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32

Chris could still see the way Olivia had flinched in reaction to Brady’s touch. He’d seen similar reactions from her before, and his memories of her tensing under his own touch replayed in his mind. He couldn’t understand how he hadn’t figured it out earlier.

“Okay, is there anyone else around?” the operator asked.

“No,” Olivia replied after a few seconds. “Just the man behind the till inside.”

“Alright, I know this might be scary, Olivia, but I need you to go inside and ask the man for help.”

“I can’t,” Olivia said, and the fear was evident in her voice, even more so than before.

“You can,” the operator argued gently. “He can help you until the police arrive.”

“Wait,” Olivia said. “Drew’s finished paying.”

“Oliv—”

“He’s coming outside.”

“Okay, I need you to get out of the car,” the woman said, but Olivia didn’t reply to her. “Olivia?”

There was nothing but silence until the sound of a car door opening came through the speakers. But Chris knew it wasn’t the sound of Olivia opening her door to get out. It had to have been Drew coming back, and, sure enough, his voice sounded next.

“Let’s go,” he said, the two words slightly slurred.

Olivia must have put her phone on speaker.

“Why don’t I drive?” she suggested carefully.

“Fuck, Olivia,” Drew spat. “I told you I’m fine.”

“But—”

“Jesus Christ,” he snapped, and Chris flinched. “Will you just shut the fuck up.”

“I’m sorry,” Olivia whispered, almost too softly to hear.

“Olivia, can you hear me?” the operator asked, and Chris tensed, expecting Drew to ask who the hell was talking, but neither of them reacted to the question.

Chris guessed Olivia had muted the call on her side.

“I said I’m fine,” Drew repeated, and Chris heard the engine start.

“Okay,” Olivia replied.

The following silence didn’t last long, but it felt like an eternity as Chris waited for what he knew was coming.

“Drew,” Olivia yelped, and the sound of another car’s horn blasted from the speakers.

“Relax,” he replied, clearly annoyed. “And take off those fucking glasses. You know I hate them, maybe even more than that ridiculous sweater.”

“Fine,” Olivia bit out. “But you need to pull over. Just let me drive before you kill us both.”

“We’re fine,” Drew retorted with an ugly laugh.

“Drew, please.”

“God, you can be so fucking annoying,” he snapped. “Can’t you just stop nagging me for five minutes?”

“I’ll stop nagging you when you pull over,” Olivia retorted, finally snapping back.

Drew let out an ugly laugh. “I honestly don’t know how I put up with you. You’re such a buzz kill.”

“And yet you’ll show up on my doorstep tomorrow with flowers and an apology,” Olivia spat. “Just like you always do.”

“Look who’s finally grown a spine,” Drew crowed, seemingly delighted by her retort.

“Yeah, well, maybe I finally realized just how pathetic you really are,” Olivia replied, the timidness she’d shown when he first got in the car gone.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Drew asked. He didn’t yell the question, and the sudden quietness of his voice made it all the more unsettling.

Chris swallowed hard, his knuckles going white. He looked to the side to see Noah’s face had gone pale.

“Nothing,” Olivia muttered.

“No,” Drew said. “You called me pathetic.”

“Look, why don’t you just pull over, and I’ll Uber home from here?” Olivia tried to reason, sounding placating again.

“ I’m pathetic?” Drew scoffed, ignoring her suggestion. “ I’m pathetic?” he repeated in a shout that had most of the people sitting in front of Chris jumping or shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

Olivia let out a screech, making Chris’s breath catch.

“Olivia?” the operator asked. “Olivia, if you can hear me, the police will be there soon.”

But Olivia couldn’t hear her, and Chris knew they wouldn’t get there in time.

“Drew, let me go,” Olivia said, sounding remarkably calm.

Chris listened as she let out another scream, and his eyes started to burn when he heard a thump followed by her pained groan. This was why Olivia had never been charged by the police. They’d had all the proof they needed that Olivia wasn’t responsible for the accident. It was all in there, in the recorded 911 call.

“Drew, please,” Olivia pleaded, her voice thin and breathy after another two blows sounded.

“Why did you make me do this?” Drew asked as another thump sounded. “Why can’t you just learn to shut your mouth?”

Olivia was crying now, her sobs mixed with screams for him to stop. Chris’s nails dug deeper into his palms, and Noah ran his hands through his hair beside him and muttered a long line of swears.

“I’m sorry,” Olivia choked out between sobs, her voice sounding nasal and thick. “Please just stop.”

But Drew didn’t listen, and she let out another pained scream. Chris knew what came next, but he still flinched when he heard it.

