“Oh, my God.” I blew out a breath and rubbed my hands over my face.
This was ridiculous. Things were getting out of control, and they were only going to get worse if I didn’t do something fast.
“Isach, you’re really not helping. Please go back to the table,” I said, hoping he heard the pleading in my voice.
His posture softened. “Sorry.” He frowned. “You’re okay? Ivy didn’t do anything to you, right?”
“No, she didn’t. I’m fine,” I assured him.
With a nod, he walked away. My father watched him, his expression shifting from hatred to something else, something softer. Gratitude, maybe?
“Now that you can see with your own eyes that I’m fine, we’re going back to the table.” I took Trent’s hand. “It was good seeing you again, Ivy, but next time you want to check up on me, call or text. It’s much more effective.” I turned to walk away, Trent by my side.
Soon, my father fell into step next to me. “You both have a lot of explaining to do,” he said sternly.
“I know, Dad.” Exhaustion hung heavy on my shoulders.
“I’ll explain everything tonight when we talk,” Trent said to my dad. “But Isach is a friend. He’s a good guy despite his last name.”
Dad grunted. “I’ll decide that later, after I have the whole story.”
When we arrived back at the table, our food had already been delivered, which meant conversation had been paused. Even though my appetite had all but vanished, I dug into my pasta, needing the distraction.
I had no idea why I was so surprised Ivy showed up here—I knew she’d been following me. Even though I hadn’t caught her in the act, I wasn’t stupid. As she said, she has a vested interest in me. She needed to know I was okay, that the Zoya hadn’t killed me. Maybe I should start sending her daily updates so she’d stop randomly showing up and ruining my life.
The remainder of dinner was relatively quiet. Once back in the parking lot, Aunt Beth gave me a hug. She’d been really quiet during dinner, and I worried it was either because she was uncomfortable or she was still upset about my impending wedding. Maybe it was a little bit of both.
“You and Abby have fun tonight, but be safe. And call me later,” Aunt Beth said, pointing at me.
I smiled. “We will. Promise.”
Uncle Dean hugged me next. “I’m proud of you, kiddo.”
“Thanks,” I said, hugging him back.
They left, followed by Abby and Isach. Larissa said a tearful goodbye, then took Little Frank to the car, which left me, Trent, and my dad. Trent and my father made arrangements to meet up in town so that Trent could give Dad a tour of our house, and so they could talk. Then Dad left.
Some of the tension that had been sitting on my shoulders since Ivy’s arrival slipped away. Thank God a fight hadn’t erupted, and I took comfort in knowing Trent would be able to explain things to my father later. In fact, I was confident Trent would smooth everything over.
Taking my hand, Trent walked me to his truck, but he didn’t open the door for me. Instead, he pinned me against it, his body hard and warm against mine. His eyes searched mine as he trailed his fingers down the side of my face.
Goose bumps spread up my arms, and my heartbeat steadily increased.
He lowered his head, nipped at my bottom lip, and then captured my mouth in a kiss that started out sweet and quickly turned to anything but. Passion poured from him, his need for me raging with each flick of his tongue.
He broke away with a tortured groan. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I saw you at graduation earlier.”
All I could do was nod, because I hadn’t yet caught my breath, and I couldn’t form anything that even remotely resembled words. Reaching behind me, he opened the passenger door, but my legs were still too shaky to climb inside. He raised a brow, smirked, then kissed me again.
“You better not take too long tonight,” I muttered against his lips.
He smiled. “I won’t,” he said. “I’ll drop you off at my house, go meet your dad, and be back before you have time to miss me.”
“I doubt that,” I said, finally finding the strength to climb into his truck.
His laughter swirled around me as he closed the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:
Graduation Party
I SAT IN FRONT OF THE bonfire, Jax beside me. My face felt like an inferno, and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Tears of laughter beaded in the corners of my eyes.
Listening to Jax tell the story of what we’d done for our final Life Skills project was hilarious. He had everyone laughing so hard no one could talk. Even Colt was laughing, which was an unusual but rather pleasant sound.
Gasping for breath, I said, “Tell them about the camper.”
Jax rolled his eyes and nudged my knee, but then he dove into the story of how I bankrupted us, filed for divorce, and made us homeless in one fell swoop.
I clutched my stomach and doubled over. I had no idea why all of this was so funny. Maybe it was the way Jax exaggerated everything, or the way he talked about it like it all really happened. At one point, he’d sounded genuinely offended that I’d cheated on him.
“And you two seriously passed his class?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah. I have no idea how,” I said.
“I’m convinced Mr. Gordon just wanted to get rid of us,” Jax said. “He probably didn’t want to have to deal with us for summer school.”
“That’s hysterical,” Abby said, still laughing. “At least you two had fun in that class. It sucked so bad.”
Words of agreement rippled around the bonfire.
“Oh, you forgot to tell them I’m serving prison time for tax
