I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m running on edge, hoping I don’t fumble. I need my dad’s words to be true, need to prove to my fucked-up head that my beat-up heart is right. But right or wrong, the bottom line is I have to know what happened. I’m fucked up in a bad way. I only know of one person who can help me in the end, but first things first.

I hop out of my truck and jog to the door, knocking on it loudly. Sure, I could have used my phone, but chances are she’d ignore me, out of whatever fear is cookin’ in her mind, so I figured just showing up was best.

As expected, Mia flings the door open with a scowl. “What are you doing here, and why are you pounding on my door like a damn sheriff?”

“Get your shit, let’s go.”

“Excuse me?” She places a hand on her hip and starts to argue, but I head back to my truck.

She groans, slamming her front door slam shut.

“And where exactly are we going?” Mia hops in, pulling the seatbelt over her.

“To figure this shit out.”

I see her tense out of the corner of my eye.

“Nate-”

“Look, I need to know what the hell happened, if only for my own sanity. And if I have to face it,“ I stop at the stoplight and turn to her, “so do you. I don’t know what your issue is, yet, but clearly you have one. So, we’re going to figure it out.”

“I don’t think-”

“Save it, Mia. It’s time.”

Fuck my life.

This isn’t happening. I don’t know who lit the fire under Nate’s ass, but nothing but pure determination is burning through his eyes.

He’s pissed and, bystanders be damned, he’s getting his answers tonight.

“How the hell are you supposed to find out?”

“Ashley.”

My head snaps back. “What?”

He sighs. “We’re late to the game, Mia. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. The way she acted that day at the party…it was all right there. I was just too blinded by fury to catch it. By now, she and, if my suspicions are correct, someone else knows what the fuck happened in Mexico. Now it’s time for us to take the steps to prove we care enough to figure it out.”

Nate might as well be speaking French, because his ‘come to Jesus’ moment he’s going for is lost on me.

I have no idea what’s happening.

I’m going in unarmed.

Again. Fuck my life.

It only takes about fifteen minutes to get to the bonfire the seniors put on every year after graduation.

Nate puts his Hummer in park and turns to look at me.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

“No, are you?”

I shake my head, then we both step out of his vehicle.

“Alright, don’t get distracted. Let’s find Ashley.”

We walk around a bit, weaving in and out of the parked cars, before I spot her in a lawn chair, on Jarrod’s lap.

Huh.

Nate sees her the same time I do and charges in their direction.

Jarrod spies us in an instant, quickly rising to his feet and setting Ash aside.

Her gaze follows his and she smirks.

What the hell?

“What can I do for you, Nate?” he grits out.

“You can shut your fucking mouth before I knock your ass out. I don’t have time for your bullshit, but I do want to borrow your,” he pins hard eyes on Ashley, “girlfriend.”

“Leave her out of this.” Jarrod steps closer to Ashley, and I step away from Nate when I see the deadly smirk he gives Jarrod.

He’s not leaving without answers.

“What’s the matter, Jarrod?” Nate inches closer. “You find a way to manipulate her into thinking your secrets are better worth kept?” He goads him and I watch as Ashley’s face contorts with guilt.

He’s onto something.

I step closer.

“Make her think it was over and done, and no one was looking for the answers anymore, so you don’t have to live with the fact that you fucked both your girl, and mine, in the same night? Figuratively speaking, though, right?” Nate’s steps even closer and Jarrod’s body starts to shake with rage. “’Cause everyone knows my girl never wanted you.”

I’m not sure if Nate believes what he’s saying, but I think he’s getting what he’s looking for.

Jarrod pushes forward. “Fuck you, Monroe! You think you’re hot shit ’cause you scored with the new girl, who has been run through who knows how many times?” I see Nate’s hands flex at his sides, but he doesn’t advance. “Well, I got the virgin!”

When Ashley gasps, Nate smirks at Jarrod. Realization sets in and Jarrod’s eyes widen. He quickly shifts to Ashley and pulls her into him. “Ash-”

“Stop!” she croaks and he flinches. “Just… stop. I can’t do this again. You’re…” She sighs, her eyes glazing over. “You’re everything I thought you were, Jarrod. Self-centered, shallow, and… mean.”

She steps away from him and pulls out her phone.

“Ash, don’t do this,” he pleads.

“You did this, Jarrod.” She shakes her head. “To them, to us.”

She lifts her screen, silent tears sliding down her face, and meets Nate’s guilty face. “I’m really sorry,” she whispers. “I sent it to Mia. Don’t listen to it here, Nate.”

I whip out my phone, seeing a message from her on my screen.

I meet Nate’s gaze to confirm.

He sighs. “I’m sorry, Ash, I had to…”

“I know. I was waiting.” She smiles softly through her tears, almost seeming proud, and his lip twitches.

Wait, what?

He squeezes her shoulder, then we both dash back to his truck.

Once inside, we freeze, staring at each other.

“Did you see what it was?” His brows jump.

“No.”

“Are you ready to?”

“No.”

He nods, his gaze dropping to my screen.

I open the message, download the attachment, and open it.

My heart rate spikes when Kalani’s voice plays through the tiny speaker.

 

“Excuse me?” Lolli’s voice is low, lethal.

“Oh, come on. Share the deets on your grandfather’s NFL info. A several million-dollar football contract that renewed every so many years, only increasing in numbers? Impressive.”

