Page 54 of Fire Island

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I lift her shoulders, brushing the hair from her face. “Evie, baby. I’m right here.”

Evie, baby.

Where the hell did that come from?

She struggles in my hold. Her hands fly up, swatting at me.

“Wake up, Eve.”

Her palm connects with my cheek.

“Enough. Open your eyes,” I growl.

I’m someone else.

I’m me.

I—we are . . .

Her eyes fly open. She cowers back instantly.

Did I hurt her? Is that why everybody’s holding out on me?

God, fuck,no.

My hold on her slips. I can’t breathe.

No wonder my sister didn’t want to tell me what happened. I would never...

I don’t understand.

“Cal?” Eve gasps.

“Right here,” I manage past the stone filling my airway.

She sits up, crawling into my lap.

She’s not scared of me. So, my last theory’s out the window. Something shuffles on the carpet to my right. I glance over to find Iris leaning on the doorframe, tears running down her cheeks.

. . . And it hits me.

Em isn’t with Eve.

I was.

That’s the part I was missing. The part I can’t remember one moment of. So, she’s not some friend of Iris’s. She’s my... I have no idea what she is to me. How far this thing between us went.

Fine hands press against my chest. I haul in a breath.

To know but not remember.

“You good?” I ask Eve.

She moves off my lap, and the realization of what just happened sends her face falling. “Cal, I’m...”

“It’s fine. Go back to sleep.” I step off the bed. Iris moves, letting me leave.

I stalk back to my room.

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