Page 47 of I Will Ruin You

“She say what he was like?”

“Seemed like a nice kid, but kind of sad. She got the impression maybe it had something to do with his father, who was pretty distant, not very involved.” Bonnie paused before saying, “You and Trent seemed to have a lot to talk about.”

I shrugged, like, after what we’d been through, what would you expect?

“It’s just, when we came out, you both had this look.”

I frowned. “We were talking about what happened, and when you came out, it felt like time to move on to something else.”

I was in nothing but my boxers and Bonnie, who had herself just stripped down to her underwear, slipped her arms around me and said, “I know you did what you had to do, and I’m sorry if it seems like I’ve been punishing you for it. I just...”

She bit her lip and held back tears. “You’re a better person than I am.”

“That’s not true.”

“You put yourself out there. It’s who you are.”

She held me tighter, then moved her hands around to my butt cheeks, gave them a squeeze, then moved one hand around to the front and down into my boxers, where there was, to my surprise, a stirring. I’d been so stressed lately, I wasn’t sure I had it in me.

“Give me one minute,” I said, and mimed brushing my teeth. “Don’t start without me.”

As I headed for the bathroom, Bonnie took off what few clothes she still had on and threw back the covers. As I was putting toothpaste on my brush, I heard a ding.

Someone got a text.

“It’s you,” Bonnie said from the bedroom.

I brushed, spat, rinsed. I was drying my hands when Bonnie appeared in the doorway, my phone in her hand.

“What’s this?” she asked.

She handed me my phone. It was a text from Jack, next door.

Thought it through. Weve got a deal. Will go to the bank Monday. Will provide funds as requested. Those fish wont know what hit em.

“What deal? What money?” She had one hand on her naked hip.

I licked my lips, trying to figure out what to say. The only thing I could think of was the truth.

“He’s buying the boat,” I said.

Bonnie blinked, looked at me like she wasn’t sure she’d heard that right. “Your boat? Our boat?”

“He was interested, and I thought, we didn’t use it all that much this summer, and it’s just sitting in the driveway, so I—”

“How much did you sell him the boat for?”

“Ten thousand.”

“Ten thousand? What did we pay for that—”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s a used boat, it’s not in perfect con—”

“So you decided you would make a decision like that without discussing it? Rachel loves that boat. She loves it when we go up to the lake.”

The only thing I could think of now was a lie. And I had what I thought was a good one.

“It’s the lawsuit,” I said. “I’m probably going to need a lawyer, and they’re not cheap.”