Chapter 5: The Campfire's Cold Light

The drive down the mountain should have taken two hours. Instead, it stretched into an eternity of suffocating silence broken only by the occasional sniffle from Rachel in the passenger seat and the aggressive way Alex gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white against the black leather.

Evelyn sat directly behind Rachel, hyperaware of Dan's presence beside her in the cramped back seat of Alex's SUV. Every bump in the winding mountain road seemed to push them closer together, his thigh brushing against hers, his shoulder touching her arm whenever they took a sharp curve. Each contact sent unwanted electricity through her body—a cruel reminder of what they'd shared just hours ago at the lake.

She tried to focus on Rachel's obvious distress instead, on being a good friend in whatever crisis had erupted during their absence. But her mind kept drifting to the way Dan's hands had felt on her skin, the taste of his mouth, the sound of her name on his lips as they'd moved together in the sapphire water.

The guilt was eating her alive.

"Can someone please tell me what happened?" Dan finally broke the oppressive quiet, his voice carefully controlled. "I leave for a few hours and come back to find—"

"Leave it alone," Alex cut him off, his eyes never leaving the twisting road ahead.

"Like hell I'll leave it alone. That's my sister crying, and you look like you want to murder someone."

"Maybe I do."

The menace in Alex's voice made the hair on the back of Evelyn's neck stand up. She caught Rachel's reflection in the side mirror—her best friend's face was pale and drawn, tear tracks still visible on her cheeks.

"Alex," Rachel said quietly, "please don't—"

"Don't what?" Alex's laugh was bitter. "Don't tell them how I found out about your little emotional affair with Jake from your office? Don't mention the texts I saw on your phone while you were pretending to be sick this morning?"

Evelyn's blood turned to ice. An affair? Rachel? Sweet, loyal Rachel who cried during romantic comedies and still kept a photo of her and Alex from their first date on her nightstand?

"It wasn't like that," Rachel whispered, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "I never... we never actually—"

"No, you just texted him every day for three months. Shared all your relationship problems with him instead of talking to me. Told him things you've never told me." Alex's voice cracked on the last words. "Do you have any idea what it's like to read your girlfriend telling another man that she's not sure she loves you anymore?"

The confession hit the car like a bomb. Rachel's sob was audible even over the engine noise, and Dan went rigid beside Evelyn. She wanted to reach out to her friend, to offer comfort, but the space between the front and back seats might as well have been an ocean.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," Rachel said through her tears. "Jake was just... he listened. And you've been so distant lately, so caught up in work and—"

"So it's my fault?" Alex's voice rose dangerously. "I work sixty-hour weeks to save up for our future, for the ring I've been planning to buy you, and because I'm tired when I come home, that gives you the right to—"

"You were going to propose?" The question came out as barely a whisper.

Alex's laugh was hollow. "Had it all planned out. This weekend, actually. Thought the romantic camping trip with our best friends would be perfect." He glanced at her in the rearview mirror, and something in his expression made Evelyn's stomach lurch. "Guess we all had our secrets this weekend."

The implication hung in the air like poison gas. Evelyn's mouth went dry as she caught the way Alex's eyes flicked between her and Dan in the mirror. There was no way he could know about the lake... was there?

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dan's voice was dangerously quiet.

"Nothing," Alex said, but his smile was sharp as a blade. "Just interesting timing, don't you think? Rachel and I have the fight to end all fights this morning, and you two just happen to decide that's the perfect time to disappear together for six hours."

"We went to the lake," Evelyn said quickly. "For Rachel. To take photos so she could see what she was missing."

"Right. Photos." Alex's tone was mocking. "I'm sure that's all you were shooting up there."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Dan's protective instincts were fully engaged now, his body coiled with tension.

"It means I'm not blind, Dan. I've watched the way you two look at each other for the past two years. I've seen Evelyn disappear every time you show up at group events, seen you find excuses to be wherever she is. Did you really think nobody noticed?"

The accusation hit too close to home. Evelyn felt exposed, like Alex had somehow seen through her careful facade to the guilty desire she'd been harboring. Beside her, Dan had gone very still.

"You're being paranoid," Dan said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Am I? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like my girlfriend's emotional affair gave you and her best friend the perfect opportunity to have your own little adventure." Alex's eyes found Evelyn's in the mirror again. "Tell me, Ev—did you comfort each other up there? Share your relationship wisdom? Compare notes on how fucked up love makes people?"

"Stop it," Rachel said, her voice stronger now despite the tears. "Don't drag them into this. What I did with Jake has nothing to do with—"

"Doesn't it, though?" Alex pulled off the highway into a gas station parking lot with more force than necessary, bringing the SUV to an abrupt stop. He turned in his seat to face them all, and the fury in his eyes was incandescent. "See, the thing is, I've been thinking about this all afternoon. Thinking about timing and opportunities and secrets. And you know what I realized?"

Nobody answered. The silence in the car was deafening.

"I realized that maybe Rachel's little emotional affair wasn't the only betrayal happening in our friend group." Alex's gaze moved between Evelyn and Dan like a searchlight. "Maybe some people have been lying to everyone for a lot longer than three months."

"Alex, you're being ridiculous," Evelyn said, but her voice came out too high, too desperate.

