Page 86 of Not Made to Last

I scoff. “You won’t believe what I have to say anyway, so fuck you.”

“Fuck me?” He steps forward until we’re almost touching.

“Yo, guys…” Oscar says, ready to jump between us.

“Go ahead, tell me your truth then,” Dominic spits, looking me up and down. “Tell me you didn’t know who she was to me.”

“I didn’t.”

He ignores me, says, “Or that you actually care about her?”

“Idocare about her.” Or at least, I did. I don’t know how I feel anymore.

Dominic laughs, bitter and conceited. He pulls back an inch, but his eyes stay on mine. I hold his glare. “If you really cared about her, then you’d know what getting everyone to call her Mini Delgado is doing to her.” He pauses a beat. “You and everyone else at your fucked up school might associate that name with me, but she doesn’t. You know what she thinks of?”

I drop my gaze, just the tiniest bit.

Dom keeps talking. “Our dead parents. And now, thanks to you, she’ll be reminded of them fifty times a day.”

I don’t respond, because what the hell can I say?

“Let’s go,” Dre says, one hand on Dominic’s chest as he pushes him back. “You said what you had to say.”

Dominic shoves his friend’s hand off him and focuses on Oscar again. “You have ice baths at your school, right?”

My brow bunches in confusion, and Oscar must feel the same. He looks between us before answering, “Yeah.”

Dominic nods. “If what happened to Ollie yesterday ever happens again, then I need you to get a bucket of ice for her. Fill it with water. She dunks her head in there. It helps her re-circuit her brain or something. I don’t know. I just know that it helps her.” He inhales a sharp breath, his shoulders deflating with his exhale. “And then I need you to call me. And I need you to stay with her until I can get her.” His voice cracks with emotion, and it suddenly hits me, all at once: Dominic might be a fuckwit, but he’s Olivia’s brother, and it’s clear he cares about her in the same way I care about my sister.

We love them beyond words.

Protect them beyond reason.

I’m sure facing me just to get to Oscar was the last thing he wanted, but here he is…

And I never thought I’d one dayrespectDominic Delgado, but here I am…

“Whatever you do,” Dominic continues, “please don’t leave her side, because she’ll want to leave. She’ll want to get in her car and drive away, and when she’s like that, she’s in absolutely no condition?—”

“Ice bucket. Call you. Stay with her. I got it, man,” Oscar interrupts, saving Dominic from revealing his hand—that Olivia is his weakness.

AndI get it, I almost tell him.

She’s mine, too.

46

Olivia

For the second night in a row, I find myself sitting on the porch steps, waiting for the inevitable.

It’s almost like a repeat of yesterday.

A text message from an unknown number that leads to a full-blown panic attack.

Unknown

Your two boys are about to throw down.

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