But she didn’t sound confident at all.

She left to join the crowd on the opposite side of the street. Jason stared after her, his jaw clenched, nostrils flaring with frustration. I clapped my hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go. We need to bail.”

He nodded. His shoulders were hunched with tension as he got into the Subaru. Manson slipped into the back and I got into the driver’s seat, cranking the engine. People were staring, shaking their heads, murmuring. I wondered how tonight would be retold, how they’d spin out the story to make sure we were the villains.

I rolled down my window, watching Jess as we pulled away. Lucas had probably said something to piss her off, and she was trying to keep up appearances, but she was a damn fool to stay here. These people didn’t care about her, and her little girlfriends currently giving her questioning looks would betray her in a heartbeat if it suited them.

But what the hell could I do about that?

“Be good now,” I said, giving the glaring crowd a friendly grin.

“Y’all fucked up,” Alex yelled. “This isn’t over!”

No. It was never over.

13

Jessica

As the El Camino pulled away, the rumbling engine fading into the night, I felt utterly and completely alone.

Everything had happened so fast. When I’d rushed between Alex and Jason, it had been impulsive, instinctual. It didn’t even register when Alex put his hands on me. I was filled with too much adrenaline to really consider the consequences of what I was doing.

But now that it was over, reality hit me hard. I’d had broken glass shoved in my face and I could still feel the tight grip of Alex’s fingers on my throat. He’d dared to put his hands on me, to threaten me!

And the people who’d stepped up to defend me weren’t even those I called friends. My “friends” had only watched.

But Vincent and Manson, Jason…even Lucas…They’d defended me. Instantly, without hesitation, all of them.

I should have gone with them.

Then I remembered Lucas’s words and my anger reared back. He’d made me so damn mad — calling me hypocrite, claiming I only wanted attention. And he’d done it all while proving how desperate I was, how quickly I gave in the moment no one was watching.

It was humiliating, and to make it even worse, he’d been so smug about it all. Like he had me all figured out, as if he knew me better than I knew myself.

You need someone to punish you properly, he’d said, as if I was a bratty child. The fucking nerve. I didn’t need punishment from him. Or any of them. Or at all. I didn’t need anyone looking after me.

I could take care of myself, and that started with me whirling around and marching back toward Alex in a fury.

“How fucking dare you put your hands on me!” I yelled, shoving my hands as hard as I could against his chest. He took one stumbling step back, his eyes narrowing into a dangerous glare that would have made a smarter person back down.