I swallowed.

“That’s right, get the fuck out of here!” Noah bellowed behind him.

Miles drank from his drink and raised both brows. “How rude.”

And in the next instant, his fist sped forward into Nash’s face.

I winced, and a murmur went through the bar.

“Damn it, Miles!” The black-haired man roared, and was already about to pull this Miles backwards, when Nash’s fist flew at Miles, hitting him right on the nose.

Miles stumbled back.

Students jumped up and backed away. Jenny held up her iPad, probably to film.

“Nash!” Emely gasped, and she went to pull her brother out of the ring that had somehow formed, but someone pulled her back. Hunter.

To get a better look, I stood up, still holding Larissa’s bottle, and made my way through the crowd.

“Not bad, Copeland,” Miles laughed, straightening up with a bloody nose, only to deliver another unpredictable punch to Nash’s chin.

I held a hand in front of my mouth, and before I could hesitate, I stumbled forward into the circle and leaned down to Nash.

“Nash?”

Nash snapped his eyes open and stared at me, literally piercing me with his gaze. Now I could see those beautiful eyes again. Only at this very moment did I realize how much I had longed for them.

Suddenly, Nash pushed me aside and jumped up on his own.

“Stay away from me, Madelin.”

Madelin.

My heart stopped.

Madelin.

“I just wanted to-” I stammered out, overwhelmed.

“I don’t need your pity.” He pressed out with a desperate look. “Are you spying on me again?”

Exhausted and humiliated by these accusations, it took me some seconds to find the appropriate words, but nothing came out. And then Ezra appeared next to us.

“Hey. What’s going on?” He stepped toward Nash. “I told you to stay away from my sister!”

Nash looked back and forth between me and him, turned away from me, and finally hit the table next to him, making me wince again.

Ezra wheeled around to face me. “Mady, you better go.”

It sounded cold. Like it wasn’t my brother who said it, but that black-haired DeLoughrey. And everything about this situation, Nash’s look, his words, his guys’ looks, and my brother’s pitch sent me stumbling backwards and finally out of the bar into the night, upset.

Tears burned in my eyes, but luckily for me, I wasn’t alone, or I would have broken my most important principle.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to get you involved,” someone cursed, and I realized it was that Miles DeLoughrey guy.

I saw the glass in his hand, and before I could really think, I reached for it.

“This will...” he began, but it was already too late. I spat out the sweet liquid. “...not satisfy you.”

“Who drinks apple juice, for God’s sake? In a bar?” I complained with a laugh, handing him back the glass. “I would have expected more class from you DeLoughreys.”

He laughed indignantly. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

I grabbed my throbbing temple. “Nothing, I just...I should get going.”

“Are you here with the car?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but look at him in hesitance.

“Yes,” I replied, confused, and he looked around observantly with a serious expression.

“Let me walk you to the car. You never know who’s walking around here at this hour.”

My head hurt too much to refuse him the offer, so I just nodded and walked straight ahead.

“And you don’t drink?”

Miles didn’t say anything for a while. 

“It’s complicated,” it escaped him curtly.

Weird guy.

“I really need alcohol right now,” I sighed, and he just laughed.

I missed the summer parties everyone had thrown to say goodbye to Blairville or their friends. I had gone to every single one, even though I hadn’t spent time with anyone at any of these. I’d drunk a lot to forget about Nash, and luckily, he hadn’t shown up anywhere either. But now it hurt even more to see him again.

“Devil’s poison.”

I looked at Miles, who took the bottle from my hand as I stopped in front of my car before I could take another sip. Then he looked at me with a serious expression.

“If I may give you some advice...Nash is a jerk. Whatever history you guys have. Stay away from him.”

I looked at him with a sigh. “Are you now going to accuse me of stalking my ex, too?”

“No,” he laughed, as if he’d already had a lot to drink, which was clearly not the case. “But his family is in pretty deep shit.”

I said nothing. Whatever he meant, it had something to do with this town’s politics.

“You should go now.”