44. Dante

Chapter 44

Dante

I stood at the lookout, feeling defeated. I’d really thought I’d find Camille here, which was stupid, in hindsight, considering how badly I’d betrayed her. Why the fuck would she come to the place that had been so special for the both of us?

My phone buzzed. I snatched it up and cursed when I saw Jane’s name on the screen. As much as I felt obligated to help her, I couldn’t deal with her right now. Not until I knew Camille was safe.

The first time I brought Camille here, she’d seemed so vulnerable, so lost. All I’d ever wanted to do was be there for her. I just hadn’t been able to work up the courage to tell her the truth about Jane and the drugs, and now she was out there thinking the worst.

My phone buzzed once more. I glanced at it, expecting Jane’s name again, but instead, it was Kage’s. “Have you found her?” I demanded, my heart racing.

“She was at the river,” Kage said “Ty found her. She’s in the hospital.”

“Jesus, what happened?” I asked, numbness spreading across my chest.

“Someone drugged her and tried to kidnap her. Luckily, Ty killed the fucker before he could take off with her. She’s still unresponsive, but she’s stable.”

Thank fuck Ty got to her in time. But who was after her? And how had they found her? Was someone tracking her that wasn’t one of the three of us? The thought made me sick.

“I’m on my way.”

I jumped on my bike and raced to the hospital, praying the whole ride that Camille would be okay. By the time I arrived, I had calmed myself down, but nothing prepared me for walking into her room and seeing her lying in bed, connected to a million different machines. Kage, who sat next to her, looked up at me, while Ty frowned from across the room.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. “This is all my fault. I should have told her about Rhianna. The drugs. Everything.”

“If you’re guilty, then we all are,” Kage said, his gaze back on Camille. “We all could have done things differently. Even Ty.”

“What the fuck have I done?” Ty snapped.

“How about being an asshole to her ninety percent of the time?”

“My relationship with Camille is none of your damn business,” Ty fired back.

“Cut the crap! Someone tried to kidnap her. Maybe even kill her. You should be focused on working together to keep her safe rather than trying to rip each other apart.”

“What about you?” Kage demanded, his eyes narrowing at me. “Sounds like you’re giving up on her.”

“She hates me,” I said simply. “I’ll face her, but after that, maybe the best thing I can do is leave you two to keep her safe.”

“So, you’re just going to run like a pussy?” Kage sneered.

“She’s better off without me,” I muttered.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to make that choice?”

I sucked in a breath. We turned to see Camille staring at us—or more specifically, staring at me.

"Fuck, Rebel, you scared the shit out of me." Kage grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“I’ll get a doctor,” Ty said.

“No, wait. I don’t want a doctor. Not until Dante says what he has to say."

Camille

Dante stared at me, anguish in his eyes as he made his way over to my bed. When Kage reluctantly moved away, Dante sat next to me and took my hand. I forced myself not to pull away.

After I’d left Jane, I’d gone down to the river to think. In a weird way, I’d felt a sense of peace there, and I’d needed that given how much turmoil I was suffering after learning Dante’s truth.

Dante stared at our joined hands.

“Growing up, my best friend Marco had it rough. Jane was a single mom, trying to support Marco and his little sister, Rhianna. After college, Marco joined the military. When he got deployed overseas, he asked me to keep an eye on his family. Especially his mom.” Dante paused and pressed his lips together into a thin line. “She started using while we were in high school. She’d disappear for days at a time, leaving Marco to look after his kid sister. Then she’d get better for a while, but it never lasted…” Dante’s head dropped, as if the weight of his words was pulling him into a pit of despair.

“What happened next?” I pushed him. I wanted every detail, even though I could tell it killed him to say it out loud. He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue.

“After Marco was deployed, Jane went off the deep end. She’d been using before, but with Marco gone, it was like she couldn’t stop. It wasn’t long after that she OD’d. She survived, obviously. Her drugs were cut with some shit that should have killed her. I’d made Marco a promise that I’d look after her, so I did. I started supplying her with drugs that I knew were clean. If I couldn’t make her stop, I was determined to make sure what she put into her body wasn’t going to kill her.”

“How does Rhianna figure into all of this?” I asked.

Dante looked up, our eyes meeting momentarily. “Jane had been doing okay. I’d even managed to hook her up with a job. It was the best I’d seen her do in months. She was still using, but she wasn’t as out of control as she’d been in the past. I told her she needed to quit the drugs. That I’d help. I couldn’t keep supplying her. It was killing me, lying to my friend. I promised her I’d support her, take her to meetings, whatever she needed. I’d be there for her. I just couldn’t give her any more drugs.”

Dante sighed. He was fidgety and on edge. I’d never seen him like this. I couldn’t bring myself to comfort him. The image of my own mother was burned too deeply into my mind for that.

Dante cleared his throat. “She started going to meetings. We’d talk at least once a week. She seemed good. Then one day, Jane’s work called me. She hadn’t shown up for days. I called the school and Rhianna wasn’t there either. So, I went over to check on them. I walked inside and found Jane passed out on the sofa. The place was a mess. There were clothes and trash everywhere…”

His face tightened as the memory flooded his senses again, like he was back there, standing in that place once more. Deep down, I knew he’d tried to forget it, but I was making him relive it now. He closed his eyes, then went on.

“It’s like it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. I tried to wake Jane, but she was out of it. I picked her up, carried her to the bathroom, and put her under the shower. She roused and tried to proposition me. I stopped her and asked her where Rhianna was. She told me she’d stayed home from school because she hadn’t been feeling well.” Dante stopped, his voice cracking.

I couldn’t help myself from tightening my fingers around his. I knew what he was going to say…

He took a deep breath and then kept going. “I went to her room. The door was open. I saw her lying on the bed. She’d overdosed. Jane followed me into the room, soaking wet, screaming that I’d killed Rhianna because I’d cut Jane off. Because she’d gone to someone else and got some bad shit. Rhianna must have found it and…” Dante couldn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. I understood. He blamed himself, thinking that if he’d kept supplying Jane, then Rhianna would probably still be alive.

“I don’t blame you for hating me?—”

“I don’t hate you,” I interrupted him. “I understand why you do what you do. And I’m so sorry, Dante, that that happened. But I can’t support you continuing to sell drugs.”

“What does that mean?” His blue eyes searched mine, looking for answers I couldn’t give him. “You want me to stop?”

“I want you to stop because it’s the right thing to do,” I told him firmly. “You weren’t responsible for Rhianna’s death. And even though you're trying to do good here, in the end, it’s not doing good for anyone.”

“It is, Camille. I can’t stop CU students from using. I can only try to make sure what they get isn’t poison. What happens if a kid dies because I stop? If they end up taking dirty stuff and overdosing?” Dante said.

Just like Rhianna were his unspoken words.

“And that’s why I can’t hate you,” I told him honestly. My voice broke as tears filled my eyes. Kage and Ty stood in the background, silent, respecting that Dante and I needed space to work through this. I smiled at Dante through my tears and squeezed his hand. “In fact, it’s a big part of why I love you.”

“You love me?”

I nodded. “I do. I didn’t say it before because, well…” I glanced at Kage, afraid I’d see pain in his expression, but all I saw was understanding. “I love you, Dante,” I said, turning back to him. “And I want you to stop. But I won’t tell you to stop. You have to do what you think is right. Even if the cost of doing that is losing me.”