The small smile disappeared. "Yeah, uh…I heard your dad that night…" He seemed to be choosing his words.
"No one knows. Please don't say anything."
He nodded quickly. "I won't. I wouldn't—I mean—I know what that's like, to have your personal life on display, you know?"
I nodded. "Yeah…"
"So," he sat forward and leaned closer. "You and Sallaway, huh? You two were together for awhile."
"We were."
His eyes seemed to be watching me intently. "And you don't think there's any chance…?"
It took a moment before I realized what he was asking and my eyes went wide. "He cheated on me for two years with my best friend. Some girls might tolerate that, but I have self-esteem."
His shoulders loosened and he grinned. "That's good, I mean, you deserve better."
"Any girl deserves better."
"You're right. No one deserves a cheater."
From the dark look on his face, something relaxed inside of me. He understood. "I heard DeCortts cheated on you?"
He looked startled for a moment and then cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, she did."
I lifted a shoulder. "It was all over school."
"I know, I just…hearing it from a stranger is different, you know…"
"I was informed the two of you were the 'hottest couple ever'." I thought those were Lydia's exact words.
He stiffened in his chair. "I guess so. She's—she threw herself at one of the Kades, of all people." He laughed and gestured around.
"Which one?"
"Logan, I think." He frowned, and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. She said he turned her down, but I still knew what she'd done. I heard the whole thing at some stupid party. Then Peter told me she'd been sleeping around for the last six months."
"Peter Glasburg?" His best friend.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, I don't know who with, but I trust him. Peter doesn't say much and if he said it, then it's worse than he let on."
I grew silent and turned to watch for Becky. She'd been gone awhile, but I couldn't squash an inklin of jealousy. He had a friend who looked out for him and that friend wasn't the one to sleep with his girlfriend. My mouth clamped shut and my chest grew tight as something burned inside of me.
But then Mason and Logan's friend walked towards us from the beach. He had gone past at some point and he was now going back to the other bonfire. A couple of beers were in his hands and as he started to bypass us, he stopped, backed up, and frowned at us.
Adam lifted a hand. "Hey, man."
The friend shot him a look and glanced at my hands. The gauze I had used to wrap my fingers was gone. I scowled up at him, waiting for what he was going to say, but then he held out a beer to me.
"Thanks." The word felt awkward on my lips.
He rolled his eyes and kept going.
Adam twisted around to watch him. "Do you know him?"
I shrugged.
"That was…odd. Do you know who that was?"
Again, I shrugged.
"That was Nate Monson. He's best friends with Mason Kade. He moved away last year, but I guess he comes back to visit." Adam continued to look at me strangely. "I have never seen him do something like that. That was weird."
"Do something like what?"
His eyes seemed to be inspecting me. "Be nice to a random girl that he or his buddies aren't sleeping with."
I shifted in my seat. "I'm not sleeping with anybody, if that's what you're getting at."
His hands shot in the air in surrender. "I didn't mean that. I've just—do you know him?"
I sneered at him. "His name's Nate?"
"Yeah." Adam leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs. "He's bad news, like really bad news. I heard him and Kade are not a good team together."
I snorted, "Which Kade?"
"Mason." He frowned at me. "What'd you mean by that?"
I fought the urge to roll my eyes and popped open the beer. "I just meant that the Kade brothers seem close, it'd made sense if he was friends with both."
"Oh." Adam leaned back again and stretched out his legs. "I don't know about that, but I heard when he and Mason Kade get together, it's not good."
"You're scared of them?"
"No, but they played football together against me last year. I'm happy that I only get sacked by Kade this year and not both. Anyway, whatever. I'm sounding stupid, aren't I?" He gave me a grin.
I sipped the beer, but it tasted flat.
"Maybe I should go find Becky and get something to drink?" His blues sparked in good humor and another knot in my stomach unraveled.
When he left, I watched him go. My hands were curled into my chair and I jerked a hand up to finish my beer. Another was handed to me and I looked up. This one was from Logan. He had a sober look on his face, but he wasn't watching me. I shifted and saw that he was staring in the direction Adam had just gone.
When I took the cold can from him, it slipped from my hold. He caught it and sat in Adam's seat as he held it to me again.
I held my breath, but I didn't say a word. Something in me wouldn't allow it, but I opened the beer and put it in the chair's cup holder.
He stretched out his legs and lounged back for a moment.