She chose to get out.
But here’s the real kicker. August never knew. My grandmother called William, August’s father, to fill him in on the scandal. Instead of confronting August with the information, he opted for bribing my mom with a nice stack of cash if she left town. William told her that it was what August wanted, and since she was pregnant and on the verge of homelessness, she accepted his offer. Then came my dad, whose identity is still a mystery to me. Honestly, I haven’t had the desire or the energy to ask her about it. I have enough drama in my life as it is, and you can’t really miss someone you don’t know.
My mom was never close with her parents after that, but eventually, they were able to be civil for our sake. That is, until my mom ran into August the first time we ever came to visit Sawyer Point. He took one look at Grey and knew he was his. Cue another fight between both my mom and grandmother and August and William once they put the pieces together. From what my mom says, August wanted an opportunity to get to know Grey. My mom wasn’t ready to tell him, and August wasn’t quite ready to claim him. So, they got engaged, and he supported us financially, sent Grey to a good college, and the rest was history.
Her phone call with August makes sense now. He wasn’t tattling on me for underage drinking. He was warning her because he was afraid that I was hooking up with one of his sons without knowing that Grey was also his son.
There are still so many unanswered questions. What happened to Danny? Who was targeting me and why? The ‘pranks’, if you can call them that, have stopped, but it still weighs heavy on my mind. Is my dad going to pop up out of the woodwork next?
But the biggest thing that plagues my thoughts?
Thayer. Always Thayer. If it wasn’t clear that the universe didn’t want us together before, it sure as hell is now. We’ve gone through more loss and deception and trauma than most people do in their entire lives, and I haven’t even graduated high school.
I’m stabbing a fork at my uneaten salad, lost in thought, when Valen kicks my ankle under the table.
“Ow.” I frown at her, and she jerks her chin, motioning toward the cafeteria doors. I look over to see Thayer stalking toward our table with a scowl on his face. A hush falls over the cafeteria as he makes his way toward us, his eyes burning through me like a laser beam.
“Oh, shit,” Holden says.
He comes to a stop in front of me, and my heart pounds, not knowing what to expect.
“Can we talk?”
I shake my head, steeling my voice. “Not here.”
“You won’t answer my calls. You don’t answer your door. You’re not leaving me much of a choice.”
I glance around, not wanting to make a scene. Everyone’s watching us with rapt attention, and Thayer doesn’t seem to care. If they didn’t believe the rumors before, they do now.
“I don’t give a fuck about any of these people,” he says, reading my thoughts. “I have no problem airing my shit out right here in front of everyone.”
That spurs me into action. Standing from the table, I tug on his wrist, pulling him through the lunchroom and into the lobby that
connects the gym to the cafeteria. I cross my arms, waiting for him to say something. Thayer reaches a hand out to touch me, but I take a step back, putting some much-needed distance between us. His eyebrows draw together, hurt by the move.
“I can’t do this.” It hurts. It physically hurts to be this close to him.
“Stay with me. Fuck our families. Fuck everyone else. Stay with me. Be with me.”
I shake my head as tears prick the backs of my eyes. “How can you ask me to stay when all you ever do is leave? All anyone ever does is leave me. You. Grey. My mom. Hell, my own dad left before he even knew me.” I sound like a crazy person. I feel a tear roll down my cheek and I swipe it away with the heel of my hand. “What is wrong with me? Because clearly, I’m the common denominator here.”
“Nothing is wrong with you,” he says vehemently, bringing his hands to cup my face, his thumbs rubbing my cheeks. “I wasn’t leaving you, Shayne.”
I pull away from his grasp. “You were, though. You found out about Grey and you shut down. You told me to leave without an explanation.” I swallow past the lump in my throat, trying to get through my next words without crying. “And now we know it wasn’t him and you’re here, thinking that changes things, but it doesn’t.”
“I heard that recording, and all I could do was worry about how I was going to break it to you. I stood there, watching you sleep, and I chose you. I chose you over my own brother. Because I’m supposed to be with you, Shayne, and we both fucking know it. And yeah,” he says, shoving a hand through his hair, “I had a guilt-ridden drunken breakdown, but that wasn’t me leaving you. That was me coming to terms with the fact that I had to let go of Danny to move forward with you. That’s why I came to your house. Before I knew Grey was innocent.”
My tears come hard and fast. He’s saying all the right things, and I want so badly to believe him. “There’s just too much shit between us. You’re Grey’s half-brother for fuck’s sake—”
“And? How is that any different than when I was your stepbrother? Our parents aren’t even together. This changes nothing.”
“I feel like all I do is fight for us. And I’m just…tired, Thayer.”
“Then I’ll be the one to fight. Because I’m not letting you go.”
“Well, I am.”
I watch the way his throat bobs when he swallows, his jaw clenched tight.