"Am I? Because I remember a certain New Year's Eve party where I saw you two on Jake's balcony. I remember how quickly you ran back inside when you saw me watching. I remember the way Dan watched you walk away like you'd just ripped his heart out."

The memory hit Evelyn like a physical blow. She'd forgotten that Alex had been there that night, had seen that moment when she and Dan had almost crossed the line before her fear sent her fleeing back to safety.

"That was nothing," she said weakly.

"Was it? Because from where I stood, it looked like something to me." Alex's smile was cruel now. "Just like today looks like something. You come back from your little hike looking like you've been through a tornado, with grass stains on your clothes and that guilty look that screams 'I just fucked my best friend's brother.'"

"Alex!" Rachel's voice was sharp with shock.

But the damage was done. The accusation hung in the air like a neon sign, impossible to ignore or deny convincingly. Evelyn felt her face burn with humiliation and guilt, knowing that every micro-expression was probably confirming Alex's suspicions.

"You want to know what really pisses me off?" Alex continued, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "It's not just that you two finally gave in to whatever's been simmering between you for years. It's that you did it today. While Rachel was falling apart, while our relationship was imploding, you were off playing out your little forbidden romance fantasy."

"That's enough." Dan's voice was ice-cold, but Evelyn could feel the rage radiating off him in waves. "Whatever problems you and Rachel have don't give you the right to—"

"To what? To call out hypocrisy when I see it?" Alex laughed bitterly. "You want to talk about rights, Dan? Let's talk about the right of a best friend to expect loyalty. Let's talk about the right of a sister to expect her brother not to fuck around with her closest friend behind her back."

"I said that's enough!" Dan's shout filled the car, making them all flinch.

But Alex wasn't done. "Or maybe we should talk about timing. Because I have to wonder—how long has this been going on? How many times have you two hooked up while smiling in our faces and pretending to be nothing more than friends?"

"Never," Evelyn said quickly, desperately. "Today was—" She stopped, realizing she'd just confirmed what Alex was accusing them of.

The silence that followed was deafening. Rachel had gone completely still in the front seat, and when she finally turned around to look at them, the devastation in her eyes was like a knife to Evelyn's heart.

"It's true, isn't it?" Rachel's voice was barely audible. "What he's saying... it's true."

Evelyn opened her mouth to deny it, to lie convincingly enough to salvage their friendship, but the words wouldn't come. Not when Rachel was looking at her with such raw betrayal, not when the evidence of their afternoon was probably written all over her face.

"Rachel—" she started.

"Oh my God." Rachel's hand flew to her mouth. "You did. You actually... with Dan... today?"

The broken way she said it made Evelyn want to disappear. This was her best friend, the person who'd held her hair back when she was sick, who'd celebrated every freelance success with champagne and terrible movies, who'd been a constant source of support and love for three years.

And Evelyn had repaid that loyalty by seducing her brother on the worst day of Rachel's life.

"It wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered.

"But it did." Rachel's voice was hollow. "While I was here crying over Alex, while my world was falling apart, you were up there with my brother."

"Rachel, please—"

"How could you?" The question came out as a sob. "How could you do this to me? To us?"

Evelyn had no answer. There was no answer that could make this better, no explanation that could undo the betrayal or take back the hurt in her best friend's eyes.

"Because they've been wanting to for years," Alex said with vicious satisfaction. "Haven't you? This was just the first time you had an opportunity to act on it without getting caught."

"Shut up, Alex," Dan said dangerously.

"Or what? You'll hit me? That would be perfect, wouldn't it? The cherry on top of this whole shitshow weekend." Alex turned back to Rachel. "This is what I meant about secrets, babe. At least your thing with Jake was just emotional. At least you didn't actually fuck him."

"Stop," Rachel whispered, but Alex was beyond caring about her pain now.

"You want to know the best part?" he continued. "I bet they planned this. I bet they've been waiting for an opportunity like this for months."

"That's not true," Evelyn said desperately. "I swear to you, Rachel, it wasn't planned. It just—"

"Just happened?" Rachel's laugh was bitter. "Things like this don't just happen, Evelyn. You make choices. You chose him over me."

The accusation hit like a physical blow because there was truth in it. In that moment at the lake, when Dan had asked her to tell him to back off, she'd chosen desire over loyalty. She'd chosen herself over her friend.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, but the words felt pathetically inadequate.

"Sorry doesn't fix this," Rachel said, fresh tears streaming down her face. "Sorry doesn't take back what you did."

Alex started the engine with unnecessary force. "We're done here. Rachel, we're going home. I can't look at any of you right now."

"Alex, wait—" Dan started.

"No. Just... no." Alex's voice was exhausted now, all the fight gone out of him. "This friendship, this group, whatever we used to be—it's over. Rachel and I are done, and after what happened today, I think it's pretty clear that you two need to figure out your shit without dragging the rest of us down with you."

As they pulled back onto the highway, the finality of his words settled over them like a shroud. In the space of a few hours, their tight-knit group of four had imploded completely. Two relationships destroyed, years of friendship shattered, all because of one afternoon of passion that had felt so right in the moment but now seemed like the worst mistake of Evelyn's life.

She caught Dan's reflection in the window, saw the guilt and regret etched in his features, and knew he was thinking the same thing. What they'd shared at the lake had been beautiful, transcendent even.

But the cost was going to destroy them all.