Page 17 of The Moments You Were Mine

“You’re hurt?” The words were gravelly, laced with concern and barely leashed anger.

I felt the back of my head for the bump and winced when I found it. “Got knocked into the wall.”

“What the fuck happened, Ducky?”

I swallowed hard and was about to explain just as JJ reached us. His eyes narrowed as they drifted between me and Parker.

“Fallon, are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded. But I wasn’t. I was a mess of old memories and new ones. Of fear and relief.

“Where were you when she was in danger?” Parker barked.

JJ’s shoulders went back, and he widened his stance. “What? I’m supposed to tag along with her whenever she goes to the bathroom? At least I’m here. Where have you been for months?”

I stepped between them. “This isn’t JJ’s fault, Parker. This is on me. I should have called the cops instead of getting in the middle of their argument.”

JJ’s gaze settled on me before darting to Celia, still cuffed on the bench, and Ace in the back of the squad car. “They were fighting? Big deal. Shit, Ace and Celia go at it all the time. You know that, Fallon.”

JJ worked with Ace at the beach hut, and JJ insisted he was a good guy. But ever since my first interaction with Ace, my instincts had always screamedStay away. Parker had liked Ace even less. They’d even gone toe to toe several times when Ace had been passing around drugs to the college crowd that he was far too old to be hanging out with.

As JJ watched Ace yelling at the cops from the back of the police car, something passed over his face. Concern. Worry. Helooked back at me and said, “You should have left it alone. Why would you call the cops?”

“I didn’t. Someone must have heard him slamming the shovel into the bathroom door…” A tremor ran through me again, and both men reached out, as if they were going to pull me to them, until their hands collided, and they retreated. JJ tucked his into the pockets of his sweats. Parker crossed his arms over that wide expanse of his chest.

The female officer came back and handed me a card. “We’re holding Ace overnight. He has another drug charge pending trial, so I’m not sure if he’ll make bail or not. Celia won’t testify, but the prosecutor will want to talk to you. If we can make anything from tonight stick on top of his previous arrest, it might keep him away long enough for her to come to her senses.”

“Don’t get involved, Fallon,” JJ said softly, and it drew the officer’s gaze to his.

Her eyes narrowed before they shifted to Parker and then back to me. “You have someone to take you home?”

“Yes,” JJ replied just as I nodded.

She hesitated as if reading the tension in the air but then walked away. I turned in the direction of the bonfire. “I need to grab my things.”

“I already put them in my car,” JJ said. “Let’s get the hell out of here and try to forget this whole night.”

He shot Parker an angry look, grabbed my hand, and tugged me toward the parking lot. I pulled away from him. “Let me talk to Parker for a minute, and then I’ll be ready to go.”

JJ scowled, muttered something under his breath, and strode toward his car.

Nerves rattled through me, and I was tempted to give in to the bad habit I’d broken years ago of chewing on my nails. Instead, I bit my cheek and rubbed my fingers over my thumb.

“I don’t even know where to start with my questions,” Parker said. He shot JJ an annoyed look before glancing at the squad cars and finally settling those steely gray eyes on me. “But all I really care about is if you’re okay.”

We stared at each other for a few seconds. The air seemed to warm. Electricity zapping as if lightning was blooming when the sky was clear. I’d missed him. Missed us. Missed our friendship.

“I’m sorry,” I said. And I wasn’t sure if it was for calling him in the middle of the night, asking him to rescue me, or for the months I’d gone without talking to him.

How could I have let so much time go by simply because I’d been embarrassed?

His brow furrowed in concern. “I’ll always be here for you. Always.”

That hurt almost as much as it soothed. Knowing he’d be at my side in every way except the one I’d wanted most was what had led me to react so dramatically. It was time for me to face the hard truth. Parker would never want me the way JJ did. And I wanted—no, needed—to be loved completely. I needed to be the center of someone’s world at least once in my life.

I swallowed. “I’m sorry I called you. I should have just dialed 9-1-1.”

“I’m not sorry.” Parker glanced toward JJ’s old sedan. “Are you really back together with that douche?”