Page 273 of What We Bury

“I don’t care why he did it. I care that she just cried herself to sleep. All because a man she trusted—with her body, Micah—with her bodyandher heart decided to obliterate her confidence. He tore her apart.”

“He didn’t do it because he’s cruel. He did it because he thinks it’s the only way to keep her alive.”

Knox’s mouth is set in a brutal line, but I can see the flashing uncertainty under it. He’s not sure. He wants to believe it. But he’s not sure.

“If she’s alive but hates herself, what’s the fucking point?”

“You’re right,” I say. “And we’re going to deal with it. But not with you walking into his classroom and putting him through a wall.” I look him dead in the eye. “We need to talk to the others. All of us. Together.”

Knox stares at me for a long beat. The muscles in his arms are cording, his hands curled at his sides.

“I need a drink,” he mutters. “If I’m not going to punch someone in the face, I need a drink. A fucking stiff one.”

He goes to the kitchen. I hear the cabinet open, the clink of a glass, the pour. Then the quiet gasp of a man gulping down liquor to stop himself from burning down the world.

I sigh and pull out my phone to call Holden.

He picks up on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”

“Sage is home. She’s a mess. Something happened with Eli and Odin after you left the club.” I give him the short version—Odin’s offer to relocate her, Sage refusing, and then Eli stepping in and tearing her apart. I keep it factual. Clinical. Because if I let the emotion into my voice, I’ll sound like Knox, and one of us needs to be thinking straight.

The silence on Holden’s end is worse than yelling.

“He said she was easy? Fun?” Holden asks, seething.

“That was one of the highlights. He also said we were just passing her around. Called the whole thing a phase. Asked her if she seriously thought we’d all live together in some happily-ever-after orgy.”

More silence. A breath. “I’m on my way.”

He hangs up.

I text Milo next, keeping it brief.

Me

Come to Holden’s when you can. Sage needs us. Eli fucked up bad.

Three dots appear immediately.

Milo

20 min. Should I steal a dog?

Me

I’m not ruling it out, but I think having you as a murder puppy will do for now.

Knox comes back from the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey. He sits on the couch, takes a pull, and sets it on the coffee table with a thud.

“If the others can’t think of a way to fix this,” he says, “my plan is a go.”

“Noted.”

We wait.

The house is quiet above us. I keep listening for Sage—movement, crying, anything—but there’s nothing. Either she’s sleeping or she’s lying in the dark staring at the ceiling, and I don’t know which is worse.

I think about Eli. About the version of him that crouched in front of Sage on this couch five days ago and told her she wasn’t alone.