Page 23 of Sunshine

“Oh.” I’m not sure what to make of that. I don’t want to be a brat, but I’m annoyed that Jason can’t drive me home himself. That he didn’t think of me before getting to this state. “Thank you,” I mutter. Wells gives me a shrug and steps back behind Jason.

The game lasts for another twenty minutes after a standoff when both sides are down to only one cup. More and more people have crowded around the table to see the end of the game. But the more I stand here, the more upset that I feel.

Jason barely looks at me, hardly acknowledging that I’m next to him. He’s so wrapped up in the competition and, honestly, I’m surprised he’s even holding it together because I can see how glassy his eyes are. How he stumbles over his own feet when he attempts to throw.

Finally, a guy on the other team sinks the ball into the lastcup. And before Jason can reach for it, Wells scoops it up and pushes it into Matt’s chest. “You drink this, Matty. Jay’s coming with me.”

Jason gives Wells a confused look as Wells herds him toward the door, keeping a firm grip around his arms in what I’m sure is an effort to hold him upright. “What the hell, Wells? Party’s just getting started!”

“Not for you. We’re going home.”

I follow behind Wells as he continues to push Jason toward the door. He tries to twist away, but Wells shoves him harder, finally getting him out into the humid night air. “What the fuck, Wells?” Jason yells as he scampers across the lawn, trying to find his balance. “We don’t have to leave, we can just crash on the couch. What’s the big deal?”

Wells walks away from him, shaking his head at the sky with an expression that conveys absolutely no joy. But then he stops abruptly and charges toward his best friend. “The big deal, you fucking moron, is you have a girl with you tonight. Or did you forget about Layla? You think her parents will be cool if she justdoesn’tmake it home?”

I suck in my teeth at his frustration. Jason looks at where I’m standing on the front porch and his face twists in shame. “Aw, shit, Layla. I’m sorry.”

I stare at him for a long minute before I push out a breath. “It’s fine.” And then I walk across the yard, past Jason and Wells who both watch me, and head for the Mustang. I hear the locks click when I get close, and I pull open the passenger door and climb in, slamming it shut behind me.

They argue for another minute, then Jason sprawls out in the back and Wells is in the driver’s seat, giving me a long look as he adjusts the steering wheel and starts the car.

The ride to my house is silent, the only words spoken are a few directions to help navigate. At some point, Jason falls asleep, and when Wells finally pulls up along my curb, he doesn’t wake.

Wells shifts the car into park and looks at me again before he speaks. “I’m sorry about him,” he says, assessing me. His eyes move across my face with a determination that makes me feel exposed, and I don’t like it.

“Don’t stick up for him. He can face it himself.”

He huffs out a laugh, and I’m struck by the lines that form around his eyes as he does, etching into tan skin. He shakes his head. “Don’t be too hard on him, sunshine. We aren’t used to having a girl like you around.”

My brows scrunch together. “A girl like me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

He stares at me for another long moment before he sighs. “Nothing. I’ll wait until you get inside.”

I want to press him further, but I’m also starting to sense something dangerous about Wells, and I’ve had enough go wrong tonight. “Thanks for getting me home,” is what I settle on.

He nods, and I go through the motions of slipping out of the car and inside my house, knowing it’s well past my curfew. But before I tiptoe up the stairs, I sneak a quick look out the front window and watch Wells drive away.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NOW

My eyes snap open as my body tenses. All I can hear is the pounding of my pulse in my ears as I work to figure out what pulled me out of sleep. It takes me far too many breaths to remember where I am and what happened last night.

To remember what my life has turned into.

But when it all comes rearing back to the surface, it breaks me apart all over again, crushing against my bones and blood until my insides are a jumbled mess. Like the destruction after the meanest hurricane. The numb haze I’ve carried for days has finally given in against the current of my torment, and I have to stifle a shuddering breath from the impact.

As I force slow and deep breaths into my lungs as Wells instructed last night, I look around the bedroom I’m in. The king-sized bed takes up a majority of the space, and the walls are a chestnut wood-paneling with black-and-white photos of horses scattered about. There’s a dark dresser with gold knobsagainst the wall to my left, a beautifully carved mirror attached to it.

I sit up, finding my reflection. Despite having just woken up from one of the deepest sleeps I can remember, I look like shit. My eyes are still bruised from exhaustion, and my hair is a tangled mess of curls and knots. I try not to get too caught up in the fact that I’m burrowed in Wells’s bed—the last place in the world Ieverthought I’d be. I can’t help the panic that claws at me. Old, familiar pangs of anxiety rise through my limbs, and I just want to disappear until I’m a weightless, empty thing of the shadows.

A door opens on the other side of the wall, and I hear Wells’s quiet voice. “What?” He sounds tired.

I realize I must have woken up from a knock at the door, and the panic inside of me sinks its claws deeper.

“Just wanted to check in on you,” another voice says with a steady and hopeful tone. It’s Kasey, and in an instant I’m tearing myself out of the bed. “I don’t know what the hell happened last night, but it didn’t look good and you left real damn fast.”

“Yeah . . . it’s complicated.”

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