Chapter 86 Chapter 86

Chapter 86 Chapter 86
Darren

I turn left and wander aimlessly down the street, not even really sure where I’m going. I’m not sure where Ben went either, and a momentary surge of jealousy rears up in me when I consider that maybe he headed toward Evergreen Bay’s campus.
Is he going to find Kimberley?

Fuck, would she even talk to him if he did?
As I continue to walk, I look up at the dark night sky and take a deep breath. I can already feel myself sobering up in the night air, and that’s a seriously good thing. I need my head on straight. I need to figure this mess out.

Without conscious thought, my feet take me toward the heart of Evergreen Bay, and when I pass the laundromat where I ran into Kimberley once—the night we had sex in my car—I glance inside, half expecting to see her there again.
Then I jerk to a stop mid-step.

Because Kimberley is inside.
Unless I’m fucking imagining things now, which is a very real possibility, Kimberley Smith is inside the laundromat, pulling clothes out of the dryer and folding them neatly.

She’s the only one inside. It’s late, and it’s still Christmas break. Not a lot of students out doing laundry at this time of night.

My heart surges, taking off at a gallop as I stare at her like some kind of fucking creep. Here I thought Ben might’ve gone to see her, to try to reach out and make amends or something, to try to fix this somehow—and I’m the one who found her.
Something hits me in the chest. A certainty like nothing I’ve ever felt before.

I want to fix this. And by this, I don’t mean the mess between Caden, Kimberley, me, and Ben.
I mean whatever exists between me and Kimberley.

I mean Kimberley herself.
I want to fix her. To take the broken pieces, the pieces my friends and I shattered, and put them back together.

Over the past semester, and over the years before that, I made some bad fucking decisions. But none of them were worse than letting Caden Cooper turn me against Kimberley Smith.
And that shit ends now.

I’m still a little tipsy, it’s late, and a laundromat probably isn’t the best place to confront the demons of one’s past.

But I can’t wait any longer.
I need to tell her. She needs to know.
She needs to know I’m fucking sorry.

Kimberley

As I fold my laundry, I look down at my phone every few minutes and frown to myself. I’m waiting for Gemma to give me some updates, but all I’m getting is radio silence, and it’s killing me. My heart squeezes a little in my chest as I realize that my roommate might actually be having a good time.
She’s in the same house as the guys, and I’m unreasonably jealous about that.

I wish I was the one who’d gone to the party, even though my stomach churns at the thought of going back to that house. It’s an uncomfortable blend of longing and revulsion, and I don’t think I’ll ever fucking understand it.

Admittedly, I was never the biggest partier in high school or since, so I don’t really know what goes on at these sorts of things. But Gemma seemed certain that some kind of illegal activities would happen—it looks like it’s a huge blowout, so even if the guys don’t know about it, they have enough people at their house that something is bound to go down.

The plan we came up with was for Gemma to go to their house, keep an eye out, and get photographic or video evidence of anything illegal or illicit. That’ll be another facet of our attack on them, another thing to use against them down the line. It makes me nervous that I haven’t heard from her yet though, and I wonder if she got busted by the guys somehow.

Caden almost caught us sneaking into their house earlier, and if I hadn’t distracted him—
I cut off that thought, not allowing myself to go there in my mind. The memories are still vivid and fresh, and I feel him everywhere on my body.
After sitting at home for hours without hearing a thing from Gemma, I decided I needed to get out of my house instead of just staring at my cell phone. Since I barely have any money, going to the movies was out of the question, so I decided to do the laundry instead.

Sometimes when I’m here, I think of Darren and that night that we shared. Actually, every time that I’m here, I think of Darren. I think he confuses me the most of all three of the guys, and in some ways he hurt me the worst.

Because he surprised me. His betrayal actually took me by surprise.

I think maybe part of me always expected the other shoe to drop with Caden, even when things seemed to be getting better between us. Even when I was starting to fall for him.

And Ben? I don’t know how to read that fucking guy. He’s so moody and gruff, and he runs completely hot and cold. Sometimes I think he would do anything for me, and other times, he looks at me like he wishes he’d never met me.
But Darren made me feel… safe.

He protected my secret, even when he could’ve used it against me. And even during last semester when Caden was being a dick, there was always something warm in Darren’s eyes when he looked at me. It seemed like he wanted things to be different.
So when he took Caden’s side, it fucking crushed me.

The buzzer on the dryer goes off, and I check my phone one more time before pulling open the machine’s door. My clothes are warm and fluffy, and I try to let the smell of fresh laundry soothe me.

Just because I haven’t heard from Gemma, that doesn’t mean our plan isn’t working.
I grab my clothes out of the dryer and begin folding them, glad that I’m the only one in here right now because it means I don’t have to hide the emotions that are written all over my face.

There’s a soft swish as the door opens behind me, but I keep my head down, concentrating on my laundry.

“Kimberley.”

The word almost stops my heart.
I look up quickly, but I already know who it is. I know that voice. My gaze locks with Darren’s, and every muscle in my body freezes. I’m instantly in fight-or-flight mode, just like I was with Ben that day.

Only today, I don’t pick flight.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been on edge all day with this fucking party, or because I’m still furious at myself for letting Caden get under my skin again.

Or maybe it’s because I feel like I somehow summoned Darren here with my thoughts, and I hate myself for thinking about him at all.
But whatever the reason, my impulse when I see his green gaze locked on mine isn’t to run this time. It’s to attack. To destroy.