“Hey, don’t walk away from me,” Ben sneered. His fingers dug into her skin as she tried to right herself. He wasn’t built, but his grip was strong when it mattered.
The world clipped into stuttering microfiche around her. “Let go of me!” she snarled. Adrenaline roared through her body as she tried to shake him off.
“We got a problem here?” Garrett’s deep voice jolted them both. He appeared out of nowhere to stand beside them, not quite getting in the middle. Reece’s best friend looked between her and Ben like a referee bursting onto the field to settle a dispute between players.
Ben immediately let go and raised his hands in the air, looking at her like she was the difficult one, but his face was an ugly smear of fury. “Jesus, don’t be so dramatic, Thorny.”
Charlotte pulled her smarting arm against her chest, Ben’s fingers still a white burn on her skin. Tears pressed against her eyes, emotionally stuck somewhere between horror and relief.
“What’s going on?” Garrett barked, not taking his eyes off Ben’s face.
“Nothing,” Ben spat. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Charlotte. “Just a lovers’ quarrel.”
She rocked back a step as his words hit her like darts of tainted memory. Her voice flickered and died in her throat, tranquilized. She could hear her old words like an echo through time: I’m so sorry Ben I didn’t mean it—
Garrett glanced at her, his face unreadable. Then he stepped between them in one seamless movement, his back to her.
“Okay, you’re done.” Garrett placed his hand at the center of Ben’s chest and gave him a firm shove backward. “Get your goofy ass out of here.”
Garrett’s wide hockey player’s body towered over her ex-boyfriend. Charlotte peered around his back to watch Ben splutter. “Do you know who I am?”
“Everyone knows who you are,” Garrett seethed. He didn’t need to raise his voice—his raised hackles were proof enough of his seriousness. “We don’t care about your daddy. No one wants you here. Go home.”
Charlotte’s jaw dropped, but Garrett wasn’t done. “You hear me? Back. The hell. Off.” He punctuated each word with another shove against Ben’s chest, not hard enough to hurt but enough to force him backward on impact.
Her ex looked around for backup, but he was alone. The graduation ceremony proceeded unaware of their argument as Roger wound up for some awful big finish. A few fearless graduates booed.
Only the R&C girl running the water station peered over at them. Charlotte realized in a rush why Imani looked familiar—she had Garrett’s round face and elegant neck. His sister, the future senator.
Ben glanced at Charlotte, his eyes flinty, before considering the man in front of him. Garrett showed no sign of backing down.
With a huff, Ben brushed the front of his jacket like he was dusting off Garrett’s prints. Then he spun on his heels and power-walked away, his head ducked as he disappeared into the tent.
Garrett turned around. He looked her over, his pale eyes wide with concern. Charlotte suddenly noticed they were a soft blue, like the forget-me-not flowers that grew in her backyard as a child. “You okay?” he asked.
Words abandoned her. Garrett had a fresh scrape on his chin. Little speckles of dried blood were already forming scabs. “What happened there?” she asked, nodding at the injury.
“Oh.” He brought his fingers to his face. “Fell last night. Tried to jump off a loft bed.”
She blinked. “At Acronym?”
“Yeah. I got dared.”
She laughed. The scrape made him look rugged.
“What about you?” He stayed still and made no move to touch her, which she appreciated. Her brain felt like the needle had fallen off the record. “Are you okay?”
“I think I’m in shock?” she said. “Maybe?”
He frowned. “Seems like it. Let’s get you some water, yeah?”
Charlotte rested her hands on her knees and reminded herself to breathe as Garrett dashed off to grab a drink at the water station. She felt light-headed as her adrenaline rush slowed.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
“Here.” Garrett crouched down in front of her. He handed her a paper cup and she gulped down the cold water. “Do you need to sit down?”
“I’m fine,” she said. He raised a bushy eyebrow and she coughed, pressing her hand to her chest. “Really, I’m okay. Thank you for—” She didn’t know what to say, how to explain it.
No one ever stood up to Ben like that. Not even Jackie. No one but Garrett—and now Charlotte too.
Garrett cut her off with a firm shake of his head. “Least I could do,” he said. “I was trying not to smack him.”
Charlotte let out a shaky laugh. She took another sip of the water, her heart finally slowing its sprint.
“For serious, should we do something?” he asked in a low voice.
Charlotte shook her head. It wasn’t worth it. The Mead family’s lawyers had shielded Ben from much worse than being an aggressive prick to his ex-girlfriend in broad daylight. “Nah, there’s no point. It would just blow back on us. And I think he’s gone.”
Garrett watched silently as she finished the water. Charlotte stood up and pushed her hair out of her face. She handed him the empty cup. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
He shrugged a meaty shoulder. “Yeah, I did.”
Chapter 16
TEXT MESSAGE FROM JIO VARGAS TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 9:41 AM: OH MY GOD CHARLOTTE WHAT ON EARTH!!!! QUEEEN!!! BITCH!!!! WHAT!!!!
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