Page 60 of Fire Island
I mourned for her. I grieved for years.
Fucking years.
I turn and rip the door open. It slams into the wall as I stumble onto the sidewalk and stalk toward the marina. The wood clacks under my boots. Everything blurs as I make Firefly’s slip.
Then I’m in her cabin, firing up the engines.
I’m out on the water before I can bother to remember I’ve left Eve behind. I contemplate going back, but the sight of Ava has me push the throttle forward.
Fire Island comes up in what feels like a moment later, and I slip her up by the jetty, kill the engines, and tie her off. The towerI call home blurs as I stagger toward it. Grass meets my knees as the burning in my lungs and the squeeze in my chest take me down. I crash into the grass, sobs keening from my throat.
I haul myself to my feet and wander in a circle, hands tugging through my hair.
“Fuck!”
Did Em know? Iris?
This entire fucking time?
The roar of the Coast Guard boat drifts in, and I turn back to see it dock on the other side of the jetty. Eve flies from the boat, sprinting for me. Her face is as devastated as my own.
I collapse under the weight of the sight of her. She’s on the ground with me a heartbeat later, holding me as I chug through each horrendous breath.
“Oh, Cal,” she sobs, hands running over my hair.
“Bud, I’m so sorry.” Emmett comes to my side.
I pull out of Eve’s hold, scrambling to my feet. I’m on him a second later. “You knew!”
He’s shaking his head furiously, emotion twisting his face. “No. Cal. I had no idea. Nor did Iris. We are just as shocked as you are.”
I scoff a harsh laugh. “Yeah, right. I’m just the idiot the entire town pulled a fast one over. Then treated me like the fucking animal who killed her for their own entertainment. And what about the ba?—”
Fuck. I can’t even say it.
Em stares at me as he rubs a hand behind his neck. “Ava should be?—”
“No! You tell me. Tell me something, Emmett. Justonething!”
I’m in his face.
It’s not his fault. I know that. But he’s here, and I’m so damn fucking angry.
“I would if I could,” he breathes.
I roar at him.
His jaw feathers, but he stands his ground.
I falter backward.
Ava . . . Un-fucking-believable.
Now, I want to be anywhere but this godforsaken island. I want to rail Ava until she gives me every fucking answer I want. I want her to understand the suffering she put me through. The toll she took on a man by faking her goddamn death and that of our baby.
Did they survive?
It suddenly registers, heavy and unrelenting... I may have a child.
