Harbour Falls by S.R. Grey Page B

this could have been avoided. But Chelsea wasn’t that horrible early on. Sure, she could be bitchy, but she was nothing like the person she ended up becoming.” Helena wiped a tear from her cheek.
    I wasn’t sure if Helena was crying over Chelsea’s disappearance, guilt over introducing her to Adam, or something else entirely. I placed my hand over hers. “Helena, it’s not your fault. You can’t blame yourself. You had no control over what happened.”
    “Yeah, but Chelsea hurt Adam in so many ways.” She blinked back more tears and then met my eyes. “Like did you know she had an affair with J.T. O’Brien?”
    “Really?” I squeaked, pretending to be unaware. “Did Adam know?”
    “He found out right around the time they got engaged.” This I had not heard. Helena continued, “Adam was home for spring break, and the four of us went out one night in Harbourtown. We ended up getting wasted and calling a cab. But instead of taking us home, Chelsea directed the driver to take us to some rundown bar down by the river.”
    Billy’s, I thought.
    “J.T. was already there. Just sitting at the bar, all by himself. But he kept glancing over and giving us these weird looks. It was actually kind of creepy. Anyway, at some point, Chelsea said she had to go to the bathroom. About ten minutes passed, and Nate had to go too. Adam asked him to find out what was taking Chelsea so long to return.” Helena stopped long enough to take a drink from her cup, and then she took a deep breath. “Well, Nate found out what was taking her so long when he walked into the men’s room, because there was Chelsea. Down on her knees in front of J.T.”
    “Oh God, no,” I gasped.
    “It’s true.” Helena paused, as if even in retelling the story she still couldn’t believe it had happened. “Nate threw J.T. up against the wall outside the bathroom, and, get this, Chelsea started screaming at Nate to leave J.T. alone. Adam and I witnessed the whole exchange when we ran over to see what all the commotion was about. Then, worse yet, Chelsea had the nerve to ask Adam to make Nate stop. She kept saying it was all a big misunderstanding.”
    “Oh, Helena,” I said, shaking my head. Though it may have been foolish, my heart ached for Adam. Nobody deserved to be treated like that. “What did Adam do?”
    She sighed. “He just turned and walked away, disgusted. He knew then, Maddy. Everything he’d ever suspected, rumors he may have heard, everything. In that instant, he knew it was all true.”
    “That’s terrible,” I mumbled.
    Helena raised an eyebrow. “You think that’s bad? It got crazier two days later.”
    “Why? What happened?”
    “Chelsea calls to inform me she and Adam had just gotten engaged .”
    “What?” I said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Tell me about it.” Helena shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. But think of it this way: If someone knew something about you, like, maybe it’s something nobody else in the whole world knows. Maybe it’s too dangerous to reveal.” I was mesmerized as Helena continued, “If that person who knows your secret threatened to expose it, would you have a choice? Other than to go along with whatever that individual wanted?”
    “I guess not,” I said, shaking my head. What was this secret?
    “There’s one more thing.” Helena leaned in close to the table. “Nate confronted Adam a few days after the official engagement announcement.”
    “What did he say?” I asked.
    “Nate asked him outright if Chelsea was blackmailing him, because there was no other possible explanation. Not after what went down at that bar with her and J.T. O’Brien.” Helena made a face of disgust.
    “Did he have an explanation?” I leaned in close to the table as well.
    “He didn’t deny it, but Nate told me it was the one and only time he ever feared Adam.” Helena met my eyes.
    “Why?” I was on the edge of my seat. Literally.
    “He said Adam was defensive, not like