“You really can’t,” another voice interrupted. I turned around to face Chase, who was staring at us with a frown on his face. “Violet fucked us all over.”
“Chase,” I whispered. I didn’t know what to say.
“She wasn’t a child. She knew what she was doing. My sister tore apart a family. She fucking cheated on you. She lied to all of us.” Chase clenched his fists before continuing. “I don’t want anyone to talk about what they could have done. Not here. Not in this big, empty house. Not in front of me. Violet made her own decisions. I don’t want her actions to ruin anything else.” Chase picked up a picture frame and tossed it at the wall. The sound of glass shattering filled my ears, and when I looked at the photo lying in a pile of shards on the floor, my heart broke. It was a photo of Chase and Violet when they were kids. Both of them wore wild smiles.
“You’re gonna need to man up. So what if your brother is a piece of shit? Breeze needs you right now. The time for feeling bad about this has passed. We’re too far gone. Be there for Breeze, or I will.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Kai growled.
“It means exactly what I said. Figure it out.”
Chase disappeared before Kai could respond. I felt so stunned by what Chase said and by Kai’s feelings that I didn’t know what to say. It was all too much. “I’m going to go,” Kai whispered.
“What? Please don’t leave. I need you.” I couldn’t do this alone. Not tonight.
“Chase is right. I need to get my shit together so I’m not making things worse for you.”
“We can figure it out together,” I rushed out. “Stay. If you leave, I won’t be able to handle it.”
Kai let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Okay. Okay.” I hugged him tighter, my body exhausted. My mind was racing. My soul felt numb, but I couldn’t face this without Kai. I wanted to be there for him, too.
The two of us sat down on the couch, and I rested my head on his lap, clutching his thigh with my fingers, as if to keep him in place. “Promise you won’t leave?” I asked.
“Promise.”
Weeks had gone by since my father’s arrest, but it was still the only thing anyone on the island could talk about. I understood it, nothing like this had ever happened before. I was still getting used to hearing my name in hushed whispers, but at least I didn’t break down in tears every time someone pointed at me anymore.
Our little island didn’t have anywhere fit to hold my father while he awaited trial, so he was transferred to the closest prison on the main island. He could have been on a different continent for all it mattered to me. He hadn’t tried to call me or my mom, which was fine by us. We never wanted to see or hear from him again. We both just wanted to forget he even existed, not that the island would let us.
Mom had taken a leave of absence from the hospital, and I couldn’t go back to school. The entire school loved Violet. I couldn’t face the accusing stares from her friends and our teachers. I couldn’t face the questions from people who didn’t even really know her but were morbidly curious. I couldn’t face walking the halls alone, knowing that if Violet and I hadn’t been friends, she would still be alive.
My mom was able to work with the school to find a way for me to finish out my senior year from home. Between the internet and Chase helping wherever he could, it was actually pretty easy to get my work done. I threw myself into it every day, reading my textbooks and completing assignments like it was my life’s mission. My grades had never been better.
Chase was still going to school and had even managed to make up for all of his absences following Violet’s murder. With Lex’s disappearance, Kai wasn’t doing deliveries for him anymore. But he was picking up a lot more shifts at the restaurant, and he wasn’t really around much. I tried not to take it personally. I didn’t know if he was deliberately pushing me away or if he needed to pick up the extra hours. Many times, I wanted to