26

“You were a beast out there, Hartley,” Ryan said before giving him a congratulatory slap on the back. “Totally ruthless.”

Chris forced a smile and drained the rest of his drink. He might have played well, but he was already feeling the effects of the intense battle and getting hit by three paintballs. His body felt battered and overworked, and he was sure he’d sleep for at least ten hours that night.

Eric, the asshole, scoffed. “Yeah, well, he’s got a lot to be pissed about.”

Chris ground his teeth together and forced himself not to respond. It had been Brady’s idea to have a game of paintball followed by pizza at his place to celebrate the end of their season and their final exams, and though Chris’s team had won, he didn’t feel very victorious. Getting into a fight with Eric would only make it worse.

“You sound jealous,” Brady said from where he was sitting on one of the three huge sofas in his parent’s living room.

“Jealous of what?” Eric asked, sounding amused. “The fact that Noah’s little sister killed Hartley’s brother?”

Chris’s hand tightened around his drink, barely suppressing the urge to throw it at his teammate.

“I was thinking more that Chris actually contributed something to his team,” Brady corrected.

“Oh fuck off, Brady,” Eric replied.

“You need to shut your mouth,” Noah told him, finally adding his two cents.

“I don’t need to do anything,” Eric retorted. “How’s your sister, by the way?” he asked, his glare transforming into a smirk. “Kill anyone else lately?”

The whole team probably expected Noah or Chris to be the first to throw a punch, but Brady surprised everyone by standing up, grabbing Eric by the front of his shirt, and sending a fist into his face.

Chris watched as Eric fell to the floor. The room had gone quiet, the rest of the team no longer pretending they weren’t listening and watching everything unfold.

Brady simply stared down at his teammate like he was a disgusting insect he wanted to squash.

“What the fuck?” Eric asked, his hands pressed to his nose.

“I want you out of my house,” Brady said, his usual stoicism absent in place of a rage that shocked even Chris.

“I only said what everyone else was already thinking,” Eric argued after scrambling to his feet.

Chris stepped forward and shoved him back, wishing he could do more but knowing Eric would be the type to press charges if he did too much damage. “You need to learn how to shut your mouth,” he said.

Noah moved in next. He got between Chris and the other man and slapped Eric’s cheek without much force. It was a better insult than Brady’s punch or Chris’s shove, and Chris wished he’d thought of it himself.

“You have no idea how happy I’ll be when we graduate and I never have to see your face again,” Noah growled.

“Your sister killed Drew, too, in case you forgot,” Eric spat, fury filling his eyes. “I’m not the only one in here who hates her.”

Noah grabbed Eric’s jersey and pulled him in before shoving him back down to the floor. He might have done more if Jacob hadn’t stepped in, and Chris would have happily stood back and watched.

“Okay, guys, that’s enough,” Jacob spoke up. “He gets the point,” he said as he helped Eric get to his feet.

Chris knew Jacob didn’t like the guy, but he supposed the man was just trying to do the right thing.

“I should report all three of you to Coach,” Eric snarled, his fingers touching his nose tenderly.

Brady must have pulled his punch because it wasn’t even bleeding, and it certainly didn’t look broken.

“Maybe we should report you as well,” Brady retorted. “How do you think Coach will react to you bringing up Chris’s brother like that?”

“I can go to the police,” Eric retorted, his face turning red. “That was assault, and everyone here saw it.”

Brady nodded and shrugged, not looking at all phased by the threat. “You know what?” he said. “Go ahead. Go to the police. Even if I get charged, it was worth it.”

Jacob shook his head and pulled Eric away toward the front door. “It’s not worth it. You said some stupid shit, and they retaliated. Just let it go.”

“I’m gonna get another drink,” Noah muttered, and Brady left to do the same soon after him.

Chris was sitting on the sofa Brady had vacated, his head dropped forward and his elbows resting on his legs when Tyler sat next to him.

