Page 72 of Beyond The Break

Zale brings his fingers to his temples and closes his eyes as he steadies his breathing. “Kairi, please tell me those moans I heard last night weren’t coming from you two.”

“That’s none of your business, Zale.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” he mutters as his face pales.

He stands from his stool and walks back upstairs, bumping Colton’s shoulder on the way.

Colton returns his attention back to me, nodding when our eyes connect. “We should probably talk.”

I wave my fork in the air before pointing at my plate of pancakes in front of me. “Yeah whatever, after breakfast.”

I don’t want to talk to him, but after nearly watching him die last night, I realize I still care about him despite his betrayal. The least I can do is listen to what he has to say and decide what happens next between us. Kairi loads up two plates with pancakes, handing one to him before they take a seat across from us and begin eating while having their own quiet conversation.

Eliana reaches over and squeezes my thigh, offering me a comforting smile, before I return to devouring the pancakes.

Colton and I take a seat,side by side, on the sandy beach while everyone else is inside cleaning up from breakfast. He pulls his knees to his chest and rests his arms on them while staring out into the horizon. We sit silently, listening to the waves crash against nearby rocks.

“Why didn’t you just let me die?” he asks, not taking his eyes off the ocean.

“Don’t be stupid, Colton.”

“I’m serious. I’ve been a shit friend so why did you save me?”

I grind my teeth. “Just because you’ve been a shit friend doesn’t mean that you deserve to die.”

He doesn’t answer right away, the sound of the waves filling the silence again.

“I really didn’t kiss her, Griffin,” he says somberly, “I know you have no reason to believe it, but I swear on everything that I didn’t.”

He runs a hand through his unruly blond hair and lets out a shaky breath before he looks over at me, his eyes sad.

Colton has never looked like this before, he's usually never too serious and I’ve rarely ever seen him emotional over anything. If he did intentionally make out with Meghan, I don’t think he’d care enough to fix things between us.

I look away and stare out into the ocean. “I believe you.”

He stiffens beside me, and I slide my eyes back to him. “You do?”

“She was never your type.” I press my lips together to hide the smile from my lips but when one corner of his mouth lifts, I can’t hold it back anymore.

He shoves me playfully, and I shove him back.

“Who fits my type?” He visibly relaxes, lowering his legs to the sand and leaning back on his elbows.

I laugh and lean back on my elbows too. “I see how you look at Kairi.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he sighs, “she’s into Zale, not me.”

“Really?” I turn to look into his eyes. “Is that what she said when you fucked her last night?”

He groans and falls back into the sand, rubbing at his face. “It didn’t mean anything to her, it was a drunken pity fuck.”

“You and I both know that’s not true,” I say, nudging him with my knee, “everything means something to Kairi.”

He groans again, covering his eyes with his forearm.

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