Inseverable: A Carolina Beach Novel (12 page)

His grin lights up the space between us despite the encroaching night, and almost as much as the short blond curls on top of his head. “Do me a favor, will you?”

I tilt my head. “Sure. What?”

“Don’t ever change, sweet thing.”

He flings his arm around me long enough to kiss the top of my head. He’s trying to be kind, but the brotherly love he shows me pangs at my heart. “What am I going to do without you, Hale?” I ask.

He shrugs, laughing. “Probably save the world like you’ve always planned.”

I smile like he intends, thanking him when he opens the door for me. We’re greeted by Santana on the jukebox and the escalating voices of our friends. I’m not expecting Callahan to be here.

Just like I’m not expecting to find him alone with Becca.

I ground to a halt when I see her beaming up at him, and him leaning across the bar to speak to her softly. Both look in my direction when they realize I’m standing there, Becca’s smile fading as she takes in my face.

No, that doesn’t trigger a bad memory or anything—or cause my heart to fall to the pit of my stomach. Nope. Not at all.

I keep pace with Hale as he heads in, catching enough in his expression to know he’s not happy either.

“Hey, Trin,” Callahan calls quietly.

Maybe it’s the day, or the mere inches that separate him and Becca, or Hunter’s recent text―whatever it is keeps me walking to the rear deck without a word. And while Becca has saved me a spot next to her like she always does, I follow Hale and sit between him and Mason.

I feel Hale’s attention on me, and while he seems bothered, mercifully he doesn’t say anything. I clasp my hand over my eyes, trying to shake every negative emotion digging its way through my skin. Not that it works. Right then and there, it’s all I can do not to run out of here.

A few minutes later Becca—gorgeous, leggy, blonde Becca— returns with four pitchers gripped tight in her hands and plastic cups tucked beneath her arm. She sets everything out and makes a bee-line to me, crouching between me and Hale.

“Now, how are we going to go beer for beer, if you’re not sitting beside me?” she asks.

I try to smile and say something polite, because I don’t want to believe that she can hurt me like Blakeney did—and I don’t want to upset her because I’m upset or accuse her of something she hasn’t done. But I can’t even speak. I was blind once, and more than a little naive. Am I still that same foolish girl I’ve been too many times?

Sadness creeps up on Becca’s stunning features when I don’t answer, dulling them in a way I can’t stand, but can’t help then. She strokes my hair away from my face. “Trin, you know I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

My eyes prickle with impending tears. Blakeney had once said something similar. Sisters before misters, right? Yeah, not so much.

“Who wants a shot? Trin’s buying,” Becca yells. She straightens to her full height, a right proud grin spreading along her face when everyone cheers. “Go on,” she says. “Don’t want to keep these fine people waiting.”

When I don’t move right away, she bends and whispers, “Besides, Callahan misses you. He called me to the bar and asked me where you were the minute he saw me. No, hi. No, how you doing? Nope. Just ‘where’s, Trin?’ in that Green Bumble Bee voice of his.”

I think she meant Batman, but thought Green Hornet, and became all sorts of confused. I laugh without meaning to and stand, pulling her into my arms.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

She hugs me tightly. “You know I love you. No matter what.”

“Love you, too, Becks,” I tell her.

She kisses my cheek and pats my ass as I walk off since that’s the kind of friend she is. A real one. I start to feel better, especially when Callahan glances up and the corners of his mouth curve in that “almost smile” of his.

It’s probably why I don’t notice Hunter right away, or Blakeney, even though they stop directly in front of me.

Their sudden presence strikes me across the face like a slap. They exchange glances, but it’s Hunter who’s the first to speak. “Hey, Trin,” he says. “We were hoping to find you here. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Buy me a drink?” I repeat, unable to get past the fact that he’s actually standing in front of me after all this time.

Never once did Hunter try to reach out to me—not to apologize, not to check in to see if I was okay, not even so much as to wish me well. Until he texted me today, it’s like I’d stopped existing to him—like I’d somehow wronged him
and
her—and I wasn’t worth wasting any more time on.

We never broke up. We never had it out. We simply stopped being a part of each other’s lives. I was certain he’d call—after the two years I gave him, he owed me as much. And I certainly wasn’t calling him.

