“Noa, we have to get out of here.” I looked behind me to witness the scene that I was sure was about to unfold. Two brothers rolling around, literally fighting over me, it should be every girls dream but it was my worst nightmare. She didn't move, still engaged in conversation with her new girlfriend. “Noa, now! We have got to go now!” I tugged on her arm, trying to break her away from her intimate conversation.

She turned on me with disgruntled look, “What gives, Lila?”

I knew she was confused. Anybody would be. Anybody except Levi and Eli. I couldn't believe Levi had heard us. How could we be so stupid? It was only my first night back in Fayette and yet here I was ruining lives already.

I pleaded with her, “Noa, please. I've got to get out of here okay? Something’s happened and I just can't be here right now.”

Now there was concern to match her confusion in her eyes. “Lila, what's wrong? What happened?”

I took a deep breath, “You left me alone with Eli Jackson, that's what happened. You just don't understand.”

She turned back toward her date, “Hey we gotta bounce. I'll call you.” She laid soft kiss on her cheek and then turned and followed me out of the bar. When we finally got out the front door, I felt like the fresh air helped me feel free, like I was holding my breath the whole time. All those people bumping and grinding, possibly knowing my terrible secret, it had made me feel dirty.

I quickly got into the car but once there, Noa turned into the Inquisition. “I'm not starting the car until you tell me what the hell is going on Lila. I've never seen you look so scared in your life.”

I tried to slow down my breathing but the car felt too cramped. Unless I was directly outside, I felt like the walls were closing in. “Then I guess I have something to tell you.” I was being crushed by my own guilt.

“When my parents split up I went to see Levi. I was so angry at them, you know? I mean it was totally their fault that we had to leave Fayette, at least part of it was.”

She shook her head, “You left Fayette because your parents split up, honey. Everybody knows that, you know that right? It wasn’t some big secret.”

The only thing I could do was continue with my story. “But when I went to find Levi, I realized I wasn't ready to see him yet. I couldn't tell him the truth about my parents. So I went to Eli’s apartment at the beach. I had seen him that morning and he told me about how they were doing renovations at his apartment so I didn't think anybody would be there.” I shook my head in disgust myself. I knew what was coming next but Noa sat on the edge of her seat in suspense.

“I thought I would go there to be alone. But then Eli arrived and he comforted me. One thing led to another and…”

Noa’s mouth dropped open, “Holy shit! You slept with Eli? I can't believe you! People said that for like a year after you left but I told them they were wrong. I told them you weren’t that type of person, that you would never do that to Levi. And Levi never believed it.”

“He does now,” I said quietly.

At just that moment I saw Levi come around the corner of the building. He had his hands clenched into fists and I could tell he was fuming with anger.

“Noa, I know it was wrong of me but I can't do this right now. We've got to get out of here. Just drive please.”

She knew she shouldn't have driven, she knew that she should make me stay there and deal with the consequences of my actions, but she also knew it was girl code. Noa threw the car into reverse and ripped out of parking lot as fast as possible. We were on the highway going sixty within minutes. “This isn't over you know.”

I hung my head, “I know. Can you just take me home?”

She just nodded and we sat in silence until we reached my father's house.

She put the car in park in the driveway. “Wild night.”

I took a deep breath. “You have no idea.”

She shook her head. “What did Eli say?”

I shrugged. “Not a lot, I guess. But he kissed me. And then I slapped him.”

She looked at me astonished. “Two things about this are disturbing. One, that Eli Jackson kissed you. Two, that you actually had the balls to slap him across the face. I don't think any woman has ever put her hands on Eli. Serves him right though, for what he did to you. And I can't even imagine what Levi feels like, you were his girlfriend, but I mean that's his brother.”

“Yeah I guess. Levi and I broke up right after I moved. He tried calling all the time, wanted to keep the relationship alive. But I couldn't lie to him. It wasn’t fair and ending it seemed like the right thing to do.”

So we looked at me inquisitively, “Do you love him now?”

I shook my head. “I don't know. I love the idea of him. Not constantly being alone, he was really a great boyfriend. But there can never be anything there again. Not after what I did to him. He’ll never forgive me.”

“Can you blame him?”

I sighed. “No.” Noa’s phone went off. A dinging sound letting us know that she had received two text messages. She grabbed her phone and quickly checked it. “Clara needs me to come get her, there was a fight at the bar. The cops are shutting it down for the night.”

I chewed on my lower lip. “A fight?”

“Two guesses as to who those two idiots were.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course I start a fight. Of course they get the bar shut down. That's so them. And that's exactly the reason that I need to stay as far away from them as possible. I need to end this once and for all.”

Noa had a smug look on her face. “Good luck trying sweetheart. You and I both know, there's no escaping the Jackson brothers.”

I barely made it up the stairs and flopped on my bed when my phone started ringing.

“Accept a call from Fayette County prison?” An operator said at the other end of the line.

“The County prison?” Who the hell would be calling me from there? I'd only been back in town a day, it wasn’t like it was possible for me to have some crazy stalker already.

“Hold, please.”

Super, the computer operated machine wasn’t even going to tell me what was going on. But as soon as I heard the male voice at the other end of the line I knew.

“Lila, are you enjoying your evening?” Eli sounded as slick as always and probably a little smug.

“Eli? What the hell are you doing in jail?”

