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“That’s it,” he calls behind. “Run away, you fucking pussy.”
My teeth grind and my fists curl, but I don’t look back. I focus on the crashing waves in the distance and just keep going until my feet are at the edge of the water.
I stand there staring at the moon for the longest time as kids’ laughter and joy sounds out behind me. No one comes to talk to me. Even Conner and Ace avoid me.
When my need to drown it all out gets too much, I walk toward the stash of alcohol before taking a bottle to a secluded dune a little down the beach.
I drop down, pain shooting up my back, but I ignore it as I twist the top of the bottle, my mouth watering to feel the burn. The burn that tells me nothingness is coming.
My escape.
My relief.
I chug down half of the bottle without batting an eyelid before falling back on the sand and allowing it to fill my veins.
What I really need is some pills, weed, fucking anything, but I promised both Ace and Conner that I’d knock it off and I really want to keep at least one fucking promise.
Every time they look at me, all they see is a fuck-up, and I hate it. I hate that they don’t see how broken I am… that they don’t see the pain and secrets I hide.
I’ve got a real shot at something, but if I’m not careful, I’m going to sabotage it before it’s even begun thanks to my fucked-up past and even more fucked-up head.
I’ve no idea when it happens, but with the vodka in my system and the distant sounds of people enjoying themselves, I manage to fall asleep.
It’s not until a panicked yet familiar voice hits my ears that I come back to myself.
“Cole. Cole. Wake the fuck up, we need to go,” Ace says.
Ripping my eyes open, my breath catches at the look on his face.
“W-what’s wrong?” I croak out.
“I-I don’t know, but it’s Hadley. We need to go now.”
“Fuck.” My heart jumps into my throat at the thought of something happening to her. I might want to hurt her for what she did, but that doesn't mean I actually want her hurt.
I scramble from my makeshift bed and leave my half-empty bottle behind with no thought to how much I might need it in the coming minutes.
“How’d you—” I don’t get the question out
. Ace knows where I’m going with it.
“She called Conner, and Conner called me.”
I run after him, stumbling around in the sand in my need to catch up and find out what the hell has put that look on his face.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hadley
“Hadley, look at me.” Conner cups my face in his big hands. “What happened?”
“I-I...” The words get stuck over the ugly sob that tears from my throat.
“Shit, you’re shaking. Come here.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to his body. My teeth chatter as I fight the tears crippling me.
“Fuck, where are they?” he mumbles.
But I’m too lost in my own thoughts to pay him any attention.