But he never did, and neither did Blakeney. Not when I needed them to.

Blakeney offers me an apologetic smile that may appear genuine to some, but certainly not to me. “We were hoping we could talk to you,” she says.

She’s is in a short white skirt that shows off her legs and a coral tank that highlights her white blonde hair and dazzling teeth. Hunter is in his signature Polo shirt and cargo shorts. If I were to take an objective step back, I’d peg them among the most striking and elite of the privileged youths who frolic along the Carolina shores in the summer, and ski down the Swiss Alps in winter. But right then and there, I can’t be objective. Nor can I get past the shock and sting their presence evokes.

And apparently, I’m not alone.

Becca is suddenly there, and so is everyone else. “What in the
hell
?” she snaps.

Both Hunter and Blakeney right their stances, but hold their ground. Hunter’s eyes cut to my boys. “Hey,” he tells them.

“Hey?” Hale answers back, laughing. “You talking to me?”

“That’s right,” Hunter replies.

“In that case,
fuck you
,” Hale says, no longer smiling.

“You have a lot of nerve being here,” Mason says, the muscles along his hefty shoulders tensing.

Sean steps forward, hovering over Hunter as he offers to kick his ass.

Blakeney trains her tightening stare to my right where Becca is leaning close. It’s Becca’s way of letting me know she has my back, and that she’s seconds from clawing Blakeney’s eyes out.

“We’re here to talk to Trin,
alone
,” Blakeney tells her.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough
alone
with this limp dick―Oh, wait, it’s not so limp is it? Giving how you straddled it more than once when your best
friend
wasn’t around.”

Blakeney’s stare sharpens with rage, but when she returns her attention to me, her voice is soft. “Please, Trin. Just give us a moment.
Please
,” she says.

I take a small breath, knowing this moment has been coming for far too long.

“Okay,” I mutter at the same time Becca insists I don’t owe her a damn thing, and may or may not have called her a whore.

I take Becca’s hand and squeeze it. “I’m all right,” I assure her, even though we both know it’s a lie. “I’ll just be a moment.”

My friends don’t seem happy. Not that I blame them. We always swore we’d protect each other from harm, and we always have as much as we could. Just last summer, someone had to rip me off Becca’s boyfriend when I found out what he did to her. And if Hale, Mason, and Sean had found out what happened, I doubt that piece of trash would still be alive.

For a long time no one moves, but then Hale clears his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “All right, Trin. If that’s what you want. Come on y’all. We’re here if she needs us.”

As my friends edge back, warm fingertips trail down either side of my arms. I crane my neck, unsure who’s touching me.

Callahan stands directly behind me. He was with me this whole time, and I didn’t even know it.

He glides his hands down, stopping above my elbows, keeping his voice low as he stares Hunter down. “You sure you’re all right?” he asks. I nod because that’s all I can really do then. “I’ll stay close,” he promises.

He’s not only trying to reassure me, that rumble in his voice is directed at Hunter as a warning. Hunter keeps his attention trained on Callahan as Callahan returns to the bar. Blakeney’s focus is on Callahan, too, except she’s eyeing him in a whole different way than Hunter.

Really?
Really
?

She catches me watching her, and offers me a smile which I’ve seen a thousand times, and which I now recognize as phony. Keeping her smile, she motions to the small empty booth behind her. “Shall we?”

“After you,” I say.

She slides into the booth that will keep her back to the glaring group also known as her former friends. For as tough as she always acted, she can’t handle their scrutiny. At least not now. I slip into the opposite side, staying close to the edge so Hunter knows he’s not welcome to sit beside me. The last thing I need is to be boxed in by these two. As it is, despite the open walls, I feel the room closing in around me.

Blakeney smiles. “You look good, real good, Trin.”

“Yes, you do,” Hunter agrees, nodding approvingly.

He takes me in, letting his stare linger as it passes along my body. To be honest, I don’t care if he likes the way I look or not. But Blakeney does, her lips pressing tight the longer he examines my features. A year ago, I may not have noticed her reaction. But knowing what I know now, I’m more aware of subtle changes in her expression and posture.

