Kellan sits down to my right, and I stiffen. Even Cole squares his shoulders, but he doesn’t look over at him.
Shane and Bennett join us, and all the guys talk about crap I can’t keep up with.
Deke takes a second to shovel some food into his mouth between arguing with Shane when I look up at him. “Can I have Shelby’s number?”
The table falls silent. His eyes meet mine, and they narrow. “Why do you want her number?”
“How do you even know her?” Kellan growls.
“She did my stitches. I need them out this week,” I say.
“What stitches?” Shane asks.
Cole and Deke don’t answer him. I frown. Have they not filled them in on what happened that night? I look over at Cole, and he’s glaring at me. I glare back, not backing down from him.
“I’ll take you today after school.” Cole breaks the silence, and I don’t even bother to argue as they resume their conversations.
A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
“What about these stitches?” Kellan presses.
Cole looks down at his phone. “It doesn’t concern you, Kellan,” he says.
Becky makes an O face with her lips at Cole’s tone. Deke shovels more food into his mouth, letting me know he isn’t going to say a word about it. Shane and Bennett also let it go, knowing they aren’t going to get any more info. Kellan slams his drink onto the table and then stands, walking away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
COLE
I ALREADY MADE the mistake of leaving her alone with Shelby once. I wasn’t going to make it again. I heard her talking to Austin about me last time we were here. So this time, I stand in the kitchen with them while they sit at the table as Shelby removes her stitches.
“It looks really good,” Shelby tells her as she examines it. “And the scarring will be very minimal.”
Austin smiles at her. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Shelby says, waving off her gratitude and pulling her in for a hug.
“May I use your restroom?” Austin asks, standing.
She nods and shows her where it is.
I’m leaning up against the kitchen counter when Shelby reenters. Her smile drops off her face when her eyes meet mine. She comes to a stop in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest. “Why did you do that to her?”
I don’t respond.
She sighs at my silence. “Why are you getting so close to her? I’ve seen the video Deke posted online. You’re playing her. But the question is why?”
“What I do with her is none of your concern,” I decide to say.
“Cole.” She runs her hand through her hair. “You can’t do this to people.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
She fists her hands down by her sides, clearly frustrated. I stare back at her unblinkingly, showing a sign of indifference. Shelby has too much heart. I don’t have enough. “I saw the news. And that Jeff is missing.” She changes the subject, her eyes searching mine for any indication I had something to do with his disappearance. She knows me better than that. I’m a wall. She gives me her back and lets out a nervous laugh. “This has to stop, Cole.”
“Are you gonna stop me?”
She spins back around to face me. “This is serious! This is your life!”
I look away from her as guilt starts to eat at me. A life I shouldn’t be living.
“Cole.” She softens her voice. “It wasn’t your fault.”
I tense. No one talks to me about what happened that night I killed three friends. They know that’s a line I never cross, but Shelby doesn’t care about people’s limits. “You can’t right all the wrongs in the world. Eli would understand. It was an accident. It could have happened to any of us.”
“We both know he deserved it,” I growl, focusing on Jeff instead of my friends.
“Jesus.” She hisses softly, realizing I just admitted to killing Jeff. “Who all knows?”
I clamp my mouth shut. She looks away from me.
“Was Deke involved?”
I stare at the back of her head, refusing to give in to the urge to look at the floor. I won’t answer her question, but I also won’t give her a reason to assume either.
My silence has her turning back to face me, and there are tears in her soft blue eyes. She reaches out for me, her hands gripping my shoulders, and her eyes meet mine. “I need him, Cole. You can’t take him from me. Do you understand?”
My eyes search hers, a tear falls down her cheek. And my chest tightens at the thought of losing Deke. He and I are by far the closest. He, Eli, and I were inseparable. He was supposed to be with us that night. But plans changed, and he ended up not coming along. It probably saved his life.
“Thank you again …” Austin’s voice trails off as she enters the kitchen.
Shelby lets go of me and turns her back to us quickly, rubbing the tears from her face.
Austin comes up to me and watches me closely, probably wondering what the hell is going on between us. But I give her a cold stare. I don’t owe her an explanation.
“Anytime,” Shelby says cheerfully. Her tears now gone. A smile on her face.
_______________
The silence in the car is as thick as fog, making it hard to breathe. To swallow. My hands fist the steering wheel and gear shift.
Austin sits beside me, and I can feel her anger toward me rolling off her shoulders. She’s confused about what she saw between Shelby and me. Probably thinking I’m playing her—fucking her and others too. And I won’t tell her otherwise. What I do is none of her business. Just like it’s not Shelby’s.
Her phone goes off, and she looks down at it. “Great,” she mumbles.
“What?” I ask unable to help myself.
She types back a quick reply and then throws her phone back into her lap but stays silent.
“What, Austin?” I growl.
“That was Celeste,” she answers.
“And?”
“My father is coming home tomorrow. He wants to have a family dinner.”
And just like that, my tense body relaxes. I smile. “What time?”
Her head whips over to look at me. “Why?” she asks, eyeing me skeptically. “Have plans for me already?” she snaps, angry with me.
Ignoring her question, I grab her left hand and bring it to my lips to kiss her knuckles. “Because I’m gonna have dinner with my girlfriend and her dad.”
She yanks her hand from my hold, and it reminds me of when I kissed it outside the church and how leery she was of me then. She knew I had ulterior motives. I still do.
“One, you’re not my boyfriend. And two, why?”
“Do I have to have a reason?”
“Yes! I can see it all over your face. You just wanna piss him off,” she says matter-of-factly.
“What’s so wrong with that? Don’t tell me you care if he gets mad? I already know you hate the man too.”
“Yeah.” She looks down at her hands in her lap. “But if he gets mad at me, he can ship me back.”
I look over at her quickly, surprised by her words. We don’t share personal information because I don’t talk about myself and because I don’t care to know about her. Maybe I should … But then I remember what Celeste told me about how she didn’t think she was safe and how I was a good influence for her. And my chest tightens. I’m a murderer. Evil. What could they do that would be worse than that? “Celeste wouldn’t let him send you back,” I tell her. She would fight for her to stay here. Because if it came down to it, I would force Celeste to make that happen. Like she said, I always get what I want. And too bad for Austin, she’s it at the moment.