Page 309 of Vile Boys

“With what? Sex and murder?”

He shrugs, and a dirty grin spreads on his face. “You, of all people, should know.”

Busy with his murderous girlfriend?

We really are a family of devils.

“Love ya.” He winks. “See you at school.”

“Definitely. And don’t think I’ll let you off the hook with the Torres company. I’m going to need extra hands to take care of the mess he left.”

He lifts both middle fingers in the air. “This enough hands?”

I laugh and shake it off. “Love you too, Kai.”

I gaze at the graves and the lonesome, round-faced girl with blond hair and big eyes sitting behind one of them. She didn’t want to attend the funeral, but she still wanted to be here for me, even if only from a distance.

I walk toward her, the pebbles beneath my feet giving my presence away.

But she doesn’t move.

“I miss you,” she mutters at the grave, touching the ground astears form in her eyes.

I kneel behind her and place a hand on her shoulder.

“You did it,” I say.

She turns to look at me, eyes filled with both sadness and hope. Hope for a future beyond the suffering.

“You took your revenge.”

The most beautiful, heart-wrenching smile forms on her lips. We both know the duplicitous nature of that smile. How, on the one hand, she’s overjoyed to end this chapter of her life, while on the other, the guilt of knowing she killed my father will forever stay etched within her soul. “I did.”

But if she hadn’t ended his life, mine would have been forfeited.

And I am forever grateful she chose me. Even if it cost my brother and me our own blood.

“If your father was here … I just know he would tell you how proud he is of you.”

She breathes out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Blaine

Weekslater

Crystal sitsbeside me on the bench beneath the tree in the rose garden and pats her thighs.

“Do we really have to do this?” Ares grumbles.

“Yes. Stop complaining,” I reply.

Caleb sighs out loud and lays his head on Crystal’s lap, his legs splayed over my lap and the edge of the bench.

“How long is this going to take?” Ares asks, sitting on the bench’s armrest next to Crystal.

I rub my forehead. “Do you guys really have such a short attention span?”

Ares folds his arms. “No one ever asked if I wanted to do this.”

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