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“Look, dude, I get why you’re helping her,” he said, his voice low. “But it’s sort of inappropriate, no?”

“What’s inappropriate? We’re friends.”

“She’s living with you.”

I pressed my lips together. “And?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything,” he said quietly. “I know you’d never do that. But think of how this makes Mike feel. I mean, he didn’t say anything but you’re barely speaking to him and you’ve got his girl here—”

“She’s not his girl. And I’ll help her as long and as much as she needs.”

He studied me. The conversation wasn’t going the way I think he’d hoped it would. But I was not negotiating when it came to Larissa. Not anymore. I was going to do what was right for her—and I really didn’t care if it was right for Mike when it was Mike’s fault she needed help in the first place.

“You understand how she got here, yes?” I said. “You were there.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t she have her own friends she can stay with? There’s gotta be another option—”

“There isn’t,” I said.

He blew a breath through his nose. “Right. You know, I’m not the only one saying this. Tony thinks it’s weird. And Donna’s not very happy with you right now—”

“I couldn’t care less what Donna thinks.”

“Well, my mom thinks it too. It’s not cool, man. I’d be pissed as hell if Becca and I broke up and she was living here. You have to see that, right?”

“If you almost killed Becca, I wouldn’t give a shit about what you think then either.”

“Oh yeah? Because I’m getting the feeling Larissa and Becca are pretty fucking different when it comes to you.”

I bristled. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I think you know what I’m saying.”

He looked me dead in the eye.

“I guess you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do, right?” He pushed up on his knees and walked to the door. “Just wanted to stop by and give you my thoughts. In case you still give a shit.”

“I am not the asshole here.”

He put his boots back on. “You sure?” He grabbed his jacket and let himself out.

48

LARISSA

I stood in my room, putting the new books into the bookcase just to have something to do while Jesse and Chris talked.

Jesse said Chris wasn’t responding to the group chat. I knew he wasn’t really talking to Mike, but I didn’t know he wasn’t talking to everyone.

This was my fault.

He was doing it because of me.

I think it officially wasn’t a good idea for me to be here. Maybe I did need to find somewhere else to live now. I knew there was going to be a limit on how long I could stay and I know he’d say not to go, but how much was I going to let him sacrifice on my behalf?

I didn’t want to ruin his life or be the reason he chose ruin. At some point he had to get back to it, these were his friends.

The idea of leaving made me feel like crying.