Facing West (Forever Wilde 1)

I shot him a grateful smile and stood up to make my way to the wheel after Reeve pulled back on the throttle.

And that’s when two things happened at once.

My sister decided to take my turn at the wheel and pushed me back toward my seat. At the same time, Reeve watched me stand before shoving the throttle forward and whipping the wheel hard to port. The giant boat seemed to rotate on its axis out from under me, and I was in the air before I had a chance to grab ahold on something.

Not only was I thrown overboard by combination of the moves, but I also banged my side hard enough on the edge of the boat to knock the breath out of me and crack a rib. When I hit the water, my surprise incapacitated me for a moment, and I began to sink fast. It was only through the quick-acting people on shore and on the docks that I was recovered.

After it happened, not one of the Billinghams came to visit, apologize, or even just call to check on me while I recovered from the injury. The only thing I ever heard them say about it was when the sheriff asked my mom why I hadn’t been smart enough to wait for the boat to stop before standing up.

As I lay in Adriana’s bed remembering the humiliating event, I forgot about West for a little while. I allowed myself to slip into a familiar self-pity that disgusted me. After pulling my knees up to my chest, I moved the pillow from under my head to over it. Maybe blocking out the world for a little while would help me calm down.

One side of the bed sagged as I felt West climb in next to me. My teeth ground together as I tried to think of what to say when he asked me again about my reasons for leaving.

But he didn’t say a word—just slid in behind me and wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me in close to his front.

“I won’t say anything,” he said in a quiet voice. “Just let me hold you.”

I removed the pillow from above my head and slid my arm over his, linking our fingers and squeezing to let him know he was welcome company.

We didn’t speak after that for a long time, but I no longer felt alone. And that was all I’d really needed.

Chapter 20

West

When Nico had escaped to the bedroom, I’d had to have a serious conversation with myself about boundaries. It was none of my business what Nico’s reasons for leaving Hobie were. It was more that I was curious because of what his actions had set in motion for Adriana.

After Nico had left, the sheriff had married their mom and Adriana had thought her life was just beginning. But before she’d had a chance to go on and do great things with her life, the accident had happened and she’d been left alone. With nothing but two useless stepbrothers.

Nico’s mom had been at the wheel on the way home from a party at a friend’s house when they’d hit a tree. Both she and the sheriff had been killed in the accident, and alcohol had been found in both of their systems.

Once Adriana’s mom was gone, the Billingham boys were all she had left.

And they were shit—incompetent and unwilling to take responsibility for helping support Adriana. Thanks to the fluke of being paired with my sister MJ on a school project senior year, Adriana had begun spending time at our place after school. Long after the project was completed, she’d continued hanging out at our house, and if my parents had noticed, they hadn’t cared.

Both the sheriff’s boys had enlisted in the military. Adriana had been forced to find her own way without any help. Once the boys were gone, she was left with no one. Even my sister MJ had gone off to college and then law school.

By the time I returned to Hobie for good after becoming a doctor, Adriana had turned a part-time job at a coffee cart in the local grocery store into a side business of baking pastries, cakes, and specialty desserts for people all over town. At one point, a tropical storm had come through town and flooded her mom’s old trailer, so she took the insurance money and put it toward the construction of her little cottage. After it was finished, she finally had a decent kitchen with a commercial oven and a huge table to spread out on. I’d thought she had everything she’d wanted. Her life finally her own.

Little did I know, she’d been lonely as all hell. Lonely for family—for Nico.

I remember wondering at one point what had happened to him, where he’d gone at so young an age. It turned out, he’d gone to San Francisco and built a life for himself on his own. How in the world had he managed it? Nico was way more complex and capable than I’d originally given him credit for.