Page 68 of Our Ruined Beginnings

“The guys and our Uber.” I prop him against the wall as I watch the doorway, willing Madden to walk through it. Alone.

I’ve decided I hate Sylvie. Even after she offered me pills in the bathroom, I wouldn’t have passed judgment on her. Just ’cause it’s not my thing doesn’t mean I begrudge anyone else a good time. But then she’d givenwaymore graphic detail about Madden than I’d ever want to hear from another girl’s mouth, and I decided I might hate them both a little bit. Clearly, the jealous game went a little further for him than it did for me.

And yet, here I am, still hoping like hell he’ll saunter toward me, choose me over her. But it’s not him who appears; it’s Evan.

“Are we ready?” he asks, easily snatching the keys from my hand as my drunken reflexes lag.

“Madden was gonna order an Uber,” I try to say, but my enunciation is getting worse by the minute.

“MadMan is otherwise occupied,” he says with a chuckle, and my heart drops.

“What do you mean?” I ask as he steers me toward the front door with an arm around my shoulder.

“I meeeeean,” he draws out, “that he’s busy with a pretty Sylvie on her knees for him.”

I think I might throw up. I lurch toward the bushes that line the drive as my stomach churns, wanting to bring up whatever’s mixing inside of it. I really don’t feel good. Evan’s arm is unyielding around me, though, and suddenly, we’re in front of a car that he’s opening the back door of. Did Madden order an Uber for us? Was he planning to come before he got distracted? A cold shiver runs over my clammy skin, and I lean my head against the back of the chair as sweat breaks out over my forehead.

“Can we hit the drive thru?” Caleb asks as I peel my eyes open. “I’ve got the munchies.”

He’s climbed into the passenger seat, and I wait for the space next to me to become occupied by Evan, but instead, his voice comes from the front too. I spin my whole head toward it, squinting to focus on his face. “Of course you do, man. You hogged that spliff.”

Wait, what? Caleb was smoking?

I want to ask him, but my tongue feels like cement in my mouth, and my thoughts are wading through mud.

“Yeah. It’s gonna knock me out tomorrow with the drink too,” Caleb mutters, surprising me.

“You gotta do pills with alcohol. I told you this,” Evan insists.

“I don’t touch that shit. You know that.”

Evan shrugs and puts his arm over Caleb’s chair to look out the back as he reverses.

The tires squeal as he brakes and revs, and he throws a wink at me, but I can’t return it.

My whole body is frozen, and I feel like I could sleep for a decade. As we start to drive, it feels like I hover on the precipice of unconsciousness. The part of my brain that can talk, move my body, and react is dormant, but I still take everything in.

I listen to them chatter between themselves as streetlights flash past. I feel the car speed up and Caleb warn Evan about the roads around here. While my head spins, my heart rate picks up at the worry in his tone, and I’m annoyed by the flippant response Evan gives him.

The next streetlight is too bright—the whole car lights up as if someone put a floodlight inside with us. I hear yells from the guys, and the fear in Caleb’s pierces my heart. A thunderous impact hits the side of the car, and I’m thrown as far as my seatbelt will allow against the door, and then across the backseat as we swerve. Pain shoots through me so sudden and sharp I can’t pinpoint where it’s from, and my head begs for the relief of sleep. Then the world rolls and rolls, and the solace of darkness overtakes me, the absence ofanythingcomforting.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harper

Present day

Maddenleanswithonehand on my doorframe, his chest heaving as he catches his breath. His eyes are wide, looking at me as if he’s just figured out the secrets to the universe.

Blood coats his split knuckles, the crimson stark against his tan skin.

“What do you mean?” I ask, my voice cracking.

Madden takes a step toward me, closing the distance between us.

“That night… graduation… you didn’t do it,” he breathes, and my heart thumps against my chest. “It wasn’t you.”

He knows?

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