The others were on the porch when I stepped back outside. Jason and Vincent were seated on the bench beneath the window, their faces drawn. Lucas was on the front step, a cigarette between his fingers as he stared toward the garage.

I sat down beside him, nudging against his side. The night air felt good, swiftly cooling me down. But frustration still sat on my chest like a lead weight.

None of us spoke for several long minutes. We’d dealt with this shit almost all our lives, in one way or another. We were accustomed to it. But some days, it all became too exhausting. The pure spiteful energy that had kept me going as a teenager was running out of steam, leaving me bitter and impatient.

I wanted to fucking live. Why was that too much to ask for?

“I have a competition in two weeks,” Jason said, his voice numb. “Two fucking weeks, man…”

“You’ll be ready,” I said, turning to look at him over my shoulder. “We’ll get the Z fixed in time. I can promise you that.”

“We need to get Alex back for this,” Lucas said. He held the cigarette toward me, and I took it, relishing the burn as I inhaled. “We need to hit back and hit hard.”

“Damn right we do,” Jason said. “I should break that motherfucker’s fingers for this.”

We didn’t need to start taking risks when we were so close to getting out of this town. But not responding to this was a bigger risk than doing nothing. Alex didn’t need retaliation to keep coming for us. He’d come anyway, and he’d keep escalating things if he thought he could get away with it.

We had to make it clear he couldn’t. There would be hell to pay.

Vincent sighed, and the bench creaked as he got to his feet. “All right. I think I’ll go to bed and have some real nightmares as opposed to this shit. Wake me up early. I’ll help get the garage cleaned up.”

But I shook my head. “Go ahead and sleep in. Jess can put in some work in the morning to earn that ride back to her car. Just try to get some rest.”

His and Jason’s footsteps faded away as they went inside and trudged up the stairs. I wondered if Jess was already asleep, or if she was lying awake, disobeying me…

Or if she was awake, adhering to my orders and suffering for it. That was a nice thought.

“Are we really getting wrapped up in this again?” Lucas said. His shoulders were hunched as he stared across the yard. I passed the cigarette, wrapping my arm around his back.

After a moment, I said, “No. We’re not getting wrapped up in anything.”

He hunched a little more. “Yeah? Why is she sleeping in our house, then?”