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threatening to whip our behinds if she caught us.”
    Mara smiled, though I could see the sadness in her eyes. “I wish I had memories like that with Josh. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have anything, like maybe it was all a dream. Maybe he’ll come back and things won’t be the same as they were.” She swallowed, blinking quickly.
    I hugged her, pulling her close. She tensed at first, but then she relaxed and laid her head on my chest.
    It was what I had wanted for months now, to be this close to her. But it felt wrong somehow.
    After a moment, she pulled away. “I think I’m going to stay here with Miss Gale tonight,” she said.
    “I’ll stay too,” I said quickly. “To keep you company.”
    Mara rolled her eyes. “Sure, because the couch looks big enough for both of us.”
    I gestured toward the bed. “I’m sure Sailor won’t mind if we use her bed. It won’t be the first time we’ve slept together.”
    I meant it as a joke, but the look in Mara’s eyes told me I’d stepped over a line she had refused to cross. We hadn’t spoken about that one night she had spent in my bed.
    But we were supposed to be friends. I was a nice guy. I could keep my hands to myself. Well, maybe not with Elizabeth, but this was Mara. I’d been a perfect little gentleman before. I could probably do it again for one night.
    “Dylan,” Mara started.
    But I didn’t want to hear the “Let’s be friends” speech for the hundredth time.
    “Sharing a bed with me doesn’t mean you’re cheating on Josh,” I said.
    “I know that,” Mara snapped. “But it’s complicated.”
    “It’s just sleeping! The couch is lumpy, the bed would be much more comfortable. And so what if something did happen? Would that be so terrible? Am I repulsive?”
    Mara shook her head and started to turn, but I grabbed her arm, pulling her back to face me.
    “Josh left you, if you hadn’t noticed,” I said through clenched teeth. “ I’m the one who’s still here. I’m the one who has listened to you and held you when you cried these last couple of months. Don’t I get anything for that? No, because you think you’re in love with a guy who didn’t even care enough to stick around. A guy who might not even still be alive.”
    Mara’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She stared at me, frozen for a moment. Then anger clouded her face and she pulled her arm from my grasp.
    “I think you should leave,” she said, her mouth tight.
    I reached toward her, feeling terrible for what I’d said. I didn’t want Josh dead. I might not exactly like the guy, but I’d never want him dead. He had to keep Sailor safe until she came home.
    “Mara, I—”
    But she stepped away from me, turning her head. “Just go,” she said, her chin quivering slightly.
    I stood there for a moment longer, but she refused to look at me.
    “Fine,” I growled. Ducking my head, I walked past her and headed down the hall.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
    The agitation I’d felt about the things going on around the island added fuel to the frustration now coursing through my body after my fight with Mara.
    I didn’t want to be one of those guys who got angry over little things, but I was tired of being the nice, invisible guy I’d always been. I had tried being nice to everyone. I had tried not drawing attention to myself. I had tried to go along with what everyone else wanted, and what did it get me? Mara chose Josh over me, even when he wasn’t here. Elizabeth was happy to keep our relationship a secret while she paraded around with those imbeciles she called friends.
    I was still invisible Dylan Waverly. I was still stuck.
    I walked with my head down, kicking at small rocks and broken seashells that littered the path along Swans Landing’s main road. An engine revved behind me, drawing closer, but I didn’t look up until the ATV skidded to a stop in front of me.
    “What’s a little fish doing so far from the water?” Kyle