“What are you going to do?” Gigi asked, as she reached in the front pocket of her backpack and handed me a tissue.
“I’m going to confront him. He has basketball practice now. I need to catch him off guard before Karina gives him a heads-up. I need to do this on my own. You guys can go. I’ll call you after.”
“Call me if you need me to come back and give you a ride home,” Coco said. “And don’t take his shit. The dude is a liar. He’s been suspect for a while, and now he’s showed his true colors. Believe it, Addy. Don’t try to fix this.”
I nodded. “I won’t. I’ll call you if I need a ride. I may want to walk.”
I took in their sad faces, and it made my chest squeeze. We’d always had one another’s backs. We’d always felt the hurt for the other when one of us was upset. It had been that way for as long as I could remember.
They each hugged me before stepping out the door. I sent a text to Alec.
Me ~ Hey. I’m outside of the locker room. I need to talk to you real quick.
Alec ~ Be right out, baby.
Baby? Had he no shame? He’d been sleeping with someone behind my back and was going to act like we were fine?
“Hey, what are you doing here? I figured you went home already?” Alec’s blond hair was cut close to his head, blue eyes with hints of green landed on mine.
“You want to tell me about Karina? Don’t you think I deserve the truth? The truth about your parents and the fact that you’ve had sex with her three times since we’ve been back together? The last time being just this past weekend when you were ‘just talking?’”
His face paled, and I knew in that moment that she’d been telling the truth. He moved toward me, and I stepped back. “Listen, Addy. I’ve got so much shit going on. I fucked up, and I didn’t know how to tell you.”
I slapped his hand away when he put it on my shoulder. “You fucked up? No, Alec, you fucked someone else. There’s a difference. Fucking up is forgetting to call or flaking on plans, not putting your dick in someone else.”
His jaw dropped at my words. I was done being polite. I’d planned my entire life around him and what he wanted, putting my own wants on the back burner, and I was suddenly raging in a way I’d never experienced. Anger engulfed me and I didn’t know how to move past it.
“Addy, please. I love you. I’m an idiot.”
His words were empty. I’d gotten what I’d come for. He’d cheated on me. We were done. I turned on my heels and walked out the door.
“Adelaide. Stop.” Alec was on my heels and he grabbed my arm. “Baby. Please.”
I shook him off and started to run toward the parking lot. I didn’t have a ride or a plan. I just wanted to get away from him.
Away from everyone.
Chapter Eight
Jett
I’d just finished my meeting with Coach Stephens to discuss my college offers and go over the pros and cons of each one. I was definitely leaning toward signing with Texas University, as it had always been my number one choice. They’d verbally offered me a four-year, full ride with housing, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.
I climbed on my bike, helmet in hand, as I heard shouting and looked up to see Adelaide Edington running toward me with tears streaming down her face. Her dipshit boyfriend was chasing her, and I glanced around to see if anyone else was seeing this. No one was around at the moment, and she called my name.
Fuck.
I didn’t want to get involved in their drama.
“Jett. Can you give me a ride? Please.” The desperation in her voice cut me deep, and I nodded.
“What the fuck are you doing, Addy?” Alec shouted, still several feet away as she climbed on the back of my bike.
I handed her my helmet and pushed back, turning my head to speak to her. “Hold on.”
Her hands wrapped around my middle, and she rested her face against my back. Alec approached just as I gunned it and pulled out of the parking lot. I saw him in my rearview mirror flailing his arms and shouting.
We were a few blocks away when I stopped at a light and spoke over my shoulder. “Am I taking you home?”
I knew where Adelaide lived. Hell, everyone knew where the Edingtons lived. They had the largest house on the lake.
“No, I can’t go home. Just go wherever you were going, and I’ll figure it out from there.”
I pulled away and her little hands fisted my shirt on my stomach and my dick twitched. Damn traitor. Adelaide was not someone I would allow myself to react to. She was as off-limits as it got. And we were friends again after all these years, and I didn’t mind it. Didn’t mind anything about her, which was saying a lot because most people bugged the fuck out of me.
Her chest vibrated against my back, and I knew she was crying. I had no idea what was going on, but Taulson was an asshole, so I wasn’t completely surprised that she’d finally caught on. I pulled down the dirt road toward the spot I’d come to call my own near the water. I’d never brought anyone out here, but for whatever reason, I didn’t have the heart to drop her anywhere else when I knew she was upset.
I parked my bike and waited for her to climb off first, before I slipped off and she unbuckled the strap and handed me my helmet.
“What is this place?” she asked, glancing around at the small beach area, the beat-up hammock I’d made out of some rope and some netting hanging between two large trees.
My own little lakeside hideaway. Shaw and Jax knew I came out here to think, but I’d never brought them with me. We’d go to the lake on the weekends all the time in the summer, but never here. This was the one place in Willow Springs that was just mine. Had been for the past four years. I came out here every day when the season was over, and it was probably the one place in this town that I would miss most after I got the hell out of here.
“It’s a place I like to come to get away from everyone. Everything,” I grumbled, angry with myself for bringing her here. I didn’t need her telling her Magic Musketeers or whatever the hell they called one another about this place.
I tossed my backpack on the cluster of large rocks near the hammock and dropped down to sit in it.
Her eyes were puffy, her nose red, and she glanced around and nodded. “I won’t tell anyone about it.”
Damn. The girl always seemed to be able to read my mind. “Thanks. I’d appreciate it. No one has ever been out here that I know of, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
She dropped to sit next to my backpack on one of the large boulders as she stared out at the water. Her phone kept buzzing. She reached in her backpack and turned off her ringer before staring at her screen.