A Drop of Pretty Poison: A Brother’s Best Friend Romance (Pretty Poison Trilogy Book 2)

Have you ever felt like you’re on top of the world? Like everything is going exactly the way you want it to and you’re loving it, but in the back of your head you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop? I mean, things can’t possibly be this good, can they?

I walk out of the restaurant with Hayes’s hand in mine, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier. Buying his own house has the ability to change things for us. Make it so we don’t have to find a place to be alone or bribe his sister to leave the house for the night. All day today, as we looked at different houses, I couldn’t stop picturing cooking breakfast together in the kitchen and watching movies in the living room, curled up on the couch. And it made me realize how perfect everything really is right now.

Hayes walks around to the passenger side of his truck and opens the door for me. It’s such an antiquated gesture, but it still makes me smile.

I hum teasingly. “Maybe chivalry isn’t dead, after all.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him down for a kiss. My tongue dances with his. I can still taste the beer on his tongue—courtesy of his fake ID. As I lace my fingers into his hair and tug just slightly, he pins me to the side of the truck. And the moan that leaves my mouth when he grinds against me reveals just how much I want him.

He groans and breaks the kiss. “There’s nothing chivalrous about what’s going through my mind right now.”

“Ugh, same.” But then I get an idea, and I look up at the night sky. “I wonder how pretty the stars look from our beach right now.”

For a second, he looks up, until the underlying meaning dawns on him and he smirks. “Get in the truck before I fuck you right here in the parking lot.”

“I mean, that’s an option, too.” Less wait.

He chuckles, grabbing me by the waist and lifting me up to put me in the truck. “You know, I was kidding at the time, but I’m really starting to wonder if you have a voyeurism kink.”

I pretend to think about it for a moment, then scrunch my nose. “I’m far too possessive to let any other woman see you like that.”

“That’s my girl.”

He kisses me once more, and I spin to put my feet in the truck before he closes the door.

Hayes drives in the direction of our beach while I let my hand hang out the open window. The breeze blows my hair out of my face as I rest my head on my arm. I can feel him glancing over at me every now and then, and I know that this is true happiness.

I’m so damn blessed.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. Then again. And again. Confusion overtakes me as it doesn’t stop and I pull it out expecting a phone call, but instead, I’m faced with an onslaught of incoming texts and voicemails.

“That’s weird,” I murmur. “I must not have had any reception in that restaurant.”

Hayes looks concerned. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

The texts are from a mix of both Mali and Cam. I open Mali’s first.

Hey. Any chance you’re back from your surprise date?

Guess not. Let me know when you get this.

Lai, I really need you to come pick me up if you can.

Would it be weird if I call your brother? It would, right?

I need you.

She left a voicemail in between the third and fourth text, which means whatever’s going on, it’s not good. Mali is rarely the type to ever ask for help. She says it’ll damage her badass reputation.

I switch to the texts from Cam.

Where are you?

I’m on my way to get Mali, but why the fuck aren’t you and Hayes answering your phones?

JFC. You have your phone glued to you at all times and this is the time I can’t reach you?

WHEN YOU SEE THIS, GET TO THE FUCKING HOUSE. NOW.

Dread flows through me as I read his messages getting progressively more urgent. And when I switch to the voicemails, it only gets worse.

“Hey Lai. I don’t really know where you are, but if you see this, I need you to come pick me up. I’m at a party at Heather’s and I just really don’t want to be here anymore. I’ll fill you in more when I talk to you, but yeah. Just call me back.”

There aren’t many times I’ve heard Mali sound nervous. She’s normally a headstrong, scared-of-nothing firecracker. But something in her voice sounds off to me.

The only two left are from Cam, and he never leaves voicemails—or calls me for that matter. He’s more of the text or nothing type.

“Dude, I swear to God, now is not the time to go missing. When you get this, fucking call me. Better yet, tell H to call me.”

I get to the last one and goosebumps spread across my skin as I hear Mali crying in the background.

“Shit. Where the fuck are you guys? You need to answer your goddamn phones! No one has sex for this fucking long!”

The message cuts out, and in any other circumstance, I’d probably find the sex comment funny, but not in this one. I look over at Hayes with nothing but fear in my eyes.

“Your seatbelt is buckled, right?” he asks, and I nod. “Good. Hold on.”

My back gets pressed into the seat as he sinks the gas pedal into the floor. The roar of the engine is louder than I’ve ever heard it, but all I can focus on is the fear in my brother’s voice and the sound of Mali crying in the background.

