Page 247 of Did They Break You

I can’t speak. I just watch as Cortland’s fingers go to Silas’s tie, blood pouring over his mouth as he coughs, trying to sputter something between his fingers over his nose and mouth, but nothing comes out.

I don’t know what Cortland’s doing, and I see blood drip onto the white floor.

I glance over my shoulder, looking for anyone. Employees, customers. But no one is there.

Love feels like dying.

I look back at my stepdad, and think about the times he made me think I wanted to die.

That’s not love.

But Cortland, right now, wrapping Silas’s tie around his own throat and pulling hard…that is.

Cortland dips his head, glaring down at my stepdad as he coughs, fear in his dark eyes, his hands still over his face.

“You heard about Chase, huh?” Cortland growls.

Something sick like butterflies erupts in my stomach.

“You ever talk to my girl again,” Cortland pulls the tie tighter, and Silas’s fingers are scrambling at the material as he tries to breathe.“I’ll make sure you hang, too.”

EPILOGUE

REMI

“You ever miss her?”Cortland asks at my side, tipping back his beer.

It’s cold, December now, and I wrap the blanket draped over my shoulders tighter around me. I’ve got Cort’s West River High hoodie on underneath, and it fits well over my expanding belly.

“Yeah,” I tell him, knowing who he’s talking about.

I look up at the stars, then glance around the cemetery, my eyes raking over every tombstone.

Mom isn’t buried in this one, but I still feel close to her here all the same.

Cortland wraps an arm around my shoulder, tugging me toward him.

I inhale his cedar scent as he kisses the top of my head.

“You miss your mom?” I whisper in the dark.

For a second, he stiffens against me.

He’s video messaged his brother, Tristan, a lot. We’re going up to West Virginia for Christmas. Cortland says his brother is in a much better place, and his dad is, too.

We all are.Even Dr. Ravi has stopped trying to warn us away from each other. She can see in our sessions how much we’ve grown.

“No,” Cortland finally answers me, relaxing against my body again. “I miss what she might’ve been,” he adds quietly before he takes another pull of beer. “But I don’t miss who she is.”

I lean my head against his chest and feel both of his arms circle me, his beer bottle dangling from his fingers.

I kind of feel that way about Silas.

It would’ve been nice to have a stepdad that cared. If he could’ve filled that role appropriately, it might’ve saved me a lot of grief.

But then, maybe I wouldn’t be the girl Cortland is in love with.

And that’s the only person I want to be.

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