I keep stealing glances at Jack as Renee brags about her relationship with Jess. She hasn’t stopped talking about how long they’ve been together and how madly in love they are. It takes everything in me not to reach across the table and choke her out.

“Sooo,” she mutters, drawing out the word. “Jack wasn’t upset about the baby?”

I forgot Renee knew.

“He was sad, but he understands why I couldn’t tell him.”

“It’s a shame, really. He should’ve come after you. I mean, if I would’ve moved away, Jess would’ve been knocking down my door to get to me.” She smirks.

“Renee.” I place my drink down on the table and try to remain calm. “Let’s not rewrite history. We both know what really happened.”

She looks confused by my statement as her eyebrows draw inward. “I don’t know what you mean. You left, and Jack moved on to everyone.”

“Really?” I cross my arms in front of me and feel every muscle in my body tense. “That’s how you’re going to play this?”

Her head jerks back, and her eyes grow wide. “Play what?”

Heat crawls up my neck, and my blood starts to boil inside my veins. The calm I had been trying to maintain is slipping as Renee tries to play stupid.

I narrow my eyes, practically shooting daggers at her. “I asked you to find out what happened with Jack and why he hadn’t written me, Renee. Remember that? I thought you were my friend.” My voice pitches higher than I intended, but she is really starting to piss me off now with this act.

She rubs her finger across her bottom lip, slowly dragging it back and forth as she stares at me without speaking.

“What’s wrong, Renee? Cat got your tongue?”

“Jack had moved on already, Evie. What was I supposed to do? Force him to write you a letter? Please.” She rolls her eyes.

“He already moved on?” My fingers are digging into the tabletop so hard that the joints on my fingers are turning white.

“Yeah.” She nods with an icy stare. “He didn’t seem to want you anymore.”

“You’re a liar.” A small growl escapes the back of my throat, and I feel myself slipping. The anger I’ve had building for six years is about to be unleashed, and Renee is about to be on the receiving end of my wrath.

“You never deserved him anyway, Evie. You were always too plain for him. He deserved someone better than you. He figured that out soon enough once you were gone,” she sneers.

Her words are like a blow to my chest. I always wondered if she had a crush on Jack, but when she fell head over heels in love with Jess, I figured she’d resigned herself to the fact that Jack was mine. Wrong.

Without a second thought and almost subconsciously, I rise to my feet, cock my arm backward, and slap Renee straight across the face with all my might. The sound of the contact echoes in my ears before my hand starts to sting. Her head snaps to the side, and her hand instantly clutches the left side of her face.

There’s the sound of three chairs scraping against the hardwood floor before Jack’s arms are around me, pulling me back as Renee stands up and starts coming toward me.

Jack’s chest vibrates against my back as he growls like a bear. “Better leash your woman, Jess.”

“She’s not a dog,” Jess says, lifting his hands in the air, trying not to intervene.

Jack pushes me behind him and steps in between Renee and me, becoming a human shield. “Better think twice before you come at her, Renee.”

“She hit me first, you motherfucker.”

“You deserved that and more,” Jack tells her, leaning forward and getting in her face.

I peek around him, shaking out my hand that’s aching like a flaming bastard, but I don’t regret hitting her. I worried that Jack would strike first, but in the end, I went after Renee for fucking up my life just as much as my father did.

She isn’t anything but a low-life bitch.

“Hey now,” Jess says, stepping in front of Renee and standing toe-to-toe with Jack. “Don’t talk to my woman like that.”

Fuck. This isn’t what I wanted.

“Your woman has tried to get in my pants more times than I can count, Jess. Just ask Jason—she’s tried with him too. Hell, let’s ask the rest of the bar. I’m sure we can find more.”

Jason nods, backing Jack up. “Yeah, man. It’s embarrassing. I feel sorry for you. Your woman goes after anything with a dick.”

“Fucking liars,” Renee says from behind Jess, her hands tightly gripping the sides of his uniform.

“You callin’ my girl a whore?” Jess leans in, invading Jack’s personal space.

His body is tense under my touch, and I know what’s coming before it happens. Jack isn’t going to back down until he’s able to get in at least one punch. One which will probably knock Jess totally on his ass.

“She’s always been a piece of trash. You may be down with your woman sucking off other guys, but that’s called being a whore in my book,” Jack spits at him as Jason stands next to him.

