Overboard by Sandra Madera Read Free Book Online Page A

I
didn’t realize how that would make me feel. I feel like such an
idiot...”
    Surprised and confused, Brenna asked, “Why would you
want to hurt me?”
    Dylan gawked at her. “Morgan told me how you felt.
That is why I started seeing her secretly last spring.”
    “What are you talking about, Dylan?”
    “She told me how you would say you didn’t feel
anything for me anymore. She said you were ready to move on. You
told her it was practically over.”
    Brenna shook her head. “I never told Morgan anything
like that.”
    “So, you didn’t say those things?”
    “No. Morgan knew how in love I was... I wasn’t going
to break up with you last year,” she said, frustrated. “She just
told you that...”
    Dylan’s face dropped. “Why would she do―”
    “Because she wasn’t the friend I thought she was,”
Brenna concluded, feeling drained by the conversation. Marissa
threatening Dylan over a short-lived romance with Morgan seemed
like too much to believe. Brenna couldn’t wrap her head around the
fact that everyone she knew had lied or kept things from her. “None
of you were.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Brenna awoke with a start. She had the same dream...
The dream of Morgan hitting her in the head with a paddle... It
seemed more vivid this time. She could feel the pounding pain of
being hit. She felt her body sink under the waves, feeling halfway
conscious. Her world went still momentarily.
    But then she woke up.
    Why was Brenna having these dreams? Did she feel
guilty about something? Did she do something wrong?
    Confused, Brenna got up from bed and went to find
Orman. He said he would give her all of the answers, but he never
showed up at her suite. Orman was pretty predictable, and she knew
exactly where she could find him. He didn’t wander too faraway from
the bar at night.
    Brenna went to the dance club and found Orman passed
out on the bar. Shaking him until he almost fell over, he began to
stir from his sleep. His unfocused eyes stared at Brenna, and he
smiled.
    “Hey, Bren,” he said, smelling of liquor. “Do you
want a drink?”
    “No,” she told him. “Get up. I need to ask you a few
questions.”
    “Not now, Bren. Let me sleep...”
    “Did you push her over?” Brenna asked him, point
blank. “You weren’t in the room last night...”
    Orman’s mood immediately changed. “Are you crazy?
Now, you are blaming me?”
    Brenna looked up at him. “I know what I heard last
night. It sounded like a body being dragged and thrown over the
railing.”
    “What makes you think I would hurt Marissa?”
    Brenna shook her head. “Dylan mentioned she did horrible things to you... I feel like I didn’t know her at
all. Like I don’t know any of you.”
    “I didn’t hurt her,” Orman said somberly, his blue
eyes afire. “But I know who did and you do, too.”
    “Who?”
    “Don’t you remember?” he asked, confused. “Don’t you
remember how she asked to speak to you privately?”
    Brenna gawked at him, dumbfounded. Her mind raced as
quickly as her pulse. “Tha―that nev―never happened, Orman,” she
stumbled over her words, feeling as if she couldn’t put a cohesive
thought together.
    “Yes, it did,” he said bitterly, inching toward her
until his breath caressed her face. “You went with her to her
cabin. She said things you didn’t want to hear.”
    Brenna began to hyperventilate. Her heart was
pounding hard in her chest. Her eyes fluttered uncontrollably,
feeling as if she was about to black out. “No,” she said weakly,
trying to block out Orman’s words. “I was asleep... I heard a
hor―horrible sound...”
    “Everything I did was for you, Bren. I have always
loved you. If Dylan wasn’t in the picture, we would have been
together,” he said, taking hold of her shoulders. “But he doesn’t
have to be in the picture...”
    “Let go of me,” Brenna shouted, breaking free of his
grasp and running as fast as she could. But she couldn’t run fast
enough away from his