Page 130 of As the Rain Falls (Sainte Madeleine #1)

“Mn, I don’t know. Mateo is my friend, and I don’t want to be weird to him just because he’s going through a hard time.” I cup his beautiful face and smile gently, but my thoughts are still too tangled. “I really think it’s a problem.”

“Me too,” Beckett agrees quickly. “And it’s fine if you still want to talk to him, I’m not telling you not to. I’m just giving you a warning because I think Mateo might be getting close to Caleb again.”

I frown. “What makes you say that?”

“He didn’t want me to hit Caleb at the carnival,” Beckett explains. “lt felt like Mateo was trying to make me drop my case, or something.”

“Oh?” I swallow hard. “I didn’t know that.”

Knowing about this hurts me a little.Not enough to feel completely betrayed, but definitely enough to make me feel confused.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to tell you at the time and risk you getting more upset over Caleb,” Beckett admits, half-apologetically. “You already had a lot going on.”

“It’s fine.” I kiss him again, trying to get him to relax against me. “You’re telling me now.”

This wishy-washy behavior behavior is familiar to me; it’s the same kind Mateo gave me when we first started talking. I didn’t know how to feel about him then, and we’re right back at square one now.

“But what are they even fighting about?”

“I don’t know.”

Beckett’s face falls, watching Angelina rush out of the restaurant, hiding her face. Mateo hesitates before going the other way, looking completely crushed.

He’s going to hide in the bathroom until we leave, which is something he also did the last time we came here.

I look for Antony and Kayla, only to find them playing karaoke together, too far away to see what’s happening. They’re the only two people who haven’t noticed any of the fighting.

“You know what? I’ll go talk to her.” He starts to rise, and I step aside, letting him go.

“Do I…” I hesitate, glancing at the bathroom. “Do you think I should go find Mateo?”

Beckett looks at me, then shakes his head. “No.”

“Really?” I hesitate. “I don’t think we should leave him alone right now.”

“Trust me, let him cool down first.” Beckett insists. “Whatever stupid shit he said to Angelina, he’s going to say it to you too.”

“You really think so?” My hand finds the curve of his elbow, and I touch him gently. “I know you’re trying to protect my feelings, but I just don’t think that sounds like something Mateo would do.”

“I…” Beckett thinks for a second, considering my point. “I just don’t want him to yell at you too, okay? It’ll make me lose my cool, and I don’t want to… I don’t want to fight him or anyone else until I know what’s really going on.”

I nod, unconvinced. “Maybe I’ll just go sit with Kayla and Tony while you’re talking to her, then?”

I don’t think Mateo could ever hurt my feelings, not purposely. This is all so unlike him. But I don’t want to worry Beckett either, not when he is needed somewhere else, for once. And…

I don’t know.

Maybe Beckett knows how to deal with this better than I do, too. I don’t want to interfere only to make things worse. Clearly, the time I tried to help at the club wasn’t enough. I need to find the time to talk to each of them separately, like Beckett wants to do.

“I’ll be right back,” Beckett tells me, right before he leaves.

I nod quickly, nudging him towards the door.

“Find me after, okay?”

“Okay.”

Please, don’t fight.

Quietly, I remember how Angelina chose to protect me over protecting a boy before, and I’d like to think I’ll be able to return the favor when the time comes. I’d rather side with her than Mateo, especially if he’s hurting her feelings, but it’s not something I’m actually hoping for.

I like our group.

I don’t want it to fall apart.

“Everything okay, Cassie?” Tony asks, sounding a little worried. “Keeping your head up?”

He presses a hand to the top of my head and messes with my wild strands, reminding me how much smaller I am compared to his size. The gesture feels strangely brotherly of him, and I try not to fixate on it too hard.

“Of course!” I look up and smile, secretly wondering if he could go talk to Mateo instead. “Tony, can you go check on Mateo for me?”

“Uh?” He frowns. “Where is he again?”

“Bathroom.” I grimace. “I think he’s having a bad day again.”

His features harden as he rises from his seat. “Be right back.”

I tilt my nose up, winking at Kayla. “Want to sing our favorite? Little Black Dress ?”

Her smile widens in response. “ Little Black Dres s, it is!”

We ditch Silvio’s sometime after that, hoping the city center will be quieter.

Turns out, half of the town had the same idea.

Carnival is still ongoing, and Mateo is complaining about the noise while I snap pictures of the girls—one of Angelina hugging Kayla and kissing her cheek, another where they pretend to be mad at Antony.

I don’t know what my boyfriend told her, but at least she seems to be doing a little better now. Mateo looks less angry too, but he is keeping himself away from the group. I really hope they figure things out eventually. The fight seemed stupid to me, anyway.

“This is the best night ever!” Kayla throws her arms up in the air. “Tony, give me the camera!”

