Page 82 of Hate Wrecked

“There’s no way to know. But I want to be with you, Riley. I want this to be a real thing. No sneaking around. No one else.”

“There is no one else,” she whispered.

I stepped away. “There is someone else. And he’s right up there.” I flung my arm toward the house, toward the lights and the music.

“I hate him,” she whispered.

“You hate him right now. But what about tomorrow?”

Riley reached for me, and I let her. I let her wrap her arms around me again. “I don’t want my mess of a life to ruin you. To hurt you.”

“It won’t. Not if we’re together.” I kissed her then. Long and deep. And when she pulled me toward the lifeguard outpost between us and the shore, I let her. We were hands and mouths. Tongues tasting, clothes being pushed aside, secret places being bit and sucked.

I didn’t hear anyone approaching; I was too lost in Riley—my hand under her dress, my mouth on her neck. But I heard the words that tore us apart.

“What are you two doing down here?” Barry asked as he walked from the house, a beer in his hand. Riley shoved me away, pushing her dress down.

“Babe?” he asked, an edge to his voice.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?” Riley edged, and I hated the tremor in her voice—how she sought his approval.

“I’m sorry, did my unexpected arrival ruin your time with the bodyguard? What’s your name?” He sneered at me, the look in his eyes reminiscent of how he sometimes gazed at Riley’s mother when she wasn’t looking—when she was spoiling Asa’s fun.

“Rowan Finn,” I said, squaring my shoulders.

“Rowan Finn, do you like your job? Because last I knew, sniffing around your boss’s stepdaughter isn’t in the job description.”

“Was sniffing around your friend’s stepdaughter when she was a teenager in yours?” I asked before I could stop myself. In a flash, Riley stepped in front of me, blocking my path. Barry stepped forward, puffing out his chest. I almost laughed. He was 5’9”, and I had several inches on him.

“What the fuck did you just say to me, meathead?”

I laughed. Meathead. I had never been called that before. He didn’t like me laughing at him, but he didn’t make a move. Instead, he marched back toward the house. “Where the hell is Asa?”

Riley turned back to me, eyes wide. “Why would you talk to him like that?”

I glared at her. “He talked to me like that first, and unlike you and everyone else here, I’m not going to let him treat me like dirt.”

“Me? I let him treat me like dirt?”

“He fucks other women all the time, Riley. And you know that. You said you didn’t want to be your mother and look what road you’re going down.”

“Any road that doesn’t lead to you isn’t good enough?”

She walked at the house, and I grabbed her hand, desperate for a few more words with her before everything blew up. Before I was escorted off the property, or worse.

Riley looked back, eyes wet, jaw tense. “What?”

“He doesn’t even see you. Not the way I do.”

“See me how?”

“The real you. The one you hide from every fucking person on his planet but me.”

“I think we’ve let this go on too long.”

An ache sliced through my chest, and I stepped back. “This what?”

“Our friendship.”

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