 

Silence fills the air for a moment, and then…

 

“He earned it,” Lolli defends. “The NFL pays high for recognizable talent.”

“And the millions?”

“What about ‘em?”

“You’re a millionaire now, right?”

 

“Holy shit,” Nate mutters next to me.

 

“Yeah, and?”

“So, he just gave all his money to a child?”

“It was his. Now it’s mine. Big fucking deal.”

“So why are you wasting your time on Nate, then? It’s not like you care about him.”

“Wh…are you fucking kidding me right now?” Kalani’s tone is incredulous, but strong. “Not that it’s any of your damn business, Olivia, but I love Nate.”

 

“Oh fuck,” Nate groans, dropping back against the door.

I pull my ear closer to the screen, hearing Liv’s gasp in the recording.

 

“Yeah, I know. Just figured it out myself, but it’s true. I love the shit outta him. It’s you,” Lolli shouts, the sound muffling in the weak speakers of my phone, “who doesn’t care about him.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Uh…because it’s the truth!”

“Okay, Lolli. So, what do you think this is all about?”

 

Silence again, then…

 

“What are you doing right now?”

 

My brows pull in at Kalani’s inquisitive tone.

 

“Wha…what do you mean?”

“You. These questions. I don’t know what you’re shooting for here, but know I’m not an idiot, Liv.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

My eyes fill with tears. “What did you do, Liv?” I whisper, seeing Nate’s head swing my direction in my peripheral vision, but my gaze stays on my screen.

 

“I’ll play along…” Kalani speaks again. “What do I think you’re after? Easy. Money, a title, and a ticket. When it comes to you, Olivia, all that matters is a shiny multi-million dollar contract.”

“You think money is everything to me?”

“Money is everything to you!”

 

Nate starts dry heaving next to me, his body trembling. With rage or fear, I haven’t a clue.

 

“I get it. You don’t like yourself much; maybe your home life is shitty, so you do your damndest to make everyone around you miserable, just to feel better about yourself. Well, I’m not like you. I don’t need to tear someone down or take advantage of people to feel good. I have Nate. And, to a girl who is used to having nothing but money in the bank, he’s more than enough for me.”

“For now. What about when school’s over and he’s off to college? He could get injured or decide he doesn’t want to play football, what then?”

“Are you not hearing me? I don’t care about that shit! Football or not. I want him. That’s it. Where he wants to go, what he wants to do, how long he wants to do it…I don’t care! I just need him. And, as much as it ruffles your fake little feathers, I have him. Me. So back. The fuck. Off.”

The recording ends.

We’re frozen, staring at the blank screen in silence, for what feels like an eternity.

Nate claws at his chest, his face constricted with pain, sagging against his seat.

And me? I’m a sick bitch, because my heart feels lighter than it has in weeks.

She loves him.

Kalani is in love with him.

This means she didn’t, she wouldn’t have-

Wait.

I hop out of the car and he follows.

“Mia?”

My brows pinch in the center. “Lolli…she said you were fucking Olivia that night.” Slowly, I turn to face him. “Why would she think that, Nate?”

Nate looks at me, his head shaking in confusion. Then, an instant later, his face falls, paling. “Oh, fuck.”

No…

“She saw you two, didn’t she?”

Nate groans, pulling on the ends of his hair.

“That means…”

Oh God.

“We have to go!” He rushes to his door, his hand freezing on the handle when he sees I haven’t moved.

I bend at the waist, one arm shooting out to hold myself up against the bumper.

“I have to get to her. Now.” He rushes to me, ushering me to the door, but I don’t budge. “Mia, this has been fucking killing me. Killing me.” He pushes on his chest. “Thinking she didn’t want this. Didn’t want me.”

He’s pleading, and while I should feel for him, my own issues, insecurities, and anger rear their ugly heads.

He’s vulnerable and crushed, but I’m bitter and lost.

“So,” I squint. “Olivia tells you some lies and you jump into bed with her?”

His brows jump. “I-”

“Save it, Nate. You’re just as much to blame as she is, for her leaving.” I cut him off, my voice growing louder. “You could have talked to her, asked her if it were true! Talked to her, like she would have if it were you!” I shove him. “If you would have trusted in her, she never would have seen you with Liv! She never would have needed anyone to comfort her!” I cry. “She never would have-”

I clamp my mouth shut tight, my eyes widening, but it’s too late. He caught it and a deserved, condescending laugh leaves him as he shuffles back.

“Wow, Mia.” He shakes his head at me, his dark eyes pinched, disgusted. “I thought maybe you were hurting because she was, or upset with her because she took off and left you. And you’re questioning me about not asking her, not believing in her?” He scoffs, opening his door. “You’re as bad as I am.”

“Where are you going?”

He stops and looks at me with narrowed eyes, but they quickly turn defeated. “To find out where she is. I’m gonna go to her, and beg her to forgive me; to keep me.”

My jaw begins to tremble as tears threaten to fill my eyes. “How are you going to find her?”

“By starting in the right place. The only place that makes sense.”

My pulse starts pounding against my ribs. Already knowing the answer, I ask anyway, “And that would be?”

He gazes at me for a moment. “I’m gonna ask the one person who, as much as it kills me to say, I know would never turn his back on her, not like you and I did.”

My breath is stolen from my lungs, and I’m left frozen in place, feeling more conflicted than before.

Nate’s words ring true... he’d never give up on her.