This time, I do wrap my arms around him, hugging him as tight as I can.

“God, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s karma for screwing his wife behind his back and taking some gold-digging housewife’s side instead of his.” He grips the back of my shirt like he’s about to fall off a cliff and I’m the only sturdy thing he can find to hold on to. “I lost everything, Sawyer. Crystal, the baby, and my dad. All because I gave my heart to a bitch who used me, then tossed me away like garbage after she got what she wanted.” Burying his head in my neck, he croaks, “But I still love her. Why the fuck do I still love her?”

I tell him the truth.

“Because she manipulated you, and sometimes shitty people do it so well it feels like the real thing.” Placing both hands on his cheeks, I force him to look at me. “You made an impulsive mistake—we all make them—but you didn’t deserve what Crystal did, and you definitely didn’t deserve to lose that baby. But you can’t let what happened ruin the rest of your life. Your dad loves you and if you tell—”

“No.” Lifting his shirt, he wipes his face. “I can’t. If I tell him the truth, it will only screw everything up even more for him, and the baby.” He looks at me. “I know you don’t agree with it, but I’d rather live on the street than live in the same house as her while she’s pregnant with his baby.” He throws what little is left of his blunt on the ground. “I don’t want to work for Loki, but I need some cash so I can support myself. So far I have two Gs saved up—” He glares at me. “Or should I say, I had two Gs saved up for a car, but I’m gonna have to give that to Loki and find a way to come up with another two grand, thanks to you jacking my shit.”

As much as I hate to admit it, I feel kind of bad for doing that now.

I’m about to apologize, but then it occurs to me.

“Why don’t you ask Jace for the money and quit working for Loki altogether?” He starts to decline, but I hold up a finger. “Jace is your best friend. We both know he’d happily lend you whatever you need to get by if it meant you’d stop selling drugs. Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t have it, the Covingtons are loaded—”

“The Covingtons are, but Jace isn’t. Dude hasn’t taken a dime from his pops since he was seventeen. He works his ass off for every cent he has. No way in hell I’m asking him for money to fix my mess when he and Dylan are playing house and have their own bills to pay.”

“What about the other one?”

The dumb Covington brother who shall not be named.

“Cole?” He makes a face. “Not only will he want to know why I need the money, the dude charges more interest than a credit card and bank combined. I’m still paying off the hundred bucks he lent me for weed in eleventh grade. Plus, he already did me a solid by convincing his dad to let me stay in their guesthouse for dirt cheap. I’m not the kind of asshole who takes advantage of his friends, you feel me?”

“Yeah, I feel you.” Lord knows I don’t ask anyone for money, even when I’m at the point of lifting the couch cushions and digging around for spare change to put some gas in my tank. “But I still think you should tell Dylan and Jace you’re working for Loki so they don’t—”

He shakes his head profusely. “No can do.”

Trying to get through to him is like trying to compromise with a toddler. “Why? For fuck’s sake, they think you’re doing drugs. Jace is ready to end your friendship for good and Dylan is” —I position my thumb and pointer finger half an inch apart from each other— “this close to having a mental breakdown worrying about you.”

“I feel bad for hurting them, but I’d rather have them think I’m going through a rough patch than find out the truth and offer to bail me out.”

It’s all I can do not to jump up and down. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

He claps his hands in front of my face. “Follow the bouncing balls, young padawan. If I tell them I’m working for Loki, they’re going to all but force their money down my throat. But I won’t take it because this isn’t their mess…it’s mine. A real man figures out how to handle his business without involving the people he cares about.”

Desperate times call for desperate measures. “Fine. You don’t have to tell them.” I press the unlock button on my key fob. “I will.”

I’m about to open my car door when he grabs my wrist and tugs. “You promised.”

“I promised not to tell anyone what really happened with you and Crystal. I made no such promises about Loki.”

“Come on, Sawyer. Don’t make me beg.” I hate the anguish brewing in his eyes. “I already told you, Loki is temporary.”

“How temporary?”

“I don’t know. A few years, give or take.”

“Years?” I shriek. “Are you crazy?”

“Man, you should see your face right now.” His lips twitch. “I was kidding, short stack. A few months at most.”

“How many months?”

Swear if he tells me twelve, I’m going to kick him in the balls.

“I’m not sure. Probably until I can buy a new car and I have a few grand saved up to get my shit together.”

Despite hating this whole thing, I find myself bending. “Three months tops, buster.” I poke his chest. “But that’s it.”

He breathes a sigh of relief. “Deal.”

Another thought occurs to me. “Not so fast. There’s something else I want.”

Something that might make all of this worth it if he agrees.

Not to mention, ease some of Dylan’s anxiety about him not graduating…again.

“What?”

“Tutoring. Two times a week. Three-hour sessions.”

It means I’ll most likely be losing what little sleep I’m getting, but it’s worth it.

He looks like he wants to object, but I’m not budging. “That’s the deal, Zelenka. Take it or I’ll tell Dylan the truth and let her handle you.”

“Fucking hell.” Eyes narrowed, he gets uncomfortably close to my face. “Are you always so stubborn?”

“Yes,” I start to say at the same time a deep voice that sounds a whole lot like Cole’s drawls. “Only on days that end in y.”

As if on cue, Satan himself sidles up to Oakley’s car.

Normally his presence alone is enough to make my pulse race with contempt. However, it’s the murderous glare he’s aiming at Oakley that has my heart picking up speed.

“Didn’t mean to ruin your little moment together.” He juts his chin at us. “By all means…continue.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a hint of jealousy lacing his tone, but that would be absurd.

We haven’t spoken a word since the incident.

The one that shattered my heart into a thousand tiny pieces.

On instinct, I rub the knot forming in my chest.

Whatever’s left of my heart has a full-on hissy fit and threatens to quit beating altogether if I’m around the asshole for more than a minute.

Which means I have about twenty seconds left to get into my car and drive away.