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Right as he says the last part, the music cuts off, allowing his voice to carry throughout the beach.
Oliver turns toward him, gnashing his teeth together like a raging beast.
“Your girlfriend actually has a dick,” Dalton laughs again. “Holy shit, Simon.”
My dead name leaves his mouth, and everything goes still. It feels weird to hear a name you haven’t gone by for years suddenly be used to address you. It doesn’t stop the gut punch that causes me to nearly lose all the food I ate at the picnic.
The next round of nausea hits when my eyes reach the bonfire. Everyone is staring at the scene before them.
No, they don’t care about a drunk guy yelling. Their eyes aren’t on him. All of them are on me. Even Oliver’s friends look confused. The only one not stunned is Ella.
“I’m going to beat your fucking ass!” she screams, charging forward before Jaxon wraps his arms around her waist.
Dread rolls over me.
My feet move, carrying me toward the trail, away from the fire. I need to leave. This whole thing was a mistake. All of it. I should have scrapped the plan and just let the house rot. Let the memories of my birth parents rot like they deserved.
“Wait!” Oliver’s voice calls after me. “Sim?—”
“No!” I scream back at him. “Don’t you fucking dare say that name to me!”
Oliver’s face pales, realizing what he was about to say. I can’t hear that name from him, not anymore.
I have to leave.
Before Oliver can say anything else, I’m running away, and he’s not chasing after me.
Once I reach the town, everything catches up, and tears pour from my eyes. I’ve never been a loud crier, but this time, I’m wailing as a pair of arms wraps around me.
At first, the thought of Oliver comes to mind, but that disappears as Ella’s face comes around to face me head-on. She looks like a mixture of pissed off and devastated, all wrapped up in the body of my sister.
She should be the older one with how often she comforts me.
“Let it out.” She presses her forehead to mine, and I do as she says.
After my tears dry up, we walk back to the house. I thought maybe I was done crying, but then the sight of Leon and Mimi sparks the floodgates once again.
They embrace me in a group hug as Ella starts to make some hot drinks for us.
I don’t leave their hold for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Oliver
“You look like you could use one.” Jaxon holds out a can of beer to me.
“Thanks.” I grab the cold can from him as both he and Tyler take a seat next to me on the dock.
The wind is barely rocking my boat as it bobs in the water. I want to take her out again, but the thought makes my stomach drop.
On a warm day like today, a cold beer with my best friends should be the best time, but right now, it feels empty.
I’m missing one of my best friends, and I don’t think she’ll want to see me again.
My head is still trying to wrap itself around this whole situation. They are the same person, but my feelings stayed the same. I tried to see if I could separate my feelings and just see her as my friend, but I couldn’t. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted her by my side the whole night.
Then it all came to a head when she finally said the words I was waiting to hear.
