Page 60 of Don't Look Away

I’m staring out at the ocean, contemplating just how royally I’ve fucked everything up, when I see a flash of movement in my periphery. I turn my head to see Ash paddling up.

I scowl at him as he approaches. “When you see a guy alone on the ocean, in the middle of the fucking day, Ash, then it’s a sure sign he wants tostayalone.”

This is the second time he’s disrupted my peace, and it’s already getting old.

He’s sitting on his board, not looking at me. His gaze is fixed on the blue-green water that’s stretched out in front of us. “You weren’t waiting for a swell?”

Fuck this dude. He knows I’m not sitting out here waiting for a fucking swell. He has the surf forecast, like everyone else. Today is shit for surfing. “Does it look like there’s a swell building?”

With his palms pressed flat on his board, he leans forward. “Why else would you be out here?”

“Do you just sit on the shoreline all day and wait for people to harass?”

Ash shrugs. “I was told you took off, and I figured this is where you’d be.”

Gooddamn.One of the guys, which means either Jackson, Christian, or Lucas. My money is on Lucas. He’s a sneaky fuck like that, and the only one brave to call the guy I hate most and ask him to check up on me.

And of course, Ash would know exactly where to find me. We practically grew up together, and whenever shit went sideways at home, I’d always head straight to the water. The ocean always seemed to soothe the anger inside me, because, out here, there’s no judgment. No betrayal. Out here, I can leave the rest of the world behind. It’s just me and the water.

Until some asshole shows up.

“Well, you found me, you can tell them I’m alive,” I say dismissively.

“Wanna talk about it?”

I flash him a grimace. “What, we’re friends now?”

And, honestly, even if I did want to tell him, I couldn’t. He’s not a society member, and everything that’s fucked up about my life is official society business. Including Lux.

“I thought you could use someone to talk to,” he says. “And yes, we used to be friends.”

“Used tobeing the operative phrase there.”

“I also care about Lux,” he’s brave enough to say.

Christ.

Does this guy have a death wish?

Somehow, I manage to keep my tone calm, but on the inside, I’m envisioning all the different ways I can choke him with his own board leash.

“This has nothing to do with Lux,” I lie. “It’s about my boys betraying my trust. You being here just proves they know how badly they’ve fucked up.”

Lucas hates Ash as much as I do, and there’s no way he’d call Ash unless he knew how badly he’d messed this whole thing up.

“The guys didn’t call me,” he says. “Lux did.”

My jaw works as I struggle to keep my shit together. “And why would she do that?”

“I don’t know, I guess she thinks I can talk some sense into you.”

I laugh at that. “Just goes to show how little she knows about our history.”

“I told her. She knows everything.”

My head jerks up, and I pin him with a hard stare. “You mean she knowsyourside of things.”

Ash, my brother, and I all grew up together. We were tight, until a couple of years ago, when my brother needed Ash the most. James had gotten into a fight at a party and put the guy in the hospital. But when we needed a witness to tell the cops the other guy had started it, Ash refused. Other people came forward to vouch for James, so he didn’t end up going to jail. But that day, Ash showed me his true colors.

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