Page 107 of Not Made to Last

“Ollie…” He covers my hand with his, stopping me from my task. “You know you can talk to me, right? Even if it’s about Garrett.”

“It’s nothing.”

“You moping around the way you have been doesn’t seem like nothing.”

I sigh, try to push down my emotions, and Dom grasps my shoulders, forcing me to face him. “Talk to me.” My exhale comes out shaky, and he dips his head to meet my gaze. “Please?”

I sniff back my heartache. “I told him I loved him, and he… bailed.”

“Bailed?”

I shrug. “I don’t know where he’s gone, but he’s not at school, and he’s not answering my calls or replying to my texts. He’s not even reading them. And everyone—” I roll my eyes. “Noteveryone,but the two people who would know where he might be are covering for him, and?—”

“Did you ask Oscar?”

“He’s one of the two people.”

Dom’s shoulders drop, the pity in his eyes only making things worse.

“I don’t know what I did,” I cry, and then I fall into my brother’s embrace because there’s no one else to catch me. My tears soak into his T-shirt while he holds me, soothes me with his hand on my back. “I thought I could make him love me back, but I guess he can’t. Not after what I did to him.”

“Ollie.” He pulls away, knees bent to look me in the eyes. In my mind, he’s always been my little brother, but right now… I feel so frighteningly small. “He’d be the luckiest guy on earth to be at the receiving end of your love. It’shisloss.”

I want to believe him. I do. But… “I can’t imagine my life without—” My phone rings on the bench, and I’m quick to check it. Rhys’s name flashes on the screen, and Dom and I look from the phone to each other. “It’s him,” I whisper.

“Answer it,” Dom urges. “Maybe you’ll get the closure you need.”

I wipe the tears from my eyes and take a breath. Then another. And then I square my shoulders before hittinganswer.“Hello?”

There’s nothing at his end… nothing but heavy, uneven exhales, as if he can’t catch his breath.

“Rhys?” My heart picks up, and I step away from my brother as if that will somehow help me hear better. “Are you there?”

The same breathing, only now, a strangled sound comes with it. Almost like a cry. And then comes a sob that wretches through every inch of me.

Gaze scattered, I ignore the sharp ache in my chest and try again. This time, his name is a plea. “Rhys!”

The heavy breathing stops, just for a moment, just long enough for him to shudder three simple words that stop my heart from beating. “I need you.”

The drive to Rhys’s house feels endless, and by the time I get there, I’m so filled with adrenaline I can’t see straight. My tires screech as I come to a stop just outside his iron gates. His closedgates. I stumble out of the car and press the buzzer on the panel, again and again.

Again and again.

No one answers.

Nothing moves.

I step back to look at the height of the fence, wishing I could climb it, but it’s so damn high, and I’m so damn weak, but that adrenaline… It fools me into thinking otherwise. Rhys’s house backs up into the woods on one side, and I find a tree close enough to the fence line and climb it. The skin on my palms and shin tear from the sharp bark, but I ignore the pain, and run up the driveway—the ache in my bones nothing compared to the fear in my heart. I race up the front steps, ignoring my body screaming in pain. Physical. Emotional. I slam my fist on the door. Press the doorbell. Scream. Kick. Over and over. Again and again.

After what feels like forever, a light turns on overhead, and the door opens just a tad. “What in—” Rhys’s dad doesn’t have time to finish before I’m pushing the door open on him andrunning.Through the foyer and into the kitchen, stopping at the rear sliding doors. His dad runs after me, calling for his wife, and I slide the door open and crash into outdoor furniture to get to the pool house. It’s dark. Everywhere. Out in the yard. Into the pool house. Inside me. Nothing but darkness. I try to slide the glass door open, but it won’t budge. My open palms meet the glass, slam against it until a shooting pain ricochets up my arm and directly into my heart. “Rhys!”

“Olivia,” Skylar yells. “What are you doing?”

“Get thefuckingkeys!” I try to open the door again, but of course, nothing’s changed. I peer into the glass, into the darkness and I see him… “Oh God…” He’s nothing but a silhouette on the floor of the kitchen, his back against the island,one hand in his hair, the other beside him… holding a gun. “Rhys!” I scream.

I turn around, face three sets of eyes all on me. His mom, dad, sister. I almost choke on my words. “He’s got a gun.”

“No no no no no,” his mom whispers, and she’s off, running back into the house while his dad tries to forcefully open the door.

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