Believing Lies by Rachel Everleigh

stop as they exchanged blows, but my words were useless. I kept my head turned as Sophie dragged me to the Jeep and was thankful to see Conner and two other guys pulling Adam and Trenton off of each other.
    “We can’t leave them like this,” I insisted as we both got into our seats and put on our seatbelts.
    “Sienna, we can, and we are. You being here will only make things worse.” She pulled out of the parking lot. This time there was no loud music playing or singing as we drove back to our apartment.
    ***
    My mind was racing a mile a minute as I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Sophie was in the kitchen talking on her phone to Conner. I couldn’t make out the conversation, but I knew she’d be giving me a play-by-play afterwards.
    Trenton showing up at the beach had been unexpected, to say the very least. Now all of our dirty laundry had been put out on display in front of not only Adam and Conner, but strangers as well. Before today, Trenton had never spoken a single rude or hateful word to me. I understood he was upset and hurting, but he caused this, not me. I wished Adam and Conner had just stayed by the truck. Trenton might have left when we asked if they hadn’t walked up. I could see now that if Trenton really did still love me, knowing I’d spent the day around another guy would be painful. Regardless, Trenton had no right degrading me the way he did.
    Reflecting on the day, I realized that I had genuinely been happy for a while. When I woke up this morning, drowning in self-pity, I hadn’t thought that would ever be possible again. A lot of it was Sophie’s doing, but I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Adam also played a large role. Speaking of Adam . . . I CAN’T BELIEVE HE HIT TRENTON! I knew what Trenton had said was shitty and completely disrespectful toward me, but hitting him was pretty extreme. My mind kept replaying them throwing punch after punch at each other until they were forcefully pulled apart. While I was glad Sophie had dragged me away when she did, I was going absolutely nuts wondering what they did or said after I left.
    My jumbled thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Sophie came into my room and lay down next to me. “How are you doing?” she asked, concerned.
    I gave her a small, nervous laugh. “Pretty sure I’m on the verge of a full-fledged breakdown. Other than that, I’m just peachy keen. Seriously though, thank you for bringing me home when you did.”
    “That’s the first time you called here ‘home.’ I like it.” She sat up. “Do you want to know what Conner said?” She seemed eager to tell me.
    I sat up too and put my hands in my lap. “Part of me says no, but the curious side of me needs to know, so lay it on me.”
    “Okay, here it goes. He said that as soon as he and Adam saw Trenton talking to you, they got pissed off.”
    I interrupted her. “Why were they pissed off?”
    She looked at me cautiously, and I could tell she was weighing her next words. “I hope you don’t mind, but when they came over the other day, I told them the Cliff Notes version of why you were living with me. I just said that Trenton cheated on you and you broke up with him.”
    It made sense. She had to say something to them to explain why I was suddenly living in her guest room. “It’s okay. I understand.”
    She appeared relieved. “Adam apparently told Conner that after days holed up in bed, you didn’t need Trenton ruining your first day out of the apartment. They were keeping an eye on you during the whole thing because Adam was really worried about you.” She gave me a questioning look, quirking her eyebrow. “What I don’t get is why Adam was so worried about you in the first place? I mean, today was just the second time you met, right?”
    “Right.”
    I could see her working out an answer to her own question, but I decided to fill in the blanks. “He most likely just felt sorry for the poor girl whose fiancé cheated on her.”
    “I think there may