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“Is it over?” He asks and they all turn on me expectantly.
This is it. I could lie to them, could go on pretending, but that’s not who I want to be. I’m tired of making excuses for myself. I need to be strong enough to be honest. “It’s not over,” I confess. “I’m in love with Ethan King. We’re still together.”
Sybil drops my hand.
Fifty-Three
My uncle is a handsome man; some might even say he’s a silver fox, but he’s ugly as hell when he’s bright red with anger. The veins in his forehead look about ready to burst. For the first time since I’ve met him, I feel afraid of him.
“You may love Ethan, but he doesn’t love you. He’s using you to get back at us!”
He’s yelling at me, lethal and patronizing, but he’s wrong.
He’s wrong.
“You don’t know him like I do.”
“And you don’t know him like we do!”
Silence. And then the sound of the engine as he turns the key in the ignition and the boat rumbles to life.
“That’s it,” he yells over the motor. Since it’s a small boat that barely fits the five of us, there’s no problem hearing him over the roar. “I’m going to settle this once and for all.”
He doesn’t sit which worries me because this boat doesn’t even have a roof. It’s made for speed. And he presses the gas with one hand and steers with the other, heading right toward the Juliet.
“What are you doing?” Amelia screams at her husband, but Gregory is unmoved.
“What I should’ve done a long time ago. I’m going to teach that spoiled punk a lesson.”
I’m shocked, glued to my seat. I knew they wouldn’t react well to my news but I never imagined the reaction would be dangerous.
Amelia is frantic, standing up and trying to get life jackets out of the seat she’s been sitting on. We wore them on the way out but took them off and put them away for the champagne toast. We would’ve put them back on before leaving. She hands the first one to Chandler and Hayes helps him with it, then she tosses them to us.
I manage to get mine on but my hands fumble with the straps, unable to buckle anything. We hit a wave and I bounce too high. A scream rips through me.
“Just hold on tight,” Sybil says, her voice shrill in my ear. I can barely hear it over the noise. Forgetting the straps, I grab onto the seat below me.
“Leave Ethan alone!”
Nobody reacts except for Sybil to speak low against my ear. “Ethan was the one who leaked the affair. Dad’s still pissed about that.”
That’s no excuse. This reaction is total bullshit. Back then Ethan was a college kid who had just lost his mother, and now he’s to blame? Gregory is the middle-aged adult and he’s the one who is accountable for what happened.
“Let’s talk about this at home,” I yell, but Gregory is too focused and we’re gaining speed.
He’s angled the boat so we’re headed directly toward Ethan and Cooper. We’ll crash. Hayes jumps up and goes for the wheel, trying to intervene, but his father pushes him away. Hayes falls back on the small deck space between us with a thud. We all scream. Hayes crawls onto his hands and knees, blood streaking his forehead. The sight of it is a stark realization to our situation as he slips back into his spot between Amelia and Chandler.
We’re truly in danger. None of us are wearing our lifejackets properly except for Chandler, and Gregory doesn’t have one on at all. This was just supposed to be a gentle sunset cruise. What the fuck happened? My heart slams against my chest and I grip onto my seat as tightly as possible but it’s not nearly enough.
I focus on the sailboat up ahead.
Ethan and Cooper have caught on to what’s happening because they’re lifting up their sails, movements frantic, but there’s no time. We’re too fast. Ethan dives for his steering wheel and Cooper stays at the front of the boat doing something with the sails.
“You’re going to get somebody killed!” Amelia screams.
“I know how to drive!”
“So slow down,” Sybil screeches.