“I’m sorry, man.”

Chris shrugged. “It’s Eric. He’s always been a dick.”

“Not just about him,” Tyler said. “I’m sorry about your brother and everything that’s going on now.”

“You know someone from the Hoya reached out to me and asked if I could give them a statement about Drew for the piece they did about him,” Chris said with a humorless chuckle.

The Georgetown University newspaper had already written something about Drew after the accident, but they’d done another piece after the video of Olivia had come out. Chris had read it, and he’d almost laughed at how they’d framed Drew as some wonderful, righteous, sinless guy. They’d made him into a saint, as though his death made all the terrible things he’d done simply fade away.

“My brother died in that crash,” Chris continued. “And this guy sounded excited over writing about it. He didn’t care that people died. He just wanted the scoop.”

Tyler nodded. “I got the same call.”

“You didn’t give him a statement?” Chris wouldn’t have been surprised if he had. He’d seen plenty of quotes from his other teammates in that article and in articles from other media.

“Are you kidding? I told him to go to hell.”

Chris laughed at that. He’d said something similar, but there’d been more swearing. “He even had the audacity to ask me how I feel about the rumor that the university is renaming that hall.”

“Fucking hell,” Tyler sighed. “People are unbelievable.”

“Yep.”

Chris would have punched the guy if he’d asked that question in person. Even if Olivia had ended up being the one who caused the accident, Drew had still been driving drunk. He shouldn’t have an entire building named after him. It was ridiculous, and he hoped the rumor was nothing but baseless gossip.

“How are things with you and Noah?” Tyler asked, changing the subject.

Chris ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair and let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. We just don’t talk about it.”

“I heard he punched you when he found out your family was suing Olivia.”

Chris let out an amused huff. “He just shoved me, but yeah.”

The truth was he hadn’t even known what Paige had been planning. He and his parents had found out about it the same day that Olivia and her family had. If he had known, he would have said something to Noah.

Despite everything, Noah was still his friend, and he hated that Noah’s dad, who’d always welcomed Chris into their home, had been affected by all of this. They were good people, no matter what Olivia had done.

“It’s fucked up, man,” Tyler said. “You’ve known her for years because of Noah, and she ended up doing this.”

Chris nodded. “I never thought she’d be capable of it.”

He might have told Olivia that he’d only started things with her as some kind of revenge, but the truth was he would never have gotten close to her if he’d suspected her of being complicit in his brother’s death. He’d stopped blaming her before they’d started seeing each other.

Finding out that she’d slept with him while being more than complicit had been a blow Chris still hadn’t recovered from.

He hated that he’d let her in. That he’d let himself care about her. There was a reason he hadn’t had any serious girlfriends before her. People always left or found a way to let you down. People couldn’t be trusted, and Olivia had reminded him of that in the worst way possible.

“I didn’t know her well, but I wouldn’t have thought so either,” Tyler replied. “But I guess she’s getting what she deserves.”

Chris swallowed. “I saw her the other day, you know. She and Paige were going to try to settle out of court.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Paige backed out, but Olivia seemed desperate.”

She’d also lost so much weight that he’d been horrified when he’d first landed eyes on her. Maybe it was only because Olivia always had the tiny frame of a ballet dancer that it was so noticeable that she’d lost weight, but she’d gone from looking petite to looking sick. Chris didn’t want to feel any sympathy or concern for her, but his heart obviously hadn’t received the memo.

“I’m not surprised,” Tyler said. “A court case would only bring her more bad attention.”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, not knowing how he felt about it all.

He hadn’t known how to feel about Olivia being expelled from Georgetown at the end of the semester. He’d felt sick when he’d seen the social media posts and comments attacking her, and he hadn’t known how to react to Paige suing her. His emotions were too complicated when it came to Noah’s sister.

He’d even felt guilty when she’d told him to send her regards to Kelce. He hadn’t actually gotten back with the other woman—he hadn’t slept with anyone else since Olivia—but he still felt guilty of betraying her.

