Chapter 22
RIGGS
Then
“Hey, I need to talk to you about Gemma.”
“Alright…” I say, fighting to keep my tone neutral. “What about her?”
You kissed her.
You kissed Gem and somehow, Beck knows.
A part of me has been bracing for this since it happened.
The other part of me put it out of my mind completely because when I let myself remember it—the way it felt when she opened her mouth against mine.
The way she tasted—like chocolate and strawberries—all sorts of fucked-up thoughts start swirling around inside my brain.
Like again.
I want to do it again.
It’s been a week. When it happened, I told myself it was like a birthday present. I was giving her something she wanted. Replacing whatever the fuck happened with Ethan, with something better. Something she’d asked me for.
Nothing more.
I was going to kiss her once and that was going to be the end of it.
Which was fucking stupid because as it turns out, kissing Gemma wasn’t the end of anything.
Except maybe my friendship with Beck.
He’s been weird since it happened.
That night, after I kissed her, I left Gem sitting by the river to follow Beck into the house. He didn’t ask where I was or what I’d been doing and when Gemma came inside a few minutes later, he didn’t seem to notice. But like I said, he’s been weird.
Distant.
We still talk and hang out every day but it’s like he’s just going through the motions.
So, yeah—I’ve been expecting this.
“I’m leaving,” he blurts out, ignoring my question completely.
“Yeah…” I give him a confused head bob. He and Reese graduated today. They were both accepted into A&M—they leave in the fall. “I know.”
“No.” Brow crumpled, Beck shakes his head. “I’m leaving soon.” Frustrated with himself, he shakes his head. “I’m not going to college. I’m going to California.”
Completely blindsided, I stare at him for a second, trying to put the puzzle together. “So you and Reese?—”
“No.” He shakes his head on a sigh. “Just me.”
Beck is going to California.
Without Reese.
The fuck is he talking about?
“I don’t understand...” Saying it makes me feel slow. Like I’m too stupid to get what he’s trying to tell me. “So, you’re not going to go to A&M with Reese like you planned?”
“No.”
“And you’re going to California because…”
“Because I want to be an actor.” When he says it, his jaw tightens and he looks at me like he’s waiting for me to laugh.
Tell him it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
It’s not. Landon McLeod is from Barrett.
He married his high school sweetheart and they ran off to California a few years ago.
He’s Landon Trask now. He’s been nominated for an Oscar.
They played the movie at the Barrett Marquee for almost six months.
I saw it just as many times. It was good.
“Okay.” Making a neutral sound in the back of my throat, I shake my head. “What about Reese?”
“I asked her to go with me,” Beck says quietly. “She said no. She said she can’t let her scholarship go to waste so she can chase after me while I chase after something that might never happen.”
There are only a few ways to get out of Barrett—scholarship, the military, The oilfields, or—thanks to the recent precedent set by Landon McLeod—Hollywood.
Beck isn’t the only one who’s tried it. Since Landon’s movie came out, an entire flock of Barrett wannabes have flown off to California.
Most of them hobble back after a month or two, dreams dead and out of money.
Beck is different. He might spend most of his time in Barrett at his grandfather’s house because of Reese and me but he’s from Clearwater. He has a safety net. He can afford to chase his dreams. Whatever happens, he won’t be back.
“You can’t blame her for that. Reese worked her ass off for that scholarship,” I say with a frown. “If I were half as smart as her?—”
“I know.” Beck gives me a head bob like he gets it, but his tone says something else. It says he’s bitter about it.
“You’re the one who switched it up,” I remind him. “College was the plan until?—”
“I know.” He barks it at me, shooting me a quick glare before he drags a rough hand over his face on a smothered curse.
“But we both know how dumb I am,” he says, dropping his hand on a self-deprecating smirk.
“I have a better chance of being the next Landon Trask than I do of actually making it through college.”
“You are pretty fuckin’ dumb.” Laughing a little, I give him a head bob. “So, when do you leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What?” I was expecting a month. Maybe in a few weeks, not tomorrow. “Jesus, Beck?—”
“Landon started his own production company. Their first project is a television series. There’s an open audition for it, next week,” he tells me. “I probably won’t get it but I figured I might as well jump in with both feet.”
“Okay.” I give him another head bob because I suddenly feel like I’m the one who’s drowning. “So, what does this have to do with Gem?”
“I need you to look after her for me,” Beck says before looking out across the water. “I need you to take care of her—make sure nothing happens to her.” His jaw clenches for a moment before he shakes his head. “Ethan Pryce has been telling everyone that he hooked-up with her at her party and?—”
“He’s a fucking liar,” I growl at him. “He followed her into the grotto and tried to corner her—I pulled her out of there before anything happened, but trust me, she definitely wasn’t into it.”
“See? That’s why I need you to look out for her while I’m gone.” The look he gives me makes me want to ram my head into a fucking tree. “Tag’s like a little sister to you, just like Cam is to me. I know you won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
Fuck.
I’m gonna be sick.
“Beck, listen—” Before I can come clean and tell him that Ethan isn’t the one he needs to worry about when it comes to his little sister, he cuts me off.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to do this for me, Riggs. You’re my best friend,” he tells me, shooting me a rare, earnest smile. “You’re the only one I trust.”
You shouldn’t.
I’m the last person you should be trusting with Gemma because I kissed her and now I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to do it again.
I’m going to do it again.
I know I am.
With you gone, it’s only a matter of time.
“Yeah.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nearly choke on it. “Okay… yeah. I’ll look out for her,” I promise him even though I know it’s a promise I’m going to break.