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Date. There it is. I sip my water. “I didn’t think this was a date, Car. We’re just catching up.”
Her face clouds over. But then she leans in and reaches for my hand. “Oh, I guess I just assumed … are you seeing someone?”
I nod.
“And who is the lucky lady? Do I know her?” she asks.
“Stassi Hutton.”
“Stassi?” Her eyes narrow, and for the tiniest moment I get the feeling she isn’t quite as fine with it as she says. “The nerdy blonde from our high school?”
“She’s not really nerdy anymore,” I say. “She’s actually gorgeous. And she’s pregnant with our first child.”
I make a point of saying first because I’m bound and determined to have more with her.
Carlina’s still holds my hand. “Wow. I just thought someone like you … I guess I just don’t see you with someone like her. You’re so out there, your personality so big. And she’s … not. But you used to be friends with Aidan and Cooper, right? Still, it doesn’t make sense.”
I shrug. “What in this world does?”
“Honestly?” She leans in, and once again I can see those breasts of hers obnoxiously on display. “You and I were the envy of the school. We made sense. I always thought we would’ve ended up together.”
She lets out a little sigh and straightens.
“But whatever floats your boat.” A wicked smile curls her lips as her leg brushes mine under the table. “Just so you know … I’m good at keeping secrets.”
I move my leg away. This was a mistake.
Still, I try to keep my tone light, charming. “I bet you are. We all were, weren’t we?”
Her eyes widen. “Wait. Are you talking about … Jonathan Cole?”
I nod.
“Whatever. If you didn’t buy the alcohol for that party, someone else would have.”
“Maybe. But he drank a lot that night,” I say. “Too much.”
My mind goes back to that night, right before Thanksgiving. The haze of smoke in the abandoned house in the country we always used to party at. The beer and alcohol bottles all around. Most of us—the graduates—back in town for the holiday weekend. Cooper, Aidan, and I were hoping for a chill night. Music. Drinks. Reminiscing about our old glory days. This party, however, was bigger than usual. Even Stassi was there—with Jonathan.
She didn’t stay long that night though. She didn’t like those kinds of parties, and she had studying to catch up on. So after midnight, she jumped up off Jonathan’s lap, gave him a kiss, and hitched a ride home with someone’s DD.
Jonathan stayed though.
And the second she left, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he’d already forgotten about Stassi. I knew that look. I’d seen it a hundred times before. He zeroed in on things, and whatever he wanted, he usually got. That night, he was zeroed in on Hannah Honeycutt—some hot little freshman all the guys couldn’t shut up about.
I did my best to distract him, challenging him to do shots (I filled mine with water when he wasn’t looking), and always making sure he had a fresh beer in his hand. Jonathan, always the good time guy, went along with it. And the drunker he got, the more he drank. It wasn’t long before he was incapacitated, passed out on a sunken in sofa in the corner of the dusty living room.
I stepped outside to take a leak, thinking about heading home since my mission was over.
When I headed back inside, Aidan stopped me to ask if I’d get him home that night and we got to talking about something else. By the time I returned to the living room, though, Jonathan was gone.
Hannah Honeycutt, however, was sucking face with some guy I’d never seen before.
I let it go because at least I didn’t have to watch him cheat on Stassi this time, and then I waited until I was good enough to drive home before rounding up as many passengers as I could fit in my BMW and heading out.
When I woke up the next morning and heard the news … that was when the full force of what I’d done hit me.
“You can’t blame yourself,” Carlina says, placing her hand on mine.
But I do.
I bought and supplied the alcohol that night.
I made sure Jonathan was liquored up so bad he couldn’t walk straight.
I just didn’t know he was going to wander outside, stumble into a pond and die.
“Stassi was dating Jonathan when he died, right?” she asks.
I nod.
“Poor thing. Oh, I get it.” She links her fingers together in front of her. “She doesn’t know?”
“Nope.”
I throw up my hands. “That’s, uh, kind of why I wanted to talk to you tonight. I want to come clean to Stassi. Can you vouch for me?”
She frowns. “What?”
“Vouch for me. You knew what kind of person Jonathan was, how much he cheated on her. You know I never would’ve given him all that alcohol if I knew what he was going to do.”