Chris was furious that his own emotions were working against him. If Paige or his parents knew, they’d be disgusted with him.

“When is the trial?” Tyler asked.

“Only next year in November,” Chris replied with a shake of his head.

“That’s a long time to wait for justice.”

Chris nodded. “A long fucking time,” he agreed.

Tyler and most of the team left not long after that, and soon enough, he found himself alone with Noah while Brady said goodbye to all of them. Noah sat down next to Chris, taking the spot Tyler had vacated.

“How are you doing?” he asked for the first time since the video had come out.

Chris didn’t blame him. He’d had other things to worry about, and it wasn’t as though Chris had asked Noah how things were either. Not speaking about it had just been easier when they had to spend most mornings and evenings in the same car and had to play on the same football team.

“Shitty,” Chris admitted.

Noah nodded. “Yeah, me too. How’s Paige and your parents?”

“Angry mostly,” Chris replied.

Paige had been full of rage since the accident, but after seeing Olivia’s drunken confession, that rage had only grown. The same was true of Chris’s parents, even his usually level-headed dad.

Whatever peace any of them had found since losing Lucas had been taken from them. The video had opened up old wounds, leaving them incapable of moving on until Olivia had been brought to justice.

“Sometimes I wonder if Paige will ever be able to work through what happened,” Chris continued. “She’s never been the same since that night.”

“Losing Ella would kill me,” Noah said with a slow shake of his head. “I’m not sure how anyone can recover from losing their spouse, especially since she was pregnant at the time.”

They sat in strained silence for a long time until Noah spoke again.

“I’m sorry for what Olivia did. I just wish there was something I could do to fix it.”

Chris looked down at his hands. He’d wished he could fix it all himself more than once. “Did she ever say anything about that night that made you suspect?”

“No,” he replied without hesitation. “She barely spoke about the accident at all.” He sighed. “I guess this is why.”

“It’s funny,” Chris said. “I spent so long hating her for letting Drew drive, and after I’d finally let it go and realized I was being unfair, it turned out I was right to blame her.”

“A part of me hates her too, now,” Noah admitted so quietly Chris nearly didn’t hear him. “I hate myself for feeling that way, but after what she did to your family…I just don’t know how to look at her anymore.” He let out a short chuckle. “Not that I even see her anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” Noah explained. “My dad and her mom are the only ones she seems to actually speak to anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Chris said. He knew how close he and Olivia had always been, so hearing that was a shock.

Noah lifted his shoulder. “Maybe it’s for the best. I don’t think I’d know what to say.”

Chris understood more than his friend could suspect. It had been the same for him when he’d seen Olivia at the failed mediation. He hadn’t known how to act or what to say to the woman who’d caused Drew’s car to collide with Lucas’s.

“And Riley?” Chris asked.

Noah shook his head. “Olivia refuses to see her, too. I spoke to her yesterday, and we had a fight about whether or not we should just break Olivia’s door down.”

“Let me guess, Riley was the one who wanted to break down the door.”

“Obviously,” Noah replied with a chuckle. “She thinks there’s more to the story.”

Chris frowned. “And what do you think?”

“I hope it’s true,” Noah said with a sigh. “But that video seemed pretty self-explanatory to me.”

“Yeah.”

Chris wished he could have grasped at straws of hope like Riley seemed to be doing, but what Olivia had said in the video didn’t leave room for doubt. She’d hit Drew while he was driving. She’d caused the accident, and she’d lied about it for months. Worse, she’d made Chris feel guilty for blaming her.

She’d had plenty of time to tell him the truth, but she’d chosen to hide it instead. There were some things Chris could forgive, but this wasn’t one of them.

He realized then that it didn’t matter how conflicted his feelings were, and it didn’t matter that her brother was his friend or that her father had always been there for him. Olivia was responsible for his brother’s death, and she needed to pay.