CHAPTER NINE
SHIFTING GROUND
ISABELLA
The worst part wasn’t that he was there. It wasn’t the way my body reacted before my brain could catch up. It wasn’t the way his voice still lingered in my ears long after I walked away. It was the fact that I couldn’t pretend anymore. Something had shifted. And no matter how much I tried to act like it hadn’t… It had.
———
The drive back from the beach club was quiet. For me that is. Camille talked the entire time, recounting who she saw, who she hated, who she might sleep with if she was bored enough. I nodded in the right places, laughed when I was supposed to, played my role perfectly. Meanwhile, my mind was somewhere else. Still stuck on him. On her Dad. Shut, this is so messed up.
“You were off tonight,” Camille said suddenly, glancing at me
