Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,11

think that’s who I was. I almost died, Gia. I should have died. It was set up for me to die. Somehow I didn’t die though. Here I am. I’m sorry I sounded greedy about Xavier. What would you do?”

“The same,” Gia said. “I’m sorry I slipped away. I left you with the wrong impression. Just hearing you talk about him. What he and the others did. I started to wonder if maybe his father did the same to my mother. You know? What if Forest… or Deb… probably Deb. She’s the meanest. But I just wondered if they threatened my mother. Or if my mother was just that kind of person. Take the baby, give me the money, and it all goes away.”

There was nothing I would put past anyone in and around BFH.

Even what Gia was saying.

As shocking as it sounded.

She took a step and missed it, falling to her ass.

I jumped after her but she rolled down the deck steps to the sand.

“Gia!” I cried out as I hurried after her.

She rolled to her back and looked at me.

She started to laugh.

Then she started to cry.

I put my head to the sand.

“This is fine,” I said.

“You’re a good friend,” Gia said. “I’m a messed up girl.”

“No you’re not. You’re just honest with yourself. You’re not afraid to feel. I respect that.”

We looked at each other.

“You sure you’re not fucking Talon?” Gia asked.

“Positive,” I said. “No Trocs.”

“No Trocs,” Gia said and smiled.

“I don’t even want any Bumps either. This is bad.”

“I know the feeling,” Gia said.

“To answer your question from before, I don’t know what happens at the end of this. I have this vision of me getting them so scared or whatever and then confessing I know the truth. And then telling all three that I’m not going to say a word to anyone else. Then they know I own their asses. That they do whatever I say to do. Like I have the fucking power for once in my life.”

“Hell yeah,” Gia said. She sat up. “Winter… hell yeah…”

I slowly sat up. “I don’t know what will happen,” I said. “Sometimes I think about talking to the police. Just to see what they say. I haven’t heard anything about the accident yet. I’m surprised nobody found something wrong with the SUV. It just feels…”

“Wait a second,” Gia said. “Sorry… but just…”

“Are you going to throw up?” I asked.

“No,” Gia said. “I kind of feel sober right now. I’m kind of… yeah…”

“What is going on?”

Gia got to her feet and reached for my hand.

She pulled me up and started to charge down the beach.

I ran to catch up to her. “What are you doing?”

“Just watch.”

We raced toward Gia’s beach house.

“Stay here,” she said.

She disappeared under the steps of her deck.

When she emerged a minute or so later she was holding a can of paint.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“We’re going to paint something. Okay?”

“Sure,” I said. “I think. What are we painting?”

“Follow me,” Gia said. “Oh, and when we walk by your place, run inside and grab that bottle of vodka.”

I listened to Gia, which was risky because she was drunk.

At my mother’s beach house, I ran inside and grabbed the vodka bottle.

Then we hurried down the beach, bumping shoulders, sipping vodka, Gia giggling so much that I started to giggle too.

For no reason though.

The walk lasted all of ten minutes before she stopped and pointed to another beach house.

She took the bottle of vodka from me and handed me the can of paint.

“Pop that top and paint that deck,” Gia said.

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

Gia smiled. “I want to help too.”

“With the paint?” I asked.

“Xavier is my brother, Winter,” Gia said. “I know more than most do. Maybe it’s time I don’t keep my mouth shut anymore. You know? What they did to you… what Xavier’s parents did to my mother… I want in on this.”

“Gia…”

“Shhh,” she said. “Turn around and go paint that deck.”

“Why?”

Gia smiled with a devious smile.

She pushed at my shoulder.

“That’s one of Easton’s beach houses…”

It took me a few minutes to get the stupid lid off the paint can.

By then I was nervous, sweating, and just wanted to be out of there.

Gia was drunk and upset. She was going from being super happy to super sad and everywhere in between.

I didn’t want her to end up getting hurt in all of this…

“Do it!” Gia yelled.

I cringed.

Her screaming outside Easton’s beach house wasn’t going to help things.

The proof in that was when a light on