THE TRUCK HARDLY COMES to a complete stop before I’m jumping out and running inside. Hayes is right behind me as we burst through the front door. I check each room as I run through the living room and the kitchen, but there’s no one there. Cam’s Jeep was in the driveway when we got here, so that can only mean one thing.

I take the stairs two at a time and barge into my brother’s room, finding him and Mali sitting on his bed. My best friend is curled into a ball with tear-stained cheeks. She lunges and wraps her arms around me tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she sobs. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

My brows furrow and my eyes meet Hayes’s as he stands in the doorway. Neither one of us have any idea what she’s apologizing about. But I’m guessing the angry look on Cam’s face has something to do with it.

“Wait. What the fuck happened to your hand?” Hayes snaps.

Huh? Mali cries harder as my attention turns to Cam’s right hand, and the icepack sitting on top of it. It’s then that I notice the blood on his shirt.

“Cam!” Hayes yells when he doesn’t answer.

But he doesn’t respond then either. He just keeps his eyes trained on Mali, like Hayes and I aren’t even here.

“Okay,” I say softly, not trying to make an already tense situation worse. “Mal, baby. I need you to breathe, okay?”

I feel as she shakes her head against me. “C-can’t. You’re going to hate me.”

“I could never hate you. Not ever. But I need to know what’s going on, and I can’t until you calm down, so you have to breathe.”

Hayes and I share a nervous look, and I run my hand through Mali’s hair. It takes a few minutes, but she finally manages to control her breathing—with the exception of a few hiccups. I sit her on the bed and bend down in front of her, wiping the tears and the makeup from under her eyes.

“What happened?” I ask.

She looks over at Cam and then back to me. “I, uh…I went to a party. Heather was throwing a small one for her boyfriend’s birthday, and it sounded like a good idea. And it was, at first. Everyone was drinking and having a good time, but then they started playing beer pong and I didn’t have a partner, so Isaac offered to join me.”

The moment his name comes out of her mouth, I have a better idea where this is going, and I can’t say I like it. But I need to know what would make Cam snap the way he must have to need an icepack on his hand.

“He was fine in the beginning,” she continues. “A little flirty, but that’s how he is. It was obvious he was hoping to hook up. He kept trying to put his arm around me and hold my hand. But I figured he was just drunk and gently shrugged him off or pretended like I needed my hand for something else.”

Cam’s knee starts to bounce as he listens to her. Whatever he did to Isaac didn’t get even half his rage out. And as Mali opens her mouth to keep going, Hayes stops her.

“Hang on a second,” he says, pulling his air pods and his phone out of his pocket, then handing them to Cam. “Put these in.”

Cam shakes his head. “No, I’m okay.”

“I wasn’t asking,” he shoots back.

It’s obvious that Cam doesn’t want to. He wants to hear every word she says, down to every last detail of what happened. But his probation makes this a more fragile situation than it would usually be.

“Cam,” Mali says, and I watch my brother’s eyes soften as he looks at her. “It’s okay. Put in the earbuds.”

That manages to get through to him, and I could chalk it up to him being just as protective of her as he is of me, but I don’t think I’m naive enough to believe that. Still, that’s a topic for another time. Right now, my best friend needs me.

Hayes gives me the go-ahead once he presses play and Cam’s ears fill with music.

“Okay,” I tell Mali. “So, he kept trying and you were rejecting him as gently as you could…”

She nods. “It got to the point where it was uncomfortable, and I told him I was feeling a little lightheaded. That I needed to go sit down. I walked away from him and sat on the couch in her back room for a minute, and that’s when I tried calling and texting you, but then he came over with a drink and handed it to me. He said that he was worried about me and said I just need to relax.”

The further she gets into the story, the more upset she gets. Tears begin flowing down her cheeks, and her bottom lip quivers. It breaks my heart seeing the strongest person I know be brought down to this.

“I wouldn’t drink from the cup he gave me,” she confesses, and I feel slightly relieved. “I’m smarter than that. I mean, everyone has always taught us that you don’t take a drink from anyone at a party. And the more he kept pushing me to drink it, the more convinced I was he had put something in it. I don’t know what, but there was definitely some type of drug in it.”

Hayes’s jaw clenches. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

“You are going to stay right where you are,” I demand and then turn my attention to Cam, who has his eyes closed but his knee is still bouncing. “Besides, we’re not even sure Cam didn’t do that himself.”

