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“He was a few months ago. Fuck knows what’s happened to him since.”
“He’ll be back,” Cole says with absolute certainty.
“How’d you know that?”
“He blackmailed you for money. He’s clearly not making any of his own. He’ll spend all of that and then come looking for some more. History will just keep repeating itself until something changes.”
“Something has changed. We know the truth, and now we live with James. He won’t put up with Charlie sniffing around. He got rid of him once”—or at least, he tried to—"he won’t hesitate to do it again, and properly this time.”
“This is fucked-up,” Conner says again, as if he just can’t believe what he’s hearing.
Silence hangs heavy between us for achingly long minutes.
“We need to get you cleaned up,” I say to Cole when his knuckles catch my eye.
“I’m fine, just a few scratches.”
I raise a brow at him and he shrugs. None of us are the type to make a bigger deal out of self-inflicted injuries than necessary.
“Conner, can you take him home? Sort him out?”
“Yeah. You’re coming though, right?”
“I’ll be behind you. I’ve got something I need to do while I’m here.”
They both stare at me, I can feel the weight of it without actually meeting their eyes.
“I won’t be long. Go straight to the pool house and I’ll meet you there.” Getting up, I wait for them to join me.
As I knew they would, they follow me out of the trailer. We don’t bother putting the boards back up; anyone who’s brave enough to live in there is welcome to it.
I throw my leg over my bike as they both climb into their car. I follow them out until they turn toward the Bay. I go in the opposite direction and directly into the heart of the Heights. Right into Donny’s domain to find out the fucking truth once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-One
Remi
“So they found him?” Hadley asks as we make our way into school.
“Yeah. Ace didn’t say much, just that they might not be in school today.”
“You’re vibrating,” she adds, pointing to my backpack.
I dig it out. “That’s probably Ace—” My brows knit at the incoming message.
Unknown: No boyfriend today?
“Remi? What is it?”
“N-nothing.” I force a smile, shoving my cell into my pocket. “It’s just my mom.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fine.” Something catches my eye and I grumble. “Can you believe it’s almost Homecoming?”
“Hayden asked me.” Hadley lowers her voice.
“He did? That’s... nice.”
