Page 14 of Break Your Fall

She cuts off my concern with a shake of her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she turns back toward the ocean.

“I wanted it,” she manages through a whisper, and I can feel her shame as she shakes her head again, as she repeats the words to try to accept how she felt. “I wanted it.”

I bristle, every nerve in my body wired, protective, defending. Reyna never should’ve ended up in the arms of that prick. She wouldn’t have if we’d all been her fuckingfriend. If Julian hadn’t crossed that line. She wouldn’t be feeling bad about herself.

My feet are kicking up sand before I realize I’m even moving. Reyna’s yelling for me, calling my name, matching my rushed footsteps, and I don’t stop until I’m behind the wheel of my car. The passenger door slams after mine and she’s beside me, knowing something is wrong, staying with me as I take off.

I’m moving half on autopilot, half with intent. My adrenaline is flared, guiding me forward, but my focus is zeroed in, aware of who I’m trying to find, of what my body is urging me to do.

Different.

My foot hits the brakes in Julian’s driveway, and I can see them through the window—Camille, Julian, and Banks in the kitchen. Julian’s huge ass grin as he laughs at some argument Banks and Camille appear to be having. I fly out of the car, the engine still running. I’m not staying.

The passenger door opens but Reyna stays back, calls out my name again.

I hear Banks slam his hip into the side of the couch and holler something about a harassment claim against the furniture as I stalk through the door.

“Just move out,” Camille hollers back before she takes note of me, calming as she and Julian eye my approach. “Where’d you go earlier?”

The calm doesn’t last long as I close in, my breathing increasing with each step. Julian’s smile was already fading upon seeing me, but I wipe it off completely when I swing, my fist connecting with his mouth. He spins back into the island at the hit, a chorus of shock ringing around me.

Camille leans into him, checking his injury, then eyes me with a hard stare. “What the hell!”

“She slept with Landon.” I throw the words at Julian like an accusation as he faces me, and I try not to flinch at the thought, shoving away any images from my head. The hand working his jaw slides slowly away as he stands straighter, the confusion and betrayal on his face visible for the slightest second before my words register, his wide eyes relaxing around an apologetic stare, an understanding.

He now knows he deserved that hit.

His face hardens to a look as angry and regretful as I am, knowing there’s a guy out there who deserves one even more.

Camille sighs, having the nerve to sound inconvenienced. “She made her own choice, Tommy.”

“She waspushed,” I argue over my shoulder on my way back out, footsteps immediately following behind me.

Reyna’s back in the passenger seat when I return to the wheel, quiet and staring through the windshield. The taillights from Julian’s Jeep flick on, shining through my car as I take off again, the adrenaline guiding me toward my next stop—if the prick’s even there—with Reyna in my periphery, dividing looks I’m glad I can’t see between me and the road.

I’m thinking clearer when I pull up to the skate park. Complete intent. The lights have clicked on, and I spot him right away—Landon and his lackeys lagging behind the other departing skaters.

Four car doors slam after mine, and my friends crowd around me as we approach like a pack in pursuit. We’re solid, sharing a common goal. For this moment, the fight has shifted from us to them. We have nobody’s back but each other’s.

They have yet to see us, Landon taking a last dip on new wheels around the bowl before skating up and out with a smug grin on his face.

“Julian, be careful.”

Camille’s voice alerts their attention, and their bodies twist toward ours as Julian starts to pass me, but when Landon’s face flattens the instant he realizes what’s happening, I’m the one who’s on him.

“What—” He goes down, my hands shoving straight into his chest and sending him tumbling backward into the bowl.

Reyna’s hand slides under my arm to rest on my bicep, her soft fingers loosening my hard jaw, her sweet scent soothing my tension as we watch with anticipation as Landon takes the fall, his body rotating, his arms out to try to catch himself. I’d be slightly more concerned if he wasn’t wearing a helmet. I’m worried I would’ve pushed him even if he had no protection. He wasn’t protecting Reyna last night. He was taking advantage.

Now so am I.

So arewe.

Reyna’s hand squeezes as he hits the bottom, his knack for balance helping him to right himself without much injury. His true injury is coming, I think with a side glance at Julian. I was just reminding the guy of his old pastime falling off a board. His old love affair with the ground.

The helmet comes off in Landon’s haste to reach us, his face contorting as anger and pride drive him up and out of the bowl. Reyna tugs me away and we step back, leaving room for Julian to greet him with a fist to the face.

Without giving Landon any time to recover from the hit, Julian grabs him by the shirt collar and drags him back. Other than some verbal protests, Nate and the other guys do nothing.Some friends.Their backbones are nonexistent, while their leader’s backbone is being shoved against the side wall, right under graffiti of a giant black snake.

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