Page 183 of Come Break My Heart Again

“A guy you used to deal drugs with?”

I swallow. “It’s all in the past, Elle. Let’s leave it there, please.”

Elle crosses her arms. “It’s not in the past if you werejusttalking to him.” She hesitates, then asks, “Are you … dealing again?”

“No!No. I’ve never—” I exhale, running a hand through my hair and then belatedly remembering I tried to style it earlier. “Can we talk about this later at least?”

“You went to prison for dealing drugs, Ryder.”

My jaw tightens. “I remember.”

“So, tell me what you were talking to him about.”

I glance around, wishing we weren’t having this conversation on a sidewalk. “When I moved back here, senior year, I could’ve joined Cruz’s crew. But I didn’t.”

A wrinkle appears between Elle’s eyes.

“When you asked me if I was involved, I was honest. But then …” I swallow. “I owed Cruz a favor. He asked me to receive a shipment. I was supposed to store it for a couple of hours. That’s it. Thirty seconds after the guys dropped it off, the cops showed up. It was all just … terrible timing.”

“But … why wouldn’t you tell the police that?”

“What does anyone say when they’re caught with a bunch of coke?It’s not mineisn’tinnocent, Elle. I had it in my possession—alotof it in my possession—and that’s all they needed. If it had gone to trial, I would have risked more than eight years. So, I took the deal. If I’d snitched on Cruz, I have no clue what he would have done.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of that when I visited you?”

“Because it wouldn’t have changed anything. There was nothing you could have done.”

Elle’s lips press tightly together. She’s annoyed. Probably hurt. And she has a right to feel both those things. But at some point, we’ll have to move past all this. Or else … we won’t.

“What was the favor?”

“What?” I play dumb. Iamdumb, for mentioning it.

“Why would you get involved? What was the favor?”

“Elle …”

She hears the hesitation in my voice. “What aren’t you telling me, Ryder?”

I sigh. “Cormac called me from a party the night before, needing a ride. The party turned out to be Hathaway’s. When wegot there, he said some shit, and I lost my temper. I punched him, and Cruz got spooked, thinking Hathaway was going to call the cops or mess with his business. Me getting that shipment was supposed to make up for it.”

“Did Cruz set you up?”

I exhale. “I don’t know.”

Elle gnaws her bottom lip. “What did Archer say?”

Another question I don’t want to answer.

And I don’t have to. She reads the truth on my face.

“It was about me. You went to prison … because of me.”

“No. No, Elle. I made my own decisions, and I made the mess. None of it was your fault.”

She nods, but her expression is still unsettled.

I grab her hand and tug her toward her convertible. “Come on.”

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