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Jase glares but doesn’t respond.
“Anyhow, Everly stopped by the house at Yale when she took off. I was the only one home, and she gave me some cryptic message that she had to leave and return home to Georgia or something bad would happen, handed me a sealed letter to put on Jase’s bed and apologized for what she’d done. I had no idea what she was talking about, but the threat to John came to mind, so I wrote out a quick note for her to give to him, figuring she would be in Georgia and could drop it off.”
That catches Tanner’s notice, his brows pulling together. “You knew Everly had something to do with John?”
“Not at all. But she was going to Georgia, so I decided sending a note with her was faster than mailing it. Plus, there would be no return address, so our families wouldn’t be able to discover who sent it.”
Luca sniffles. “So it may not have even reached my dad.”
Gabe shrugs. “I assume it did. He called very quickly afterwards to demand you return home.”
Jase can’t let it go. “So why the fuck did Everly leave Yale? Her note said nothing about why.”
Finally, something I can add. “Because Scott got home from the military and went there to pick her up. He threatened all of you if she didn’t leave immediately.”
They all turn to look at me.
“What? That’s what Scott told me while I was at the safe house.”
Tanner kneads at his temples.
“You know what?” Luca says, her voice so tense and quiet it sounds like she might explode. “All of you are responsible for my father dying. Any of you, at any time, could have warned me.”
Her eyes lock on Shane. “But you are the most responsible. I’ll never forgive you for killing him, and I hope you choke on whatever guilt you feel about it. The man never did a thing to you. Go fuck yourself, Shane.”
With that, she stands from her seat and storms out of the room. Tanner glances at Shane one last time before chasing after her.
“Fuck this,” Shane says under his breath.
He turns to Taylor. “I need the keys to the rental car.”
Gabe speaks up. “Shane, maybe you should just hang here for a little while. This will all calm down—“
“Keys, Taylor.”
Taylor flings them Shane’s direction. He catches them mid-air.
Still holding my hand, he tugs me along with him.
When we reach the car, he opens my door for me and buckles me in. It’s a standard seatbelt, so I don’t need the help, but he’s still acting like he needs to protect me at all costs. I say nothing, not with the mood he’s in.
He rounds the front to get to the driver’s side, and when he climbs in and starts the engine, I miss the usual roar of his Beauty.
The rental struggles to keep up with his lead foot, the RPMs shooting into the red as he accelerates down the road. At first, I have no idea where we’re going, but eventually we end up on the long road leading to the lake.
It takes much longer to arrive, most likely because the rental clearly cannot go as fast as Shane’s car. The poor engine is sputtering and clicking when we pull into a parking space and I’m watching for smoke or water vapor, half expecting he’d blown it up with how aggressively he’d pushed it.
We still haven’t spoken, not one tiny word or sound, but I won’t be the one to break the silence.
Shane needs to talk.
But first he needs to process whatever is going on inside that head of his, and when he’s ready, I’ll be here to listen.
After helping me from the car, he takes hold of my hand again, a life preserver of sorts or a tether to something beyond himself that brings him comfort.
Led to the sand where we’d once fought, I continue standing as Shane sinks to sit on the ground, his hands eventually finding and taking control of my hips to tug me down on his lap.
I wrap my arms and legs around him as his arms wrap around me, my chin resting on his shoulder while his rests on my head.
