Page 86 of Spring Tide

I gulp. “Was it?”

“Yes.” He chews on the end of his thumbnail, nervously staring at the ground between us. “I fucking swear to you. Jackson stole a little baggy of coke from his brother, and we tried it tonight. I was stressed about you coming home, and I thought it would take the edge off. I didn’t even like it.”

There’s an unsteadiness brewing inside of me, a shaking in my bones. “That’s fucked-up, Elio.”

He wipes at his eyes, nodding, a few tears spilling free. “I know.”

“I’ll keep this to myself, but you have to promise me you won’t do it again.”

“I promise.”

I take a couple of deep breaths before I pull open the door, whispering, “Get back in there and apologize to Harper, then go straight to bed. Next time I see you, I’m bringing a drug test.”

“Could you please not mention this to Taylor, either?” he asks me, voice hushed and frantic. “I know she’d be disappointed.”

“Fine,” I manage to grit out.

“I’m sorry.”

Well, fuck, so am I.

25

HARPER

“I thinkthat went pretty well, don’t you?” I ask, toying with the hemline of my sundress. It’s nearing nine o’clock on Saturday night, and we’re finally headed back toward Coastal.

“Yeah, sure,” Luca says in a noncommittal tone. His grip on the steering is tight, gaze trained on the road ahead of us.

“I mean, your parents were great. I didn’t see too much of your sisters, but everyone seemed to like me well enough.” I anxiously nibble on a cuticle. If he’s worried about my reaction to Elio, he shouldn’t be. “Um, there was some weirdness with your brother, but he apologized and everything.”

“Uh-huh,” he says, silently merging onto the freeway.

I place a firm hand on his bicep. “Luca?”

He shakes his head, glancing at me from his peripherals. “Sorry, you’re right. My parents loved you.”

“And?”

“And Elio was fucking high on coke tonight, so that’s great,” he mutters, despondent.

My shoulders drop. “Oh no, really?”

“Yep, my own brother felt like he needed to take drugs just to be around me. How much of a piece of shit does that make me?”

I hear the anguish in his voice, and it nearly breaks my heart. He’s always putting so much pressure on himself, but I can’t let him take the blame for this.

“Not at all,” I say. “This isn’t your fault.”

“He told me he wanted to take the edge off because he was worried about me coming home.” He takes a frustrated breath. “How is that not my fault?”

“Elio makes his own choices. The only thing you can do now is be there for him.”

His lips form a lifeless smile. “I guess.”

“What did you tell him when you figured it out?”

“I said I’d keep it from our parents but that I’m drug testing him next time I’m around. I’ll just ... I don’t know, I guess I have to visit home more often.”

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