When I pulled in front of the house, I noticed that Landon’s car wasn’t there, which probably meant he was working.
I knocked on the door and it swung open. Colby’s hair was damp and his T-shirt clung to his body like he’d slipped it on before having a chance to fully dry off.
“Hey, sorry. Dad had me working late, then Mom wanted me to stay for dinner.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I could’ve come by tomorrow.”
“No, it’s good. I’m just sorry I didn’t have a chance to straighten up.”
Their place was far from messy, but there was a blanket thrown over one couch, shoes in a corner, and a few dishes on the table.
Colby shrugged. “Landon.” Like that explained everything.
I laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve seen it worse, remember?”
He smiled. “That party was a nightmare to clean up after.”
“It really was.”
He motioned for me to sit down. “Want anything to drink?” he asked as he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottled water.
“I’m good.”
He came back to the living room and plopped onto the couch.
“Dad work you hard?”
“You have no idea.” He shook his head. “Winterizing everything. And man. Just a lot of work for two guys.”
“I bet. So are you looking forward to charter season next year?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
While he said yes, his body language said maybe not. I waited to see if he’d offer more, then finally said, “At least you have a nice break before the season picks up again.”
“True.” He chugged half of his water, and leaned back.
I didn’t exactly know how to redirect the conversation to my reason for being here, especially because I wasn’t even sure why I was. So I sat back and glanced around the room.
Colby cleared his throat. “Has Luis left?”
“This morning.”
“Good.”
I studied his expression trying to remember if I’d ever seen so much animosity on his face.
“So, I just, well, I’m not sure how to go about this or even if I should, but I do want to clear up one thing.” He ran his hand through his damp hair, causing it to stick up a little on one side. Then he smoothed it down. “You said everything is your fault and that’s a blatant lie.”
“Colby—” I chewed my lip, then said, “It’s sweet of you to think that but, well, you weren’t in the car with us that day. It really is. I won’t take all the blame, because my parents fought all the time anyway, but the whole accident was like the catalyst to the divorce, the rumors, everything.”
“Your accident? You think that’s what caused it?”
“I mean, not solely, but yeah. It kind of dominoed from there. I know that’s why Luis and my dad blame me.”
“Isla…” He rubbed his hand down his jaw this time. “I don’t know how to say this, but your family moved to protect your brother and their image. Or at least that’s why your dad did.”
“Luis left for college. My parents divorced and wanted far away from one another.”
He shook his head. “That may be partially true, but that’s not really what was going on, and I know that for a fact because it involved me.”
I stared at him, trying to piece together what he could be referring to, but also curious as to how he could have kept something from me all these years if it involved him and my family. “Um, I think the best thing is maybe for you to just to tell me everything. Like from the beginning.”
“You may not like it.”
“Colby. Tell me.”
He took a deep breath, then nodded. “One night, back when we were in high school, and before your parents divorced, there’d been a get-together at my house. Landon had invited people over when my parents were out of town, and Luis was one of them. Well, I’d been sleeping and got up to use the restroom and sort of stumbled upon Luis”—he sighed—“forcing himself on a girl.”
My hands went cold and my stomach knotted. “What do you mean? Like rape?”
“I honestly can’t be sure how far it got. I mean, I know what it looked like to me, but she didn’t tell anyone right away and it just became a he said/she said battle and—well, that’s one thing I’ll always regret. I felt like I’d done her an injustice. You think you see something and then the questions start and suddenly you’re second-guessing yourself. And, hell, I was only fifteen. For a long time, I wished I’d walked in a few minutes before to stop all of it from ever even happening, but these days I know what’s done is done and I wish I’d stepped in there a few minutes later to be sure he got what was coming to him.”