If I wasn’t so blinded by what I believed was love, and true friendship, maybe I would have suspected something sooner. Maybe. Like I said, I notice a lot more now.

For starters, unlike me and Becca, Blakeney always strove to be the center of attention. She laughed at all the right moments, moved her hips as she walked just so, and knew what it took to snag a long glance her way. Me and Becks, we just did our thing. And come to think of it, that seemed to work out fine. Or so I thought.

   “My momma was telling me you did a half marathon in the spring,” Hunter says. “I bet you had to train real hard―”

“What do you want?” I say, causing Hunter to straighten. While he doesn’t scowl, my no nonsense tone does catch him off guard.

I fold my hands in front of me, waiting for them to tell me they’re engaged or even married. It wouldn’t surprise me. They make the perfect couple after all.

“We’re here to apologize, Trin,” Blakeney begins. “About everything.”

My spine stiffens. Okay, wasn’t expecting that one.

Hunter starts to say something, but Blakeney’s clasp to his arm quiets him. She notices my stare shift to where she’s holding him and pulls her hand away. She probably thinks it bothers me to see her touch him. Yet it doesn’t. Unlike the day I walked in on them.

As I sit here now, watching them, the hurt I felt that day fills me once more. These were two people I trusted with my love—two people I’d given my life for. That heart I wear on my sleeve didn’t appear overnight. They knew as much, and didn’t think twice about slapping it out of my hands.

Despite how close we were, Hunter and I didn’t see much of each other when we returned to college our senior year. I was struggling to complete my undergrad requirements at Princeton, and he was finishing up his degree at NYU. He was supposed to pick me up on his way home to Kiawah for Christmas. But having missed him so bad, I couldn’t wait to see him, and took the train to surprise him the morning after my last final.

I used the key he’d given me and very quietly snuck into his apartment, and into his room. Blond hair poked out from the top of the thick comforter I’d bought him as a gift. I thought it was him, until I pounced and someone else startled beneath me.

Blakeney—the same girl who I’d shared countless memories with—the same girl who was texting me pictures of bridesmaid dresses to wear at my wedding!—was in bed with the man I’d planned on marrying.

“We’re going to make beautiful babies together,” Hunter had told me just the week prior. “All you have to do is say yes, and come graduation, we’ll have the biggest wedding Kiawah Island’s ever seen.”

It’s what he promised. But he never meant it. Not when my friend was staring back at me with those wide pretty eyes that used to sparkle every time she saw me.

I couldn’t move or sense anything around me. Because this wasn’t supposed to happen. These two people I loved with all my heart couldn’t do this to me. But as Blakeney gathered the covers around her bare breasts, and pushed away the messy strands of her bed-tousled hair from her perfect face, I knew how wrong I was.

I crawled away and stumbled onto the floor, her stare glued on mine as she frantically shook Hunter’s shoulder.

He rolled onto his back. “What, babe?—Oh,
shit
,” he said, sitting up with a jolt.

I broke down, barely able to think straight. But I managed to ask what I needed to know. “How long has this been going on?”

Neither spoke. Hunter simply watched me, not bothering to explain or even apologize. By then, Blakeney was crying, too. She stayed in the bed, making no attempt to stand, or reach for me, or, or―

“
Trin
,” she simply said, half a second before I bolted from the apartment.

“Trin?” Hunter says. His voice is soft, but bringing me back to the moment in one forcible pull. “Say something, will you? It’s been too long, pretty girl.”

“Pretty girl”, huh? Well, based on the way he’s taking in my face and a whole lot more, maybe he means it. Not that it matters anymore.

That familiar twinkle lightens his green eyes, making it clear he remembers more than our talks. I gave this young man everything: my affections, my attention, and handed him my virginity without much thought, convincing myself he was the one. But as I see him now, I don’t really notice his handsome face, don’t care much for those long lean muscles that bulge his arms and shoulders, and could care less about that twinkle. To be honest, he can shove that twinkle clear up his ass.

As much as I thought I loved Hunter, I know now what I felt was about as real as he had been. And he was a phony, lying snake.

“We want to do right by you, Trin,” he says. He chuckles. “Blakeney and I aren’t even together anymore. We haven’t been for a long time.”