Page 93 of Not Made to Last

After the suspension, a clip of Rhys talking about it circulated like wildfire.When someone had asked him if regretted his actions, Rhys took a moment to respond, looking pensive, before asking the interviewer if he thought a hundred unarmed men could take on an adult-size gorilla.

He made a joke of the situation, but… there was nothing funny about it.

“Does Dom still have that jersey, though, because he should?—”

“Oscar.” I stop walking and tug on his arm, forcing him to do the same.

He turns to me, almost surprised by whatever emotion I’m displaying. “What?”

“I don’t know about any of this.”

“Oh.” He grimaces, then asks, “Like,noneof this?”

“I knew about what happened, but I had no idea Dominic was involved.Obviously.There’s no way I would’ve?—”

“Well, it’s out now…” Oscar sighs, starts walking again as if he didn’t just unclip a grenade and hand it to me. “That’s why Rhys started messing with your brother’s girl—to fuck with his head a little before the play-offs. It didn’t work, clearly, because Philips still won state, and all Rhys got out of it was a security company he’s been trying to offload since the moment he bought it.”

“Hold up.” I tug on his arm again. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Rhys didn’t do anything with Dominic’s girl, if that’s what you’re thinking. He flirted with her until she broke it off with Dominic, and once it was done, Rhys ghosted her. But she told everyone they slept together, and Rhys didn’t care enough to deny it, so he just let it go.”

Good to know, but far from the fucking point. “Not that part, the security company bit! What?—”

“Rhys bought the company that manages the security cameras for St. Luke’s.” Oscar says all this as if it’s something I should have already known.

I stare at him, wide-eyed.

He sighs, and that sigh may as well be a yawn with how bored he seems to have to tell me all this. “So the morning after it all went down, Rhys’s mom got a call from Principal Brown explaining what they knew—that there was a big black rubber dick on the door and according to what the footage the off-sight security company could see, a guy wearing Rhys’s jersey was the one to do it—which, if itwereRhys who did it, he wouldn’t be that dumb, but anyway, Rhys’s mom called him and told him, and Rhys contacted the owner of the security company and bribed him, as inpaidhim, to send him the footage before he sent it to the school. Rhys saw what he saw, knew it wasDominic, and then asked them not to forward the video to Brown until he decided what to do with it. Personally, I would’ve ratted him out, but Rhys isn’t like that. Anyway, the owner of the security place declined, wanted more money… like, enough money to buy the whole-ass company from him, and so Rhys’s crazy ass did it. He still owns it, but it’s not really his thing, so…”

I turn, walk away.

“Where are you going?” Oscar calls out.

“To beat the shit out of my brother!”

Within minutes, I’m doing exactly what I said I’d do: I’m beating the shit out of my brother.

“Yo, what the fuck?” Dominic huffs, pushing me off him.

Seconds earlier, I’d marched in through the front door and entered the living room. Max was on his iPad, and Dom was on the PlayStation I bought him with the money Rhys had given me to “spend a few hours with him.”

I told Max to go to his room, waited until I knew he was far enough away, and then attacked Dominic with as much strength and anger as my body could muster. Which isn’t much compared to my brother but fuck him. Honestly. “Fuck you, Dom!”

“Jesus Christ, Ollie,” he fumes, as if he has any right to be the angry one in this station. He throws the PlayStation controller on the couch and gets to his feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“You!” I slam a finger into his chest. “You’re what’s fucking wrong with me!”

“What the fuck did Mendoza say to you to get you?—”

“Shut up!” I yell, and I cry, and I hate that I cry because it shows weakness when I’m feeling anything but. “For years,I’ve beensocareful, walking on eggshells, so fucking worried that I was going to make one wrong move that could split us up or have Max taken away…” I cry because I’m angry. Because I’m so fucking livid, I can’t see straight. “And here you are, perfect fucking Dominic Delgado, breaking into schools for some bullshit high school prank!”

Dom’s shoulders drop. So does his anger. “Ollie.”

“No!” I grasp my hair, adrenaline pumping through my veins so fast it makes me dizzy. “Three years, I’ve dedicated to making sure we can survive, and you! You have no problem risking it all, and for what? For nothing! And you sit there like you’re a fucking victim of it all. Poor me, Rhys stole my girl… boo fucking hoo!”

“Ollie!”

“And then you have the fucking audacity to sit there and makemefeel guilty for the thingsI’ddone. When all I’ve ever done is put you first. You and your friends. You and school. You and basketball. You you you! It’s always about you! Well, fuck you, Dom. Honestly, fuck you!” I gasp for air, but it never comes. And I cry harder, this time… for different reasons. “I have lost so much of myself that there’s nothing left of me, Dominic.Nothing.”

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