AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fifteen
Lock
Amanmysizewasn’t made to spend long hours on a beach. I could’ve lived outside in the woods, among ancient trees and mountain breezes, or worked on the ranch’s craggy, rolling fields. Sitting in sand with the sun burning my shoulders wasn’t for me.
But here I was. Sand. Sun. Ocean. All of it. I came voluntarily when Theo mentioned the crew was headed to the beach for the day. The crew meant Elena, and since I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind—the lost, vulnerable look of her throwing herself at me for safekeeping—I threw on a hat, a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt, and came along for the ride.
It wasn’t torture. Not even a fucking bit.
The sun was beating on me, but it was hard to notice when my dick had been at half-mast since the moment Elena divested herself of her little sundress to run into the ocean in a bikini that barely covered an inch of her body.
She’d been out there for a couple hours, vacillating between floating and boogie boarding. Even from where I sat on the sand, I could see she was content. She was a woman born to be in the sea. When she emerged, water dripping down her smooth skin, she looked like Aphrodite in her shell or something. Like art.
Helen flung herself down on the empty chair beside me, grabbing a water bottle out of the cooler. She guzzled half of it and sighed.
“Man, this was what I needed. This semester iskillingme,” she said.
“You’re doing it to yourself. No sympathy from me.”
She snorted a laugh. “Thanks, Lock. Whatta pep talk.”
I pumped my fist. “You can do it.”
That made her laugh harder, bending at the waist to let it all out. “Oh god. You’re fucking terrible at being peppy. Don’t do it again.”
Stretching out my legs, I crossed my ankles, keeping my eyes on Elena showing Zadie how to boogie board while Amir stood by like his girl’s bodyguard. There were a lot of big hand gestures and bending over, pointing her ass in my direction. It was distracting. I could’ve let myself sink into that sight, forgetting what was on my mind. I didn’t, though.
“Did you know a guy named Nate? Elena’s ex?” I asked.
Helen stilled. “Yeah. I knew him. He was a piece of shit. The world is a better place without him in it.”
“He treated her bad?”
She made a hissing sound. “I don’t know what went on between the two of them. Our school was so big, people could get lost, even the head cheerleader and her football captain boyfriend. All I know is they were toxic, and knowing Elena now, away from that guy, I’m going to lay the blame squarely on him.”
I read between the venomous lines. Her ire toward this guy wasn’t on behalf of what he did to her friend. This was a lot more personal than that. A lot closer to home.
“He treat you bad, Hells?”
She was wearing sunglasses, but I knew her well enough to recognize she was rolling her eyes.
“Nate was one of those privileged boys who thought the world belonged to him. He took and took and took, because he knew if he got caught, he’d get a slap on the wrist at worst.”
I sucked in a deep breath before asking, “He took from you?”
“He got close. Really, really close.” She scoffed, her mouth tipping into the smallest grin. “Actually, it was Elena’s cousin, Penelope, who rescued me. That girl is the shit. She beat the hell out of Nate with a bag of books. Then, my bestie, Gabe, who’s Pen’s boyfriend, beat the hell out of Nate with his fists. That was my justice, and you know, it was pretty damn poetic.”
A minute went by where I was struggling with being entirely useless. There was nothing I could do to fix what had happened to Helen, and fixing was what I did. If I couldn’t find the break and repair it, I went crazy.
Helen lowered her sunglasses, peering at me over them. “Why’re you asking about Nate?”
Groaning, I took off my hat and shoved a hand through my damp hair. “His older brother showed up on campus yesterday. He freaked Elena out enough for me to be concerned.”
Concerned was the mildest term I could put to it. I’d been up late last night, picturing Elena’s quivering chin. Never thought I’d call her fragile, but that was what she’d been while I’d held her—while she’d clung to me.
Helen flinched. “Shit. I didn’t even know he had an older brother. I tried to know as little as possible about that asshole.” She turned back to the ocean, finding Elena wading in up to her knees. “She was freaked out?”
“Yeah. Couldn’t get away from him fast enough.”
