“Well, then, what’s the plan here?” Jake replies. “We need to go get Seattle,” he says at Mars. “I don’t want him getting close to her either. He touches her, he’s fucking dead.”
“And Ryan,” I say, heart in my throat. “We need to find Ryan. He’s who Troy wants most. Troy knows the best way to get to me is to get to him. He can’t hurt me anymore, so he’s going to hurt Ryan. I told Nancy to find him. He should be back. He should be here—”
“Okay, okay,” Jake soothes, stepping in to wrap me in his arms. “Shhh. It’s okay.”
I don’t even realize I’m crying until I hear the sob come from my chest. I cling to Jake, and Ilmari steps in behind me, his hand on my shoulder.
“We need to go back inside,” Ilmari says. “I won’t leave Rakas alone in there. She is the only other person Troy knows, yes?”
I nod.
“And we’ll find Ryan,” Jake adds. “Come on, sweetheart.” He takes my right hand, weaving our fingers together. “We won’t leave you for a second, alright? We’ve got you, Tess. We love you too. We’ve said it before, but your name may as well be Price. You’re on our ‘ride or die’ list, okay?”
I nod, blinking back my tears.
Ilmari takes my other hand, leading the way back up the boardwalk.
“What’s the ace up his sleeve?” Jake calls from behind me. “How does he want to hurt Ryan?”
“The photographs,” I reply. “He wants to flip the script and say I’m the cheater, not him. He wants to tear Ryan down and frame him as an adulterer so the Rays and his endorsement deals will all drop him. He wants to ruin his career with bad press.”
“Jesus,” Jake mutters. “Fucking diabolical.”
“And this is his best plan?” Ilmari asks. “Framing Ryan as your adulterous lover? He has no other cards to play?”
“As far as I know,” I admit. “But as Jake says, he’s diabolical. I didn’t think he was capable of some of the things he’s already done.”
We step back up onto the deck which is flooded with golden light from the wall of windows. The three of us stand together, hands clasped, gazing through the glass. It’s like all our friends are somehow enshrined inside the glass, like a moving portrait. Laughing and smiling faces, light twinkling off glass stemware, the bluesy notes of a Norah Jones song filtering through the speakers.
I have eyes for only one person. “Where is he?” My anxiety mounts as I look for Ryan.
“What does Troy even fucking look like?” Jake says, his gaze darting left and right.
“There’s Rakas,” Ilmari says, relief in his tone. “Come.” He pulls on my hand, and the three of us hurry inside.
“Mars, we need to find Ryan,” I say, my neck craning.
“We need to find Troy,” Jake counters. “If someone yells ‘shark’ at the beach, you find the fucking shark first.”
But Mars isn’t listening. He drags us both over towards the cash bar where Rachel is standing laughing with two players whose names I don’t know. She turns at our approach, her smile falling as she takes in our faces.
“What’s wrong—”
“Come,” Ilmari says, throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her away from the others.
“Ilmari, what’s wrong—”
“Troy,” I answer for him. “He’s here, Rach.”
“No,” she whispers, immediately glancing around. “That’s not possible. God, why?”
“Because I broke his rules. He told me to walk away from Ryan and I didn’t. He told me to let him go and I can’t. I won’t. Rach, I love him, and he loves me, and we want to be together, and there is nothing wrong in what we’re doing—”
“Oh, honey.” She wraps me in a hug, and we cling to each other.
“We need to find Ryan,” I say again. “Please, Rach. Help me find him. Please.”
She nods, smoothing her hands over my shoulders. “Okay, honey. Yeah, let’s—” She goes still as a statue, her concern morphing into silent, quivering rage, and I know there’s only one reason why.
I go still, my every sense firing, telling me to be wary of who is approaching. One look in Rachel’s eyes, and she gives a curt nod, confirming what I already know. Her men read her, too, because Jake and Ilmari quickly move to either side of their wife, boxing her in, even as they both keep a hand on me.
Slowly, I turn, coming face to face with Troy.
“Hello, Tessy,” he says with a cold smile. “Why don’t we step outside so we can have a little chat?”
63
Troy is here. It all feels so surreal. He’s not supposed to be here. The Rays are not his set of people. He’s an ‘old money’ type. He gives off such an aura of arrogance and condescension. When we were younger, I mistook it for confidence. He has nothing in common with someone like Jake Price, who comes from nothing and worked his way into something through drive and talent.
It took me a long time to see that Troy’s upbringing was not so much a blessing as a curse. He doesn’t know how to work for things. He doesn’t know how to value the things he has. And he doesn’t know how to appreciate what it feels like when those things are taken away. In a word, he’s spoiled. And he’s the worst kind of spoiled: the kind that is fundamentally incapable of admitting it.
That’s why he’s here now. He doesn’t understand that there are things in his life that he can’t possess. I am one of those things. Try as he might, he can’t control me. He can’t make me do as he commands. I center myself in that truth.
I am wild. I am fierce. I am free.
I take him in, from his slicked-back hair to his designer suit and his whiskey-colored loafers.
Next to me, Jake must be doing the same because he scoffs. “Seriously, Tess? This guy? He’s got fucking tassels on his loafers.”
“He was hot in college,” I say with a shrug.
Troy levels his gaze at him. “You must be one of the doctor’s useless assholes. It takes a special kind of spineless man to lose his woman not once but twice. Well done, there, champ.”
“Wow,” Jake replies. “That was poetic as fuck. Were you looking in a mirror when you practiced that? ‘Cause from where I stand, you’re the one who keeps losing his woman.” He puts a protective arm around Rachel. “My girl is right here, asshole.”
“Troy, you need to leave,” Rachel says, her hand tight in mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he replies. “Not until I’ve spoken to Tess.”
“There is nothing you could say that she needs to hear,” Rachel replies. “It’s over, Troy. She’s moved on. She moved on years ago.”
Troy glowers at her, his gaze dropping to where our hands meet. Then it trails slowly back up to our faces. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion,” he says at her. “You’ve always been a terrible influence on my Tess. I expect nothing less from a rotten gash.”
I gasp as I feel both men move around me. Jake lunges, cursing at Troy, but Mars holds him back. “No,” Mars growls in his ear, holding him tight, both arms wrapped around his torso.
Jake thrashes. “Let me go. I’ll fucking kill him—”
“It’s what he wants,” Mars presses in his ear. “Calm down.”
“Angel, don’t,” Rachel pleads, her hands on Jake’s arm. “Ilmari’s right. He’s not worth it. Jake, please. People are watching.”
She’s right. The people closest to us have all turned, watching us with wide eyes, confused as to what they’re seeing. In front of me, Troy just smirks, his eyes twinkling with mirth. Fuck, he’s loving this. He knows we can’t touch him because he’ll just cry ‘assault.’ We have to stand here and let him spew his poison. My friends and loved ones have to take it on the chin. That’s how they prove themselves. They resist his needling.
Or I take it on the chin. I agree to speak with him alone and spare them this humiliation. I glance around the room again, looking for Ryan. Where is he? Why isn’t he coming to find me?