Page 63 of Hell to Pay

She’d just hated my guts.

And maybe she still did, but now there was something else in the air, something soft I couldn’t put my finger on, like the granite wall between us had started to crumble.

There was a ton of traffic around the high school: parents picking up their kids and dumbfuck new drivers revving the engines on their shitty cars, feeling cool and grown-up because they had their own wheels. Kids streamed out of the front of the building, talking and laughing, carrying backpacks and tote bags, looking equal parts unencumbered and burdened by their youth.

I scanned the sea of kids for Matt’s slumped figure but didn’t see him.

“There he is,” Lilah said.

I followed her gaze to the front of the building and watched as he loped down the stairs, avoiding the gazes of everyone around him.

He looked up briefly, gaze scanning the line of cars out front until he saw the Jeep. Lilah rolled her window down, preparing to greet him.

Except he didn’t come toward the Jeep. Instead his stare hardened into something cold, and he turned away, heading for the sidewalk leading to the neighborhood around the school.

Lilah looked at me. “What… Where is he going?” She leaned out the window. “Matt! Over here!”

He walked faster, like he was in a real hurry to get away from us.

I put the car in gear and pulled out of line, then navigated toward the exit leading to the side street where Matt had been heading.

“What are you doing, Matt?” she said under her breath. And then to me, “Pull around the corner here.”

I turned right, off of Main Street, and slowed down when I spotted Matt up ahead, backpack on his back, his long legs carrying him quickly away from us.

“Pull over,” Lilah said.

She was out of the car before I’d even come to a complete stop.

I watched her head toward Matt, then slowly got out of the car and started toward them, careful to keep some distance between us.

“Matt, wait!” she called out, running after him. “Where are you going? What are you doing?”

He spun on her so fast I had to stop myself from rushing them, every instinct in my body on alert to protect Lilah even though I knew there was no way Matt would hurt her.

“What amIdoing?!” he shouted at her, his face red. “What areyoudoing, Lilah?”

She froze, and I edged closer.

“I’m picking you up from school,” she said. “Why are you running away from me?”

Matt’s gaze slid to me, a few feet behind Lilah. He pointed at me. “Youget away from me.”

Lilah turned, confusion written on her face, and realized Matt was talking to me.

“I don’t understand,” Lilah said, turning back to Matt. “You’re scaring me. Just… talk to me! Tell me what’s going on.”

His eyes were hard as flint. “I guess I don’t have to ask why you didn’t tell me you were living withthem. But what I don’t get is why you’d do it after what they did to you. What they did to us.”

Lilah’s shoulders sagged as the truth hit: Matt knew. He knew Nolan, Jude and I were the ones who’d leaked Lilah’s nudes.

“How did you… How did you find out?” she asked softly.

“That part was real fun,” he said sarcastically. “Jake Silvestri, one of the kids who gets his rocks off tormenting me every day, told me after he saw them pick me up yesterday. Apparently, he has two older brothers. Look at that, you’re famous, Lilah!”

She looked at the ground. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

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