I hate to admit it, but in a weird way, I’m kind of grateful that he’s gone. He didn’t deserve…this. But you know what, neither did I.”
I open and close my mouth, not knowing what to say, only knowing that I prize Alex’s safety and well-being above almost anyone’s, that whoever hurt him would have been dead to me anyway.
“I don’t want anything to do with him. Even now that he’s dead.” Alex looks up, his usually bright eyes dark, searching for recognition. “Does that make sense?”
I reach for his hand and hold it tightly in mine. “Yes,” I say, even though I’m not quite sure it does. “Of course.”
Alex swallows and looks up toward the Snack Shack. “Now, can we never talk about this again?”
Millie
I stretch my arms above my head until they shake, vibrating in my sockets. It’s been over a week since they arrested Justin for assaulting an officer, and even though there’s still a shadow hanging over the Club, today was the first time since summer began that it felt like everyone in town descended on the Club, prepared to have anactualfun day. Though I couldn’t help but notice all the whispers behind cupped hands as people let their eyes wander over the other faces at the Club, wondering,What do they know?
Now all I can think about is curling up under my duvet with the new romance novel I picked up at the Bonanza, especially before all of the Fourth of July festivities due to take place tomorrow. I gather my bag from my staff locker and pull on my jean shorts and a T-shirt, then head to the bike rack. I’m unlocking it when a voice lilts behind me.
“Wanna go for a drive?” Ethan asks.
He’s standing there with his hair sticking up straight, wet from the shower, his own bag hung over his shoulder. He uses his other hand to toss me his keys.
I catch them with my palm outstretched. I shake my head. “You’re gonna trust me with your jeep?”
“Sure, why not?” He flashes me a smile and nods to his car. “Come on. I need a distraction.”
That’s all it takes. Two little words.I need.
A few minutes later, I’m sitting in his car, moving his seat way up so I can reach the pedals. I place my hands at ten and two, gripping the steering wheel so hard my fingers began to hurt. In my periphery, he’s got a big goofy grin pasted across his face. It’s the first time since Billy died that he looks a little carefree, like maybe everything really is going to be okay.
“Home?” I ask as we turn onto the main road. The cloying sweetness of summer is heavy in the air, but when I pick up speed, the afternoon breeze rushes through the car, sending the ends of my hair swirling around my face.
“Can we make a pit stop first?”
“Anywhere,” I say, and immediately regret how desperate it sounds, as if I admitted I would follow him to the ends of the earth.
“Keep going.” I drive a little farther down Pelican Island Road. It’s a five-mile circle that loops around the whole island, with smaller streets shooting off it like spokes on a wheel. I’ve biked or walked every inch of this island and know the roads by heart. But being here in the car with only a few feet of space between us and all of Pelican Island out the windshield, the terrain looks new and foreign, like I have to focus on road signs to figure out where I’m going. But it doesn’t matter because Ethan has a plan.
