Page 102 of Fueled Hate

Willow turns, looking to Dylan with an emotionless, drained stare. “What are you going to do?”

Dylan’s arm tightens beneath my fingers as I cling to him. “Nothing … because you’re going to do it. You’re going to confess, tell the police exactly what happened to my brother. Where you got the pills from, who supplies them, who deals them, every fucking detail. Because every one of you should suffer for what you’ve done to people’s lives. You made the choice. They didn’t.”

“I’ll handle it.” Bryce guides Dylan back from Willow.

I move in front of him, looping my arms around him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see it. I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault.” His breath hitches as he continues. “It’s not my fault.”

I hear the relief in his voice, feel the release in his body. Even if he’d heard the words from his mother, he didn’t truly listen to them until now.

58

Dylan

“Thank you for coming with me this weekend.” I drape my arm over Sadie’s shoulder as we walk towards my parents’ house. It’s been a completely different experience than our last visit. I’m fully here with her and she’s fully here with me.

“I was thinking. What if it wasn’t just for the weekend?” Her voice trails off as a smile spreads across my face.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Everywhere I go in Sunland makes me remember what I want to forget. Big Tobe’s, every class, Coyote Café, my apartment—all of it.” She lets out a sigh as she turns to face me. “Marcheur has a fantastic photography program that I’d really like to check into.”

“I didn’t know you like photography.”

“I used to love it, but I haven’t picked up my camera since my mom died. I want to get back to the things that I love. The things that made me happy and find out what I really want to do with my life.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me, and I volunteer to be your first model.”

“Of course you do.” She rolls her eyes as we continue walking towards the house. “There’s one more thing I’ve been thinking about. You won’t let me pay you back for the tuition, and I’m not okay with it. So, I have a compromise. One of many, I’m sure.”

“Name your terms.”

“There’s an important person in my life who needs some help.”

“What kind of help?” I ask, knowing I’m going to do whatever she asks me to do.

“Fixing a car.”

“Done,” I say, pulling her against me as I kiss her to seal the deal.

“Come on. She’s waiting for you.”

“Now?” I groan, pecking another quick kiss on her lips. “I had something else in mind for now.”

“Later.” She slaps my hand away from her ass as she stops at the side door into the garage. “Just do me a favor and don’t forget to laugh and fight, but maybe not bleed too much.”

The door swings open, revealing a beaming Emma standing next to the dented and broken-down STI. The car that I’d built with Noah. That I’d lost to Kyle. The car that looks like somebody played bumper cars with it and pieced some of it out. The car that Sadie returned to me so my little sister and I can piece it back together while we remember an especially important part of our life is missing but never forgotten.

Looking to Emma’s smiling face, I’m at a loss for all thoughts except one. “Bryce was correct again.”

“About what this time?” Sadie chuckles.

Pulling her to me, I bury my face against her neck as I exhale a breath that has felt impossible to release. “We were meant to get each other through hell. I couldn’t have made it without you.”

“Me either.”

Epilogue