Until You (Fall Away, #1.5)(87)

That tasted like vinegar, but there was no way around it.

Tate needed her father right now.

“What the hell happened?” he barked, and I jerked the phone away from my ear.

I slowly and timidly, using the most sugar-coated language I possibly could, let him know that Tate and I were having sex, a video was recorded of us at a Homecoming party, and it appeared to be sent to the whole school from my phone that I’d lost.

Yeah, I was going to be shot.

The heavy silence coming from the other end of the line had me cringing. I kept telling myself to shut up, because at any moment he’d reach through, grab my neck and squeeze until he killed me.

“Mr. Brandt?” I squinted my eyes like I was bracing myself for a beat down when he didn’t respond. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

He was silent for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Maybe to the cemetery.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll try there.”

“Jared,” he piped up again, calmer than I expected. “Find my child. Get her home safe,” he ground out every angry word. “And don’t leave her side until I get home.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it.

“And then,” he added, “I may never let you near her again.”

My stomach dropped to my feet, and he hung up.





Driving into Concord Hill Cemetery was like stepping into a dream on shaky ground. I’d been here a lot of times before but rarely without Tate.

Her mother was buried there, and it was where I’d realized that she was more than a friend. I’d brought a balloon to her mother’s grave and stolen the fossil necklace that Tate had left her mother from here.

Even though this place was tied to something painful for Tate, I looked at it with good memories.

My heart started bouncing around my chest like a tennis ball when I saw her dad’s Bronco parked along the side of the lane near her mom’s grave.

She was safe.

I let out a breath and pulled in behind her truck, cutting the engine.

My boots ground the shattered glass under my feet from Tate smashing my windows as I got out of the car, but I barely noticed.

My eyes were on her, lying on top of her mom’s grave, forehead down to the ground.

I tried to put myself in her shoes.

Did I care that people saw me having sex with someone?

Yes.

Did I care that people saw my girlfriend’s body? Not just her naked body but what it was doing to mine?

Hell f*cking yes.

It made what we were doing dirty.

My chest ached, and I wanted to rip the town apart to find out who did this.

“Tate.” I couldn’t do any more than whisper her name as I approached.

She tensed, but she wouldn’t look at me.

Goddammit.

Tate, we are climbing out of this f*cking mess one way or another, because no one ruins us.

“Haven’t you won, Jared? Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

“Tate, this is all so f*cked up. I—”

She cut me off. “No! No more!” she yelled, spinning around and firing her loaded eyes at me. “Do you hear me? My life here is ruined. No one will let me live this down. You’ve won. Don’t you get it? You. Have. Won! Now leave me alone!”


I lost my words. I lost my breath. My hands went up to my hair, and I tried to figure out how to get control of this. “Just stop for a minute, okay?” I held out my hands and calmed my voice.

“I’ve listened to your stories. Your excuses.”

She got up and started walking back to the road. To her car.

“I know,” I talked to her back. “My words aren’t good enough. I can’t explain any of this. I don’t know where that video came from!” I shouted when she wouldn’t stop.

“It came from your phone, *!” she shot back, twisting her face slightly back to me. “No, never mind. I’ve stopped talking to you.” And she kept charging ahead.

She wasn’t staying and talking this out. She was damn pissed and clearly wanted to be away from me.

“I called your dad!”

That stopped her in her tracks.

She mumbled something under her breath, but I couldn’t hear it. I probably didn’t want to hear it, either.

She was still. She was quiet.

Move, motherf*cker!

“Tate, I didn’t send that video to anyone.” Hear me, baby. “I didn’t even record a video of us.”

This is yours and mine, and no one takes it from us.

She was listening, so I kept going for as long as she let me. “I haven’t seen my phone in two days. I left it upstairs at Tori’s party when we were listening to music. When I remembered later, I went back to get it, but it was gone. Don’t you remember?”

The chill in the air made the sweat on my brow feel like ice, and I watched the wind blow Tate’s long hair around her back.

As long as she’s not moving away, it’s a good sign.

“You’re a liar,” she snarled in a low voice.

Well, that wasn’t a good sign.

Taking a chance, I walked up to her.

Only just this morning, she’d been laughing as my fingers tickled her sides and then whispering my name as I made love to her.