I try to jerk my arm away, but he holds it firmly. Asshole Jacob is out, and Asshole Jacob tends to get a bit rough. He’s never hit me—I don’t think he’d dare—but he handles me quite roughly.

“Let me go, now, Jacob.”

He growls but his arm drops. “We’ll talk about this at home. We are going now.”

“No,” I say, firmly.

He leans in close. “Don’t start with me, Avery.”

“I’m enjoying my friends and I’m not going. You can do absolutely nothing to make me. If you want to go—then go.”

He takes my arm again, his fingers pinching into my skin.

“Best you get your fuckin’ hand off her arm, right now,” Nate suddenly growls.

I look over to see the lot of them staring at us, all the men with angry expressions.

“I agree,” Kelly grunts. “Move it. Now.”

Liam rises to his feet, his eyes on Jacob’s arm. “You touchin’ her harshly, you cocksucker?”

Typical Liam. He goes right in for the kill.

“I’m speaking to her,” Jacob says, but his hand drops again. “It’s none of your business.”

“It’s my fuckin’ business if you’re touchin’ her like that,” Liam snarls.

“It’s okay,” I say to Liam, meeting his angry blue gaze. “I’m okay. I promise.”

He holds my stare, but slowly lowers back onto his chair. I turn back to Jacob. “You should leave now. This is going to get out of hand soon. I’m okay; I’ll be home soon.”

“Your dad isn’t going to be happy about this,” he snaps.

“I don’t honestly care,” I say, telling the one hundred percent truth.

“You should care,” he growls, looking over to Liam and then back to me. “Your momma would be ashamed.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Liam roars, leaping from his chair.

My eyes instantly go to Macy, to make sure she’s okay. I see her curled up on a blanket, sleeping. This isn’t a scene for a little girl. Kelly reaches out for Liam, and I snap my eyes back in their direction. Liam leaps—I kid you not—over the small fire and charges towards Jacob. Nate stands, wrapping an arm around Jacob’s chest and hurling him back. Liam might be smacked up on steroids but Nate is a strong man, stronger even than him.

I turn to Jacob. “How dare you,” I whisper, my voice shaky.

“I’m only saying the truth! You don’t even know if she’s alive or dead and this is how you’re respecting her? By flirting, by mistreating your father whom she loved?”

“Go home,” I bite out.

He leans in close. “You better be there soon.”

He turns, lifts his bag and glares at Liam, who is still struggling in Nate’s grips, and then storms up to his car. When it speeds off, I turn to Liam. He’s watching me, his hands shaking. It hurt him, those comments. He loved Momma as much as me, and it broke him just as much when she went missing. Jacob knew that, and that’s why he said it.

“It’s not true, Li,” I say. “He knows nothing.”

Liam shoves Nate off him, takes his drink and walks off down the beach. “I’ll go after him,” Kelly says, standing and giving me a warm smile.

I turn back to Nate and Lena. The other few mates of Kelly’s are minding their own business, pretending like none of that just happened.

“I’m going for a walk.”

I turn and walk off in the opposite direction of Kelly and Liam. The sand is soft beneath my toes, and the cool night air has come out, crisp as ever. I wrap my arms around myself and walk, just taking the chance to calm down. Jacob had no right to say those things, and I fear going home and facing him. He’s going to be angry, he’s going to make my father angry, and that’s something I don’t want to deal with.

I find a spot on a slight dune, and sit down. I stare out at the ocean, listening to the waves crash against the shore. It’s a clear night out, and the stars are shining brightly. “You okay?”

I turn to see Nate, two beers in hand, standing beside me. He sits down and hands me one. I look around him to see if Lena is here, but he’s alone.

“Where are Lena and Macy?”

“Gone home. Macy is tired.”

I nod and take a sip of the beer.

“So, are you okay?” he asks again.

“I’m okay. I just needed a minute.”

“He always like that?” he asks, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

“Those will kill you.”

He grins at me, showing me perfect white teeth. I smile back.

“There are worse things.”

“Don’t I know it.?”

“So,” he says again, “is he always like that?”

“Mostly,” I sigh.

“Why do you do it then?”

I shrug. “I can’t explain it without sounding completely whacked.”

He leans back. “Try me.”

“Well, he’s close to my father, and my father is the only family I have left. The business is important to him and Jacob’s dad is his closest partner. Because Liam can’t take it over, Jacob will inherit both. I’ve known Jacob my whole life; it seems the right thing to do. We dated when I was younger and then it ended.

“After . . . my mother went missing . . . my dad changed. He shut down. I guess Liam and I were all he had. He set me up with dancing; he pays for every cent of it. I don’t know—I feel like I’m letting him down if I walk.”