Page 136 of Until August

We were so much more than that.

We were everything.

“No. I think it’s exactly how it looks,” Frankie said. “You’ve always been a selfish bitch. Only thinking about yourself. My brother knocked himself out to make you happy and give you everything you ever wanted. He made all your stupid dreams come true. And this is how you repay him? By fucking an ex-con?”

“He’s not… you don’t even know him,” I said, but then it hit me that she must have known him. How did she know he was my sous chef? How did she know he was an ex-con?

How did Rio know him?

I was fixating on all the wrong things, but I couldn’t face the fact that Frankie hated me so much that she was lashing out and purposefully trying to hurt me.

I just couldn’t face the fact that Cruz’s little sister would say such mean and hateful things when we used to be so close. Frankie was like the sister I never had.

“Come on, Frankie.” Rio tried to usher her away from our table. “It’s okay. Let’s go.”

She spun out of his grip. “It’s not fucking okay! Nothing is okay.” She pointed at me. “Look at her. How dare she be happy?”

I told myself that she was angry and didn’t mean anything she was saying. She was just lashing out. Using me as her human punching bag. I could handle it.

But the words echoed in my head,How dare she be happy?

How dare I?

“You’re nothing but a whore. Spending my brother’s money and—”

“That’s enough,” August said sharply as he stood up from his seat, his jaw clenched, eyes hard. “You have no right to talk to her like that.”

Frankie’s gaze swung to August. “Fuck you, August. This is between Nic and me. Why is everyone always trying to protect her?” She planted her palms on the table and leaned in close. “What is it, Nic? Do you have a magic vagina? That must be it.”

“Frankie, back off,” August said, his voice steely. “Rio. Get her the fuck out of here. Or I will.”

Frankie straightened up, giving me one last look before she turned away. “I’m going. I said all I needed to say.” Frankie lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and walked out of the restaurant with Rio.

I stayed in my seat, frozen. Too stunned and heartbroken to move. I stared blankly at the paella we hadn’t even finished eating.

August and I were silent. Not the easy, comfortable kind of silence. The tension was so thick you cut it with a knife.

Finally, I lifted my head and met his gaze across the table. I couldn’t read his face. Anger? Hurt?

But instead of allowing myself to process what had just happened and to talk about it with him, I grasped the first thing I could think of and ran with it. “You know Frankie.”

He nodded curtly. “I met her. Once. Rio used to work for me.”

Wow. Okay. News to me. I sagged back in my seat. “When was this? When did you meet her?”

He pressed his lips together in annoyance. “Does this really matter right now?”

I shrugged and toyed with the stem of my wineglass. “I’m just curious.”

He sighed. “The day I came in for a trial shift.”

I remembered that day. Of course, I did. I also remembered our phone call when he was rude. I huffed out a laugh. “Let me guess, Frankie mentioned me, and it wasn’t altogether flattering.”

“She didn’t say much, but yeah, that’s what happened.”

“Wow. Okay. And in the six months we’ve known each other, you never thought to mention it?”

“What the fuck was I supposed to say?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and lowered his voice. “I can’t see how it would have helped or what difference it would have made.”