Page 92 of Break

I stand frozen, watching as Ethan carries Mina out of the bar, her protests fading quickly as she realizes people are looking. Vincent is staring after them, looking unsure of what to do. It’s only when he turns to me, his expression conflicted, that I snap out of my daze.

“Let’s go,” I say, grabbing our stuff and heading for the door. Vincent follows me, his face etched with worry. “Go close out our tab and let your guy know that he can go home.” I drop off our pool equipment, then wait for him before leaving the bar.

“Are we doing the right thing?” he asks as we step out into the cool night air.

I hesitate for a moment, unsure of how to answer. “I don’t know,” I finally admit. “But we can’t stay here and leave her like that.Thinkingshit like that.”

He’s silent beside me, lost in his own thoughts as we make our way to where we parked. I can see the guilt etched on his face, and I know he’s feeling the same thing I am. We need to make it right somehow. I thought we had made progress, but apparently, Mina has different thoughts.

Ethan and Mina are waiting by the car since I have the keys. He’s pulled her from his shoulder but hasn’t set her down yet. Instead, he’s holding her to his chest in a bear hug, like he doesn’t want to risk letting her go. She’s not fighting him anymore, but she’s still trembling.

Moving to stand next to them, I lean down slightly so I can look at her. All the anger and fury has left her. Now, she’s worried and seems a bit fearful. I never want her to be afraid of expressing how she feels, so I give her a soft smile.

“I’m so sorry, Max,” she whispers. “I’m so ashamed for speaking to you like that.”

Glancing briefly at Ethan, he understands what I want. He sets her on her feet, holding her waist until she’s steady, before turning her to face me. Cupping her face, I caress her cheek as I consider how exactly to share what I need to say.

“I’m not speaking for the other two, but I know they feel the same as I do. We are so fucking sorry for how awful we were to you. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to deal with not only us, but your family, and then with people at school. It’s not fair of us to say that we didn’t know because, deep down, I think we did. What we didn’t do was notice.”

My hands are still on her face when she shakes her head. “No. I should never have blamed you for other people’s actions. That was unfair of me to place that blame on any of your shoulders.”

“Maybe, but maybe not. We still inadvertently were responsible for some of it,” Ethan says from behind her.

She tries to turn her head to look at him, but I can’t bring myself to pull my hands away. Huffing out a small laugh, she gives me a wobbly smile, then reaches up and lays her chilled hands over mine. “Seriously, Max. Please don’t keep apologizing. I forgave you already. Besides the fact that we were all kids, I can see that none of you are the same as you were back then. I don’t know how to explain why I reacted the way I did in there.”

Vincent moves to my left, so I let that hand drop, giving him the space to gain her attention. “We don’t want you to think that we’re only here out of guilt. We’re doing it because we care about you, sweetpea. We want to make sure that you’re safe, but we also want to see you happy.”

She smiles at Vincent, and I can feel the tension in her body start to ease. “Thank you. I’m sorry for overreacting.”

“Are you scared?” Ethan asks her. I’m not sure what he’s asking exactly, but I’ve noticed that he’s been great at understanding her, better than me and Vincent.

This time, when she turns to look at him, I let her. My fingers twitch when the feel of her skin disappears, and I want to touch her again. She seems confused by his question, but also nervous to answer. “Scared? I’m scared of Danny. I’m scared of not knowing where I go from here.”

He gives her a quick shake of his head and then steps closer. “That’s not what I mean. Are you scared because I kissed you?”

She sucks in air, stunned by his question. I watch her closely, wondering how she will answer him. I can see the turmoil in her eyes, the fear and uncertainty, but also something else that I can’t quite identify. Ethan apparently does, because his mouth tilts up in a small smile. My quiet friend lets her think things through without letting on that he’s reading her like a book.

When she speaks, her voice is barely above a whisper. “I don’t know… I don’t know what it means. I suppose that’s scary in its own way. No one has ever kissed me like you guys have before.”

I feel like imitating Ethan now, wanting to grunt out in indignation that someone hasn’t truly kissed this woman like she’s worth something. A small part of me is thankful that Danny was such a failure in so many ways that we get to keep adding things to the list.

Ethan’s expression softens, and he reaches out to touch her cheek. “Can I tell you what it means to me?”

“Us,” Vincent adds quietly.

A quick glance at us from Ethan tells me he has no intentions of excluding either of us from whatever he plans to say. “Sure,” she agrees with a small amount of hesitation.

His chest rises as he takes in air slowly, then blows it out. “Tous, it means that youareour friend, but also much more than that. We are all interested in finding out if there can be something between us. The timing may be poor, but I don’t think so. I think we got you here right when you needed to be.”

“We don’t have to define anything right now,” I add, stepping closer again. “We can just… be. See where this goes.”

She lets out a shuddering breath. “Then what? We just hang out and kiss? What happens after that?”

Chuckling, Vincent removes some of the heaviness. “Well, I certainly hope maybe more than kiss, but also getting to know one another better. I want to know everything about you, and we want you to know us, who we are now.”

It’s too dark outside to tell, but I’m certain that his hint at more than kissing has her blushing again. “That doesn’t answer my question. Then what? I get to know you all better, kiss… andstuff.” She looks away when she says that, embarrassed even though she shouldn’t be. “We just do this until you decide you don’t want to continue? Until I move?”

Scowling at the reminder that she’ll be moving at some point in the future, I’m more concerned about her thinking it’s us that won’t want to continue. “I don’t see that happening, dove.”

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