Fool Me Once (New England Bay Sharks #2)

Chapter 27

I walk along the cobblestone street next to Saylor. We each sip on our iced coffee, and it feels so good to see my best friend. I decided to fly out for the night, and even though I was worried Smith wouldn’t let me come alone, he surprised me by not only saying I should, but he also booked me the first flight out.

I think he knew that not only did I need Saylor, but she needed me too.

I reach over, admiring her hair before running my fingers over a few strands. “I really do love your new hair.”

Her hair has always been blonde and mostly one length. Now, it’s brown with curtain bangs and lots of layers, making it so voluminous. It’s taking me some getting used to, but I do love it because it suits her. Then again, she could pull off any color.

She takes a sip from her coffee. “Gee, thanks. I feel so … sophisticated now,” she says, giving me her best duck face. “Not really actually. But I needed a change.”

When we approach a bench, I slow my steps before sliding my butt onto it and patting my hand against the wood for her to follow.

Plopping down beside me, she looks around. “So, whatcha think? Do you like Charleston?”

“I’d like it more if we could find Craig and his pillows or visit Shep Rose at his bar,” I tell her honestly. “Have you ever seen them out and about?”

“No, but honestly, I’ve been working so much that I haven’t spent much time exploring Charleston.” Her eyes widen. “Craig does have his pillow shop now; we might need to pay him a visit.”

“Um … yes,” I say matter-of-factly. “It doesn’t matter if I like it though; you’re the one living here. All that matters is that you do.” I position my body more toward hers. “So … do you? Like living here?”

When she shifts around, chewing her bottom lip, nerves fill my body. Saylor doesn’t get nervous often, but when she does … you can bet your ass she’s going to chew on her lip.

“I do.” She nods. “The area is nice, the weather is great, and the food here is amazing.”

“But?” I nudge her.

She rolls her eyes, knowing she can’t hide from me. We know each other too well for that.

“But … it turns out, I can’t run away from my problems simply by moving to another state.”

She looks deep in thought for a moment before she seems to snap back to the present. I’ve never known exactly what happened to Saylor to make her want to get out of Maine when she applied for this job, and that’s weird because we never keep secrets.

Well, I guess I did when I was with Richie, but eventually, I told her.

“Gem?” she whispers, moving a little closer to me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” I say instantly. “Always.”

She swallows, looking down for a few seconds, as if preparing herself to tell me whatever she’s about to. Finally, her eyes lift to mine.

“All that time you kept it from me that you were being abused, why did you do it?”

Out of all the things I expected her to say, that wasn’t one of them, and it takes me a bit to respond because I’m caught so off guard. Finally, I clear my throat and try to put into words why I kept something so big from my true soulmate.

“I guess I was ashamed,” I admit.

I know how crazy that sounds because, in reality, I had nothing to be ashamed of. Richie should have been ashamed … not me.

“It probably doesn’t make sense, but it was so hard to say the words out loud.” I think back to all the times I could have asked for help, but didn’t. “Before he turned into a monster, if someone had told me he’d abuse me and I’d stay for as long as I did, I would have told them they were crazy. But then I lived it. And … that changed.” I exhale quickly, shrugging my shoulders. “Why do you ask?”

She’s so quiet. She seems to be lost in thought. She sets her coffee down next to her and closes her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again .

“I left Portland because He Who Should Not Be Named taped us having sex, and then … he attempted to blackmail me with it.”

My eyes bug out of my head the second she says those words out loud. I know instantly that she’s talking about Smith’s ex-teammate, who she had a short-lived affair with before he suddenly left Portland. I knew he was an asshole and had done something to her, but I didn’t know it was that.

She snaps her gaze to me. “Smith doesn’t know that part. He just thinks that he was an ass to me.” She pauses. “I actually think he believes that I was used for sex and then tossed to the side.” She shrugs sadly. “I was too embarrassed to tell him the truth.”

Her phone vibrates, and she pulls it out of her pocket before groaning and pushing it back in.

I frown, picking up on the vibe that whoever that is, she doesn’t want to talk to them. “Who’s calling you, Sails?”

“Ryder,” she says, shaking her head. “I’ve been here for how long now? And he still randomly calls and texts.”

I feel like I don’t know my best friend at all right now, and I really hate this feeling. I know I kept things from her, and now, I feel even worse about that because the shoe’s on the other foot and I know exactly how it feels to be kept in the dark.

Before I can even ask her to elaborate on why he’s calling her, she leans forward, blowing out a breath. “After things ended with dickface and me, I got drunk one night, and I had sex with Ryder.” There’s another pause, like she can’t bear to say the words. “I found out right after that he had seen the sex video. And he’d only gotten with me because he had seen what I could do in the video.”

I’m so flabbergasted by all this information that I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face. Looking up, I try to process it all in a timely fashion. “Wait … did Ryder tell you that himself?”

“No,” she mutters. “Dickface did.”

“ Rowan told you that?” I blurt out, knowing she’s going to hate that I said his name. “And you believed it? And does Smith know this?”

“No,” she grumbles. “Smith thinks of Ryder like a brother. I’d already ruined his friendship with Rowan. I don’t want to take Ryder away from him, too, just because his sister is a whore. ”

“Saylor,” I scold her, “you’re not a whore. And your brother might love Ryder, but he loves you more. You’re his sister. ”

She grabs her coffee and quickly stands, looking at me with wide eyes and pointing her finger. “You’d better not say a word to Smith, Gem. I get that you two are happy and all that now, but I told you this as my best friend. Not my brother’s girlfriend.”

I push myself from the bench, my eyebrows pulling together in confusion. “Sails, you have to know that no matter what my and Smith’s situation is, you can trust me. Always.”

Her free hand is now in a tight, frustrated fist, and her chin lifts. Finally, relief floods her face, and she drops her hand down. “I know. I’m sorry.” Looking down, she seems ashamed. “Can we table this for now? And talk about anything else?”

Taking her hand in mine, I smile. “Sounds like a great time to go find Craig and admire all his pillows.”

Gradually, a grin stretches across her face, and she bobs her head up and down. “Agreed.”

It’s not my place to tell Smith his sister’s business, but if anything she’s saying about Ryder holds any truth … he would want to know. So, now, I’m in an incredibly hard place.

As if hearing my internal battle, she squeezes my hand. “I promise, I’ll talk to Smith sometime.”

“Okay,” I whisper reluctantly.

I vow to myself to at least try to enjoy the rest of this trip with my best friend because it’s going to go by too fast.