Chapter 0028

BAILEE

He was nowhere to be found for the rest of the day, and after dinner that night, I walked down to the docks and dangled my feet into the water.

It wasn’t long before I heard footsteps on the wooden planks behind me.

The hair rose on the back of my neck, and tingles of nerves shot through my skin as Alex approached and kicked off his shoes to join me.

“Are you okay?” He asked, sitting next to me, his thigh touching mine.

“Were you suspended?” I whispered, guilt flooding through me at the thought because I knew how hard he was working to better his life since his dad had been sent to prison. I had overheard him telling Ben about his plans to get into a law school, and this could ruin that.

Alex let out a bitter laugh before sighing. “Yeah.”

“Are your foster parents angry?”

“Don’t worry about me, Bailee. I can handle it. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He hadn’t answered my question directly, so I knew that was a yes.

“Me? I wasn’t the one in a fight today!” I ex