I glared back at him. I wasn’t going to make it easier for him. He had made his choice. He was standing on those steps with that asshole. He had walked up there of his own free will and shaken that man’s hand in front of everyone I loved.
He could sit with that.
“Thank you for your passion,” Judd said. “It speaks well of how much you care about this place. We care about it too. And we will see you all on the other side of something great.”
He stepped back, his speech delivered. He was making it sound like he had given us a gift. Now we could all go home and think about how lucky we were that our savior had rolled into town.
It was pretty clear the crowd did not feel lucky. Someone started booing. Suddenly, an egg flew through the air and smashed against Judd’s designer suit. He looked down as yolk spilled down his front.
I looked right at Colt to gauge his reaction. He grinned like a kid that just witnessed a bully falling on his face. Judd looked over his shoulder and glared at Colt.
Colt shrugged as if to say,I didn’t do it. Maybe there was hope for Colt yet. I knew the guy that stole my heart all those years ago was still in there. But then I remembered he was the moneybag behind Judd’s little project. He was just as guilty. He might not be the asshole running his mouth, but he was part of the problem.
Suddenly, a tomato hit Judd square in the chest. I gasped, slapping my hand over my mouth. It was an overripe tomato and it absolutely exploded over Judd’s shirt.
Someone in the crowd let out a whoop and it was like a starting pistol. Suddenly there were hands passing things forward through the crowd—eggs, tomatoes, water balloons. I realized after one of the balloons exploded that the water inside had been dyed pink. Someone had been very,verybusy. It wasn’t a spontaneous moment of community outrage. It was choreographed. Premeditated. And so beautiful.
I pressed my lips together hard to keep from laughing out loud. Judd stood at the top of those steps like he couldn’t quite believe anyone would have a problem with him. The guy was clueless. So high on his own bullshit he honestly believed what he was trying to sell.
A balloon burst at his feet and splashed a vivid streak of blue across his Italian shoes and the hem of those perfectly pressed pants. His mouth fell open. He looked genuinely stunned, which told me everything I needed to know about how often anyone had told this man no in his entire pampered life.
The security detail lost their minds. The two men snapped into motion like somebody had flipped a switch. One of them stepped directly in front of Judd with his arm out, turning his back to the crowd like he was stopping bullets instead of tomatoes. The other one was already on his radio, head down, speaking fast.
People scattered around the edges of the crowd. The woman who’d been handing out water bottles from her rolling cooler was nowhere to be seen, which told me she had known exactly what was coming.
Another egg arced through the air and caught Judd’s shoulder. The security men had him by both arms now, pulling Judd off the steps.
Red-faced and wide-eyed, Judd was shoved into a waiting SUV. The door was barely closed before the vehicle sped away like he was the damn president.
Colt was still standing at the top of the steps. He hadn’t moved or retreated, hadn’t ducked or run away. He stood there with egg and tomato dripping off his shirt. I cringed when I saw the pink stain of the colored water on his arm. There was egg yolk in his hair.
He sighed and nodded. “I hear you,” he said.
Cody jogged up the stairs and grabbed Colt’s arm, pulling him away. Colt looked at me and I suddenly felt bad for him.
I turned away and scanned the dispersing crowd. People were moving fast now. The sound of police radio static crackled from somewhere nearby. I spotted two officers in uniform pushing through from the northern end of the street. I was not about to get arrested or questioned for something I had no part of.
“Capri,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”
“Go,” Becca said. “I’ll meet you at the truck.”
I jogged away, fully aware running made me look guilty. The crowd was thinning fast, people peeling off in every direction. A group of teenagers sprinted past me laughing. I scanned faces, looking for dark hair and a rash guard, looking for Capri’s bright yellow shirt.
She was about thirty feet ahead, threading through the crowd with her sign tucked under her arm and her head down. I quickly caught up to her.
“Did you throw an egg?” I asked.
“I’m not admitting to anything,” she said with a laugh.
“You are such a bad influence,” I teased.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the narrow gap between the hardware store and the surf shop next door. Lanamaterialized from somewhere behind us a second later, slightly breathless, her dark hair loose from its tie.
“That was the single most satisfying thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life,” Capri said with a hearty laugh. “That was amazing.”
“Are you okay?” I asked Lana.
“I’m fantastic,” she said. Her eyes were bright and she looked happy. She looked like the girl who used to win competitions every weekend.
