"Josie. Tomorrow this is all over.Wewin. You shove it in the face of everyone who ever doubted you. And then no more secrets. No more pretending we don't know each other in meetings. Tomorrow we get to tell the world aboutus." His forehead drops to mine and he holds me tighter. "And then it's my turn."
"Your turn?"
"To stop hiding too." His voice goes low and rough. "After the game, I'm going to answer Dad's calls. I'm going to finally tell him exactly what I think of him. And hell… maybe I even tell Beck the truth. About the affair. About the yoga instructor, about the thirty years of cheating, and everything that asshole did to Mom while Beck was busy believing we were a real family. He deserves to know, Josie, and I'm done carrying it alone."
"Declan." My hands fist in his lapels. "I—I—"
The wordsI love yourise all the way up my throat and sit there. It's huge and terrifying but so fuckingtrue.
I swallow them back down though.
Because tomorrow. Tomorrow, when everything's out in the open, the first honest thing I can say to the man I've fallen in love with, is that he's changed my life forever.
"Ready to go back out there?" he says.
"I'm ready."
He kisses me, and then he laces his fingers through mine for the walk back, dropping my hand only when the lights of the party rise to meet us once more.
But the second I turn the corner, I notice the music has stopped.
The band stands frozen on the stage, instruments hanging unplayed. Five hundred faces have turned toward us in perfect, ringing silence. Someone near the taco truck has a phone raised, recording everything.
"Josie." Rose's voice cracks across the quiet night air. She's standing behind her laptop, both hands pressed over her mouth, her face bone-white. "I'm sorry—I tried to cut it—it was too late—"
Declan's eyes drop to my collar.
To the tiny mic still clipped there.
To the little red light glowing.
Red light means hot.
It's on. It's beenonthis whole time.
Every fear I just shared, every promise Declan vowed to make has been broadcast to the whole world via the livestream and the PA speakers blaring across the entire boardwalk.
They've heard every single word.
But through the frozen crowd, one face finds mine.
Beck is standing dead still by the picnic tables, a taco forgotten in his hand, his eyes fixed not on me… but on his brother.
And like a windshield holding it shape one second after impact, I can only stand and watch as his face slowly crumples away.
My eyes find Declan's. Neither of us is breathing.
And the whole glittering world I just created just came crashing down.
Chapter 19
Declan
Last night, the whole world went silent for exactly three seconds.
Then it went insane.
I don't remember making the decision to run. One second I'm standing on the pier watching Josie's face drain of color, the little red light glowing on her collar like an accusation. The next I'm sprinting down the boardwalk after Beck, my dress shoes hammering the old planks while five hundred phones were lighting up around me like a field of fireflies documenting the worst night of my life.
