Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,54

it was turned into a full carnival for myself and all my friends.

Another memory jumped in front of that.

It was me, Evie, and Darcy. Sitting on the beach in front of a fire. We were getting high and there were cute boys with us. Everyone was laughing, listening to music, and the night started to get a little steamy…

The memories were all there.

Full intact.

No detail spared.

I remembered who my first kiss was. Who my first everything was.

I remembered hating my mother and being confused about my father.

It was all there.

I opened my eyes and looked to the waves again and shook my head.

I did not sleep with Easton.

That was a lie from the second he spoke it.

And I did not have a thing with Noah.

We probably talked more than a few times in our lifetime but that was it.

Was I flirty? Sure.

Was he swoon-worthy? Yes.

That didn’t mean a thing.

I tried to think back to a party or something.

Maybe there was a night we both had too much to drink…

“No,” I whispered.

I wasn’t that girl.

There was no way I would let myself get to that point, where I’d wake up and not remember the person I was next to.

That wasn’t me.

There was no way I…

Someone moved into my field of vision.

It was someone jogging on the beach.

It was Gia.

I quickly stood up and whistled for her.

She looked at me and I saw that she was crying.

“Gia!” I yelled.

That’s when she started to run.

I kicked my shoes off and peeled my socks off and jumped down to the beach.

Gia was on a tear.

And I was not a runner like her.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to run after her.

She was my best friend.

My only friend.

I was the one lying to her too.

This was the least I could to… I don’t know… to make it up to her?

I started to run like I had never run before.

I pretended a bear was chasing me.

No.

I pretended Noah, Easton, and Xavier were after me.

No…

I pretended Talon was after me.

What the fuck were you thinking, Winter? Letting him touch you like that? My god… I mean, of course it felt good. Duh. But he’s a Troc. You don’t do that kind of thing. Trocs and Bumps don’t hook up. They don’t fuck. They don’t fool around.

Okay, fine, you didn’t fuck him.

That’s good at least.

But he touched you.

His hand…

Yeah, fine, he was over your shorts.

It wasn’t like his actual fingers were inside you…

I let out a groan and kept running.

Gia was just too fucking fast though.

“Gia!” I managed to yell. “Gia! Wait up!”

She didn’t slow for a second.

And I ran out of air way too fast.

It was actually kind of embarrassing how quickly I started to slow.

There was a little bit of pain at the back of my head.

I finally stopped and bent forward.

My knees gave out and fell down to the sand.

I touched the back of my head.

The pain started to swell.

It began to engulf my entire head.

For a second I thought I was going to throw up.

The pain was seriously that bad.

I squeezed my eyes shut because any tease of the sunlight made it hurt worse.

My hands spread wide into the sand and my body started to shake.

What the fuck is happening?

I slowly picked myself up and sat back on my ankles.

I tried to get to my feet but that wasn’t going to happen.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I fell forward again.

“Winter?” a voice asked.

“Gia?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Ohmygod, what’s wrong?”

“Why were you crying?” I asked.

“What? Who cares? Something is wrong with you.”

“Just help me up,” I said. “I think I ran too fast or something.”

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Gia standing over me.

Her skin glistened with sweat but she wasn’t out of breath at all.

Show off.

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

She helped me to my feet and I leaned into her.

“Why were you crying?” I asked her again.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s get you back home. Maybe I should call an ambulance.”

“No,” I said. “I’m fine. The sun is just… ouch…”

“Close your eyes,” Gia said. “I’ve got you. I won’t let you go.”

That was probably the nicest and most honest thing anyone had ever said to me in my life.

“Put her on the couch in the sitting room,” Val’s voice said.

Gia decided to take me to her house since her mother was home.

Whatever was happening, it was weird.

My head hurt in random spots at random times.

Sometimes I felt like I was going to throw up.

Sometimes my legs felt weak.

It was like something rippling through me.

Gia helped