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“Oh, Jesus,” he growls and grabs my arm, pulling me away.
I lose my composure and start gasping, drawing in heavy, shallow breaths as he veers around me and storms out the back door. I wipe the tears from my face, because I’m upset and hurt but mostly just pissed. And not entirely with Cole, either. I did this to myself. I always do this to myself.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hear Pike bark.
I hea
r a slosh of water, surprised voices, and a gasp.
“Shit!” Cole exclaims. “I thought you were asleep.”
“No one’s fucking asleep!”
“What?” Cole says.
No one. I think he just realized I’m home, too.
Drying my eyes, I walk across the kitchen and let my legs do the thinking.
Pushing through the back door, I descend the wooden stairs and see Elena hiding her naked body behind Cole who is still waist deep in the water.
“What is the matter with you?” Pike stalks over, picking up the towels and throwing them at his son.
He catches them and Elena snatches one, quickly covering herself as half the towel hits the water around her. She cast me scared glances.
“I thought she was at work until two,” Cole tells him, sounding guilty and speaking to his father as if I’m not here. His head is bowed, and he’s not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“So doing it behind her back is okay?”
“No, I just—”
“I can handle this,” I cut them both off, stepping up.
I surprise myself by how calm my tone is and how I’m not crying. I don’t mind crying in front of Cole, but I’m not tearing up in front of her.
Pike looks over at me, hesitating for several seconds. Finally, he turns around, and I hear the screen door shut.
As soon as he’s gone, Elena quickly runs out of the pool, tightening the towel around her as she grabs her clothes from the lawn chair.
“I’m going to go,” she says, an apologetic look on her face as her eyes dart between Cole and me. “I’m really sorry, Jordan.”
She ducks her head and rushes past me, toward the house and probably straight to the bathroom, so she can change.
I turn my eyes back on Cole. His blond hair is slicked back, and he looks at me with the same eyes he had right before he told me that Nick didn’t make it.
I wish I was angrier with him.
Mostly, I’m just disappointed.
“It’s been going on a while?” I ask.
His eyes fall, and he nods solemnly. “Since your birthday party.”
You mean the one I didn’t attend?
He takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders, stepping out of the pool and wrapping the towel around his waist.
“I’ve known you a long time,” he says, “and we both needed each other a lot when this started, but you were always going to move on. You know that.”
