Page 95 of Not Made to Last

“It’s not abandoned; it’s empty, and shut up.”

“How often were you bringing Max around this guy?”

“This guysaved your ass, in case you’ve forgotten.” I face him completely. “And maybe I should’ve brought Max around him more. At least then he’d have a decent male role model!”

“Oh, real nice,” Dom chides, pushing off the hood and stepping closer. “Now I really know where your loyalty lies.”

“Don’t fucking talk to me about loyalty,” I spit out. “I haven’t taken a single breath that wasfor mein years!”

“You’re going to keep pulling that card?” Dom yells, throwing his hands up. “In case you forgot, Ollie, no one made you stay?—”

“Go to hell!”

Somewhere in the distance, Rhys says, “Guys?” But we both ignore him.

“Seriously!?” Dom booms. “How long are you going to makemefeel guilty overyourchoices?”

“However long it takes to get through your thick fucking skull that what you did?—”

“Guys!” Rhys shouts now, and Dom and I pull back and turn to him… andMax. Andfuck. I’d been so heated in my anger toward Dominic that I’d forgotten where we were and who else was here. My chest tightens at the sight of Max, his head lowered, hand on his stomach, looking down at his feet.Rhys squeezes Max’s shoulder, saying, “Max says his stomach’s hurting.”

Shame washes over me while Dom rushes to his side. “Are you okay, buddy?”

Max shakes his head, and I turn away when Dom embraces him. “We’ll get you home, and make you a nice tea, get you cozy in bed, okay?

“Okay,” Max responds, the dejection in his voice palpable.

I can’t look at them as they pass, and I don’t move to get in the car because I already know what’s coming before Dom says the words. “You can find your own way home.”

As soon as the truck’s no longer in view, I grab my phone from my back pocket. “What’s the address here?” I ask, pulling up the Uber app.

Rhys covers my phone with his hand and pushes it away. “I’ll give you a ride.”

Honestly, I don’t know what’s worse. Being forced in the car with Dominic or trapped in the car with Rhys—a guy who’s openly admitted to hating me.

“Let me guess…” Rhys says, walking toward his car. He drops the basketball into the open rear window, then leans against the passenger’s side door, adding, “Whatever’s happening between you and your brother has everything to do with what Oscar told you last night.”

I stand beside him, match his position, but don’t respond.

“He wasn’t supposed to tell you shit,” Rhys says. “He was just supposed to convince you to go back to school.”

“How do you know?” I ask, then shake my head at myself.Rhys is the puppet master, I remind myself,always pulling the strings. “So, it’s true… about the dumbass prank?”

Rhys remains silent, and I turn to face him, resting my hip on the car.

“Why not rat him out? Why take the fall for him? And worse, why let your team suffer?—”

“My team was theonlyreason I had to think twice about what I did,” he cuts in, a tinge of anger in his tone. “Your brother didn’t just mess with me. He ended my team’s season, and some of those guys?—”

“So why do it?”

He shakes his head, then pushes off the car so he can stand in front of me. “Do you know what they would’ve done to literally anyone else who isn’t me for pulling that kind of shit? At a school like St. Luke’s? The disrespect alone… Not to mention that your brother isthestar player at Philips!” He scoffs. “Jesus, Liv. They would’ve dragged his ass through the coals, pinned every single charge they could on him, and laughed in his face during sentencing.”

“You honestly think he would’ve donetime?” Surely not.

“That new Mega Gym ismypunishment, and I’m a fucking God at that school,” he rants, clearly heated. “So, yes, Cheeks, they would’ve sent him to juvie and thrown away the key. And trust me, I’vebeento juvie. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone… even Dominic.”

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