Mali cries harder. “I’m sorry. If I had known that Cam was going to go after him, I never would have—”

“Hey, hey,” I tell her, shaking my head. “No. You have nothing to apologize for here. You hear me? Not a single thing.”

“But if he gets caught, he’ll go to prison,” she argues. “He’ll get arrested for violating his probation, and it’s all my fault.”

I’m not going to sit here and let her take the blame for this. “No, Mal. This was Isaac’s fault. He should have gotten the hint the moment you first pushed him away. And if I had gotten your call and wasn’t close enough to get to you fast enough, I would’ve sent Cam myself anyway. Okay? You did nothing wrong.” She swallows harshly as she nods. “He didn’t…”

I can’t even manage to get the words to come out of my mouth. They’re too much. Too heartbreaking. And if she tells me he did, Cam is the last person any of us will have to worry about because I’ll be on trial for murdering everyone at the party for not stopping it.

Defendant: Laiken Blanchard.

Crime: Mass Homicide.

Plea: Guilty and not at all sorry.

But thankfully, Mali shakes her head. “He didn’t get that far, but he kept trying. I had pretended to take a sip so he would stop harping on me to drink, and I guess he thought it was only a matter of time before it kicked in.” She pauses to take a deep breath, exhaling shakily. “H-he started kissing my neck and I tried to push him away, but he’s so much bigger than I am. I couldn’t get him to move. And when I said no—that I didn’t want to do anything with him—he told me I just needed to calm down. That he’d make me feel good. And his hand kept sliding up my leg. I pressed my thighs together, but that didn’t stop him.

“I finally managed to shove him off me and called for Heather. He wasn’t very happy about that. He put his hand over my mouth and told me to shut the fuck up. And then he grabbed my boob, and he squeezed it as hard as he could.”

My eyes move down to her chest. Her tank top isn’t super low cut, but I can see the hint of finger shaped bruises starting to form.

“I knew if I didn’t get out of there, he was going to do it. He was going to rape me and there wasn’t a damn person around that would stop him. He started telling me that he knows I’ve always secretly wanted him, and that trying to tell him I don’t makes me a tease. He didn’t care that I was crying at this point, or that I was constantly trying to fight him off. There was no talking sense into him. So, I did the only thing I could.

“I reached back and grabbed the lamp behind me, and I slammed it as hard as I could into his head. I don’t know if it cut him. There was no sticking around to find out. I could just hear him shouting and calling me a bitch as I ran as fast as I could out of the house.”

It’s definitely a relief that he didn’t manage to get any further, but that doesn’t mean she’s not broken. Sexual assault doesn’t have to be rape for it to cause trauma.

“The second I got outside, I threw up. But I had no way to leave. I’d been drinking, and I was way too emotional to drive, so I called Cam. He was right down the street and said he would be there in a second. I was so fucking relieved when he pulled up, but when he saw me, his eyes went dark. That’s when I realized how disheveled I looked. My tank top was pulled down on one side, and I was crying.

“He asked me what happened, and I wasn’t going to tell him. I said that I just wanted to go home. But then Isaac stumbled out of the house and took one look at both of us and laughed. He mumbled something about us being a match made in hell and that Cam should be careful because I’m scrappy. And that’s when Cam followed him back into the house.”

From what I’ve heard so far, there’s not a single part of me that is mad at my brother. He did what any half-decent guy would. And even if there are consequences from it, I wouldn’t expect even a hint of an apology out of him.

“Mali,” I say as she cries. “I need a yes or no answer here, okay? Is Isaac still alive?”

She stares back at me, absolutely terrified. “I don’t know.”

And that’s when the flood gates open.

Every part of her that was trying to stay strong, shatters in that moment. She falls forward, hitting the ground and crumbling into my lap as she cries. I have no choice but to watch helplessly as she scratches at her skin in an attempt to scrub herself of his touch.

I don’t even notice Cam has moved until he’s by my side and on his knees—the air pods long forgotten on the bed. He looks just as powerless as I feel as his hands hover over her. He doesn’t want to touch her, in case she doesn’t want that, but he needs to do something.

“Cam.” Hayes gets his attention. “Did you kill him?”

My brother looks over at me and then back to his best friend. “No.”

Hayes and I exhale in unison. So, we’re not looking at murder charges here. If Isaac presses charges, Cam is looking at jail time—for both the original assault and this one. But at least he’s not potentially facing spending the rest of his life behind bars.

