Page 21 of Devil on the Lake

“That’s because you have to actually find one you’re comfortable talking to. They can’t do shit for you if you just sit there glaring for an hour every time.”

It would take way more than a professional to unload the shit weighing on me.

“Thanks, Dr. Phil.”

He lifts his palms in surrender. “Just what my dad says.”

“What does he say about your repressed love for your best friend?”

Phoenix gapes at me like he doesn’t have a goddamn clue what I’m talking about. Damn, my brother is a hopeless case.

“Twenty bucks says he doesn’t figure it out for another six months,” I say to the people hanging around us.

He casts a confused glance around until it lands on Luna and the guy she’s spending her night with.

I laugh and one of our other friends elbows me. I feel lighter until my gaze shifts to Willow. The amusement dies off. Everything comes rushing back.

Phoenix and Luna will get the happy ending eventually, but not me.

“Screw this.” I toss the new marshmallow in the fire and watch it burn. “I need to go smoke a joint. I have it in my cabin. P, you coming?”

Phoenix tears his mercurial gaze from Luna standing at the other end of the bonfire. She’s roasting another marshmallow and laughing with that meathead, Chad.

He takes a reluctant step away from the fire to follow me, but he goes rigid when he looks back at Luna. The guy grabs her ass and she’s laughing with her hands nudging at his chest.

“Not coming,” he mutters before changing directions.

Jealousy ignites inside me. My friend gets to be a white knight, but not me. I’m the opposite, the asshole who is only good for tearing a girl like Willow down. No matter how perfect we could’ve been together.

Working my jaw, I stalk into the darkness by myself.

NINE

WILLOW

Everywhere I turn at the party, there are reminders of Dante, or my nightmare himself looking my way. Each time our eyes meet, my heart gives a pathetic twinge.

I didn’t like the way I felt when I saw Eliana cozying up to him, and felt even weirder when he jumped to defend me against what his friends said about me.

What is wrong with me?

I can’t like him. I don’t want to like him.

Without meaning to, I seek him out at the other side of the fire. The dancing flames paint his handsome chiseled features in sharp relief. He’s in a thousand yard staring contest with the burning logs framing the bonfire and I wonder if he’s regretting what we did. As I study him, I also wonder how the hell anyone could treat a family member the way his grandmother treats him.

A sympathetic frown tugs at my mouth. I’m his only outlet for what I imagine is a lot of pressure built up and thrust on his shoulders because his home isn’t a safe space. I don’t know how he manages to keep his friends in the dark about what’s really going on with him.

I’m still annoyed about the pranks and the notes, but knowing what the root of his problem is, it’s hard to hold on to my anger as tightly as I have since he started lashing out at me.

Maybe there’s a way to make up for the failed essay before graduation. If it’s cleared from his academic record, his grandmother would have to stop being horrible.

Shaking my head to clear Dante from my thoughts, I try to enjoy the party. Luna’s actually pretty cool, although I could take or leave Chad. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy Luna would go for.

Case in point, he’s finally managed to make a move on her. I curl my lip at the way he grabs her ass and speaks too low for me to hear in her ear. She laughs, but there’s a line of tension in her shoulders as she nudges at his chest in a silent request for space.

“Chad, could you let go now?” she asks evenly.

“Come on, babe. You’re killing me. All this flirting.” He leers at her. “A man needs some action. You keep giving me the look.”

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