Page 50 of Screwed

Ava

We scrambled in a panic, our wet skin freezing. Ethan nearly tripped trying to pull his damp work pants back on, while Deacon didn’t even bother buttoning up his shirt, just wrapping his unlaced boots around his bare feet. I pulled my cotton shirt over my head, the wet fabric clinging to my torso as we all tried—and failed—to look composed under Nate’s unblinking, furious stare.

He didn’t even wait for us to finish dressing.

“Are you three out of your fucking minds!” he barked. The grip on his tablet was so tight it looked about ready to crack.

I’d seen Nate upset before, many times in our youth. But this… I had never seen this look on his face before, or heard this level of rage in his voice.

It was almost scary, not because I thought he was capable of doing something horrible with it, but because it just wasn’t him.

Ethan stepped forward, holding out a hand in a futile attempt at de-escalation. “Nate, look, it’s not what it looks like—”

But Nate cut him off.

“Shut up, Ethan,” he snapped, shoving a finger directly at his chest. “I don’t wanna hear it. Unless there’s another reason the three of you are naked in a shower together.”

Ethan went quiet.

Nate laughed, but there wasn’t a hint of humor in it. “I can’t believe this shit. Here I am, trying to run a professional job site, and you two are willing to throw that all away just because you can’t keep your dicks in your pants.”

Deacon frowned. “Hey, that’s not—”

“Fair?” Nate interrupted again, refusing to give either of the guys a chance to explain. “No, Deacon, what’s not fair is you all being more than willing to jeopardize our reputation and the integrity of the job. That’s what’s fucked up.”

I couldn’t stand to listen to this anymore. This was all my fault anyway. I had to try and make it right. I wiped a wet strand of hair from my forehead. “Nate, please just listen. Nobody jeopardized anything, okay? We’re all adults here. We’re allowed to do what we want. Besides, who’s going to know? It’s not like we’re going to be reported.”

“Don’t sweet-talk me, Ava,” he said.

“I’m not. This is my cabin. Surely that counts for something?” I implored.

“It counts for nothing.” His voice dropped into a dangerous, icy rumble that made my chest tighten. “You’re wrong, and they’re wrong. I don’t give a damn whose cabin this is. I’m calling off the job. You can find a new contractor.” He turned to Ethan and Deacon. “Pack up the gear. Both of you. I want your trucks loaded and off this property within the hour.”

There was a beat of silence in the wake of the bomb he’d just dropped. Images of the drone raced through my mind, then of the tight hug Jules had given me before I’d left. If I was left alone… My stomach turned, a sour taste creeping into my mouth as panic set in.

Ethan was the one to break the silence first. He sounded serious; the stone resolution behind his words challenging Nate’s incredible stubbornness. “We can’t leave Ava by herself.”

Nate scoffed. “Really? And why is that?”

Ethan paused to look at me, his eyes softening even as his jaw set. He turned back to Nate. “Because there are people after her.”

Nate’s mouth dropped open. I could see him try to process what Ethan had just said, his expression a mirror to what I was sure my face looked like. I couldn’t believe that Ethan had just come out and said the truth so plainly.

For months, I’d been keeping the reality of my situation to myself. No one except Jules had known of the situation and the risk, and I thought that it was going to have to stay that way for the foreseeable future. But Deacon had been the first to breach that wall. Then Ethan.

Both times I admitted the truth, I’d been either desperate or vulnerable. And now, facing the very real possibility of the three of them leaving, I found myself being both.

“What?” Nate shook his head in disbelief. His eyes shot from Ethan to me. “Ava, what is he talking about?“

My throat was so dry it felt like any words that might attempt to escape it were scraped away until there was nothing left.

I tried picking apart the emotions on Nate’s face. He still looked furious. There was confusion too, his brows knotted together. But—and this was the one that made me too much of a coward to respond to him immediately—there was hurt, too. I didn’t have to think too hard about why that was there.

He’d asked me, over and over again, to be honest with him. And I hadn’t.

When he saw that I was unable to answer, Deacon jumped in. “She and Jules discovered their company was up to some bad shit.”

He and Ethan filled Nate in on everything, even confirming details with each other without missing a beat.