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My red and purple.

The relief hits so hard that I start laughing too. The emotion has nowhere else to go. The fear, fury and grief are still inside me, but tonight they’ve been overtaken by something brighter.

I stood in front of my dad and refused him.

Bryce told him to fuck off.

Jack told him to fuck off again for good measure.

Then Bryce punched Christopher. Oh my God! The memory sends me into another fit of laughter.

My hands are against my cheeks as I double over.

“I can’t believe you actually socked him one, right in the nose!”

“I’m sorry, genuinely,” Bryce says.

“For what?” I laugh.

“Punching him.”

“Don’t be. It was brilliant!”

“It was bloody excellent,” Jack agrees.

Bryce looks between us.

“I assaulted someone, guys. That’s a criminal offence.”

“He shoved you first,” I say. “Technically, it was self-defence.”

“Nobody is going to blame you for temporarily forgetting that your natural habitat is a boardroom,” Jack adds. “He was pushing it.”

“I could’ve broken his nose.”

“Pretty sure you did, BT. That thing looked like a broken motherfucker to me.”

Bryce’s smile drops.

“What? I actually broke his nose?”

Jack starts laughing again, nodding like a joker.

It’s beautiful. The vibrant energy of our zany trio is just stunning.

I grab hold of both my heroes and pull them towards me. I need contact. I need them.

Bryce wraps one arm around my waist, careful to keep his injured hand away. Jack folds himself around us, and for a few seconds we stand in a tangled heap inside his hallway.

All three of us breathing.

All three of us free.

Then my stomach growls.

Loudly.

Of course. I barely ate a thing all day, just pushed a French bean around my plate before storming out of Mum and Dad’s place.