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"Would you get over her?" Dylan scoops up a plastic cup that’s by the kitchen sink and throws it at Tristan, who ducks as it zips above his head "Youtrashed"

"So what?" Tristan retorts as he leans over the arm of the chair to pick up the cup When he sits up, he throws the cup back at Dylan, but it lands on the floor a few inches away frohtfor Nova if I want to And it’s not really even a thing, so much as I’m curious about what she’s like now after a year"

"You’re such a fucking liar" Dylan kicks the cup across the floor and jerks the fridge door open "And besides, Nova’s got e than you can handle"

"You don’t knodown at the brownish orange carpet He rubs his hand across his face and then blows out a breath, his gaze flicking up toin his eyes, directed toward er there’s also pain Lots and lots of pain masked over by weed

It’s e there, since I’m the one solely responsible for the death of his sister I follow Nikki down the hallway, feeling like shit again as my past catches up with oing to happen when I reach the room It’s obvious what Nikki wants, and honestly, I need the distraction Today’s been a rough day, especially after my father dropped me off at the airport I could tell he didn’t want to be there, but I think he felt obligated because I’m his son

"See you later," was all he said, and then he left me at the entrance doors

I shouldn’t have cared that he didn’t give ed in a year and so that someone loves you

"So the bed’s supersoft" Nikki plops down on the twin bed and gives a little bounce, crossing her legs

I drop the bag on the floor of the closet-sized roo down at the filthy rins at me "Definitely" Then she reaches up and snatches the front ofme down to her mouth

Her lips are dry and taste like weed, but I closeainst the bed I know it’s wrong Neither of us really gives a shit about the other There’s noand equally as insignificant But that’s exactly what I deserve, and the htest bit of contentment and happiness with another woman--is the moment I break my promise to Lexi

Chapter 3

Nova

There’s a strange kind of serenity that comes with silence, but maybe that’s because it’s nearly impossible to achieve Not only do I have to shut out the outside noise, but I also have to tune out the noise within hts that want to whisper who I a, what I did or didn’t do--rong Soht, I try to achieve the blissful serenity of silence, but it’s always the part that I didn’t do that ruins it forin my head You should have saved him I wonder if Landon ever achieved that silence and if that’s why he did it Maybe he heard nothing at all, and he took that as a sign that it was tis

"How do I look?" Delilah fixes her lipstick in the rearview mirror of the old pickup she used to drive around before we left for college She blots her lips and then looks atsmile

"You look perfect" I, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to brush my hair, because I’m not here to iless

She reaches down the front of her low-cut crie It gets a small smile out of me, but the momentary spark of life is quickly buried as I start to count the stairs leading up to the single-wide trailer home in front of us, and the aht

Her gaze slowly skis "You look nice," she says with accusation "Are you sure you’re not wanting to hook up with a certain soer at her "I already told you that hooking up with Tristan was a oneti"

Delilah raises her brows in doubt "Whatever you say"

I sigh and start to clifurther "Wait You should add this to your little lance around at the trailer park, the dogs barking behind the neighbor’s fence, and the car next door that’s rusted, tireless, and balanced on cinder blocks "This place?"