“You fucking bit—”

Drew’s angry words were cut off by the sound of screeching tires, grinding metal, and glass shattering, his reaction to Olivia hitting him back in self-defense cut off by the sound of his car swerving and hitting the one carrying Lucas and a pregnant Paige.

Chris heard the groan of metal and another female scream before the recording cut off. Chris didn’t wait around after that, so he didn’t hear Drew’s father ask that the hall be renamed for Lucas Hartley instead. Nor did he witness the dean scrambling to save face. He was out of his seat before anyone else, even Noah, and he raced to where he’d last seen Olivia.

Only she wasn’t there.

Chris pushed through the crowd, his gaze searching every face around him, but he didn’t find her among the sea of spectators. He left the building and finally saw her retreating figure next to Brady’s, the two of them already tens of feet ahead of him as they walked away from the bomb Drew’s parents had just dropped.

Chris raced to catch up with them. “Olivia,” he called out once he was closer.

Olivia turned around at the sound of her name, and she surprised Chris by waiting for him. Her eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses again, and her lips were pursed together. Chris felt as unwelcome as he had when he’d spoken to her that morning.

“What do you want, Chris?” she asked once he’d come to a stop in front of her and Brady, who Chris now realized must have known the truth long before the rest of them.

Chris opened his mouth, but the words evaded him. What could he possibly say to her? What could he possibly say that would help heal all the hurt?

“I’m so sorry,” he finally settled on.

Olivia took off her sunglasses and let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.” She turned to Brady. “I’ll be okay. Can you give us a minute?”

Chris’s teammate nodded and walked out of earshot, but not before sending him a warning glare.

Chris’s eyes lowered in shame. “I should have seen it sooner,” he said. “I wish I’d seen it sooner.”

“What made you realize?” Olivia asked. “You figured it out before they played the tape, didn’t you?”

Chris nodded. “It was a few things, but I saw you flinch when Brady touched your arm.” He swallowed hard. “It wasn’t the first time you’ve reacted that way when someone touches you. It was just the first time I understood what it meant.”

Olivia’s gaze went to the side. “Well, props to you for being the first to put two and two together.”

“How did Drew’s parents find out?” he asked. If he’d been the first to figure it out through observation, they must have found out another way.

“They came to visit me in the hospital,” she said, her eyes on her feet. “I don’t know if I’d been given too many drugs or what, but I broke down and told them the truth when they asked what happened.”

Chris swallowed past the lump in his throat. “And Brady?”

“Drew and I were in a bedroom at one of the football parties, and he walked in,” she explained, her arms crossing over her chest. “He offered to take me to the police, but all he’d seen was Drew holding my wrist a bit too tightly and getting in my face.” She shrugged. “I didn’t think it was enough.”

“I wish I could have helped you,” Chris said, his eyes closing briefly as Olivia’s screams replayed in his memory.

“You couldn’t have given me help when I didn’t ask for it,” she replied with a shrug. “And I was too scared and ashamed to do that until it was too late.”

Chris hated that she was right. He wouldn’t have known what was happening if she hadn’t told him. There’d been signs, but they’d all missed them. And the worst part was it hadn’t ended when Drew died. He’d been with her this whole time, his spirit attached to hers so that she couldn’t heal the way she should have been able to.

“When did it start?” he asked, hoping to God the abuse hadn’t been going on for as long as he suspected it had.

Olivia chewed on her bottom lip, looking like she didn’t want to answer. But she did, and her reply was worse than he’d feared. “The night I threw a tantrum at family dinner, and he followed me upstairs.”

A wave of dizziness crashed into Chris, robbing him of breath. They’d all been downstairs, not even second-guessing why Olivia had screamed at Drew to get out of her room. Chris had assumed Olivia was just taking her anger out on her boyfriend, lashing out as she had with her mom, Riley, and her dad in the minutes before Drew had gone upstairs.

Chris had witnessed the light leaving her eyes and the joy fading from her smiles after that day, but he’d been so wrong about the cause.

“I heard him leave after he’d gone back downstairs,” Olivia continued, “But before I could do anything, I heard my mom say what a wonderful boy he was.” She kicked at the brick beneath her foot, her lips curled into a bitter smile. “And I hesitated because it suddenly hit me that maybe nobody would believe me. He’d only slapped me, and it didn’t exactly leave a mark.”

Chris shook his head. He stepped forward and slowly and carefully lifted his hands to cup her face. “Fuck, Liv. I wish I’d known.” He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I would have believed you. We all would have.”

She smiled sadly. “I know. I just wish I’d realized that back then.” She stepped away, out of his reach. “But Drew’s finally gotten what he deserves, and before the end of the day, he’ll be burning in hell where he belongs.”

Chris nodded, his teeth grinding together. It would be a terrible fate, but it still didn’t feel like enough. He wished Drew were still alive so he could kill him himself. But even that wouldn’t feel like justice enough.

