Page 113

Delilah raised the blade. “Stay back, Evan.”

He glanced at it, then at Delilah, then laughed. Not a chuckle, but a deep belly cackle. “Did you just pull a knife on me?”

“If you want to call it that.” She still held it upright. “This isn’t a reunion. Just a conversation, Evan. We don’t need to hug and kiss.”

Ego clearly bruised, he huffed. With a roll of his eyes, he turned around and headed for the bed of his truck. “Whatever, Allie. What do you want to say? What did you have me drive all God damn day and night for?”

Now it was Delilah rolling her eyes. “We’re gonna talk while you sit in the bed like a teenager?”

He hoisted himself up onto one of the tires and leaned over the edge. He stretched down, coming out with something, invisible from Delilah’s perspective. She stood in the direct line of his headlights while he was behind them.

“This damn shovel’s been sliding around back here for the last fifty miles,” he said. “Might as well tie it down while you run your mouth.”

“While I run my—holy shit, dude.” Delilah’s hands balled into fists so tightly that the knife and the keys would leave an indent when she finally set them down. “You really have to ask why I left? What happened? You happened, you sorry piece of shit. This is how you talk to people, this is how you conduct yourself, and you wonder why we had so many problems?”

He hopped off the tire, still holding something in his hand. Delilah couldn’t make it out until he stepped closer, in front of the headlights. The rope to tie down the shovel.

“Don’t give me that poor-pity-me shit,” he said. “You’re not a victim. You did just as much in every fight we’ve ever been in⁠—”

“Never once did I throw the first punch. And even if I had, after everything you put me through, you would’ve deserved it.”

He laughed. Another deep belly cackle. “Oh, and you didn’t?”

Gritting her teeth, Delilah shook her head. She could argue that, but it was pointless. She never started the fights. She never escalated to violence until it meant defending herself. He knew all that. He’d been there. He was here now. This was the most confrontational Delilah had ever been, and it still came nowhere close to touching all the damage Evan had done.

“That’s what I thought.” Evan leaned against the front bumper and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you want, Allie? Why did you have me come all the way out here? Why are you here anyway? Had to go all the way up to Montana to find some new guy to mooch off of, huh? Were you screwing him before you left me?”

She wouldn’t dignify that with a response. “I saw the picture of you and Ava that Chloe posted.”

A devilish little smirk.

This was the first time. The first time in all the times they’d argued when Delilah really considered raising her fist first.

“Oh, did you?” he asked. “Thought you’d like that.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Hurting me wasn’t enough? You gotta hurt her, too? You gotta ruin her last couple of years of high school, steal her best years, keep hanging out with teenagers so you don’t have to face the reality that you passed your peak?”

“I missed you. She missed you.” His voice stayed too calm. Calm but cutting. Each word was a blade, and he wanted them to slice. “We started hanging out. That’s all. You don’t have to throw a little bitch fit over it. You’re so dramatic, Allie. All of this—make me meet you in the middle of nowhere, an entire day’s damn drive, so you can complain about a picture of me and Ava? Seriously?”

“You wouldn’t be so smug if it wasn’t exactly what I think it is,” Delilah said. “Leave her alone, Evan. You want to go ruin somebody else’s life, fine, but leave my little sister alone.”

More of a chuckle than a laugh this time. He rubbed his eyes between his thumb and forefinger. “Here I was, thinking you wanted to meet to make things right. I should’ve known⁠—”

“You should’ve known what, Evan?” Delilah was all but stomping her feet now. “That I hate you? That you’ve done so much damage to my brain that I can’t even sleep at night? That never, in a million fucking years, would I ever want you back? Because yeah, dipshit, you should’ve known. After everything you did, there’s nothing, nothing, that would make things right.”

His jaw tightened. “Sure. Because I’m just the big bad wolf. Allie can do no wrong⁠—”

“I was a kid!” she screamed. Those words trembled on her vocal cords, aching over every syllable. “I was a kid, and you took advantage. You’re trying to do it again, and I can’t stop you, but I can make sure you know that I fucking hate you for it. I hope you rot. I hope your life is as sad and empty as it was for me in all those years we spent together. I hope you know that we would’ve had a baby, but I lost it, because even God knows that bringing another you into the world would be a crime against humanity. And the thing is, Ava was always the smart one. I was stupid enough to fall for your shit, and she might for a little while, but she won’t take it like I did. She won’t be a punching bag for years and years. She will hate you, and she will leave you, just like I did. Just like your daddy did. And you know what? You deserve all the pain that comes with it.”

Delilah spun around.

She stomped to Eve’s car, hands balled into fists, every cell in her body electric with fury and heartache. Not for herself. For her sister. Her sister who would have to save herself, the way Delilah saved herself, because no one was coming around to save girls like them from men like him. This was the way the world worked, and it hurt, but Delilah had learned, and Ava would learn too. Ava would⁠—

Footsteps.

Snow crackling under footsteps.

Just as she started to turn around, the rough, scratchy rope fastened around her neck from behind.