Beckett holds my purse, doing his best to look like he doesn’t want to go home, while Antony films everything and nothing, aiming for random group shots to “capture our candidness.”

“No! I want a shot of Beckett and Cassie!” he answers, pointing at Beckett and me.

I promptly rise onto my toes, pressing a quick peck to my boyfriend’s cheek without looking at the camera. He finally smiles, soft dimple popping and pretty blue eyes shining, and my heart stumbles over itself, beating ridiculously loudly in my chest.

“You guys are the cutest couple ever!” Kayla yells louder. “Look at them! They’re going to get married!”

“Okay, she’s tipsy!” I giggle, burying my face against his chest.

Beckett shrugs, seemingly not fazed by any of what’s happening. “She’s not lying. We will.”

My stomach flips, swoops, and does every single wild thing I’ve read about in romance books and the movies.

I love falling in love.

I never want to stop, but every moment with Beckett Evans feels like it’ll be the last, a warning voice in my mind reminding me that I’m still keeping one last secret from him. I push it down, praying that he never finds out. I don’t want to lose this.

“As you guys can see!” Antony flips the camera to himself, flashing a goofy grin. “Love is in the air! The night is still young, and so are we!”

“Is he going to post this?” I ask.

“If you keep talking about it, I think he might.” Beckett hands me my purse as I put my phone away, glancing toward Mateo. He is staring at the sky with an angry frown.

“We need to get you on social media, man,” Antony says, sounding way too excited about it.

Beckett laughs, “Please, don’t.”

I gasp, realization hitting in full force. “You don’t have any social media that I know of.”

And it’s true. I’ve never had to stalk his page and I’ve never had to like a single post. I never had to worry about finding him texting other girls or finding him flirting with them through DMs while I’m sleeping.

The thought never even crossed my mind because, honestly, my boyfriend seems like the last person in the world who’d enjoy social media.

“Do you want to see my pictures?” I wonder shyly. “I spend a lot of time making my feed look cute.”

“Okay.” He nods, then pauses. “What is a feed?”

Antony and I exchange glances, biting back a laugh.

I pull my phone from my back pocket, type in my password, and log into my account. I haven’t checked it since what happened in January, not after seeing some of Maria’s friends commenting on my posts.

“Here.” I hand my phone to Beckett, watching with amusement as he frowns and swipes his thumb across the screen, putting the rest of my carefully curated grid on display.

“I really like the one with the ocean in the background.”Antony offers, sounding a little awkward. It’s an olive branch, and I take it because it’s better than nothing.After a moment of silence, he adds, “The lighting is really cool.”

“Kayla took it for me on her phone, but to be fair, the idea was mine.” I glance at Kayla, who’s a few steps behind us, chatting with Angelina. “She’s really good with a camera and even has one of her own. You should show her your stuff.”

Right then, my best friend screams.

“I’m the happiest girl in the world!”

“Is she?” Antony looks down at the camera in his hands, absently toying with the buttons. I hum, feeling Beckett’s arm slip around my waist and pull me closer. “I’ll talk to her about it later, then. Thanks, Cass!”

Beckett hands me back my phone, eyes still on the screen.

“You look really good in all of these.” He smiles softly, impressed. “I really like the pink theme you have going on.”

“Right?” I nuzzle against his chest again, dropping my voice to just a whisper for him. “Mateo only posts shirtless pictures of himself.”

It still comes out of me a little louder than I intended and everyone hears it, but instead of bringing more tension, my comment instantly lightens the mood.

A ripple of laughter follows, with even Angelina hesitantly joining in. She looks a lot less sad than before. It makes me feel good when I make others happy. I wonder if they can tell.

“Rivera attacks Pereira sneakily!” Tony speaks fast, like a narrator retelling a soccer match. “She steals the ball when he least expects it, and…”

Mateo’s head snaps towards us, the corner of his lips twitching before he finally smiles. “I can hear you, Cassandra!”

“I wasn’t trying to hide!” I lie.

“Yes, you were!” He starts jogging ahead of us. “I can hear you loud and clear!”

Kayla’s gaze locks with mine, and we smile at each other for the first time in days.

“It’s really embarrassing for him, isn’t it?” I ask.

She agrees with a simple nod, and something in me softens.

I miss just being around her.

I miss my best friend.

She nudges Angelina, trying to get her to smile a little, too. “Is this really the guy you want to have a crush on?”

“A crush? We’re just friends!”

“Friends?” Mateo gasps, as if offended. “I’m not only your friend, Angelina. How can you even say that?”

“He sometimes uses the dog filter!” I giggle loudly.

“And she strikes again!” Tony jumps.

A distant, dramatic cry echoes back.

It’s Mateo again.

“Cassandra Rivera, I can still hear you!”