“And I can finally move on,” she added, and Chris’s anger burned hotter even as guilt rose to the surface again.

“I’m so sorry for everything I said after I saw the video,” he told her, the shame of it bearing down on his shoulders.

Olivia’s lips pinched into a thin line. “You didn’t know,” she sighed, shocking him completely. “You only knew what you’d seen in that video, and honestly, I don’t blame you for your reaction.”

Chris shook his head slowly, feeling like he must be mishearing. “You don’t?”

“No,” Olivia replied. “I can’t lie and say it didn’t hurt,” she added, making Chris’s chest squeeze painfully, “But I understand why you reacted the way you did.”

“Do you think…” Chris shifted on his feet, hating himself for even considering asking such a stupid and unfair question. “Do you think you could ever forgive me?”

Olivia blew out a long breath. “Forgive you? Maybe. But forget?” She shook her head. “No, I don’t think I could.”

Any hope Chris had allowed himself to feel shriveled and died.

“You said a lot of things,” she reminded him. “The worst of which was comparing me to Riley.”

He’d done more than that. He’d lied and told her Riley would have been his first choice. Worse, he’d asked her how Drew had put up with her for so long. He’d done everything he could to hurt Olivia, and he’d succeeded.

“God, I’m so sorry,” he said, feeling ill. “I lied about all of that. Maybe I thought she was cute, but I never felt the way about her that I feel about you. Not even close.”

Olivia smiled sadly. “I wish I could believe that.”

“I swear it’s the truth,” he told her, his desperation clear in his voice. “You’re the only person I’ve ever felt that way about.”

Olivia sighed. “They’re pretty words, Chris, but you proved how quickly you could move on.”

“You mean Kelce?” he asked, his head shaking frantically. “That wasn’t real. I asked her to help me get back at you, but it was all pretend.”

A crack formed in Olivia’s icy expression, but she patched it up quickly. “Whatever we had is gone. You made sure of that.”

Chris winced, and another memory of that day decided to kick him while he was down. “You said that day that Drew and I were alike,” he murmured. “You weren’t just talking about the cheating, were you?”

“I wasn’t,” Olivia admitted quietly.

Chris wiped his hands over his face, his expression falling.

“Look,” Olivia said, stepping forward and placing a hand on his arm. “You may have hurt me, but you would never slam my face into a car dashboard. There’s a difference, and I shouldn’t have compared the two of you.”

Chris had never known guilt like this. He wasn’t sure how he was meant to live with himself after what he’d done to her.

“I’m still furious at you and the others for not telling me everything sooner,” she told him, “But this isn’t something you need to beat yourself up over. You acted the way anyone else would have with the information you had at the time.”

Chris put his hand over her own, her skin icy beneath his palm. “How can I not beat myself over it when it cost me you?”

Olivia withdrew her hand from under his, the set of her jaw hardening. “I’ll see you and the others at the exorcism.” She licked her lips. “Oh, and I forgot to say it earlier, but I wanted to thank you for saving me that day.”

Before he could reply or plead with her further, Noah was there, barreling past Chris and wrapping his arms around his sister.

“I’m so sorry, Livvy,” Noah whispered, and she returned his hug after a moment’s hesitation.

Chris stepped away, giving them space. He saw Paige watching them all from a few feet away and joined her.

She wiped a tear from her cheek, her eyes already bloodshot. “I should have listened to what she wanted to say during mediation.”

Chris nodded, knowing now that Olivia would have told Paige the truth that day. At the time, she just hadn’t wanted an audience for it. Chris doubted she’d wanted an audience now either, but she’d been pushed too far.

Paige waited until Noah had finally released Olivia from his hug to approach the pair. Chris went with her but stayed a few steps back.

“I’ll contact my lawyer in the morning to get the case withdrawn,” Paige told Olivia. “I’m so sorry for everything I’ve put you through.”

Olivia replied with a tight smile. “Thank you.” She glanced between Chris and Paige. “And I’m sorry for your loss.”

Paige sniffed and folded her arms around the other woman. “I’m so sorry,” she said, and Olivia slowly relaxed into the hug.

She closed her eyes, and Chris traced the passage of the single tear that rolled down her cheek. He would have given anything to be the one to wipe it away, but she did that herself after Paige pulled back.

Chris watched Olivia walk away, Brady once again at her side. He hated that he wasn’t the one next to her, but he was glad she’d had someone to rely on all this time. Brady had been the only one to stick by her side without so much as wavering. He’d been the only one Olivia could trust.

Chris hated that it hadn’t been him, but he was beyond grateful to his teammate for being there when the rest of them had failed so spectacularly.

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