Envy

phone that I think you need to take,” she whispered urgently.

“What? What do you mean?” He looked at the phone in confusion.

Harper pulled him away from the campfire and led him off into the woods, away from everyone, stopping when they’d reached a cluster of low-hanging trees.

“Just trust me, it’s important-something you’re going to want to hear.”

She left him alone and, bewildered, Adam put the phone to his ear. The reception was shockingly clear.

“Hello?”

“Adam, it’s Kaia.”

“Kaia? Jesus, what the hell are you calling me for? And on Harper’s phone?”

“Adam, don’t hang up-please. This is serious.”

She sounded desperate and, against his better judgment, he took his finger off the end button. For the moment.

“You’ve got one minute-talk,” he said gruffly.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” she began hesitantly. “I went into school today-it was open, you know, and I wanted to do some laps in the pool, and, well, I didn’t think there’d be anyone else there, but-”

She stopped.

“Spit it out,” he ordered.

“They were there when I came in,” she said haltingly. “In the locker room. All over each other.”

“Who?” But he thought he knew. A hollow space opened inside of him as he waited for the words to be spoken aloud, to make it real.

“Beth and Kane.”

There it was. Three syllables. Funny that it took so little to ruin everything.

“And I’m supposed to believe that? From you, of all people?” He wanted to believe she was lying-but couldn’t. He was the one who’d been lying, to himself. All along, telling himself there was nothing to worry about. Stupid.

“Why would I lie about this, Adam? Look, I know I’ve treated you… poorly in the past.”

He let out a barking laugh. That was the understatement of the year.

“But I have a lot of respect for you,” she said, emotion filling her voice. “You don’t deserve this.”

“Kaia, I’m not throwing away a two-year relationship on your say so,” he said hollowly.

“I thought you’d say that,” she responded. “That’s why I called on Harper’s phone. It’s camera-equipped-and I’ve got proof.”

He looked at the phone’s tiny view screen, and a moment later there they were, right in front of him-Beth and Kane, in each other’s arms. Naked. Entangled.

The screen was tiny, the resolution poor, but he could make out Beth’s hair, her face, the mole on her left shoulder blade. He could see her kissing Kane, rubbing his bare chest, letting him lick her neck and-he flipped the phone shut. Hanging up on Kaia, shutting out the nightmarish pictures. He’d known it was true, yes, but to see it?

The images were seared into his brain. He smashed his fist into the ground, a volcano of rage erupting within him. He slammed the phone into the ground as hard as he could and stomped on it, imagining it was Kane’s neck he was crushing beneath his heavy boot.

“Adam, are you okay?” Harper asked tentatively, emerging from behind the trees.

“Go away, Harper,” he said in a strangled voice. No one should see him like this.

“Adam?”

“I just need some time alone, okay? I just-please, Harper, go.”

She nodded and backed away.

“You know where to find me when you need me,” she promised.

Promises-what were they worth to him anymore? Adam sank onto the ground and laid his head in his hands. Was this his fault? Had he started it, sleeping with Kaia in the first place?

No.

A cold certainty filled him, a righteous rage-this was no one-time thing, no harmless fling. This was Beth, his Beth, so innocent, so trustworthy-supposedly-and Kane, his best friend, his bro, his loyal and true ally. This was an affair, a dirty, scummy, poisonous affair between two heartless traitors who’d betrayed him and everything he thought was real.

He wanted to scream.

He wanted to hit something, someone.

He wanted to cry.

But instead, he just sat there on the cold ground, immobile, silent.

It was all over now, all of it. There was nothing left.

When it became clear Adam had hung up on her, Kaia snapped the phone shut with a satisfied grin. He could deny it all he wanted, but she knew he’d believed her the moment the words were out of her mouth. He’d believed it before she even picked up the phone. The pictures were just gravy-but they’d definitely sealed the deal.

“Kaia, I’m getting bored in here. Why don’t you come back to bed?” the languid, British voice called to her from the bedroom-where the handsome British man who owned it lay sprawled across his silk sheets, waiting for her.

“Be right there!” she called. “And I’ve got a surprise for you.”

She stopped in the small kitchen and pulled a can of whipped cream and a jar of chocolate syrup out of the fridge. Powell always said he didn’t like surprises, but this one would be too sweet to resist. She gave herself a quick once-over in the hallway mirror and then, turning off her phone and laying it on the counter, headed down the hall to begin her night for real.

I’ve done my part now, she thought, sending a telepathic message out toward Kane and Harper, who were about to reap the benefits of a carefully laid plan. Your turn-just don’t screw it up.

Eventually, the anger had seeped out of him.

Or rather, the anger was still there, like acid, burning a hole deep inside of him, but all his energy had washed away, and he felt slow, heavy, weighed down by a deep sadness. And he knew then that he didn’t want to be alone.

He walked back toward the Pit to find Harper-but she found him first. She was sitting on the ground by the side of the trail. Waiting for him.

“You’re always there when I need you,” he marveled, his voice breaking midway through the sentence.

“Oh, Adam,” Harper moaned. “Kaia told me-I’m so sorry, I-”

“Please, stop,” he said quietly. “Let’s not-just stop.”

A tear trickled down his face and she caught it with her fingertip as it rolled down his cheek, then pulled him into a hug. He leaned against her, crying silently in her arms, deeply ashamed, and knowing that there was no one, no one in the world he would allow to see him like this. No one but Harper. He leaned against her, and she held him up. Like always.

“I broke your cell phone,” he murmured into her hair.

“I don’t care about that,” she said, pulling back and looking him in the eye. “I care about you.” She gently pressed her hand against his cheek. “Let’s take a walk,” she suggested. “I think you need some air.”

She put an arm around him and led him down the forest trail and away from the pit. They walked in silence, past the silhouetted trees and shadows cast by looming rock formations. The night was bright, the moonlight filtering in through a canopy of leaves. At the edge of the woods they turned to make sure the Grace bus and van were still there, silently waiting in the parking lot. Then they walked along the perimeter of the woods, listening to the whispering wind and the distant howling of a coyote.

Adam, lost in a world of his own thoughts and regrets, noticed none of it.

Finally, Harper led them over to a square, flat rock that lay tucked between a cluster of saplings.

“Just like our rock,” she said, scrambling up onto it and pulling him after her. They lay back on the cool granite and stared up at the sky-and she was right, it did feel for a moment like they were back home, in the backyard, a million years ago, when it had been just the two of them and everything had been so simple.

His mind dipped through the past, skidding across memories of long-ago days. So many moments that had