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Then the driver side door opened, and a tall guy with a shaved head and a neck tattoo stepped out. He called to her, and she said something back, but I was too far away to hear. She started to walk away from him, but he reached out, aggressively grabbing her elbow.

Oh, hell no.

I moved on autopilot, jogging faster toward the school gates. The guy was saying something to Erin. He looked like he was trying to intimidate her, his jaw tight as he spoke. Erin’s posture curled in on itself, like she was frightened, and I was ready to punch him just for making her scared.

“Everything okay here?” I asked confidently, and the bloke’s gaze lifted to me. Erin’s pretty, amber-coloured eyes widened just as they had yesterday at Christine’s, her mouth forming a small ‘O’ as I approached and shot the guy a hard look, a look that said back the hell off her before I do something we’ll both regret.

3.

Erin

It was Tristan Balfe. Again. What was he doing here?

I’d purposely been avoiding Graham since yesterday. I wandered around the beach for hours last night, waiting until it was late enough that he and Sloane might be asleep by the time I got back. My sister had been calling and texting, asking where I was and if I was going to join them for dinner. I’d replied to say I was staying out with my friends—who were, of course, fictional—and not to wait up for me.

Today she’d texted me from work asking if I’d like to meet her and Graham for lunch, and I’d said I didn’t have time, that I had to study for a biology test I was sitting after lunch. Sloane replied saying no problem, but that Graham would drive me home from school later if I wanted. I said it was unnecessary. She insisted. I didn’t believe for a second it was really her idea. It felt like Graham.

He knew I was avoiding him, and this wasn’t about kindness, it was about control. About proving he could still get close to me if he wanted to.

The idea of being alone in a car with him made my stomach cramp.

I’d already learned what he was like when no one else was around, which was why I’d been hiding in the bathroom of the science building for the last twenty minutes, watching the time tick over, hoping he’d give up and leave.

Unfortunately, the predatory arsehole was persistent.

“I don’t need a lift. I like to walk,” I’d said when he’d climbed out of the car to greet me.

“Come on, Erin, quit acting like a spoiled brat. Me and Sloane are back together, and you’re going to have to accept it.”

“I never said I didn’t accept it,” I’d retorted, continuing to walk away from him when he caught up with me and grabbed me roughly by the elbow. The movement caused my backpack to fall off my shoulder. It hit the ground with a thud, and a jolt of fear spread through me, followed by revulsion that he was touching me. I wanted to drown myself in bleach.

I tugged my arm away, anger overtaking my fear. “Don’t you dare grab me.”

He huffed an irritated breath. “I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t keep walking away from me. It’s obvious you’re in a mood about us—” Before he could finish the sentence, Tristan was there, with his broad shoulders and a hard expression showing he didn’t like the rough way Graham was handling me. At first, relief washed over me, but it was quickly followed by embarrassment. The humiliation from yesterday still hadn’t fully subsided and now this.

“Everything okay here?”

Graham’s confidence flickered ever so slightly when he saw Tristan.

“We’re just talking,” he replied evenly while Tristan looked him up and down.

“Erin doesn’t seem to want to talk to you,” Tristan said, and my eyes flared wide. How did he know my name?

Graham shot me a look. “You know this boy?”

I glanced at Tristan, who gave an almost imperceptible nod for me to lie, so I said, “Yes, I d-do.”

Graham’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, followed by agitation. He wasn’t used to me having back up. After Dad passed, Sloane and I didn’t have any male figure in our lives. Our Uncle Fred, who was our mother’s brother, lived in Wicklow, so we didn’t see him very often. Graham liked being the only man around. I’d never seen him look so bothered as he shot Tristan a hard stare then looked back to me. “Sloane didn’t say you had a boyfriend.”

Oh, he thought—

“Well, she does,” Tristan said, suddenly right beside me as he affectionately draped his arm around my shoulders. My heart pounded. My thoughts were a jumbled mess, and I was immediately aware of his warmth followed by his scent. He smelled like clean sweat and some kind of citrus shower gel. Tristan wore his rugby gear, so he’d obviously run over here during a training session. Was it that obvious that I needed help? Did it look like Graham was hassling me? Then again, Tristan had overheard what I’d said yesterday at the café. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

I looked up at him and found him gazing down at me with a warm expression, his brown eyes inviting in a way that made my skin tingle. Tristan had dark blond hair that fell down over his forehead in a perfect wave.

“Look,” Graham went on, less confident than he’d been before Tristan turned up. “Sloane and I really want to give things a proper shot this time around. We’d appreciate your support.”

Wow, I didn’t think he’d ever spoken to me with such respect. At least, not while Sloane was absent. It appeared having a six-foot-something, athletic, rugby-playing fake boyfriend came with perks.