Page 71 of Raise 'Em Up

“Thank you.”

I take off running after him, finding him puking in a bush.

“Baby.” My voice cracks, and I do my damn best to keep it together for him.

I try not to get offended when he shrugs away from my touch. “He raped her,” he croaks, his voice sounds like broken glass. “He killed her.”

“I’m so fucking sorry, Colt.”

“All that monster has ever done is hurt people. Use people. And now he’s dead and buried. But, fuck!” He spins around and punches the brick wall.

“Wait! He’s dead? We just saw him at Teo’s fight.” I gasp and jump forward to help him, but he starts to pace.

“Lincoln took care of it, and the fucked up part is, I want to kill him. I want to wrap my hands around his throat and watch the life drain from his eyes.” Colton starts to cry. “But I can’t because he’s already dead. I can’t get justice for my sister. I should have been the one to end his life!”

“No.” I shake my head. “I believe that man deserves to rot in hell for the things he’s done. And now he is. But not by your hands, because if you were responsible, I’d lose you, Colton, and I can’t live in a world without you,” I tell him, stepping up to cup his face.

“I love you. So fucking much. And my life is so much better with you in it. But taking someone's life, it’s not something you can come back from. It would haunt you, and would ruin the man I adore. And then you would be locked up for life, away from me.

“It’s better this way. He’s gone. He can’t hurt anyone else anymore. Think of your sister, Colton. Would she want that kind of life for you?”

“No,” he rasps, blinking away his tears.

“The best you can do for her is to let her know that the monster who took her away from you is gone. And now we can all piss on his grave.”

And then an idea hits me that I’m going to have to talk to Mateo about. To see if it’s actually possible.

“You’re right. Fuck.” He wipes his eyes. “I don’t know how to feel, Rylee. Everything hurts.” He rubs at his chest.

“I know, baby. I know. I would take it all away from you if I could.” I hug him tight and hold him as he cries. We’re off to the side, on the grass, so no one’s really around. We stay there until he’s done.

“Rylee?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna come with me and meet my sister?”

I pull back to meet his broken eyes with my watery ones. “I’d love to.”

We go to the graveyard and spend the rest of the day sitting by her grave. He tells her all about me, his life and cheer. We laugh and cry together, and all I can do is look at the photo on the gravestone and wish I could have met her.

She seemed like an amazing girl.

“Thank you for coming with me today. I don’t think I would have been able to walk out of that place without being in handcuffs if it wasn’t for you,” Colt tells me as we walk up the steps to the Cheer house.

“I’m always going to be here for you, Colton.”

He grins. “I know. And I’m always going to be here for you.”

“I know.” I smile back. Maybe at one point I would have laughed at that statement, but now I know these guys would die for me. And call me crazy, but I’d do the same for them.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The moment Colton gets home, I know something is wrong. I turned my phone off today and was trying to rest, but now I'm regretting it. Even if everyone is telling me to.

We have Regionals in a few weeks and I can’t be injured.

My face is fucked up, but I'll heal, and we have heavy makeup that I can wear to hide the worst parts. I already use it to cover my tattoos.

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