For a moment, my brain sat completely empty of thought. The words burrowed their way into my skin, into my very being, making me feel wrong inside. Sick. Like his words were a slimy film covering every inch of me, getting in my eyes, sticking to my mouth. I took a deep, resetting breath. Mom did that sometimes when Dad ticked her off. She’d close her eyes, breathe in, hold it. Breathe out. Open eyes.
It didn’t seem to work for me.
Something hard and heavy landed over my shoulders in an instant, jarring me enough that I sucked in a loud, sharp breath. I almost thought someone shoved me, as if Edith reached out and pushed against my shoulders. But no, it wasn’t that. It was—
No. Freaking. Way.
“Scottie,” Walsh Hunter said with a slight tilt to his voice, jostling his arm to bring me closer against his side. He matched Scott in volume, making sure every ear could hear him over the hum of the party music. “Is that any way to talk to a lady?”
No. Freaking. Way.
“No one needs you butting in, Walsh,” Scott said, annoyance shooting across his features.
“Oh, I’m not butting in. I actually want to come clean about something—I want everyone to know the truth.” Walsh moved away from me just enough so he could tip his head and peer into my eyes—that is, if I looked at him. I could barely move a muscle with the weight of his arm over me, and I so did not want to even glance his way. His voice held a dramatic edge to it, putting on a performance. “I’ve always had the biggest crush on Sophia.”
Now I did jerk my gaze up to meet his, no doubt disgust transforming my face. “What do you think you’re—”
Walsh rushed to cut me off, looking directly into my eyes. “And I don’t want to keep it a secret anymore. I want everyone to know how I feel about you. How we feel about each other.” He gave me a soft smile, one that a lover might get before a first kiss. A flash of fear nearly had me gagging. If he kisses me, I swear to God— “Now that Scott’s out of the picture, it can be you and me. Nothing is standing in the way of us being together anymore. Give me a chance. You’re worth it all, and I’ll prove it to you. What do you say? Go out with me?”
Fear of him kissing me transformed into rage. What exactly was he saying? Was he—was he freaking implying we had some sort of love affair? That we both had secret feelings for each other and were fighting to hide them? In front of all these people?
Of flipping course he was. There was nothing I could do but gape at him, jaw completely unhinged.
Everyone was staring at me—at Walsh and me—trying to catch a glimpse of what was going down. I caught one, two, several phones pointed in our direction, no doubt recording every single second of this nightmarish moment.
Have I died and ended up in hell?
I couldn’t form any sort of coherent response, and I couldn’t be in the room anymore, under the stares of everyone in the entire county. If I stayed, I really would end up crying—or screaming—because the pressure built more and more as my mind raced.
So I didn’t wait another second or answer Walsh’s insane question. I shrugged off his arm, brushed past Edith’s shocked expression and the gathered crowd of people, and ran out the back door that led into the night.
Chapter Four
I stood at the cliff behind Walsh’s massive house, the wind lancing across my cheeks, numb to the breeze. I gritted my teeth together, staring into the darkness ahead of me and picturing what it might’ve looked like in the daytime, with the sunlight cresting over the horizon.
And I guess technically this was more of a pathway that led to the beach below than a cliff, but the drop-off loomed at least ten feet, so steep that a railing had been embedded into the ground to keep anyone from falling over onto the sharp rocks below.
I’d gone outside in search of air, slipping past the bonfire that attracted laughter and happiness. My hidden spot was far enough away from the flames that the music and voices were a distant hum, static sound that could be easily ignored.
Everything felt so jumbled in my head, like a gathering of string