Page 9 of Never Tear Us Apart

I hated distancing myself from the only girl I’d ever cared about because I wanted her once, more than anything, and it hurt to let her go. But being together would have only brought more drama into her life, and she didn’t need that. Between losing her dad and the scandal that followed, she’d had enough for one lifetime. It was easier and safer to end things and let our parents believe we hated each other.

But I didn’t hate her. Not in the slightest because Ellery was the only girl who really knew me. She knew how much I loved books and baseball, and how much I missed my mom, and I was the only one who knew how much she loved loud music and scary movies, and how much she missed her dad. She was everything a Southern Belle shouldn’t be, and for that and a hundred other reasons, I fell for her totally and completely.

I should have known I was in trouble the day we met. The first time I looked into her stunning green eyes my world tilted. But then our parents got engaged and like a needle being pulled across a spinning record, the fact she was about to become my stepsister made everything I was thinking and feeling wrong.

That’s why I made it my personal mission to make her life a nightmare once I got to Elmhurst. If I couldn’t have her, no onecould. Only, the more I pretended to hate her, the more I wanted her, and that last summer we spent together, I couldn’t fight it anymore. I gave into the hurricane that is Ellery Butler and it changed everything.

Then I broke her heart because I had to. Before we blew our parents’ lives apart and our own in the process. I left for Highland and she headed back to Elmhurst, and the plan was to forget her.

But in all of my ‘do what’s best for everyone’ wisdom, I didn’t count on the fact that girls like Ellery were unforgettable and being away from her hurt more than I could ever imagine.

“You know,” Jake says, breaking into my thoughts as he comes over and sits on one of the poolside lounge chairs. “I think I know now why you have a type.”

I scrub a hand down my face. “I don’t have a type.”

“No man,” he holds up a hand, “hear me out. You like girls that are tall, with dark hair, and light on personality. And it makes sense. If I were living with the temptation that you were back in high school, I’d have gone for the opposite, too. It was smart.”

I push up from the pool and shake the water from one leg, then the other. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a type. I go for girls that understand I don’t want or need any complications in my life. If I wanted that I would have…”

When I realize what I’m about to say I stop and look up, finding Jake staring at me with a simple, knowing smile.

Then without saying a word, he lays back in the lounge chair, puts both hands behind his head, and lets out a contented sigh.

***

The next afternoon after picking up Cal and Marcus from the airport, I give the guys a tour of the town.

“And these are summer houses?” Cal asks while checking outthe mansions lining the beach as we drive by.

“Yup.” I steer with one hand, while resting my other arm on the door. “You should see where they live the rest of the year.”

I never did get used to vacation houses that weren’t shabby little cabins like the one my parent’s rented in upstate New York the summer I was six. It seemed unfair that these second homes were the kind of places most people could only ever dream about. But that’s how privilege worked. It cared little about what was fair.

“Holy, fuck,” Cal, Marcus, and Jake say in unison as we drive by a house bigger than all the others. “Who does that belong to, the Kennedy’s?”

I pull to the side of the road and stop the car so they can get a better look. “No,” I reply simply. “The Butler’s.”

“And they are?” Marcus asks.

As I tap the steering wheel, debating whether to answer, Jake looks over at me from where he’s riding shotgun, and lifts his brows. The cat was already out of the bag with him. Guess it was time to tell Cal and Marcus, too.

“They’re family.” I look in the rearview mirror and Cal and Marcus whip their wide eyes forward, finding mine in the reflection looking back at them. “That’s my stepmom’s house.”

Cal hits my headrest and laughs. “Son of a bitch. Let’s have a look.”

I look down at the keys dangling from the ignition and when I see the one to the house across the street staring back at me, I swallow.

“They’re gone, right?” Jake asks.

I look over and give him a clipped nod.

When I spoke to my father last night, he apologized for not giving me a heads up about Ellery’s change in plans for the summer, but according to him, I didn’t need to worry. She would be busy and I probably wouldn’t even run into her. In fact, shewas leaving today to head back to Elmhurst with him and her mom.

Turns out, my father’s plans for the summer had changed as well. A colleague in his department had been in an accident a few days back, and my father had been asked to take over teaching one of his summer classes. He’d only decided to do it yesterday and had been waiting for me to call to let him know I’d arrived, so he could tell me the news.

He apologized and said he would come down to visit as soon as he could, and I promised to come have dinner with him and Saffron when he did, and that was that.

Seeing no cars in the drive, it looked like they’d left, which meant the coast was clear. “Alright,” I agree. “But just a quick look.”

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