Chapter 26
THEY DIDN’T KNOW THAT EVERYBODY KNEW
Thane
While everyone else is down at the lake cooling off in the heat of the day, I wander up to the second-floor loft to take a quick nap on the couch.
I tip my ball cap down over my eyes and settle in when I hear the stairs creak.
I pretend I’m asleep so whoever it is will leave me alone.
When my hat is yanked off my face and shoved into my chest, I know without even opening my eyes who is fuming above me.
“We need to talk,” Sera barks out.
When I don’t immediately stand, she grabs both of my hands and pulls me to my feet.
“Now!” she says, throwing my shoes at me. “Put these on, we’re going for a walk.”
“But I don’t want to go for a walk,” I reply with annoyance. “It’s so hot right now.”
“Then wear your swimsuit and we will stop to take a dip in the lake every so often.”
“You’re serious?” I ask.
“Dead serious.”
The fire in her eyes strikes terror to my core, so I obey and slip on my flip flops.
We leave the lake house through the front door, and take the opposite trail from everyone at the dock.
“Are we sneaking around?” I tease, wiggling my eyebrows at her.
She stops in her tracks and glares at me. “If you must know, yes, we are sneaking around, but it’s only because I don’t want witnesses around for what I’m about to do to you.”
When my grin grows wider across my face, she smacks my arm.
“It’s not funny,” she insists. “This is my worst nightmare, and you are the star of it all!”
“Hold on a minute, how am I the worst part about this weekend, when you have manipulative control freak Bradley here watching you like a hawk? You can’t even eat lunch in front of him, Fina. Doesn’t that throw red flags up for you?”
Her shoulders fall and she looks away. “He’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Are we talking about the same person?”
“He can be really sweet when he wants to be.”
I have no idea why she’s defending that Bozo, but it stirs up something inside me that I haven’t felt for anyone since…
well, since I last loved her. I want to bust out a whiteboard and list all the ways he’s wrong for her.
But if she can’t see it by now, I’m not sure she ever will.
That’s when I get an idea. I need to figure out a way to get Brad caught in the act of something horrible, so then she’ll see for certain that he’s not the guy she thinks he is.
“So then why are you upset at me? If he’s this amazing, sweet guy, why am I in trouble?” I ask, rubbing my hand over my face.
“Because,” she hesitates, “you keep doing things to make him look bad.”
I scoff. “He’s making himself look bad. But you seem to be the only one who doesn’t see it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means he has done nothing but criticize and fat-shame you since he got here. He is not a boyfriend; he’s a babysitter.
He manipulates you by delivering his insults and control under the guise that he’s just looking out for you.
Helping you be healthier. It’s all B.S., and I think you know it.
” My chest is heaving at this point and I want to tell her exactly what I think of him, and how she is the dumbest girl in the world if she allows him to treat her that way.
But I don’t. Instead, I punctuate the end of my rant with, “And I can’t believe you bought that whole ‘she was a colleague’ line from him.
He is glued to his phone, super secretive when he texts, and disappears to make phone calls.
A blind man can see he’s cheating on you. The question is, why won’t you?”
I stomp off down the trail away from the lake house, because if I don’t work off some of this anger, I’m going to put it right where it belongs: his jaw.
“Thane!” Sera yells after me, and I want to stop. I do. But I pick up my pace instead. “Fine! Run away! That’s what you do when things get tough.”
The hurt in her voice fills me with guilt for walking away from her.
After all, that’s one of the reasons we are in this situation to begin with.
This realization stops me dead in my tracks, and I turn to face her.
She’s thirty feet away, furiously wiping tears from her eyes, and I feel like the biggest jerk in the world.
The last thing she needs is someone else making her cry, and the last person I want to be is the one who causes it.
I jog back toward her and swallow my anger.
“I’m sorry,” I say, pulling her close. When she collapses against my chest, the hug grows into something with way more depth than a comforting “there, there.” I wrap my arms completely around her, and bury my face in her hair.
I think I need this as much as she does.
I hold her there until her sniffling subsides, then I say gently, “In accordance with Rule Number One, I don’t want to fight with you. ”
“I don’t want to fight with you either,” she admits.
“But you need to back off while he’s here, okay?
Stop feeding me when you know it will upset him.
Stop marking your territory when he’s around.
You two are like a couple of gorillas staking your claim.
It’s exhausting to be in the middle of it all.
Please, just let me deal with him in my own way.
This is something I need to figure out for myself. ”
“Fine. But can you at least promise to look at him with open eyes? Don’t bury your head in the sand.”
She squeezes my arm. “Deal.”
“Is there anything else you want to talk about while we’re out here?” I ask.
Her eyes move to the scar on my forehead.
“Yes. But I’m afraid people have already begun to notice we’re gone. Rain check?”
I nod. I’m too exhausted for deep confessionals anyway. “Rain check.”
I may have waved the white flag with Brad for now, but inside, I double down on my resolve to expose that Weenie once and for all. I can’t win Sera back while he’s lurking, so when we make it back to the lake house, I head to Jamie’s to find Bash.
“I need help,” I say with more desperation in my voice than I intend.
Bash sets down his fishing pole. “With what, Brother?”
“We’ve got to get rid of that Brad guy. He has his grip so tight on Sera, and I’m worried about her.”
Bash grins. “Suuuuure. You’re ‘worried,’” he teases with air quotes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, but my voice cracks when I speak and Bash immediately laughs.
“You’ve got it so bad for my sister, and everyone knows, Thane. Give up the theatrics.”
I clear my suddenly dry throat. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I insist, but I know he can see right through me.
“Listen,” he says, slapping me on the back, “if you want my help, you’ve got to be honest with me. This won’t work unless I know all the moving parts, okay? Now. I’m going to give you one more chance to come clean, then I’m going to shove you into the lake for lying to your best friend.”
I sigh.
If you only knew, Brother.
“Fine. I do, okay? Are you happy now?”
“You do what?” he presses.
“You know.”
“I need to hear the words from your mouth.”
“I, uh,” I rub the back of my neck and let out a nervous chuckle, “I’m in love with your sister.”
Bash’s eyes grow wide and he bursts out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I hiss. “Quiet down, people will hear you.”
“I knew you had a thing for her clear back in high school, Dude. Why do you think I left you two alone so much that summer I met Jamie?”
I shake my head, unable to understand how he knew.
“How did you know?” I stammer.
“Man, everyone knew. We have eyes. We could see the way you two looked at each other. Sneaking away to ‘skip rocks.’ It wasn’t exactly subtle.”
“So all this time… you knew?”
Bash laughs. “Yeah. We wondered how long it was going to take you two to come clean. But then…” he trails off. “Anyway. We all thought it was just a matter of time before you two ended up together.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted to see if you’d eventually confess to your best bud that you were in love with his only sister. So I let you sweat.”
“We snuck around to see each other after that Fourth of July because we didn’t want anyone to know,” I say.
“Yeah, well, my mom saw you two kissing over the fence in the backyard. Once she knew, everyone knew. Besides, you two were terrible at flying under the radar.”
I shake my head in disbelief that everyone played along with our charade, and no one said a thing.
“So then why did you act shocked when I told you I love her?” I ask.
“Because I just thought it was a crush. I had no idea you were head over heels, his ’n’ hers towels for her,” he says with a grin.
“Well… I am. I have been since that summer. And now she’s thinking about giving that idiot another chance. We have to do something, and fast.”
“Okay, I’ve got a few ideas,” he says with mischief in his eyes.
And I like where this is headed.