34. Levi

34

LEVI

A rcher's panicked shout jolts me, sending a surge of adrenaline through my veins. I exchange a glance with Zane before we both bolt up the stairs, our footsteps thundering against the wooden steps. My heart is speeding, pounding in my chest as fear and anger mix in a volatile cocktail.

As I fly down the hallway to Archer's side, the scene before me sends my stomach churning, nightmarish in its horror. Cameron is atop Lyric and her terrified eyes lock onto mine.

"Get off her!" I roar, my vision tinged with red as rage takes over. Zane and I rush forward, grabbing Cameron and yanking him off Lyric with all our strength. Archer grabs Lyric, scooping her up as he rushes out of the room.

Cameron barely has time to react before our fists connect with his face.

"You sick bastard!" Zane growls, his voice a mix of fury and disgust. Cameron tries to shield himself, but it's no use. We're relentless, our punches fueled by the horrific sight of what we walked in on.

Finally, Cameron slumps over, barely conscious, and we stop, our breaths coming in ragged gasps.

"Call campus police," I say to Zane, my voice shaking with anger and the remnants of fear. He nods and pulls out his phone, calling them straight away.

By the time they arrive, the commotion has caused a bunch of the party-goers to wander upstairs to see what's going on, so everyone is witness to Cameron being frog-marched down the stairs by campus police, still dazed and bloody from the beating we gave him.

We follow the campus police to their station, giving them a rundown of what happened. They tell us that they need to get a statement from Lyric and we promise to bring her the next day.

Once we're done, the two of us head back to check on Lyric. Archer brought her back to the house, so we stumble inside and head up the stairs, where Lyric is lying under the covers of Archer's bed while he keeps an eye on her.

She's waking up when we walk in, but Archer's eyes are narrowed and I realize quickly that she's still under the effects of whatever that scumbag slipped into her drink.

"I'm sorry!" she says, eyes watering up as she sees us. "I screwed everything up again, didn't I? I always do that. I screw it all up. I mess everything up for you guys."

"Shh," Archer says, reaching out to brush her hair from her face. "You're fine, Songbird. We're the ones who messed up. It's always been our fault, and we blamed you."

"I tried," Lyric says through her tears. "I tried so hard. I told the police it wasn't your fault. They wouldn't listen to me. No one ever listens to me."

"What do you mean?" I ask, kneeling on the bed. "You talked to the police tonight?"

Lyric shakes her head. "No. The prank. They started asking me questions. I told them about the prank, but they wouldn't let me explain that you guys would never do something intentionally destructive."

Unease coils in my gut. I don't know if this is the right time to be revisiting this subject. "Lyric," I start, but she interrupts me.

"You don't get it," she bursts out. "You don't get it. I went back to them, I told them they had the wrong people. I wanted them to fix it, to undo the mess. I knew that you guys couldn't have been responsible for causing the fire because I knew you and I knew that you would never, ever pull a prank that hurt someone."

Zane frowns. "You talked to them again?"

"They wouldn't freaking listen ," Lyric says, her voice harsh. "The officer I talked to said that they had all the evidence they needed to prove it was you guys. I tried for months, but no one would listen to me! Once my pregnancy got out, the police threatened to send me away, into the system, if I kept bothering them. I was so scared I'd lose the baby," she says, fully sobbing now.

My heart clenches hard in my chest. How dare they threaten her like that! Anger surges, and I reach out, grasping her hand, squeezing hard. My eyes find Archer and Zane's, the guilt on our faces identical.

All this time.

All this time, we blamed Lyric, but it was our fault. We thought we were the beloved pranksters of the town, the charming rascals, bringing fun wherever we went. Sure, we knew there was the odd naysayer, but whenever we went a little too far, Lydia and Eric were there to sweep the issue away.

But if everyone was so quick to believe we were responsible for the fire, it seems like more people were over our mischievous ways than we realized.

Zane climbs onto the bed on the other side of Lyric and pulls her close. "I'm so sorry you were so alone," he murmurs, stroking her hair. "You were so damned brave, doing it alone."

"We should have never blamed you," I add. "We were too quick to blame someone else for an issue we caused."

"Military school sucked, but it set us straight," Archer says. "We realized we were kind of jackasses. But it didn't seem to do enough good because as soon as we were done, we went right back to being selfish pricks."

"God," I breathe out. "What a mess." If we had just tried to talk to Lyric, we could have straightened everything out, but there was too much anger, too much bitterness at the time.

I don't know about Zane, but after what my parents did, I think I was all too quick to believe that people can't be trusted and that they could betray you at any minute. Being sent away from the only family who cared about me, the only parents who gave a damn, had turned me even more bitter and mistrustful.

"Did anyone even try to believe you?" Archer asks. "I would think that there would be at least a few people who might have been skeptical."

Lyric shakes her head. "I don't know why, but even your other friends were convinced you did it. Even your parents. I tried to go over there once and talk to them, but they turned me away."

Archer tenses, guilt in his eyes. "They were sick of cleaning up our messes," he admits. "I always promised to stop pulling shit. I promised the three of us wouldn't do anything destructive after we accidentally busted Dean Anders's car engine that one time, but they said this time was too far. They were furious."

Silence stretches between us, the weight of Lyric's confession hanging over our heads. It seems like the one person who believed us, the only person who did, was the very person we were so determined to push away.

"Are you okay?" Zane asks, changing the subject. "Did that asshole hurt you?"

Lyric shakes her head. "He didn't get a chance. Archer came in before he could touch me. All he did was pin me down. And he put something in my drink."

I'm reminded of something. "The campus police want a statement from you tomorrow," I tell her. "Well, later today," I add, checking the time on my phone. "You should get some rest."

"Do you mind if I stay here?" Lyric asks. "I paid Annie to babysit Eli, but she was only supposed to be there until one."

"I'll take care of it," Archer says smoothly, reaching for his phone. "We'll go get Eli and bring him here so he's with us."

Lyric nods, looking more out of it again. "I'm going to close my eyes," she says, lying back against the pillows. The drugs will probably make her forget everything that she told us tonight, but they won't make us forget.

Just before she starts to drift off, she looks up at me. "I tried to write you," she says softly. "All of you. I wrote you a dozen letters, but when I asked your parents to send them to you, they refused. I wanted to talk to you, but no one would tell me where you were sent. No one would let me speak to you."

"I'm sorry," I whisper. She did everything she could, but we blamed her anyway. Fuck. We were the villains in this story, after all. "Don't worry about it anymore. It's all over and done."

"Can you ever forgive me?" she asks, voice soft.

"There's nothing to forgive," I tell her, staring off into the distance as a lump rises in my throat. "There's nothing at all that you need to be forgiven for. It's our fault and I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Songbird."

But when I look back down at her, she's passed out again. I know that there's a long road ahead of us, but it's up to us to take the first steps now. I don't even know if Lyric can ever forgive us for all the shit we did to her.

But I'm determined to try. I'm determined to do whatever it takes to earn her forgiveness.