"We won't let it," Ben tells her.
"Enough is enough," Kennedy adds. "You want some company?"
She laughs. "I'd love some."
"We'll be there tonight—" I cut Kennedy off.
I mouth, "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Xander corrects.
"Yeah, right. Tomorrow. You two have a lot to talk about," Kennedy says.
"We do. We're getting there," Tera replies.
"Good," I tell her and couldn't mean anything more. "See you tomorrow afternoon, Mackenzies—and Linc."
"See you then," Tera replies.
When the call ends I run to the bathroom and vomit. When I can't throw up anymore, I stand on shaky legs in front of the mirror above the sink. I can't look at myself. I can't.
I rinse my mouth, then brush my teeth.
I still can't look.
I splash my face with cold water.
When I still can't look, I let the first tear of shame fall. Then come tears of regret.
Ethan knocks, and I turn to him.
"You okay, man?"
"No. So many wrong decisions, E. And they're all on me."
"Nah. If we didn't agree we would've spoken up. No one did."
I nod, watching the water run, swirl down the drain. I splash my face once more then turn the water off.
I force myself to look in the mirror. Who I see isn't the same guy who looked in the mirror this morning. I'm different, forever changed because of the consequences of my actions.
I slide my gaze to Ethan.
"This isn't going to happen again. To anyone. Ever. It's time we grow the fuck up and act responsibly. It isn't just us—it never was, and I hate that we lost sight of that," I confess.
"It's not gonna happen again," Ben tells me from where he stands behind Ethan.
"We learned a bitter lesson today. We almost lost our baby sister—as it is we lost our niece or nephew and Tera's been suffering in silence because she couldn't depend on us to be there for her," Kennedy reiterates. "That won't happen again on my watch."
"Mine either," Ethan agrees.
"Eyes wide open, boys," I tell them. I turn to face them. "Today we awoke from a dream life—one free of consequence. Today we took off the blinders. Today we see what we did. Today we see and know what we need to do next."
"Today we become men."
