Preston’s eyes burned into her, and when she met that look, she could see the challenge within. He was wondering if she was going to rat him out. She should. She wanted to. She wanted to tell everyone what a dirty fucking liar he was, but she also didn’t want to ruin everyone’s vacation and have all the questions flying at her about what the fuck had happened.

Because she didn’t even know what had happened. How could any of this have happened to me? She was used to being around players like that. She was used to model assholes. God, hadn’t I given my virginity to one of those assholes? Another fucking asshole to add to the list.

Her face burned red at the thought. Everything seemed to fall into place at once—the phone calls when she had been over at Preston’s place, him not responding to her late at night, him always having to work. She hadn’t been looking for the signs because she felt safe with him, right with him. But she hadn’t been safe at all, and here was the proof right before her eyes.

She didn’t even know which way was up or down. She loved Preston. She wasn’t ready for this to be over, but at the same time…she hated him, so viciously. She loved him as much as she hated him.

“So, tell us about him. Where is your boyfriend, Trihn?” Lydia asked.

“Yeah,” Trihn murmured, ignoring her question. “Past tense.”

“Past tense?” Lydia asked, confused.

“Yes. Past tense boyfriend.”

As Lydia seemed to realize what Trihn had said, her face fell. “You guys aren’t together anymore?”

“We broke up,” she choked out. Her vision blurred as she stared at Preston. “He wasn’t the guy that I thought he was.”

“Oh, Trihn,” Lydia said.

She placed her hand on Trihn’s shoulders, and Trihn collapsed at her sympathy.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She shrugged Lydia’s arm away from her. “I’m going to call Renée. Just…give me some privacy.”

Then, she barreled down the hallway, leaving the nightmare awaiting her behind. She needed to talk this out with someone. She needed to figure out what the hell to do about all of this.

Her feet carried her past the back deck, out to the trail to the beach, and all the way until her feet sank into the sand. She pulled her phone out and pressed the number for Renée as she hurried down the beach to the small cove where she and Ian had hidden away to escape the world when they were kids.

“You made it!” Renée said when she answered.

As soon as Trihn heard her best friend’s voice, she burst into tears. Everything that she had been holding in rushed out of her. She was hiccuping over the sobs.

“Trihn! What’s wrong? Are you okay? What happened? Oh my God, stop crying. Tell me what’s going on!”

“Preston,” she muttered through the tears.

“What about him?”

“He’s here.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s…dating…Lydia.”

There was silence on the other end.

“That motherfucker.”

Trihn laughed hoarsely through the tears. “I know.”

“How did this happen? Trihn, calm down. Breathe for me, hooker. You can’t fall apart. You need to just breathe.”

Trihn listened to her words and tried to follow her advice. In through my nose, out through my mouth. She closed her eyes and shut out everything, except for the sound of Renée’s voice and the crash of the waves in the distance.

“Okay. Now, tell me everything.”

So, Trihn spilled the whole sordid story of walking onto the property to find out that Lydia and Preston were together. She still couldn’t quite believe that this was happening.

“So…have you talked to either of them about this?” Renée asked.

“No. It just happened. I was going to say something to Lydia, and then the words got stuck in my mouth. I was so shocked.”

“I think you need to talk to Lydia,” Renée said.

“What? Are you crazy? That is the last thing I need to do.”

“I’m not crazy, Trihn. You’re dating your sister’s boyfriend! You need to talk to her.”

Trihn covered her face with her free hand. “I don’t know what to say. They started dating at the beginning of the summer. I can’t even remember if I mentioned Lydia or anything to him. I seriously can’t remember anything, except that I love him and I invited him here and he couldn’t come because of work. Now, he’s here with her!”

“What a douche bag!” Renée sighed. “Do you need me to come get you? I can borrow Matthews’s car and drive out there.”

Trihn swiped the tears off her face. Black mascara came off, and she didn’t even want to know what she looked like. “I’m not going to make you drive all the way out here. And what would I even tell my parents? And Lydia…”

“Okay, I see your point,” Renée conceded. “Lydia goes through men like most people go through socks. The likelihood that she’s going to ditch him in a couple of weeks is really, really high.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Trihn cried into the phone.

“I know! But you’re moving in with Lydia in three weeks. Three weeks,” she repeated. “Just imagine that living situation if she finds out.”

“Imagine the living situation if they stay together!”

“But what’s the chance of that?” Renée asked.

“I don’t know. All I know is that I cannot go back in there and look at them together. I know that he cheated on me and that he’s cheating on her and that I hate him. But…I also thought I loved him. And if I tell Lydia what happened, then it will really be over with Preston.”

Renée groaned. Trihn could practically hear her thoughts through the line.

Trihn didn’t want to hear that it was over. She knew it was. How could it ever be fixed after this? But she wasn’t ready for that.

“I guess just wait it out. I know it’s torture, but wait until you and Lydia are alone, and you’re not blindingly angry.”

“What should I do in the meantime?” Trihn asked.

“Make him jealous?”

TRIHN STAYED HIDDEN AWAY IN HER ROOM.

There was no way that she was going to dinner. She wasn’t ready to tell Lydia or confront Preston about what had happened, and she certainly wasn’t ready to sit across from them at dinner. She could already hear them moving around in the room next door. She was sure Preston had his own room. He could at least be respectful enough to stay in it. She didn’t even want to think about what they were doing in there.

She pulled her Bose headphones back out of her bag and enjoyed the wonderful noise-canceling capabilities. She thought she was successfully avoiding the world until her door swung inward, and she practically jumped out of her skin.

Her heart beat wildly as she was both terrified and hopeful that it would be Preston.

But as she dropped her headphones around her neck, Ian walked into the room. Shit! She had forgotten that she had invited him for dinner.

“Hey. What are you up to in here?” he asked, taking a casual step inside and leaning against the doorframe.

“Nothing. Listening to music.”

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he examined her. “You okay?”

“Never been better,” she lied.

“Really?”

Trihn cleared her throat and looked away from him. If he looked too closely at her, he would probably see what was churning inside of her.

“Are you carrying a sweater?” she asked, trying to force the joking tone back into her voice. “In August?”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” he said.

From where she sat, she could see that his ears were pink.

“Just come here.”

“What?”

“Come here,” he insisted.

Trihn left her headphones on the bed and walked across the room. “You’d better have a good reason for this, Peterson.”