Chapter 10
HARLOW
This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I paced the floor of the bedroom as everything went quiet. The worst of it was over, I hoped, but the damage was done. I pushed open the door to the terrace and stepped out, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air.
“Holy shit,” Syn scowled, slamming the bedroom door shut. “That was wild.” She stepped onto the terrace beside me. “Not unexpected but still wild.”
“Yeah,” I forced an awkward fake smile as my gaze followed Owen storming across the pool deck, heading toward the beach. His shoulders were rigid, fists clenched at his sides, moving like a man trying to outrun his own demons.
“I can’t believe Owen cheated on Cam.”
My stomach twisted into a knot so tight I thought I might be sick. I couldn’t participate in this conversation. I couldn’t stand here and let Syn dissect the situation when I was the other half of it, the dirty secret Owen was protecting. The guilt was a living thing inside me, clawing at my ribs.
I needed air and to get out of this room.
“I... I need to go for a walk.” I bolted for the door.
“Hey,” Syn called out, but I didn’t stop, increasing my pace as I moved through the house, praying no one got in my way. My bare feet slapped against the hardwood floors, then the cool tile of the kitchen, and finally, I pushed through the back door and onto the deck.
I squinted against the morning sun, that was too bright for the catastrophe happening right now, scanning the beach until I spotted Owen.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
My feet hit the sand, and I broke into a jog.
Thankfully, the beach was empty this early. It was just Owen, me, and the seagulls flying overhead.
Owen reached the pier before I could catch up. He walked all the way to the end, gripping the railing, and bowed his head.
My lungs were burning, and my heart was hammering against my ribs by the time I reached him. Slowing my pace, I let my footsteps announce my presence.
Owen didn’t turn around as I got closer, but his shoulders tensed. I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew it was me or thought it was someone else. I stopped a few feet away from him, gripping the railing and staring out at the endless water as I tried to catch my breath.
We stood there side by side, letting the sound of the waves fill the silence.
The truth was, I really didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know why I followed him other than maybe I felt partially responsible for everything that went down in that hallway. It was me he cheated with, but he was taking all the blame.
When I finally looked at him, my chest ached. His lip was split and swollen, and blood was crusted at the corner of his mouth. A bruise was already forming along his jaw, and his knuckles were scraped raw. He looked broken.
“You okay?” The question felt stupid the second I said it. Obviously, he wasn’t okay. Nothing about any of this was okay.
Owen let out a laugh, his head still bowed. He shook his head. “No, not really.”
He lifted his head, and when his eyes met mine, the anger was gone. In its place was something worse… shame.
“I don’t…” He stopped, swallowed hard, and tried again.
“I don’t know what happened back there. I…
” He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes.
“God. The things I said to her.” He dropped his hands and gripped the railing again so hard his knuckles turned white. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
“Yeah.” I turned to face him, crossing my arms. “I’ve never heard you talk to anyone like that before.” The words came out sharp. “Ever. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you be that… cruel.”
He flinched. “I know.”
“Do you? Because back there, you called her a…” I couldn’t even say the word. “You know that’s not okay, right?”
“I know.” A rough edge caught in his throat. “I know. I don’t… I can’t explain it. I saw them together and something inside me… snapped.”
“But why?” I stepped closer, searching his face for answers. “You told me yourself you didn’t want her. You said you knew from the beginning that you two weren’t right for each other. So why does it matter so much that she’s with Trystan now?”
Owen’s jaw tightened as he turned back to the water. “It’s not about her.”
“Then what is it about?”
The silence stretched between us for so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer me.
“Owen?”
“It’s about him,” he groaned, dropping his head. “It’s always been about him.”
I frowned. “Trystan? What do you mean?”
He let out a long breath, his shoulders dropping like he was releasing something he had been carrying for too many years.
A bitter smile twisted his split lip. “Freshman year of college, I was dating this girl. Sophie for about three months.”
He paused, and I waited, assuming there was more.
“There was this party after homecoming. Sophie and I were supposed to go together, but at the last minute, she said she wasn’t feeling good and canceled on me.
I wasn’t going to go to the party. I didn’t really do football parties, but Jax texted that he was bored and was going, so I decided to go.
I made it just in time to see her walking out of a back bedroom with Trystan.
It was pretty obvious what happened.” He paused, shaking his head.
“She walked right by me like I didn’t exist, and the worst part was that Trystan didn’t even want her.
He fucked her and moved on like he always did. ”
The pieces clicked into place. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Owen laughed again, that hollow, self-deprecating sound. “Oh.”
“Owen… That was…”
“Years ago. I know. Trust me, I know how pathetic it sounds.” He looked at me, and the vulnerability in his eyes made my heart stutter. “I’ve been carrying this stupid grudge against him for years because some girl I dated for three months chose him over me.”
“Did Trystan even know?” I asked carefully. “That she was dating you?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. We didn’t exactly run in the same circles back then.” His mouth twisted. “I never told him. Never confronted her. Just… internalized it. Let it fester.”
“For years.”
He nodded. “For years.”
“That was a long time ago. It’s time to let it go.”
He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t finished.
“You dragged Cam into the middle of your unresolved drama. You treated her like a pawn in some game she didn’t even know she was playing. You started dating her not because you wanted her, but because you didn’t want him to have her. Do you understand how messed up that is?”
“I know…”
“And then, when you found them together, which, by the way, you had no right to be upset about because you cheated on her, you called her horrible names. You said those things to her. In front of everyone. You humiliated her.”
Owen’s face went pale beneath the bruises.
“Harlow…”
“You owe her an apology.” I stepped into his space. “A real one. Not some half-assed I’m sorry you were hurt bullshit.”
“I will apologize, I swear…”
“You need to get your shit together.” He stepped back.
“You’re leaving a trail of damage everywhere you go.
This whole mess with Cam and Trystan. The fight.
Jax’s wedding weekend, which is supposed to be about him and Kaia and not your emotional meltdown.
” I paused, and my next words came out quieter.
“Including me.” His face changed. “You told me you and Cam were over. That night. You said you were done, and I believed you.”
“We were, Har…”
“But you weren’t.” My eyes burned, but I refused to cry. “You hadn’t actually ended it. You were still together, and I didn’t know that because you let me think otherwise. Now I have to live with being the other woman. The dirty secret. The mistake you made when you were too drunk to remember.”
“You’re not a mistake.” His voice broke on the word. “Harlow, you’re not…”
“Yes… I was. You’ve made that very clear.”
He flinched.
“I know you didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t make any of this go away, and now you need to fix it.”
I spun and walked away, leaving him alone at the end of the pier to reflect on everything that happened.