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“I’ll plan my near-death experience better next time,” I said with an eye roll, then added, “You’re so sure I wouldn’t cheat on Scarlet, but how do you explain the similarities in my memories and what you just told me?”
“You woke up, and this Trish chick was in your bed,” he began after a while. “You don’t remember how she got there or what happened. Maybe...” He shrugged. “I don’t know, man. I really don’t know.”
My head moved in a jumbled mess of nods and shakes as I rubbed my hand over my face. Thoughts a blur of everything Brian had told me and all those clashing memories.
Heart tripped up in the endless battle of that addicting craving to get closer to Scarlet and that desperate need to get my life back. That restless hunger whenever Scarlet entered my thoughts or line of sight and that piercing agony of having the joy of becoming a father repeatedly ripped away from me.
“Whatever happened, I clearly fucked up, and it’s gonna destroy Scarlet,” I muttered as I focused on him. “I need to figure out what I did.”
“Don’t think you got a second chance at life just to lose your lady,” Brian said. “The two of you have gotten through a lot. You can get through this too.”
A muted laugh punched from my lungs. “I’ve already wasted my second, third, and fourth chances, Brian,” I said as I stood to go. “At this point, pretty sure I’m just stealing any chances I find along the way.”
I’d never felt so weak.
I’d never been the best at anything, but I was a damn good surfer, and I could hold my own in the ring—even against Brandon, and that guy was a fucking beast. But walking for, shit, I didn’t know...maybe an hour had tapped me out. Leaving me gripping my side and struggling to take deep enough breaths around the aches and pains and the guilt lashing out inside me.
I was sure Scarlet was going to give me hell because I doubted her version ofgoing for a walkmeant storming out of the shop and taking off for the beach. But I hadn’t called anyone. I hadn’t texted her.
And I’d ended up on a part of the beach I wasn’t sure I’d ever been to, even though my feet had carried me there like I’d known the way. And as I stared out over the water, every violently clashing thought went back to her.
To the way she’d looked at me since I’d woken. To the way those eyes had shattered and dimmed and continued pulling back to me with so much hope and love, only to repeat the cycle.
And the worst was still to come.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I unlocked the screen and slowly stretched my side as I brought up her number to call her.
“Are you okay?”
The question was immediate and filled with so much panic that I just froze for a second before straightening. “Areyou?” I asked uneasily.
Her relief was palpable through the phone when she said, “You haven’t—” She forced out a breath and whispered, “You just haven’t called me since everything happened.”
“Oh.” I glanced around, my face creasing as I thought of what to say when Brian’s words were saturating every thought. “Sorry, no. ..no, I’m good. I’m at the beach. You think you could meet me?”
“At the beach?” she asked, surprise and that damn hope wrapping around her words.
“Yeah. I, uh...I don’t exactly know where I am. I just left the shop and ended up...” I glanced around again, looking for street signs, but Scarlet spoke before I could relay any identifying markers.
“I know where you are.”
If I hadn’t been so weighed down with the dread of what was coming, I might’ve laughed. As it was, my question came out sounding miserable. “You put a tracker on me, Scar?”
“I’m just pretty sure I know where you are,” she said, the softness of her tone gripping at my heart and making it pump harder. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Scarlet,” I said before she could end the call. When her questioning hum came through, I just stood there. Letting the sound wash over me and embracing the way ahumcould make me feel. “Drive safe.”
I tapped the red button before she could respond.
Worried I’d start confessing everything right then. Worried I’d say all the wrong things when I still had no idea what I’d even done. Worried I’d ask if she’dknown.
And at that thought, I lifted my phone again. Quickly searching for another number and kicking off my sandals as I headed out onto the sand.
“Hey, man,” Brandon answered. “You ready to be picked up?”
“No, that isn’t why I’m calling.” Gratitude built and poured into my next words when I teased, “You can be off duty for the rest of the day.”
“Finally,” he muttered, but the amusement lingered. After whispering something away from the phone, he said, “All right, I’m in my office now. What’s up?”
