“Sir! Please,” the nurse tried again.
“You fucking saw Riley and you didn’t tell me?”
“Only from a distance!” she said quickly. "I saw him in town. A few years after he left. He looked… sick, Beck. Like, really not okay in the head, you know? I wasn’t even sure it was him at first, until…”
“Until what?” I growled.
“I followed him to the tree house. That’s how I knew.” She dashed at some tears. “I got the letter a few weeks later.”
I whirled on my heel, raking both hands through my hair. “Tosh, how could you keep something like that from me!”
“You both were so unhealthy, Beck, I just…”
“NO!” I yelled. “You don’t get to decide what’s right and wrong for me. You don’t get to decide what I can and can’t know. I had every right to know that my best friend, thatRILEYwas looking for me!” I stared at her with as much hate as I’d ever felt for someone. “I waited ten fucking years for a chance to see him again and all this time, you… you fucking kept him from me, Tosh!” my voice broke. “He was waiting for me too. Did you ever even consider that? Riley was waiting for me, too.”
“Beck, I’m—"
“Don’t,” I snapped.
I glared at her for another few seconds, then snatched the book out of Ben’s hand and stormed off without another word.