He laughed lightly, “Well funny story. See Levi didn't take too well to finding out that you and I screwed at the beach so he tried to beat me up. And of course what actually happened is I broke his nose and possibly a rib. But by the time the cops came they didn't really want to listen to any of that and just threw both of us in jail. So you’re our one phone call, which pretty much means get your ass over here and pick us up.”

“Me? You want me to come pick you up? It has nothing to do with me that you got some brawl at a bar and got caught!” A big part of me knew it was because of me that they were there but I was also reveling in the fact that Slate finally got caught being an idiot.

“Actually you and I both know that this is completely your fault and we need $250 in bail money, each. So you're going to come bail us out or we’re going to tell everyone what really happened that night.”

Awesome. So now the Jackson brothers were going to blackmail me, tarnish my good reputation and my family name. As if the divorce wasn't enough to set me apart from everyone else around here.

“Fine,” I sighed. “But it's going to take me a little bit to get over there. I don't have a car.”

He paused for a moment clearly thinking, “Well get over here as fast as you can. I don't really want my little brother to become some guy’s bitch in the slammer.”

I shook my head. “You’re such an ass.”

He laughed, “You used to like that about me. Don’t you now?” I heard a guard yell at him. “Gotta go, see you soon, babe.” He slammed the phone down on the receiver. It sent chills down my spine. I sat on the bed staring at my phone trying to figure out how to proceed. What was I going to say to Charity or to my father?

Hi, I’ve been back in town for all of twenty-four hours and the sordid crew that I hang out with, yeah they were thrown in jail tonight. So I need $500 to bail them out, and I'm going to need your car to drive them back to their house. Is that cool?

Yeah, that was going to go over like a ton of bricks with the future step monster. But I didn't really have any other option. I had to go pick them up from jail, it was the right thing to do.

I walked down the stairs quietly, pretty much everyone was asleep anyway. When Noa dropped me off I could hear music coming from Mackenzie’s room but I was pretty sure she was out. Charity had left her keys on the side table in the entryway. Maybe she wouldn't know if I just borrowed the car for the evening? I mean it was one o'clock in the morning. She really wouldn't want to be woken up from her beauty sleep. I grabbed the keys and quickly ran out the door.

When I arrived at the jail, I sat outside for a while just considering my fate. I was going to have to charge their bail money on a credit card, and be hopeful that one day they would pay me back. But I needed to say something to them too, I couldn't just let them continue to run my life. I couldn't let Eli pick up the phone again and make me come to his aid. I wasn't going to be that girl; I would break their hold on me.

I walked dutifully into the police station and told the officer behind the counter why I was there. “I'm here to pick up Eli and Levi Jackson. I have the bail money.”

He nodded and gave me a receipt after swiping my card. “You can pick them up around back. They’ll be given their belongings.”

I nodded and walked back out to the front of the building, and climbed in my stolen Jaguar. When I pulled around back the boys were standing about ten feet apart with their arms crossed. I shut the car off and exited the vehicle. The night was dark, like the clouds were trying to assist in hiding us, to keep yet another secret between the three of us.

“Looks like you two need a ride.”

Eli just smiled at me but Levi wouldn’t make eye contact. “I'm really sorry about how things went down at the bar but did you all really need to get picked up by the cops?”

Eli started to laugh. Levi shrugged his shoulders and turned away from us. “You have no idea how hard my little brother can hit now. He's been lifting a lot more since you’ve been away. Getting ready for his games and all that.”

“Shut up, Eli.” Levi said sternly. I could tell he was in no mood for jokes. But that was fine, because I had something important to say.

I put my hands on my hips to feel more confident than I actually was, “Listen, guys, we need to talk. I'm not going to be some girl for you to throw around or the conversation piece for why the two of you are angry with each other. That was a long time ago and I'm done. I'm done with both of you. I'm not back in town to start up some little tryst between the three of us, I'm here for my dad's wedding.” Eli looked like he wanted to speak but I put my hand up to stop him. “I want nothing to do with the two of you. After I drop you off tonight, do not call me again. I don't want to see your faces between now and the time I leave Fayette. And if you have a problem with that, well deal, because I'm so over this.” I turned and faced Levi, who still wasn't looking at me, “And Levi, I'm really sorry about what happened with Eli and me. I should've told you a long time ago, but I didn't and that's my fault. That is been hanging over me for years, and it probably always will.”

Levi turned to me, his face red with anger, “Hanging over you? Do you realize what you and Eli did? You are completely horrible people. You slept with my brother! What the hell were the two of you thinking?”

I had never seen Levi so angry in all the time I had known him. It was a shock to my system to be yelled at like that.

“I don't know. I mean, we weren’t thinking.”

Eli reached out to him but he pulled away, “Just take me home. Then don't worry about me bothering you. I don't want anything to do with you either.” He stomped over to the car and slammed the door after he got in. I looked at Eli with pleading eyes like maybe he could get through to him but instead he looked just as angry as his brother. “This isn't over.”

I shook my head, “Yes, Eli, it is.”

The drive back to Eli's apartment was silent. They both sat in the back not looking at each other or me. And when I went to drop Eli off Levi got out too. “I'll just walk from here.”

I knew it was a long walk, but I didn't object. I just wanted to get back to my dad’s house, crawl into bed, and pretend this night never happened.