thirteen years earlier
Will is pissed. He’s storming over to where Dayton and Aurelia are making out. I gasp as he shoves Dayton back, pushing on his chest.
Dayton wipes his hand over his mouth, his expression resembling boredom and smug satisfaction. Will raises his voice, turning from Dayton to Aurelia. I’m slowly inching over to where they are arguing, but I’m not sure if I should hang back or intervene. I chew my bottom lip, wringing my hands together as other classmates start turning to gape at them.
“My fucking ex-girlfriend? Really? You must be more fucked in the head than I realized,” Will says, his voice thick with anger.
Aurelia leans forward, putting her hand on his chest. “How was I supposed to know you’d even bother to say anything! We broke up, and you go running into the arms of a sophomore! The shiny new girl on the block everyone is weirdly obsessed with.”
My heart is pounding in my ears. I can hear the commotionaround me growing in volume as other students gather closer to watch the spectacle unfold. My hands grow clammy.
Maybe they found out we’d slept together.
I hadn’t meant for it to happen. Will was so sweet, so convincing that he really liked me. It just … happened. Before I knew it, it was over. He’s only been my boyfriend for three weeks, but I’ve had a crush on him since I moved here. When he finally broke it off with Aurelia and asked me out, I thought I’d finally start to fit in here, to be accepted.
Dayton remains calm and relaxed as Will takes a step toward him and shoves his shoulder. The girl next to me inhales sharply. Dayton smirks, cocking his head to the side, like he’s taunting Will.
“She’s your ex, which makes her fair game, right?”
“And Summer is your fuckingstepsister, which makes her extremely fair game, no?”
Dayton’s eyes darken. He takes a step closer to Will, who, up until now, I thought was one of his best friends. “I don’t have a stepsister,” he spits out before sucker-punching Will right in the eye.
The crowd erupts with shocked gasps and mixed expressions of horror and what sounds like glee at the breakout of a fight. Will recovers quickly, returning the blow with one of his own. Dayton dodges it—barely. He’s grinning like a maniac as he lunges for Will and delivers another punch, this time in his gut. Will doubles over in pain, but instead of collapsing, he surges forward and rams Dayton with his shoulder in his torso, shoving him hard. Dayton nearly falls back, but steadies himself.
Aurelia screams for them to stop fighting. I step farther back, my pulse racing as fear clutches my throat. I don’t know who I’m rooting for, but I’ve never seen a fistfight, much less experienced being the partial cause for it.
Dayton somehow twists himself out of Will’s grasp, only to be met with a quick jab in the eye. I clamp my hand over my mouth at the first sight of blood spurting from the corner of Dayton’s eye. My body freezes up. Sweat begins to gather on my lower back as true fear splices my veins. In a matter of seconds, the blood has trailed down the side of his face, but it doesn’t slow him down. Dayton returns the blow with an even more ferocious one of his own, this one straight to Will’s nose, knocking him down to the ground.
Aurelia screams, descending on Will. “Baby! Baby, are you okay? Dayton, you fucking monster! His nose looks like it’s broken!”
Dayton shakes his hands out, lifting his chin in defiance and stepping back as several teachers finally enter the scene. They must have been inside and didn’t realize what was happening out here until it was too late to intervene.
I gape at Dayton’s bloody face and his haughty expression, completely devoid of remorse for his actions.
He’s an actual wild animal. What the hell …
I don’t stick around to see what the school chaperones and teachers do. I don’t know if I’ll get dragged into some kind of interrogation about why the fight happened, so I bolt. It’s easy enough to weave through the crowd of students and grab my clutch from our table before slipping out through a side exit of the Grand Palm resort. I skip the main entry, going down a side access point that’s probably used for deliveries and employees.
An ocean breeze blows over my skin, cooling off the heat that’s still surging through my veins. I release a shaky exhale, thankful for the moonlight guiding my way with the lack of streetlights. One of my favorite things about Coconut Beach is the way so many structures and buildings are built with indoor-outdoor spaces to allow the natural breeze to flowthrough. The air here just feels fresher and cleaner than it did in California.
I open up my clutch as I get closer to the street, realizing I need to call for a ride if I don’t want to walk the twenty miles home from here.
My shaky fingers tap the screen to life and navigate to my call log before tapping the Call button on my mom’s number. After four rings, it goes to voicemail. A sprinkle of panic tickles the back of my neck, but I call her again. The same thing happens.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumble.
I know she and Russell were planning a fancy date night out on a boat tonight. I guess she isn’t checking her phone.
I’ll just walk a little ways until she gets to her phone.
My mom isn’t the type to ever fully unplug, even on a special night out. She’s always within reach, so I’m hoping she’ll give me a call back before too long. As I approach the street, I hear heavy footsteps behind me moving quickly, like someone is running—a big someone.
I quicken my pace, making it out to the street as my heels start squeezing my toes painfully. I turn and start walking down the street, where tourists and locals are milling about.
I only make it a block before he catches up to me. I don’t have to look to know who it is.
“Let me give you a ride home.”
