She goes still. Jaw locked. Arms crossed tight.
“I’m not mad because I still have feelings for him,” I say, voice low. “I’m mad because I trusted you, and you were supposed to be my friend.”
The room remains silent, like everyone’s holding their breath. Not me. Not anymore.
I grab my things and slam the door hard enough to rattle the frame—hard enough to snap the thread I’d been clinging to, the last fragile tether of a friendship already unraveling.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SADIE
Mysneakerssoakthroughwith every step through the damp field, but I don’t care.
I couldn’t stand another second in that cabin with Tori. She wasn’t the perfect best friend—not even close—but I never thought she’d betray me like this.
I keep moving because if I stop, if I let myself think, I’m afraid I’ll shatter completely.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I expect too much from people. Maybe I ask for too much.
My throat aches from holding back sobs. I don’t even realize where my feet have carried me until I stumble through the brush and into the clearing. Even subconsciously, my body knows he’s exactly what I need.
He’s off to the side by the saw, cutting lumber, but his head lifts the second he hears me.
Still, I keep walking, propelled forward by something indescribable.
I crash into him, burying myself against his solid chest. He pulls me close without hesitation, arms banding tight around me.
His scent alone is a comfort, cedar and fresh rainfall, wrapping around me, grounding me. I fist his shirt, fingers trembling, and he just holds me. Doesn’t ask. Doesn’t prod. Just holds me, until the noise inside my head begins to dull and the rest of the world falls away.
“Wanna test out the porch swing?” he murmurs into my hair after a long while.
I nod, my raw, tear-soaked cheek rubbing against his chest.
The swing creaks as I sink down cross-legged, hands folded tight in my lap. Wesley drops beside me, stretching his arm casually across the backrest. The space between us feels unbearable.
I want his arms around me again, want him to crush me against his chest until I can’t feel anything else—but that would be too intimate for what we are. What we’re supposed to be.
“Do you remember what happened before I came here?”
He nods, gaze fixed wholly on me.
“Tori was in the bathroom with Kolson that night. She was supposed to be my friend, and while I was—” My voice cracks. “I don’t care about him anymore, but sheknew. She fucking knew and did it anyway.”
My phone buzzes in my lap.
Mia
I’m so sorry. She’s packing right now. Landon said he’d drive her to the airport. I’m going to go with them to make sure she gets on the flight.
My eyes burn and the lump in my throat swells until I can hardly breathe.
“She knows I know now,” I whisper. “And she’s acting like it’s no big deal. Like I don’t get to be upset because I’m sleeping with you.”
Wesley drops his hand on my thigh. He doesn’t push any further, but the weight of it sets fire beneath my skin.
I shouldn’t want more, not after everything, but the ache in me is louder than reason and all I want is his touch—just to lose myself in him and drown in oblivion.
“You have every right to feel how you feel,” he says. “If Landon was fucking the girl I liked behind my back, we wouldn’t have had a conversation about it. I would’ve punched him in the face and never spoken to him again.” His mouth quirks, soft but rueful. “You’re handling it a hell of a lot better than I would’ve.”
