Page 68 of When You're Gone
“You’re scaring Tori. Don’t be an ass. Let me help you down.” He extended an arm in Fielding’s direction. It wasn’t close enough for him to grasp, but all Fielding needed to do was shift back a few feet. Then he’d be safe. Then he could leave.
“I don’t think I want to do that.” His words came out soft, a low hum that raised the stakes and spiked a fresh wave of anxiety in her body. Why was he fighting them all so hard? What did he think he was going to accomplish here tonight?
“Getdown, Fielding,” Dempsey patronized. “Is this really the angle you want to play? You’re making a fool of yourself. You’re doing this to hurt her. To hurt yourself. Look at the fucking mess you’ve made. If you care for Tori at all, you’ll get down here right this second and let me take you home.”
Tori knew before he even responded that Dempsey’s scolding wasn’t going to land well.
“Fuck you, Dumpy. You may be older, but you’re not the boss of me. This isn’t over. We’re not done here, and she knows it.”
He turned to face her then. “Tori. Please. You feel it. I know you do. Just tell me you feel it, too.”
She closed her eyes, straightened her spine, and gathered all the courage she could muster. “You need to leave. I don’t want you here. Go home, Fielding.”
She opened her eyes, met his gaze, and nearly crumpled into the shards of glass at her feet. His expression—the look of shock and anguish on his face—it was too much. Was he really so delusional as to believe there was something real between them? No. He wasn’t delusional. He was drunk. He was beyond drunk. He was wasted. She swore to herself in that moment she’d never drink another drop of alcohol again if it meant they could all come out of this unscathed. She almost laughed out loud at the preposterous notion. None of them were coming away from this night unchanged.
“She asked you to leave,” Jake warned. He took another step toward the diving board.
“Stay out of this, man! You have no idea what we share…”
“No fucking way,” Jake retorted, finally losing his cool. “You’re in for a rude awakening if you really think you can pull this shit. No means no. You swore to me you were just friends, that you didn’t want anything else from her. Yet here you are, making her fuckingbleedbecause of your stupidity. You’re done. You’re so fucking done. You made your shitty choice. Now get out of here and live with the shitty consequences.”
Fielding cocked one eyebrow in challenge. “Wheeler didn’t have to live with his shitty consequences after I gave him the keys to your car last summer.”
Silence blanketed the night. Shock numbed all her senses. Stillness settled around her as she tried to make sense of his words.
“What did you just say?” she demanded in a whisper. She had heard him. And yet she couldn’t believe the confession that had just spilled from his mouth.
The malicious smirk on Fielding’s face transformed into dread. She watched with bated breath as he sprang to his feet, lithe and weightless. There was nothing unsteady about his footing now—just desperation in each movement as he tried to flee.
He dismounted from the board, stalked away from the pool, skirted around the shattered glass, and took off around the house without another word.
And just like that—like he’d never even been there, like he hadn’t caused massive chaos, like he hadn’t just admitted to playing a major role in one of the worst nights of her life—Fielding was gone.
She glanced over to Jake to gauge his reaction, then to Dempsey. They were both staring back at her in wide-eyed bewilderment.
“Get him out of here,” she directed to Dempsey.
He wordlessly nodded before taking off after his brother.
She exhaled the longest breath possible as she locked eyes with Jake. He cocked his head in question, waiting for her to take the lead. She met his gaze and held it, confirming to him and to herself that she was okay. Confirming that what they had just experienced had really happened. Confirming that she wasn’t going to break because of it. At least not yet.
“I need help,” she said calmly as she looked down at the glass all around her.
Jake didn’t miss a beat, his tone matching her cool, collected pretense. “Yes, you do. I have an idea. I’m going to leave you out here for two minutes to grab a few things. I’ll turn on the light as soon as I get inside the door. I’ll be in the sunroom most of the time. You’ll be able to see me from here.”
He kept his eyes on her as he retreated backward to the house. She appreciated the concern radiating from Jake, but he didn’t need to worry. She was okay. The danger had passed.
The second Fielding had uttered that confession, every bit of affinity she felt for him shattered like the glass covering the pavement. It was over. She knew it from her head to her toes to the very heart of her soul: Fielding Haas was out of her life for good.
Chapter twenty-six
Tori
Jakereemergedfromthehouse carrying the large piece of plywood they stored in the sunroom for impromptu beer pong games. He set it down in front of her, covering the majority of the shattered glass. He also brought out a pair of scissors, two oven mitts, a hair brush, a robe, and, most surprisingly, a loaf of bread. Once he had all the items where he wanted them, he crouched low, holding the board steady as he explained the directions.
“Okay, I’m going to have you kick off your shoes and step directly onto the board. Go easy—one at a time—theoretically most of the glass should fall away as you move forward.”
She did exactly as he said—toeing off one shoe, then the other—before stepping onto the board one foot at a time. Her left leg was tingly and half asleep from the awkward way she’d been standing as she tried to avoid pushing the glass farther into the sole of her shoe. Her entire body ached from the adrenaline spikes she’d experienced over the last ten minutes.
