Page 116 of These Summer Storms

“Alice…” he began, and she hated him for the lie he was thinking about telling.

“You owe me the truth.”

“He just wanted to…” He paused. “It was a test.”

And like that, she understood. She couldn’t help the laugh. “Of course. It was the Fourth of July.” She looked to Emily. “You didn’t invite me to come.Heinvited me.”

Emily had the grace to look chagrined. “Yes.”

Coward.

Alice nodded. “And when I couldn’t come, he sent the Storm Olympics to me. Or, rather, to Griffin.” She looked to Griffin. “And you lost.” She looked to Gabi. “What an asshole.”

Her best friend didn’t miss a beat. “Which one?”

“Honestly? All of them.”

Gabi pointed to Griffin. “That one the most, though.”

“Fuck you, Gabi.”

Alice wasn’t paying attention. She was too busy asking Jack, “So, what did you do, fixer? Threaten him?”

“No. I didn’t.” He crossed his arms over his chest in a sign she was beginning to recognize as frustration. He’d done it on the boat. At the beachhead. Yesterday in the foyer with Sam.

“You sure?”

“If I’d threatened him, Alice, he wouldn’t have shown up today.”

“So, what?” she asked. “What did you and my father do?” He didn’t have to answer, though, because the answer was obvious. “Oh my god.”

And he knew she knew. “Alice.”

That was the confirmation. She looked to Griffin. “They paid you off.”

He hesitated. “I didn’t—”

“Don’t. Don’t lie to me,” she said, softly, hating the intrusive thoughts that were consuming her. Hating the ache that punctuated them. “You said you didn’t care about my family’s money. I never should’ve believed you.”

He shook his head, but it wasn’t a denial.

“You need to leave. Now,” Jack said, looking ready to do murder.

“Fuck you,” she said. “I’m in charge. I want to know what he has to say for himself.”

“He took the money,” Jack said. “We offered it—”

“Youoffered it,” she corrected him. “It was my father’s money, but you wrote the check. Or was it a shoebox of cash? More? A duffel bag?”

“Hell yes I offered it,” he said.

“So happy to be my dad’s lackey.”

“No,” Jack said, angry and rough. “I was happy to get this jackass out of your life.” He looked at Griffin, his disgust palpable. “Fuck this guy. I’d do it again and wouldn’t hesitate. He doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”

Something rushed through her at the gruff words. She pushed it away. “Cute that you think you have a say.”

“Goddammit,” Jack said, looking to the sky with a frustration that might have looked dramatic on another man. “You cannot be serious. He walked away from you without a fight. Did I pay him off? Yes. Buthe took it. And you deserve someone who would have taken a swing at me for even suggesting he didn’t love you with everything he had.”