“Should be,” Dallas said. “Hasn’t gone anywhere besides practice and school.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Hasn’t really gone to those, either. Hasn’t been in a great state of mind since…everything.”

“Can someone take me to see him, please?”

Shiv gestured to us with an open palm. “You two go. I’ll finish cleaning up.”

A hush fell. From opposite sides of the room, Shiv and Dallas exchanged a silent look. She widened her eyes at him, as if to urge him into action.

Dallas hesitated for a beat, dark brow furrowed, and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Right. Uh, I can. I just need to—”

A knock at the door interrupted us. Shiv frowned, walking over and looking through the peephole. She turned back to face us.

“It’s Chase.”

57. the reason

CHAPTER 57

THE REASON

Bailey

My brain was scrambling to catch up. “Chase?” I asked.

I thought I’d have time on the drive over to compose my thoughts, formulate the right things to say, and plan how to say them.

Right now, I was reeling. Like I was standing in the aftermath of a high-speed collision, surveying the damage left behind. Smoke in the air, broken glass on the ground, and horns still blaring. Learning about the video, Chase seemingly having known about it but not telling me, Luke sending it to my friends and family—and god knows who else—was giving me mental whiplash.

Protectiveness gripped me, laced with an undercurrent of sour guilt. No matter what animosity existed between the two of them before, there was no denying that it escalated sharply after Chase and I got together. Did Luke circulate that video because I provoked him in our conversation just now? Was he punishing Chase because he was angry with me? I ground my molars as a dizzying anger ignited. It was the lowest of the low, even for Luke.

Placing a hand on the counter to steady myself, I opened my mouth, but I closed it again without speaking. Words failed me. A million things both did and didn’t make sense. Siobhan stood by the door, offering me an encouraging look as she waited for my direction. Slowly, my ability to think rebooted.

“Can you let him in?” I nodded to the bathroom behind me and hobbled in that direction, trying to keep from smearing blood on the beige carpet. “I need to put a Band-Aid on this cut.”

“Sure,” she said. “We were about to head out, anyway. To get, uh, some late dinner. Right, Dal?”

His light blue eyes flicked over to her, and he nodded. “Right.”