The Summer We Fell (The Summer, #1)(84)

Grady, with all his bitching about “the gays” at the beach. Grady, always threatening to call the cops on them for no good reason.

“Sorry,” I say, turning away, walking rapidly in the direction I came.

I can’t wait to tell Danny about this.

My stomach ties into a knot as I remember he’s missing, that he might never get over what I’ve

done. That we might never be friends again, after tonight.

God, I hate that I hurt him. He has flaws, but we all do, and he never meant any harm. I begin to shiver, wrapping my arms around myself as I walk.

“Juliet,” Grady calls. I turn to find him running toward me, still buttoning his goddamned shorts.

“It wasn’t what it looked like.”

My laughter is thick with disbelief. “You might sell that better if you weren’t undressed.”

He reaches me and wraps a tight hand around my wrist. “Wait. Please. Seriously…I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m not gay. It was just…I was half asleep, and I’d had that beer earlier, and I didn’t even know what I was doing. I’m not gay.”

It’s the lamest explanation for cheating I’ve ever heard in my life. One beer and some fatigue doesn’t make you walk out to the beach with blankets and blow the captain of the football team if you didn’t already want to.

“I couldn’t care less if you’re gay,” I tell him, jerking away. “I do care that you’re cheating on Libby, but you’re not my issue right now.”

“I’m not gay! It was so stupid. Please don’t say anything to anyone.”

I throw out my hands. “Grady, I don’t give a shit. Danny’s missing. He didn’t come back to the room last night.”

Something grows hard in his face. “After your fight, you mean.”

I blink. “What?”

“I’m just glad he’s finally figured out what’s going on with you and Luke. I suspected it from the beginning.”

I stare at him. “There is nothing going on between me and Luke. Jesus Christ, Grady. I tell you Danny’s missing and this is where you want to go with it? If you’re not going to help find him, go back to your date.”

I march off, and after a moment he follows. “You’re sure he didn’t just go home?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I’m sure.”

“Should we wake everyone up?”

I bite my lip. There could be a completely reasonable explanation for the fact that he’s missing. If I wake everyone, I’ll probably have to tell them what happened and he wouldn’t want that. Or maybe he would, but that’s his choice, not mine. “No, not yet.”

I leave Grady and continue to walk, but at five a.m., when the sky morphs from charcoal to violet, I can see the beach clearly enough to know it’s completely empty.

I return to the house, praying I find him curled up in bed and furious with me, but the room is also empty. Which means I need Luke.

I tap on his door and there’s no answer, so I open it, bracing myself for the sight of him with someone else. He’s alone, thank God, sprawled face down with a pillow over his head, naked from the waist up. “Luke,” I whisper, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He pulls the pillow off his head and turns to look at me, still half asleep.

“Juliet?” he rasps, rolling over before sitting up. “What's wrong?”

“Have you seen Danny? He never came back to our room, and he’s not in the house, either.”

His nostrils flare, and I can read his thoughts so clearly: I’m in love with you and you’re enlisting my help to find your missing boyfriend? He rubs a hand over his face. “Did you try his phone?”

“He didn’t answer.” Eventually I’ll need to tell him about the fight and everything Danny knows, but suddenly this all feels…serious.

He glances at the clock and turns his head toward the beach, though his curtains are drawn. “Did the weather improve? Maybe he got an early start.”

I shake my head. “Luke,” I whisper, my voice breaking, “I’ve been looking for him since three.

I’m scared.”

That’s the moment when I see something like worry creep into his eyes. “Fuck. Okay.”

He goes next door to wake Harrison. Within a minute or two, the whole house begins to stir.

“Damn, y’all start early,” Liam grouses, walking out of his room in nothing but shorts, his girlfriend behind him.

He sees us standing in the hall and comes to a stop. “Who died?”

My chest tightens, and I don’t know if it’s superstition…or presentiment.

“Danny’s missing,” I reply. “He never came back to the room.”

Liam’s girlfriend frowns. “I heard him last night outside, yelling at someone. Who’d he fight with?”

They glance at each other, at the floor…anywhere but Luke. He was the one who argued with Danny in front of them. He was the one who may have wanted what wasn’t his. They already know it must have been him.

Harrison places his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure he’s okay. We were all drinking. He probably just passed out in the wrong place.”

If he knew about what Danny saw…would he still say that? Or would he be thinking we need to call the police? Because that’s what I’m thinking right now.