She pats my chest. “Now, put your non-negotiable pants on. We’re gonna be late.”
Fifty
THEN | SISK
Ican’t hear anything at first. There’s just a high-pitched ringing in my ears, like the world has been muted and I’m trapped in the silence. Then everything comes back into focus all at once.
Fiona screams with a piercing shriek. “He pushed him! I saw him! He fucking pushed him!”
My body shakes as if someone has poured ice water down my spine. Lou’s hands grip my shoulders, trying to steer me backward. “Stay here,” he keeps repeating. “Stay in the car.”
I’m already pushing the door open and climbing out.
“Fiona, shut up!” Lou snaps. “Sisk is…”
“He grabbed him!” she continues, her voice cracking into hysteria. “I saw him. Dean is down there!”
Dean. The name echoes in my head. Dean was behind me. Wasn’t he? He was yelling something. He was—was he? My brain scrambles to piece it together. My knees buckle and Lou practically hauls me back into the car. “Get in,” he says firmly. “Stay in here.”
“I—Jax?—”
“He’s fine. He’s fine.” Lou insists and pushes me into the backseat and slams the door before I can argue.
“He killed him! He killed him!” Fiona goes on.
Whistle is pacing with his hands on his head. “Shut up!”
“I saw it!” Fiona screams. “He threw him! He threw Dean in!”
My chest tightens so hard that I can’t breathe. Lou climbs into the driver’s seat but doesn’t start the car. He turns around to look at me, his expression intense.
“Listen to me,” he says. I stare at my tar-streaked, shaking hands. “Did he push him?” Lou asks. I try to think through the chaos in my mind.
“What? Who?” I try to make sense of it all.
“Ivan. Did he push Ivan?”
The question startles me. “Ivan?”Where’s Ivan? Did he not climb out with us?
Lou’s eyes are locked on mine, like he’s trying to read the truth right off my face. “Did Jax push Ivan in?”
“No!” I snap.
“You sure?”
“Yes!”
That’s the truth. I didn’t see who grabbed who first. All I know is that Jax jumped. For me.
Lou scrubs a hand over his face. “Okay.”
Outside, it’s all just a mix of panic and noise. The sound of puking, of crying, of the aftermath of what just happened.What did just happen?
Fiona: “He is gonna kill us all!”
Lou leans back in his seat, letting out a long, slow breath. “This is bad.”
“He didn’t do it,” I say, the words coming out automatically, defensively.
