I’m shaking my head before he even finishes. “Chase, no. I’m not in the same place I was this summer.”
“I get that,” he says insistently, reaching out and snagging my hands. “Honest, I do. I just want you to know I’m ready. I’m here. I know you’re scared. I know I’m the one who gave you a reason to be but—”
“Chase—”
My head continues to shake.
He’s not getting it.
He doesn’t get it.
My fingertips rub at my temples. “Please, stop talking.”
I keep walking, but he slips into my space again.
“No. You need to hear me. You need to understand what I’m saying.” He gestures toward the door. “I pretty much told my best friend to fuck off just now because I need you to know how serious I am. Just give me a chance to show you I can love you like you deserve, because Arianna, I do love—”
“I don’t love you anymore!” I scream, my muscles freezing.
Chase goes stiff, and over his shoulder, I spot my family, all rushing this way, all jolting to a stop at the same second. Slowly, they inch closer, each wearing their version of shock and confusion.
They heard what I said, maybe more.
Tears prick the backs of my eyes and my nose tingles.
Chase’s hands come up to run down his face, and his mouth forms a hard line.
I swallow past the knot in my throat. I never told Chase I was in love with him, this is the first he’s heard it. The first my brother’s heard.
The irony of this moment is lost on me, how my omission is also my rejection.
How the secret is out, but the need for it is over.
They shouldn’t have heard this before Noah.
No one should have.
Not until I’ve looked him in the eye and spoken it out loud.
Not until he knew, without a doubt, I was his.
I back away, but Chase grabs me.
“Don’t do this,” he pleads.
“Let me go.”
“Arianna, please.”
“She said” —my brother slips between us— “to let her fucking go,” he growls, shoving Chase hard in the chest.
My body jerks forward as Chase staggers back, but he quickly releases me, and I catch myself on the grass.
Cameron rushes over, but I manage to wobble to my feet, right as Mason advances on Chase, throwing a right hook before Chase can say a word, blood spilling from his lips.
“Come on, motherfucker, don’t puss out now.” Mase spits to the side, diving for him.
He tackles him to the ground, and Chase gets him into a headlock, but Mason rolls out, bringing his elbow down on his nose.
“Fuck,” Brady mumbles, moving in. “All right, that’s it.”
Brady grips Mason by the arms, yanking him backward, and Chase hops to his feet.
“I can’t fucking believe you!” Mason seethes. “You fucked my sister?!” Mason kicks, but Brady holds him at bay.
“It wasn’t like that!”
“Yeah, it fucking was. This is why she was depressed when we got here. Because you fucked her and you left her.”
“You’re the one—”
“Don’t fucking finish that sentence, asshole. You chose to be with her and then you turned your back on her.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you!” Chase confesses, but it only makes Mason angrier.
“That’s fucked up and you know it! If hurting me protects her then that’s what you do. That’s what I’d want. You fucking know me, man!” He shakes his head. “You know this.”
Chase looks away, ashamed. “I didn’t want to ruin anything.”
“You ruined everything when you took her virginity and left her broken-hearted.”
Chase’s face is an instant sheet of white, his eyes snapping to mine. Everyone else’s follow.
My mouth is agape, my eyes brimmed with tears.
“No…” he whispers, subconsciously moving forward. “Arianna, no.”
Mason jerks an arm free, shooting it out in time to grip Chase’s shirt before he can pass, and he yanks him into his face.
But as Mason looks into the eyes of his best friend, and Chase’s shoulders fall, Mason’s frown finds me behind him. “You didn’t tell him?”
My neck is stiff, but I shake my head frantically, in apology. In regret.
I look to Cameron, who bites on her nails, to Brady, who hangs his head.
“I… have to go.” I take backward steps, my hand darting out when I bump into the car on the curb and I rush around it, crossing the street.