“Fuck.” The word isn’t screamed or thrown like a stone. He breathes it—exhaling the sound like so much disappointment.
To me, Nate’s a stranger, but to him, I’m…what?
We just stare at each other, him looking heartbroken and angry, me trying to piece it all together in my head and make some sense of this. I’m engaged to Max Hallowell. I’m not the kind of girl who would get engaged to one guy when she’s been sleeping with another.
Am I?
We stand here, the passing seconds measured by the chirp of a lonely tree frog. I scan my mind for anything. A memory, a piece of information, useless trivia—I search for anything at all I can take from my brain to make sense of this illogical ache in my heart.
Finally, he shoves his hands in his pockets and looks out over the water. “I’ve gotta get out of here, Han.”
Han. He knows me. I can feel it. I know him. My heart does, if not my injured brain. “Please, tell me what happened. What did I do?” I whisper. “I don’t understand.”
He shrugs. “What’s there to understand? You’re wearing his ring.”
Then he walks away, and I’m alone and confused. And I think I have a broken heart, but I don’t know if it’s breaking for me or for him. And I don’t know who did the breaking.
WHEN I return to the party, I immediately spot Nate sitting in a chair beside Asher, his guitar in his big hands, his dark hair falling over one eye as he jots notes on a piece of paper. Something twists in my chest at the sight of him. I want to tell myself it’s regret or fear—anything but the longing I know it to be.
Maggie and Lizzy motion me over from the bar, but I shake my head and stay by the stairs. As if he senses me, Nate lifts his head and his eyes immediately lock with mine.
I might not understand the tangle of emotions in my chest, but there’s no mistaking the anger that flashes over his face when he sees me, and because I’m a coward, I can’t face it.
I run back upstairs.
“Where’s she going?” I hear Maggie ask.
“She wasn’t feeling great,” Lizzy says. “I’ll check on her.”
I’m in the hallway when I feel her behind me, her hand on my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
Everything. “Nothing. The doctor said the headaches and dizziness might give me a problem for a few days. A party probably wasn’t the best idea.”
Her expression is more worried than disappointed. “Let me take you home.”
“No. It’s a beautiful night, and I’d actually like the fresh air. And I think I’m going to swing by the club and see Max.”
“Okay,” she whispers. “Promise you’ll call me if I can help?”
I take in a long, slow breath. “Go back down there and have a good time.”
“Oh, right.” Her eyes light up. “I have a rocker to seduce.”
My stomach lurches, but I force a smile. “Right.”
I watch her go back down before I turn back to the basket of cell phones by the stairs. After shuffling through it, I pull out the few phones I don’t recognize as belonging to me or one of my sisters.
I hit the buttons to bring them to life and swipe all three screens to unlock them. One screen, no doubt Asher’s, has a picture of Maggie and Zoe as the wallpaper, one has a young woman I don’t recognize, and the other has Storm Troopers.
There’s no question in my mind that the Storm Trooper phone belongs to the man with the Hulk tattoo and the Spider-Man shirt. The idea of this hard-ass rocker being a closet geek is so adorable. I soften toward him without wanting to.
Before I can think it through, I’m swiping my fingers across the screen and pulling up Nate’s text messages. It doesn’t take long for me to find a thread with my name.
The last one I sent was the day of my accident.
Hanna: Left you a message. We need to talk when you get into town.