“I’m safe,” I say.
“With him?”
The wordhimcomes sharp. It’s out of place and too sharp.
My throat tightens. “With security.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Every person in the room goes still. Vanessa seems to realize it too because she laughs once, airy and strained. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just scared. You know how I get when I’m scared.”
I do. I know exactly how Vanessa gets. Big feelings and even bigger declarations. She’s the one with a hand on my shoulders, telling me the world is too sharp, and I need to let her soften it. The memory hurts.
“Are you on Sunbreak Harbor?” I ask.
Silence is all I hear for just a second. But’s it’s long enough that I find it suspect.
“What?” she says.
“Are you on the island?”
“Kara, who is putting these ideas in your head?”
Not no. My pulse knocks hard once.
“Answer me.”
“I am trying to protect you.”
Sloane’s eyes sharpen. Cole’s face goes colder than I have ever seen it.
I swallow. “From what?”
“From people who don’t know you. From people who make you doubt the person who has always been there. From men who show up with hard bodies and hero complexes. It’s like suddenly you forgot who drove you to therapy when you couldn’t stop shaking.”
My hand curls into a fist. She’s doing it again. Using the past … my old wounds like a knife pointed at my gut.
“Do not bring Dr. Vale into this,” I say.
Vanessa’s breath trembles through the phone. “I was there for you. Not him.”
Sloane mouths,Keep her talking.
I force air into my lungs.
“Were you there yesterday?” I ask.
“Where?”
“At my house.”
“No.”
Too fast.
“Vanessa.”
“No,” she says again, louder. “No, no, no. See? This is what they do. This is how they isolate you. They make you suspicious of everyone who loves you, and then you cling to them because they feel like the only safe thing left.”
