Paxton puts his phone to his ear again, impatience has him tapping a beat on the dash. “What’s going on?” he demands. “What have you done?” There’s a rush of words I can’t hear, and then Paxton slams his knuckles against the door. “Your girlfriend’s been stalking Raegan for months. She fucking followed her to the goddamn marina. Don’t tell me you have it under control.”
My thoughts are consumed with images of Raegan in the ocean, imagining her face down, floating across the surface. It’s a nightmare that’s plagued me since the night of her accident and took her sleeping beside me to end. I blare the horn, riding someone’s bumper like a royal asshole until they move out of my way.
“You haven’t handled it. This isn’t handled.” He hangs up, running a hand over his hair. “I’m going to kill him if something happens.”
More cars honk and flip me off as I pull to the shoulder and drive like it’s an added lane, but I don’t give a single fuck as I listen to these foreign words process with the impossible situation at hand.
“What are we going to do?” I ask.
Paxton shakes his head. “Caleb,” he says. He fumbles with his phone once more, cursing before his phone starts to ring on speakerphone.
“Dude. How do you always know when I’m getting food?” Caleb answers.
“Caleb,” Pax shakes his head like the words are impossible to find to describe the current situation. In truth, they are.
“The person who was leaving the cranes for Raegan,” I say, “It was the dean’s girlfriend. She’s left more, and now she followed Raegan, and she’s with her at the marina.”
There’s silence. “What?”
“What do we do?” Pax asks.
“You call the fucking police. Don’t get involved. You don’t know what you’re doing. You could make it worse.”
“It’s Raegan,” Pax yells, his frustration vibrating around the cab of my truck, landing on me like the rain falls on my windshield, soaking into my fears and pooling with my own anger.
Caleb sighs. “When you get there, talk to the girl. Calmly. Don’t try and get too close, and just buy time until the police arrive.”
I shake my head, hating his words nearly as much at the situation. Being told I once again can’t interfere is like sitting on the sidelines of a losing game, like watching Raegan walk away and not working harder to fight for her.
“What if she’s not close to Rae?” Pax asks. “What if we just take her down? Tackle her.”
“You don’t know if she has a weapon or if she’s going to hurt herself or Raegan,” Caleb warns. “You don’t want to spook her or make her feel worried. That will lead to a bad scenario.”
We reach the gates that are permanently propped open, my tires spraying gravel against the metal post. I slow down, my headlights bouncing off the ground with the sudden dip in the road.
“Be calm. Keep your distance and try to find some middle ground with her. Get her talking to you. Make her see Raegan as a person rather than a hindrance,” Caleb continues.
“There!” Pax says, shooting his arm up and pointing near the dock.
I pull as close as we can get, leaving the engine running and the headlight on for additional light as we pile out, trying to slow our speed as we make our way down the dock that sways with our added weight.
They’re standing near the end, under the single lamp post. The ocean a black backdrop that crashes, trying to meet the heavy rain that continues to splatter against every surface. Raegan’s body is tense, her hands on her head as a girl dressed in a purple coat stands next to her, a gun in her hand moving toward us as we near.
“What is this?” the girl yells. “What did you do?” She swings her attention to Raegan, her voice and motions unsteady.
The sky is growing darker, trying to meet the heavy rain that continues to splatter against every surface. As we get closer, I inspect Raegan, tracing her pale face, her hair which is soaked like her clothes. She flicks her attention to me, her eyes wild, but her body still.
“We just want to help,” Paxton says, raising both hands in the air as he steps next to me. “We aren’t going to hurt you. We aren’t here to blame you. We just want to make sure everyone’s safe.” This is a one-eighty from the side of Paxton, who was ready to throw down in the driveway fifteen minutes ago.
“Why are you here?” Lindsay yells. “How did you find us? What did you do?” She yells the accusation again, turning the gun back on Rae, who meets her gaze.
“You don’t want to do this,” Paxton says. “Let’s just talk. Tell us what we can do.”
She shrieks. “It’s her fault!” She moves closer to Raegan, who grits her teeth as Lindsay waves the gun over her. “She made him choose between her and me, and he chose her. He’s always chosen her.”
“He didn’t choose either of us,” Raegan says. “He chose himself.”
Lindsay stares at her, a heavy frown marring her face.
“She’s right,” Paxton says. “He’s who did this.”
“No. No. No!” Lindsay shakes her head in rapid jerks. “After she was hospitalized, he started to pull away, and then after she walked in that night, she ruined everything.”
Raegan watches her, and I recognize the rapt attention, the way she’s reading her body and movements like she reads the screen while watching tape.
“If he loved you, he’d make it happen. Trust me. When a person loves someone, they aren’t afraid to go through hell,” I say, distracting the girl, hoping her anger and attention will shift to me because I’m the farthest from Rae.
“You have no idea what love is!” Lindsay shrieks, her attention snapping to me, moving the gun to follow suit. “You guys barely know each other. You’ve been together for a second, and we’ve known each other for two years! Two years!” she yells the words. “She was supposed to move out, and then he was going to get a divorce.” Her attention starts to redirect back to Raegan too quickly.
I step forward, the action immediate and unmeasured, a reaction because I can’t sit back any longer. It has her swinging the gun back at me, her eyes hard and narrowed. “Why does everyone want to save her?”
“It was me,” Pax says, taking a step closer as well. “I told our dad I’d never speak to him again if he left our mom for you. It was my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me.”
“He’s lying,” Raegan says as the gun turns to Paxton. “He didn’t even know until the video came out. It was me. But, it wasn’t to hurt you. It was to protect my family—my mom. He made this mess, and we’ll help you. We’ll help you figure everything out.”
“How?” she yells. “I was kicked out of school. My parents won’t speak to me. My friends call me a homewrecker, and he’s not even here to help or stand by me after everything I’ve lost—everything I gave up for him.” Tears choke her up, and for a second, I almost feel sorry for her, realizing she drew the short straw.
“My dad can help you,” I volunteer. “He’s a lawyer, and he can get you back into school. He’ll take it on pro bono. It won’t cost you a cent.”