Page 157 - My FlipBook

T R A I L O F C R U M B S

Dylan stepped forward for his team, first up. Cat calls and
whistles erupted from every side. He motioned for them to go
louder, and the bleachers rumbled with stomping feet.
“Why him?” Ash asked softly, somehow audible through
the thunder. They watched Dylan strut around the gym,
pumping his arm in the air. “Why him, Greta?” he asked
again, turning to look at her.
His face close to hers. She fixed on the black ring circling

his green irises, a burst of brown around the pupil. She knew.
He knew. She knew he knew. Why’d you sleep with this clown?
Why him?
His eyes locked her in place, grounded her. A moment
of stillness in the waves of chaos rolling around them. The
worst had happened—Ash knew—and they still stood there
together.

“I didn’t,” she said. At hearing the lie, his sharp green eyes
dulled and shifted to her ear. He looked down at the floor
and back up, his face tired now. “I didn’t”—the words left her
mouth, bypassing her brain—“say yes.”
I didn’t say yes. Those four words ripped through her,
blowing open doors and windows. Locking others. Everything
a different color now. The whole story shifted. I didn’t say yes.
For a moment, Greta was back in her bedroom, rolled in
a blanket cocoon, while Ash dealt with Patty. She had sent

him out to fight that battle, to deliver that ultimatum.
She stayed wrapped tightly, a step away from it all, as Ash
launched onto the basketball court and tackled Dylan. She
didn’t call for him to stop, didn’t ask for mercy, as Ash pinned

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