“Preston is cheating on Lydia,” she spat out.
Ian dropped his arms and stared at her in surprise. “What? How do you know?”
“Because I saw him with someone else.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I saw him in the city.”
“Are you sure it was Preston? I mean, there are nearly nine million people in New York City. It could have just been someone who looked like him,” Ian insisted.
“It was him.”
“You’re certain?”
“Ian, yes.” She had never been more certain in her life. But the words that she was the person he had been cheating with somehow got stuck in her mouth. He had been cheating on both of them. They’d had a relationship. He had been her boyfriend, too, not just Lydia’s.
Now, Trihn was just…empty.
“You must not have told Lydia.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Are you going to?”
She nodded. Yeah, she had every intention of telling Lydia as soon as they weren’t all locked together in this insufferable house. Just a few more days, and then Lydia could know the truth.
“I will when we get home.”
“Maybe we should go tell her now. She deserves to know the kind of scumbag she’s dating.”
Trihn blanched. “Give me that bottle back.”
He grabbed it and held it high over her head, and even though she was tall, there was no way she was going to be able to reach it.
“We should go tell Lydia.”
“We?” Trihn asked. “No, I’m not going to tell her, Ian. Definitely not right now while we’re here with him. She’s never going to believe me, especially after that catastrophe of a dinner. You heard her call me a bitch. She’s just going to think I’m jealous.”
Ian lowered the champagne bottle as he considered her words. “Are you sure Lydia would do that?”
Trihn leveled him with a flat look and snatched the bottle back from him. “You know Lydia.”
“Yeah, I do,” he conceded. “She probably would go ballistic.”
“I know.” Trihn brought the bottle to her lips again. “By the way, you’re going to need to help me finish this.”
They finished that bottle and started in on another—cheaper—bottle.
By the time the party was in full swing, Trihn was in her new favorite place—abandon.
She had gone home only long enough to change into her new emerald-green dress that she had bought for just this occasion, and she’d reassured her mother that she was going to the party. She had stayed home long enough to listen to her mother go on about how she wasn’t spending any time with the family, and then she’d left. And she’d convinced herself she was drunk enough that she didn’t care that Preston was stealing her last family vacation before she would go to college.
Everyone who was anybody showed up at the Petersons’ that night. The parents were congregating inside and on the deck of the house while the younger generation had ended up in the pool and down on the beach. Most of the people near Trihn’s age were even further gone than she was, and she was pretty sure a good number of them were on something much stronger than alcohol.
Not that she cared tonight.
Music was pumping through some high-tech surround-sound speakers that made the sounds reach all the way out to the beach. Her feet were in the sand, her hands were over her head, and she was dancing to the tempo with a few girls. They were a giggly mess and kept falling over into the sand. As Trihn tried to help one girl stand up, the girl yanked on her arm and pulled her down next to her.
“Oh my God,” Trihn cried. She had sand all over her new dress.
The girl just laughed. “Sorry, Trihn. Stronger than I look I guess.”
“Sure you are.”
She was trying to get to her feet again when someone bent down and put an arm around her waist.
“Let me help you.”
Trihn looked up into Preston’s eyes, and her body went slack. He was touching her. Her head swam, and all she could think about was how amazing his lips looked and how much she wanted to kiss him and all the dirty things those lips had done to her body.
He smiled down at her, as if he could read her thoughts.
He hoisted her up easily onto her shaky legs and pulled her against him. She wasn’t breathing properly. His skin burned her everywhere it touched her, and all she wanted to do was lean into him. This was right, one hundred and fifty percent right.
“I like the dress,” he breathed.
Then, she came to her senses. This was not right. There was no way this would ever be right again. “Get away from me,” she said, wrenching out of his grip.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Ian said. He jogged up to them and put a protective arm around Trihn. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“You should leave her alone,” Ian said.
Preston’s eyebrows rose. “I was just helping her up out of the sand.”
“Yeah, well, I think you’ve helped enough,” Ian spat back at Preston.
“Come on, Ian. Let’s just go get another drink,” she said.
“I’m not sure another drink is in your best interest,” he said as they left Preston standing alone.
“After that, I’m almost certain it is.”
Once they reached the bar, Trihn grabbed the first thing she could and downed the drink in one long chug.
“Whoa! Slow down.”
She wiped her mouth and trashed the drink. Grabbing another in her hand, she veered back out into the sand and headed straight toward Lydia.
“Trihn, what are you doing?” Ian asked, following her.
“I’m going to tell everyone what an asshole Preston really is.”
“Right now?” he squeaked.
They had almost made it all the way to where Lydia and Preston were standing when Ian grabbed Trihn around the waist and held her back.
Her back was flush against his chest, and he leaned down, so he could whisper into her ear, “You are making a horrible mistake.”
“Ian,” she growled, “let me go.”
“You didn’t think Lydia would believe you when you were sober. What makes you think that she’s going to believe you when you’re drunk?” Ian prodded.
Trihn deflated at his words. Of course he was right.
She relaxed back into him with a frustrated sigh. “I just want it to be over.”
“Not tonight.”
Lydia noticed them standing a short distance away. She laughed and waved. “Well, I never thought I’d see the day when Mom’s prodding worked.”
“What?” Trihn asked. She took a step forward but stumbled as all the alcohol seemed to hit her at once.
“You and Ian.” Lydia suggestively raised her eyebrows.
Preston stared between them with his eyes narrowed. “Nice rebound.”
Trihn’s mouth opened and then closed. She was not interested in Ian. What the hell is wrong with them?
“Hey, it’s okay. You can like whoever you want,” Lydia said. “Free love, sis.” Then, she turned back to Preston and left Trihn standing there in shock.
“Trihn,” Ian said.
He reached for her, but she took another step away from him.
Oh, shit! Does he think that I like him, too? Her head hurt at that thought. He couldn’t think that. No one should even be thinking that. He was just Ian. And she was just Trihn. And she was still dealing with the Preston thing to even consider that Ian might actually like her..
“I need some fresh air.”
“You’re outside,” he pointed out.
“Fresh air…away from everyone else.”
“Including me?”
As she started walking toward her house, Ian followed.
“Including everyone,” Trihn said. “I just…want to be alone.”
His face fell.
Oh, no. He didn’t like her. He couldn’t like her. He had just been trying to take care of her. There was nothing else to it.