“Don’t get caught,” she says, surprising me. Then she turns and gets in her car, driving off.
I enter the house and make my way to the kitchen. Cole, Austin, and Bennett are all standing by the fridge. “You guys ready?” I ask.
Cole nods along with Bennett.
“What are we gonna do?” Austin asks with her arms crossed over her chest. She’s pissed and has every right to be. This was her best friend at one time.
Cole looks over at her, and I wait for him to tell her there is nowe, but instead, he surprises me by telling her. “End it.”
DEKE
The five of us stand on top of the hill at the back of the cemetery behind the Lowes estate. The sun has officially set, making the night cold, but it’s stopped snowing once again. My shirt is still in my back pocket, but thankfully, Austin found cases of bottled water in the garage, so I was able to wash the piss off me.
Maxwell’s body lies in a shallow grave that Cole and Bennett dug for him. David eventually woke up, but Cole placed tape over his mouth so we haven’t had to listen to him cuss us or beg for his life. At this point, it doesn’t matter.
Becky kneels on the ground next to Shane. He has his hand fisted in her hair so she can’t get up and run away. She hasn’t said one word. She sobs to herself. I’m pretty sure she’s officially broken. She has tried so many times to hurt the ones she loves that she’s just given up.
But she has always been good at pretending.So he holds a gun to her head with his free hand just in case.
Cole rips the tape off David’s face. He sucks in a deep breath. “You motherfuckers …”
“Why did you do it?” I ask. He never liked us, but the feeling was mutual.
His eyes go to Becky, and she bows her head in shame.
“Don’t tell me this was because I fucked her while you guys were dating.” Why else would he want to hurt Demi? He was always nice to her from what I remember. Becky talked about it all the time. How he would make her bring her around to hang out with them. She loved that I never forced us to be around her. Why would I? I didn’t like her then.
He snorts. “Like I gave a shit that you fucked her.”
Becky flinches at his words.
“Then why?” Cole demands, gripping his hair and yanking his head back.
He lets out a rough laugh. “You guys really don’t know, do you?”
None of us answer him.
“Tell him, baby.”
She sobs with her head down.
“Tell him all the times you let him touch you and then came crawling to me about how awful they were.”
I tilt my head to the side.
“Or how we laughed when you told Cole you were pregnant, and he fucking believed you.” His laughter grows. “That he let you go …”
“What? You lied about being pregnant?” Austin snaps and turns to Cole. “Did you know this?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he answers.
“It does too fucking matter,” she snaps and walks over to Becky. She slaps her across the face so hard, it knocks her over into the snow. “You fucking bitch …” She jumps on top of her.
Cole wraps an arm around her waist and yanks her off her. She kicks her feet out before he sets her down. She’s breathing heavy and trying to push him away. “It doesn’t matter, sweetheart.”
Her mouth falls open. “How can you say that?” Her eyes fill with tears. “She lied to you. Everything you went through—”
“Nothing regarding her matters,” he interrupts her softly. Pulling her into him, he pushes her wild brown hair behind her ear.
