Page 126 of Did They Break You

He laughs, and I toss the cigarette out the window, onto my own lawn, before I turn to glare at him. He’s drumming his tattooed fingers on his thighs, looking straight ahead, at our house. “She tell you that?” he asks me.

“No, but I know Remi.”

He laughs again and I roll my eyes, throwing the truck in gear and backing out of the driveway, “Eye Opener”by Rain City Drive playing in the background. “YouknewRemi,” he corrects me.

I pull out onto the road, glancing his way as I shift gears. “She doesn’t like parties.”

“Considering you found her in the bushes at one, I don’t think that’s true anymore. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s gotten a lot braver.” I see his hand come to his throat and I remember her digging her nails into it a week ago.

A fucking week.I haven’t even been able tofind heron campus. She hasn’t been at the cemetery. Hasn’t been to the library. I even stopped by The Veil.

But I almost laugh, thinking about her choking Storm. “Yeah,” I admit. “She has.”

“We did that to her.”

I pull up to a stop sign, throwing on my signal, checking both ways. My stomach twists with his words, and I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t say anything.

“But you know…” He trails off and waits until I make my turn, heading toward the highway. “You two can’t be together. Good to just let it go now.”

I’m annoyed with the finality in his tone. “I’m sorry, I don’t exactly recall asking for your fucking permission.”

“Well, considering she left you last week and isn’t returning any of your texts or calls,” I see him shrug as I merge onto thehighway, “I don’t think you need my permission since she hasn’t givenhers.”

I grit my teeth, switching to the fast lane.

“But if she ever decided to forgive you…” He sighs. “And you got with her,reallygot with her, Chase would never let that go. His dad wouldn’t let it go. And your mom would never let it go.”

I laugh, rolling my eyes. “You seem to think I give a fuck what any of those people think.”

“I know you do.”

“No, I definitely do not?—”

“Because whether you want to admit it or not, you give a fuck about the shit they’d giveher,” he cuts me off, his tone cold. “And we both know, they’dbury herin that shit. And her stepdad… You know Brinklin has heard he isn’t exactly the most pleasant fucker to deal with.”

I don’t say anything, just flex my jaw and stare at the road, the highway curving around the mountains, beautiful in the rising sun.

To spend this weekend with Remi would be more than I deserve. And in admitting that, I have to admit other things too. And besides all the truth Storm is telling me, I don’t know if I want the other truths. The burden of what I might’ve done to her.

I didn’t though.

I fucking didn’t.

“You wrestling with your conscience over there?” Storm asks quietly.

I swallow down the lump in my throat. “We didn’t do it,” I tell him, instead of answering his question. “We just… we didn’t.”

There’s silence that stretches between us for what feels like miles as I drive.

But finally, he speaks. And I don’t really like what he has to say. “There’s a very big possibility that maybe we did, Cortland.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FOUR

REMI

“You already sound drunk, Rems.”Sloane’s accusation in my ear annoys me. She made it to her sister’s and called me as soon as she did. But Iam notdrunk. I’m just buzzing.

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