Page 100 of Fueled Hate

“What else did you do?”

“I gave him a choice. He could either turn himself in and face the consequences, or he could face the one I had in mind.”

“Dylan …”

“He refused to turn himself in at first, and I flipped at the thought of him doing it again—to you or anyone else. It only took one good hit for him to change his mind and turn himself in. I couldn’t let him walk away.”

She remains in my embrace while we sit there, both stuck inside our heads with thoughts of what could’ve been but thankfully won’t be.

“I should get to work.” Sadie slides off my lap, bends down, and places a quick peck on my lips. “Just take Bryce with you, please. He might not have the best tactics, but he should be there if you need him.”

I agree, thinking it would be a good thing to have my crazy but caring best friend with me. “I’ll stop at the diner afterwards.”

Sadie gives me another quick peck then heads downstairs as I look around the hotel room. It doesn’t feel like the place we should be, but thankfully I have her with me until we can figure out exactly where we fit into each other’s lives. She is my life now.

Calling Bryce, I head down to my car and wait for him to stroll out of the hotel and get into the Lexus. “Let’s go.”

He won’t let me self-destruct. He helps me keep my shit together the best I can when I go dark. If he hadn’t shown up in Sunland, there’s no telling what I would’ve done. “Thanks, man.”

“’Bout time you show me a little appreciation.” He gives me a shit-eating grin.

“You’re impossible,” I laugh, cranking up the car.

“Yeah. I know. Let’s go get some answers for Noah.” He looks over to me. “But I need to know your head is on right.”

“It is. This is about truth, not punishment.” Driving out of the hotel garage, the ride is mainly silent as we make our way to Andrew’s place. When we arrive, I sit in the car, watching as he steps onto the porch. His demeaner is meager, he looks crushed. He knows why I’m here.

Shoving the door open, I step out of the car as Bryce shuts his door and leans back against it. He doesn’t have to be at my side for me to know he’d follow me into whatever I need him to pull me out of. He’s already proven that.

Andrew sits on the stairs as I approach. He looks calm, ready to talk, so I take a cue from him and sit a few feet beside him.

“I just want to know what happened to my brother. Please just tell me what happened that night. It doesn’t make sense. He never drove without a seat belt. He even made a makeshift strap on our ATV because he was worried I’d take off too fast and he’d fall off.” The memory brings a smile to my face, thinking of him on the back of the ATV, hollering for me to slow down. I’m finally listening to him.

Andrew props his elbows on his knees, hunching forward as he stares at his hands. “Noah won the race that night. He’d taken the title from Kyle, then wanted to race for pinks. Kyle refused, but I figured he’d change his mind after he blew off some steam. He was always up for a challenge. Noah wanted to race me, and I figured why not. It was Parker’s car I’d be losing by the slim chance I did.”

Parker’s car. Noah had won it that night. I knew that much from speaking with Noah, so that lines up. “What happened after he won the Porsche?”

“We just hung out, waiting for Kyle to get done fucking so Noah could race him. I was preoccupied with Willow because she was freaking about Parker’s car. I reassured her that Kyle could redeem me and win it back. Everything was okay until all of a sudden Noah started hollering, flipping out that someone was trying to hustle him. He stumbled to his car, shouting for everyone to get away from him. He took off down the runway … then the car jerked to the side, flipping down the strip. All I remember is Willow screaming, taking off, while Kyle ran to Noah. It didn’t make any sense. He was laughing and fine one minute, then the next he was panicking and hauling ass away from us.”

“You didn’t kill him?”

“Man, I do a lot of fucked up shit, but no. I wouldn’t kill someone over something as stupid as a car or pointless race. I wasn’t that desperate. No price I’d have to pay was worth Noah’s life.”

Desperate.

Noah did drive off, but his judgment was impaired. Just like Sadie’s had been when she couldn’t function. “Where’s Willow?”

“Hell, I don’t know. She won’t speak to me. She said I wasn’t worth losing everything she had because I’ll just fuck her over in the end.” He twisted his fingers, and his hands drops to the steps. “But it’s not like that. I care about her. She just won’t give up her perfect, rich boyfriend to give us an actual chance.”

“I need you to call her. Find out where she’s at. Sadie’s been trying to reach her all day.”

“Willow told me she was going to make things right with Sadie.”

“When?” I ask, jumping up from the stairs. How desperate is she?

“Around lunchtime.”

Grabbing my phone, I punch the glass screen, calling Sadie’s number, but it goes unanswered. “Where would she go?”