“Knox,” Owen warned. “Don’t?—”
“What? I’m just saying, it’s a nice bikini.” Knox took a long drink, his eyes never leaving mine. “Very...economical…and I love the fit. But I have a question, did your dad have to skip a mortgage payment to buy it?”
The patio went completely quiet. Every eye turned toward us…watching and waiting.
My face burned like I’d been slapped, and I shoved my cover up over my head.
“Knox,” Owen said, stepping between us. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What?” He pushed off the wall, gesturing toward me with his beer bottle. “I’m just making conversation. Complimenting her suit. It’s nice. Very practical for someone on a budget.”
Uncomfortable laughter rippled through some of the guys near him. Not mean laughter, exactly. More like the kind that happens when someone crosses a line and no one’s big enough to call it out.
I couldn’t move…couldn’t breathe. Every eye was on me, every whisper was reaching my ears.
Did you hear what he said?
Oh my God, so awkward.
I mean, her dad did kind of screw everyone over...
Poor Sawyer.
“You’re being an asshole,” Owen said, louder now. “Seriously, what is your problem?”
Knox didn’t move, even that smirk stayed plastered on his lips. “Just making conversation, little brother. Relax.”
“You’re being a dick.” Owen turned to me, his face flushed with anger on my behalf. “Sawyer, I’m sorry. He’s drunk and being an idiot?—”
“It’s fine,” I whispered. But it wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine.
I turned and rushed away before the tears could fall. Everyone was about to see exactly how much Knox’s words had shattered me and I couldn’t let him know he’d won.
Owen’s voice got louder behind me. “What the fuck? She didn’t do anything to you!”
I didn’t hear Knox’s response…I didn’t even want to.
I just kept walking, past the pool, past the laughing groups of people, past the life I used to have.
I made it to the side yard, a dark strip of lawn between the pool house and the neighbor’s fence, before the tears came. Hot, humiliating tears that I wiped away, annoyed at myself.
I wasn’t going to cry over Knox Aldrich. I refused to give him that power.
Except I already had.
“Sawyer.”
No. No fucking way.
Did he follow me? I spun around and found Knox standing a few feet away, backlit by the party lights. We stared at each other while music and laughter drifted beyond the pool house.
“What do you want?”
He stepped closer, close enough that I could see some of that anger left his face.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“But you did.”
