Page 141 of Did They Break You

The box of memories in the basement of my mind doesn’t rattle, but another memory surfaces.

Me in his lap, in his truck. At the park. Young love, or the spark of it anyway. Two souls who saw one another. I always thought him and Maya seemed an odd pairing. She seemed cruel and he seemed…kind.

I’d had a crush on him for a while, but from afar. Girls like me—no parents, no prospects, no big, bubbly personality—didn’t get guys like him. The center of attention. Wealthy. Adored.

There wasn’t a world we came together in, until he made it happen.

Before he ripped it all to pieces.

“Then I saw your phone screen,” he continues, and I suck in a breath, thinking of it.

Dawson’s Beach.

I look away, my body hot, but he moves his hand from my arm to my chin, tipping my face up so I look him in the eye.

He put that movie on, after he cleaned me off. Changed me into one of his T-shirts. He was still drunk, as was I, and hewas clumsy and he turned the volume down low, but it was my favorite movie.

He knew that from our run-in that time at the park. Before we dated.

“And I knew you didn’t forget. Maybe you can’t.” He runs his thumb over my bottom lip. “Or maybe, Remi…you just don’t want to.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-NINE

CORTLAND

The next morning,after I gas up the truck, I get in, pulling the door shut and tossing a bag onto Remi’s lap.

She catches it as I start the engine, turn up the music.

“Black Honey” by Thrice.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I think about ignoring it, but my mind goes to Tristan and I pull it out, checking my screen.

Two messages.

Dad

I found a house. Come for dinner after the game next weekend?

And Storm.

Storm

We’re great, thanks for asking. All of us survived the night at the drug den, and Chase is sleeping in a puddle of his own vomit. Have fun with her, but tonight, we’ll all be at the cabin.

I laugh, shaking my head, but turn my phone on silent, flip it face down in the center console and pull out onto the road.

Remi doesn’t say anything about me checking my phone, instead she’s busy opening up the package I tossed her way. “How did you know?” she asks me. “You creepy stalker.”

I smile as I rest one arm on the window ledge, the other on the wheel as we merge onto the highway, determined to forget about my dadandMaya and Chase for today. “You just answered your own question.”

I hear her laugh, but her mouth is full of Reese’s, so it’s muffled.

I glance over at her, see her sleepy eyes, messy hair. She’s in one of my red and orange flannel shirts. It swamps her, and I drove her back tohercabin so she could change, but she insisted on staying in it. She’s got on leggings and her white Chucks, and she said hercousin,Van, wasn’t there. Which means he’s probably at the drug den too.

I grind my teeth thinking of him, but don’t say anything. Turns out, at best, he’s her step-cousin, not that I would care either way. Not about that part.

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