Read Online Set Me Free by London Setterby - Free Book Online Page B

white-blonde hair, bright even in the darkness, caught my eye. Kaye stood just out of reach of the waves, talking to two girls I didn’t know and—to my dismay—Jenny, whose dark bob didn’t seem to be affected by the sea breeze. She shot me a cold glare, but I didn’t care: if she was here, that meant Owen was here, too.
    “Miranda!” Kaye waved me over. “I was wondering where you got to. This is Jenny. She’s from Bellisle. And this is Violet, my old roommate, and Alice, who does half-marathon training with me and Andy.”
    Alice was slender and seemed to hide in her sweatshirt and jeans. Violet, on the other hand, was almost as tall as Kaye. She wore an imperious updo, a denim jacket, and a clingy maxi dress.
    “So you’re the new girl,” Violet drawled, looking me over. “Everyone’s been talking about you.”
    “They have?” I glanced at Jenny, wondering if she knew about my car, or about Owen bandaging up the cut on my leg.
    Up close, there was something different about her tonight. She wasn’t quite as put-together as usual, and her eyes were ever-so-slightly puffy. I felt a pang of sympathy for her, thinking of a law school party Rhys had dragged me to immediately after one of our fights. It’s terrible to be teary-eyed at a party. You might as well burst into tears on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
    “What do you think of Fall Island, new girl?” Violet asked me, with a wide, wolfish smile.
    I tore my gaze away from Jenny. “I like it.”
    “I can’t believe I ever considered moving here,” Jenny snapped.
    Violet turned her wolfish grin on Jenny. “Then you aren’t?”
    “No,” Jenny spat. All traces of tears had vanished; her face looked like it was made out of steel. “I hate it here. It’s bad enough there are no decent restaurants and the people here are awful and ignorant. Then there’s the fact that the whole place is still obsessed with that stupid painter—”
    “Careful,” Violet growled. “Suzanna and I were friends, you know.”
    Jenny flinched—which, as scary as Violet was, seemed like an extreme reaction. I watched in bewilderment as Jenny touched her lip, cursing under her breath. Her fingers came away bloody.
    “What just happened?” Kaye asked. “Did you bite yourself?”
    Jenny’s only response was more inarticulate cursing. She pressed her fingers to her mouth as blood cascaded forwards onto her white fleece.
    “Jesus,” I said.
    “Are you okay?” Kaye stepped forwards to touch Jenny’s arm.
    “Don’t touch me,” Jenny snarled, jerking out of Kaye’s reach. “I’m going home. I don’t know why I bothered coming—no one in this entire town is worth fucking!”
    She stalked off across the beach, holding her mouth, while we watched in bewilderment—except for Violet, who licked her lips. “‘Worth fucking’? I wonder who she was planning to fuck? Not Owen, clearly.”
    I glanced up at Violet in surprise. Not Owen?
    “Yeah,” Kaye said, “it sounds like they had a fight.”
    “You think?” Violet rolled her eyes. “Good riddance. Even Owen Larsen deserves better.” She laughed coldly.
    Andy jogged across the beach towards us. “What happened? Is Jenny hurt?” He paused beside Kaye, reaching out as if he were going to rest his hand on her back, but he stopped himself.
    Kaye shrugged. “I don’t know. Think she’s more upset than anything else.”
    “Well, if she’s looking for Owen, she’s going the wrong way,” Andy said. “He was up by the Lodge with Rusty the last time I saw him.”
    “I don’t think she’s looking for Owen,” Kaye said quietly.
    I needed to know what had happened between him and Jenny. I slipped away from the others and hurried up the beach towards the Artist’s Lodge. I saw Rusty first, perched on a massive boulder with his gangly arms resting on his knees, his habitual slouch, fedora, and cigarette in place. Standing beside him, Owen was a silhouette of messy hair and big shoulders.
    This was