Page 35 of Survival

The green of Annie’s eyes scorched with disdain, and she clasped her hands together like she had to to keep from smacking him.

“No, I’m not blind,” she hissed, somehow sounding scarier than before, more of the crowd gathering to watch the next of the night’s drama. “But don’t fucking act like you did any real favors here. You could have stopped things before they got that far. I already warned you that Zane was an ass. That he was trouble. But you didn’t do a damn thing to stop it until they were fighting.”

“How was I supposed to know Tucker was going to snap?” Nic hissed back. “I wasn’t going to break up their conversation. The bloke was giving him fair warning.Everyonedeserves a fair warning,” he finished, his eyes hardening into stone.

Annie gripped the sides of her head in frustration, her fingertips pressing hard into her scalp. “Argh! You are so damn ignorant! Zane doesn’t fucking play fair! He’s just screwing with Tucker to hurt Izzy, and he’s hurt her more than enough already! Or did you not get that from thelasttime I told you?! That jackass doesn’t need any more help from you!”

Nic’s gaze narrowed, and his arms came up in defeat. “You’re right! Iamignorant! But only because no one will fill me in!”

Annie glowered so harsh then that Nic would be dead if looks could kill. I looked around for Jet, worried, and spotted him just now coming back after kicking out Zane. His eyes shot to Annie as she yelled.

“Don’t you dare fucking turn this back on us. What do you expect us to do? Reveal all our dirty laundry to a jackass we just met? You might be family, but that doesn’t fucking mean anything. You haven’t earned our trust. And sure as hell not mine.”

“Annie!” Jet barked, and she jumped as his hand found hers, pulling her back.

A horn sounded in the distance, and Nic looked away, breaking the hold of their mutual glares.

“Your sister’s here. Thank God.” He walked off, leaving Annie fuming in Jet’s arms.

Chapter 10

ISABEL

I shuddered as I pulled up to the beach. A shiny, black Mustang had just driven past me, and even though the windows were tinted, hiding in the darkness, I knew who was inside. That sick feeling that had manifested in my stomach after Nic’s call escalated with seeing that car, and I just knew something had happened. That Zane was at the thick of our problems again.

I drove up as close as possible, heading around the side of the crowd before stopping in an open space with a glimpse at the party, letting my truck run idle as I took in the scene.

A crowd was gathered near Corey’s truck, and I could just barely make out the back of my sister’s head, but when Annie’s hands flew to her head in frustration, I knew without a doubt that something had gone down. With a sigh, I slid my sister’s shopping bags to the middle of the seat to make room for Nic and honked the horn to wait.

“You’re aware that your sister’s mental, correct?” he said once we were on the road.

“What happened?” I held back a sigh. “Nic?’ I asked when he didn’t respond. I may have met the guy less than a month ago, but that look in his eyes was impossible to ignore. There was so much hiding beneath the surface. Again, something within me called out, recognizing his pain. “What’s wrong?” I pressed, my voice gentle, not wanting to push but wanting him to share.

He met my gaze, still without answering, seeming to be searching my expression for something, the same way I knew I was searching his. “Do you consider me a friend, Izzy?”

“Of course, I do,” I replied before looking back to the road. “Why would you have to ask that?”

“Just clarifying before I ask you this next question.”

I took a breath, my body tensing, anticipating. “What question?” I had to look at him before he’d answer, curiosity burning from his gaze, but concern weighed heavily in his expression as well.

“What happened to you?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“With Zane. And Tucker. What happened? Why is everyone so worried about you all the time? Like you’re going to break?”

A gush of air released from my lungs, because damn, that was a big one. One I’d thought for sure Jet would have already filled him in on. I swallowed, debating what to say. How to begin. “How much time do you have?”

Nic stared at me, speechless, his sapphire eyes holding mine as he searched for what to say. “I, uh…wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”

My lips tilted up in a small, sardonic smirk.Tell me about it.

He faced forward again, and my eyes followed his out to the wide expanse of water. We’d grabbed milkshakes from Bob’s Diner and then gone out to park on a quiet section of the beach, a large pier not far off in the distance, reminding me about that last night. That night when everything felt like it might eventually be okay before being ripped out from under my feet all over again.

I’d rolled the windows down, letting in the salt of the night air, the only sound the rippling ocean in front of us.

“It explains a lot,” Nic eventually said into the quiet.

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