“Fuck,” I hissed, kicking the ground. Dust sprayed up around me and the guys choked.
“Watch it, asshole,” Kye muttered. “I need to take a leak.” He got up and stumbled toward the tree line.
“You two are really partying hard tonight, huh?”
“It’s been a shitty day, Miller.”
“Listen, there’s something you need to know.” He sat forward, running a hand over his jaw. “The money—”
“Shit, you need it back?” I sobered suddenly. “I can work something out. I’ll pull extra shifts at the mill, see if I can get on the roster at—”
“No, no. It’s not about the money… shit, okay.” He blew out a steady breath and a strange sensation curled through me. “It’s about where the money came from.”
“What do you mean where it came from? You said—”
“I know what I said, but she made me promise…”
No.
No fucking way.
“Tell me she didn’t,” I growled, anger swelling inside me like a tidal wave. “Tell me you didn’t fucking let her—”
“Whoa, I didn’tlether do anything. She wanted to help but she knew you wouldn’t let her. So I agreed to be her cover story. I promised I wouldn’t tell you, but I think you need to know the truth.”
“The truth about what?” Kye stumbled back to his chair.
Nate glanced at me, and I nodded. Maybe Kye could make better sense of what he was saying than I could. Because it didn’t make any sense.
It didn’t.
“I didn’t bail Zane out.”
“You didn’t? I don’t understand. I thought—”
“It was Celeste.” Her name echoed through me like thunder. “She withdrew the money and gave it to me to give to him.”
“Shiiit.” Kye flopped back into the chair. “That’s—”
“I need to see her,” I said, shooting up from my seat. But the world spun, the vodka and fresh air choosing that moment to hit me. I tripped back into the chair and tried to get my bearings. “Maybe tomorrow, I’ll go see her.”
“Yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow it’s ooon,” Kye whooped. “Tomorrow, Z-man goes to get his girl. In the meantime, Miller, you got any of the good stuff on you?”
Nate slipped his hand into his pocket and smirked. “I never go anywhere unprepared.”
But I was too caught up on Kye’s words to hear him.
Because he’d called Celeste my girl too.
But she wasn’t.
And she wouldn’t ever be.
* * *
“Fucking move,” I grunted, shoving the hairy leg off me.
“W-what?” Nate murmured, his head poking up between the floor and Kye’s bed. “Holy shit, I feel like something crawled inside me and died.”