Page 111 of My Brother's Best Friend

I had never done anything to her, and she had hurt meandMaddie. All these emotions, I had pushed them to the side and tried to forget about them, but they had seemed to fizzle over the edge and … and come out now.

Now, of all fucking times.

“Wolfe!” João called from the sidewalk outside.

Landon leaned against the funeral home while Kai sat on the edge of the curb.

João tossed a cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out with his heel. “We need to talk.”

I blew out a breath and ran a hand across my face. “What’d you want, Rocha?”

João hopped off the curb and walked toward me. “We have some information for you.”

“About what?”

“Piper.”

Stiffening, I arched my brow at him. “I didn’t ask you to find any shit on her.”

“You didn’t.”

“Maddie did?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “But we found it, and it could be useful to you.”

After sighing through my nose, I narrowed my eyes at him. “How much?”

He smirked, threw an arm around my shoulders, and guided me toward his car. “We can talk numbers on the ride back to my place. We can’t talk about it here, especially not with half of the Redwood Police waiting to bust us.”

CHAPTER68

MADDIE

“Let me know when you want me to bring you home,” Blaise offered.

I sat in Vera and Blaise’s apartment and stared emptily out the window. I had gone to the funeral with Alec, but he had left, so I hadn’t had a ride back home. And honestly, I understood the reasons for him leaving. I would’ve, too, if that had happened to me. He had seemed so distraught, and I wanted to give him space.

“Thanks,” I whispered, grasping on to one of their pillows and clutching it to my chest.

Vera sat beside me with her head on my shoulder and her body trembling. She had kept it together for most of the service, but it seemed to actually hit her now. Piper might’ve betrayed us, but we had been best friends for over a year now.

Even if she had felt bad about what had happened and if what Nicole had said was true, she hadn’t had to commit suicide. We didn’t hate her that much. She could’ve gone to therapy and worked on herself or even asked one of us for help to get out of the situation that she had been trapped in.

Guilt rushed through me. As her friend, I should’ve seen the warning signs.

But everything had seemed so perfect with her. Sure, she might’ve been at home a lot or with her father, but she always had a believable excuse. I hadn’t even thought that anything could possibly be wrong.

Someone knocked at the door, and Blaise answered it. Nicole, Imani, Allie, and Jace walked into the apartment, all the girls teary-eyed, but not as badly as we were. But still, them going to the funeral and then coming here afterward meant the world to me.

“How’re you holding up?” Allie asked, sitting on the couch across from us.

“Why did she do it?” Vera sobbed suddenly, clutching on to me tighter. “I don’t understand. She hid this from us for so long. Didn’t she think that we would help her out the best that we could?!” She bundled her dress up into her fists and shook her head. “W-why?”

Nicole frowned and sat on the ground at Vera’s feet, gently squeezing her knee, as Imani took a seat next to Allie, and Jace lingered near the kitchen with Blaise. Nobody could answer her question for many reasons.

But I had the same thoughts, the same questions and doubts. How could she have done such a thing? It was selfish. So selfish. And I didn’t forgive her for it. Though I understood why she had done it, I still didn’t agree with it.

The room filled with Vera’s sobbing until Blaise finally came over and pulled her into his arms. She grasped on to him with everything she had, and part of me wished that Alec had stayed around so he could do the same with me.

---