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“Fear,” Evelyn said plainly. “I was scared of confronting the two of you about it there. I saw how hyper focused Rhett was and, I had to admit, his protective stance over you had me rattled a bit. He’s a big boy.”
“He wouldn’t have hit you,” I said.
“Probably not, but he was pretty damn angry. And with good reason. You got up and left and before I could say anything else, Connie dragged me off to some dumb fucking spa treatment.”
I stood and stared at Evelyn, really seeing her for the first time. The hell she must have endured in high school made my heart ache, but more than that, her confession lightened my soul. Rhett hadn’t cheated on me that night. He had been telling me the truth about all of it earlier. And it scared me that it had been orchestrated by Luke.
“You know if you had told me this sooner, it would’ve saved me a lot of heartache with Luke on this trip,” I said.
“No, it wouldn’t have,” Ana said.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Seriously. It wasn’t until they found that shit in his room that you finally spoke up and said something to someone about what happened in Curaçao that day. Knowing Luke orchestrated this wouldn’t have done a damn thing, and you know it,” Ana said.
“What happened on the island? Is that why Luke was arrested?” Evelyn asked.
“None of your business,” I said.
“I didn’t mean to ruin anything. I had my reasons, as stupid and misguided as they were. I don’t expect you understand that, but now you know. What you choose to do with that information is up to you,” Evelyn said.
Then, she turned on her heel and got off the ship.
I felt myself teetering. My head was spinning with dizziness, and I felt myself growing nauseous. Ana and I approached the checkout kiosk, ready to check our bags so we could get out of here. But part of me wanted to get back to Rhett’s room, knock on the door, and see if he was still there. I turned my entire body around and sprinted for the ship, air whipping past my hair as my feet hit the platform.
But a strong man caught me in his arms and prevented me from going anywhere else.
“Ma’am, you can’t get back on the ship,” he said.
“I left something on there,” I said.
“We do a thorough check of the ship. If something’s missing, we’ll contact you.”
“Look, I just have to see if someone is still on the ship.”
“I can’t let you back on it once you disembark. Sorry, ma’am.”
“Please,” I said, “you don’t understand. This is my last chance. This is everything. Just let me on.”
“Is there any way to check your logs for personal addresses?” Ana asked.
I turned my watery gaze to her as she approached the guard blocking me from the ship’s entrance.
“No, ma’am. Those files are kept strictly confidential,” the man said. “You wouldn’t want me telling someone where you lived would you?” he asked.
“I want to wait for him,” I said. “I want to wait and see if he’s still there.”
“Chanel, we’re the last ones off our floor,” she said.
“Please. Wait with me. I don’t have any other options.”
The pity pooling in Ana’s eyes was too much for me to bear. She took my hand, pulling me from the security guard as we made our way back down to our stuff. We waited around at the end of the port dock for over an hour, watching as a few remaining people trickled off the ship. Evelyn and Connie walked by with her parents. A few random couples from our graduating class stumbled off in their drunken stupors. Cabs were leaving and not returning as the crowd died down, and it wasn’t until the cleaners on the ship began to disembark as well that I moved.
“He’s gone,” I said.
“They probably left early. I’m sure Rhett’s an early riser with his military training and all,” Ana said.
“He’s just gone,” I said.