I cringe because, like it or not, someone’s getting a punch to the face. Jess tries to strike first, coming at Jack, but he ducks. Jason pulls me to the side, away from Jack’s body, narrowly avoiding getting clocked by Jess’s missed punch.

Jack rights his body and swings from the knees, moving his fist upward and connecting with the underside of Jess’s jaw. Jess’s head snaps backward so hard that I wonder if Jack broke Jess’s neck from the impact.

Jess staggers backward, trying to find something to hold on to, when his hand misses a chair near his side, and he tumbles to the floor. Renee rushes to his side, crying over him and cradling him as if Jack’s killed him.

“You okay, baby?” she whines, inspecting his face. “You’re a monster. I’ll have you arrested for assault.” She turns her glare on Jack. “Both of you deserve to be charged.”

“Go fuck yourself, Renee,” Jason says, speaking on our behalf. “You two do anything, and I’ll tell everyone in town about what happened last year on the Fourth of July.” He folds his arms over his chest with a cocky grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“You wouldn’t,” she seethes.

I make a mental note to find out what dirty secret Jason has on Renee and Jess. It’s always good to have that information in my back pocket for future use. Knowing Jason as well as I do, I’m sure he’ll have no problem telling us either.

“Try me. You come anywhere near these two, and I’ll print that shit on the front page of the town newspaper.”

“I always knew you were an asshole, Jason.”

“Takes one to know one, bitch.” He laughs.

A crowd has formed around us, waiting to see what happens and if any more punches will be thrown. I’m sure everything’s been caught on video, but thankfully, Jess threw the first punch, and Jack looked like he was acting in self-defense.

Jess starts to wake, and Renee helps him to his feet. “Come on, baby. I’m going to take you home.”

“Let me at him,” Jess says, his words slurred and his eyes unfocused as his body sways. He can’t even walk straight.

Renee hooks his arm around his back and uses her body weight to keep him upright. “They’re not worth it.”

“What?” Jess questions as she ushers him to the door.

I can barely hear them speak even though the room is quiet, and the music stopped somewhere between Jess’s missed punch and Jack’s knockout. “Fourth of July,” she hisses to him.

He glances over at her, his head angled back a little as if he didn’t hear her right, but I don’t hear his response as they walk out the door.

“What happened on the Fourth of July?” Jack asks, pulling me back to his side and tucking me under his arm.

Jason laughs, holding his stomach. “You don’t want to know.”

“Like fuck, I don’t,” Jack tells Jason. “Let’s hear it.”

Jason picks up the chairs that have been knocked over and motions for the waitress. Within seconds, the music’s playing again, and there’s a woman making goo-goo eyes at Jason and standing at our table.

The waitress leans over extra far in front of him and gives him a good look at her tits. Jason’s eyes twinkle, and the corner of his mouth tips up into a wicked grin. “Whatcha doin’ later, sweetheart?”

“Anything you want, handsome,” she flirts.

The woman is still bent over, and he runs his index finger down the seam of her breasts. “I plan to be doin’ you.”

“I get off at two,” she says before licking her top lip slowly and teasingly dragging her tongue across the bottom one.

“I plan to get off by three.” He winks at us, and I shake my head. He’s a terrible flirt.

After he smacks her on the ass, sending her away, he finally says, “That’s Tracy…”

“Yep. Saw her name tag,” Jack says.

“She’s my girlfriend, you know. She’s a hot piece of ass,” he says, raising his glass to me. Tracy is a gorgeous woman. Good for Jason. It’s nice to see he still has his charm.

“Some things never change.” Jack shakes his head with a chuckle, smiling at his friend.

“What?” He gives Jack a shocked face, but he doesn’t know exactly what he’s talking about.

“Nothing, man.”

Jason always had girls falling all over him. Usually, he never even had time to memorize her name before he moved on to the next. The man had a little black book that rivaled the biggest phone books in the county. He was the male slut at Ridge Hollow High and wore that honor like a badge he earned in Boy Scouts.

Renee had written to me and told me that Jack was quickly catching up with Jason in my absence. I remember being crushed when I read her letter. The thought of Jack being with anyone else and moving on so quickly had devastated me.

But knowing what I know now, I wonder if her words were even true. It shouldn’t matter. Jack thought I had left him and turned my back on him. He was doing what the letter my father wrote to him had told him to…move on without me. That’s what Jack thought I wanted him to do even though it couldn’t have been further from the truth. I can’t hold the past against him. We are moving forward and working on the future we deserve.