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His gaze struck mine. That got him.

I couldn’t tell how, exactly, but something about his expression made my stomach turn.

I had wanted a reaction.

I hadn’t considered how much it might hurt to get one.

“You don’t get to ignore me until I do something you dislike,” I said, my voice steadier now, “and then act like I’ve embarrassed you.”

He pushed away from the table.

I held my ground.

For once, I wasn’t going to make this easier for him by apologizing for a thing I hadn’t done.

He looked at my face for a long moment.

There was too much in that look. None of it was the simple contempt I knew what to do with.

Then his mouth tightened, and his scathing glance raked over me in a way that made me cringe.

“You know what? You’re right.” His voice had gone flat. “Absolutely right. You do whatever the hell you like, Hazel.”

With that, he left.

I stood there listening to the door settle into its frame.

Outside, somebody shouted Clayton’s name.

The music continued.

I was shaking so hard that I had to sit down.

Something had actually happened between us.

And somehow, I was as in the dark as ever.

I stayed sitting there, lost in thought, until Sadie came and found me.

“Some guy out there is crushing beer cans against his forehead,” Sadie told me from the doorway. “I asked him to try an unopened one. Now I’m a bitch.”

I laughed despite myself.

She set my shoes beside my feet and handed me my towel. I put my shoes on and draped the towel over my shoulder.

She waited while I got up, then fell into step beside me without asking about Declan. We took the long way back toward the water.

Chief was back beside the chairs with Ruckus. I kept my attention on Sadie.

We were rounding the last stretch of muddy bank when somebody shouted behind us.

It happened too fast for me to do much more than turn.

A guy came stumbling backward, laughing at whoever had shoved him. His heel slid in the mud. He hit me hard enough to knock the towel off my shoulder, and then my feet were gone.

I landed badly.

My hands struck first, slid, and failed to keep the rest of me off the ground.