At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

“They weren’t making fun of you. They were calling you a nickname. It’s not a big deal.”

“No big deal to you,” I yelled back at him. “Because you have no idea what it’s like to be the person who drives the minivan. Who is made fun of for it.”

“No, I don’t,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll never know what that’s like. I shouldn’t have to feel bad that I didn’t grow up poor.”

My stomach dropped at the words. “The great Derek Ballentine. Forgive me for forgetting your eminence above the rest of us peons.”

I shook my head at his stupidity and pushed my way through the party. I couldn’t believe that the guy I’d spent the last year with could be this callous and uncaring. He might be drunk, but he was being a mean drunk. And the truth was finally coming out.

Derek and I were from different worlds. Just when I’d let myself think that we were on the same playing field, I was reminded how wrong I was. He would always be the rich legacy kid, and I’d always be the poor scholarship kid.

Still, he followed me out of the house. Oh, how history repeated itself. A year ago, he’d begged me to try this again. And now, he was ruining it all just as easily.

“Marley,” he said, stumbling drunkenly out into the freezing weather. “I don’t know why you’re so mad.”

“Then, you’re a fucking idiot. I’ve been waiting for this.” Tears welled in my eyes, and I swiped at them. “Waiting for you to hurt me like you did before. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. This is my third time, and it’s the same old shit, Derek.”

“Then that’s your own fault,” he said so casually that my heart broke.

Tears fell down my cheeks at the words. The easy way he’d said that, as if it were so obvious. Because the problem was… I’d hoped that he was different this time. I’d waited months before giving in to him because I didn’t trust that he wouldn’t break my heart. Now, he was here, shattering it into a million pieces, just like Gran’s tea set.

“You’re right,” I said with a nod. “I see you for exactly who you are now. I won’t forget it.”

30

Savannah

Present

“No fucking way they’re here.”

I stalled in the doorway of Dub’s as I zeroed in on the group of guys at the center of the bar. Of all the fucking bars in all of Savannah, it had to be the place that Chuck Henderson was holding court.

“Who?” Lila asked. Then, she saw who was sitting there and said, “Oh.”

Josie peeked around me. “Do we know them?”

“Minivan!” Chuck Henderson cried as he caught sight of me standing there.

Michael and Joseph cackled at Chuck’s lame joke. Luckily, Trask and Hooper weren’t in attendance, but his cronies were enough for Chuck’s amusement.

My cheeks flushed crimson, and my back straightened. These douche bags were not going to ruin my birthday.

“Fuck,” Derek said. He strode around me. “I’ll handle it.”

“Wait,” I said quickly as my blood pressure spiked.

The last time I’d seen Chuck around Derek, it had been a disaster. It had ruined everything we’d built. I didn’t want it to all fall apart again because of one douche.

Derek turned back to face me. It was my birthday. I’d invited him out with my friends. An unprecedented thing from our past. Everything had been going great, and yet here was what had ruined us, rearing its ugly head. He’d stop for me. I could see it on his face. That Derek would walk out of this bar and forget it if I told him to.

“What are you going to do?” I asked in a panic.

His face went perfectly still as he realized how upset I still was. His pinkie finger wrapped around mine. “Marley, let me handle it.”

History told me not to trust him in these situations. I should get the hell out of there. I shouldn’t trust Derek to defend me because he’d only ever defended himself. And yet… and yet…

Derek looked different. He’d been different the last couple months. Despite the case between us, somehow, miraculously, he’d grown up.

Finally, I nodded. “Okay.”

Derek smiled, pressed a kiss to my lips right in front of them, and then turned to address the douche bags.

“What is going on?” Josie asked.

“Remember the night that Derek and I broke up in grad school?”

Josie’s head whipped to the guys seated before her, and her eyes widened. “Ohhh.”

Lila shot me a look. “You sure you don’t want to leave? I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with Chuck Henderson.”

I shrugged. Yes, I wanted to leave. But I wanted to see what Derek would do.

“D-Man,” Chuck said with a laugh. “You and Minivan, huh?”

“Don’t call her that,” he snapped.

Chuck’s eyes narrowed, and he tipped his chair back onto two legs. He was clearly drunk. I wondered if he was ever in any other state. “Bit of a downgrade from Kasey, isn’t it? Prom queen to a minivan.”