His gaze lands on Mali, and I swear I see a part of him break. “But I should have.”

MALI FINALLY MANAGES TO fall asleep in my bed. I helped her take a shower and gave her pajamas to wear, ones that are light enough not to hurt after she scrubbed her skin raw. She’s definitely not okay, but how could she be?

I drape a blanket over her and turn around to see Hayes leaning in my doorway. He was responsible for keeping an eye on Cam while I took care of Mali. I needed him to find out exactly what happened when Cam went in that house.

“She okay?” he asks.

Glancing back at my best friend, I can feel her sadness like it’s my own. “No, but I’m hoping she will be. In time.” I force my eyes away from her and run my fingers through my hair. “How’s Cam?”

“Homicidal,” he answers, and I know it’s not even an exaggeration. “He said that he was unconscious when he left and beaten pretty badly, but they got out of there before the cops came. Apparently, no one at the party even tried to keep Cam from killing him. He probably would have if Mali hadn’t come in and begged him to stop.”

The weight of everything rests on my chest as I exhale. “Does it make me fucked up that I wish she hadn’t?”

“No. I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Hayes must be able to see when I need him because not even a single tear falls before he’s pulling me into his arms. Mali is the greatest person I know. My absolute best friend. And as I watched her break down, she took a part of me with her.

My head rests against Hayes’s chest as I cry, and he just lets me—pressing light kisses into my hair and rubbing his hand up and down my back. He knows I just need to get it out. That there’s nothing we can do to help the closest people to us, and that sucks.

I force myself to calm down and pull away from him to dry my face. “Thanks.”

He smiles sadly, leaning forward and kissing my forehead. “You staying in here?”

I nod. “Yeah. She needs me, and I think right now, I need her, too.”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain anything to me. I get it,” he tells me. “I’ll be in Cam’s room. Wake me up if you need me.”

“I will,” I promise. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

As he heads down the stairs, I turn around and crawl into my bed, cuddling close to Mali. She panics for a second but then relaxes when she sees it’s only me. Her eyes just start to fall closed again, as she murmurs softly.

“Don’t let him hurt me.”

I drape my arm over her. “Never. I promise.”

SMASH ROOMS NEVER USED to make sense to me. The idea of going somewhere just to break a bunch of old shit felt pointless. Not to mention exhausting. But while the guys were going to start the renovations next week, Hayes decided Cam and Mali could use the outlet.

We stand in what used to be the surf shop, but now it’s an empty building. Racks are still on the walls, and the counter is still there, but everything else is gone. Marc had all the merchandise moved to another location.

Now the renovation can begin.

“I never realized how big it is,” I say as I look around.

“That’s what she said,” Mali replies, and while it lacks the same enthusiasm that would normally come with it, it still shocks the hell out of all three of us.

We all turn to look at her. She’s seemed somewhat okay today, but I don’t know if that’s real, or if she’s pretending. Mali is the last person to let herself be the victim, so the latter would not surprise me.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” Cam and Hayes say in unison, but nope.

Not me. I’m not doing it.

“Are you good? Because you don’t have to put on a brave face here. Not with us.”

She hums, walking over and picking up the hammer off the counter. “Hayes brought me here to break shit. Trust me, I’m great right now. Though I won’t be able to say the same for this counter in a minute.”

We all watch as she swings the hammer right through the wood, the sound of it breaking echoing through the empty room. Then she does it again, as the counter splits into pieces she looks like she can breathe a little better.

I lean closer to Hayes. “That counter was going, right?”

He snorts. “If it wasn’t, it is now.”

There’s a lot to be done, and no possible way to do it all in a short time. Not only is there the demolition—which includes breaking down part of a wall that was used to hang more boards and tearing up the floors to put down new ones—but there’s also building the backroom he mentioned. This project is going to take weeks. But with the four of us, plus the occasional help of our friends, we should have this place ready to go by the end of fall.

“I’m going to go make sure they didn’t leave anything upstairs,” Hayes tells us.

My brows furrow. “Wait, what? There’s an upstairs?”

“Yeah,” he answers simply. “We’ve been using it as a storage room.”

I look back at Cam and Mali, seeing them smashing away like it’s their own personal playground, and my lips purse. “I’m coming with you.”

It’s no surprise I never knew there was a whole second level to this place. The stairs are tucked away toward the back and hidden behind a door. Honestly, I always just assumed it was a storage closet. But as we climb the stairs, I realize how much space is actually up here. It spans across half the building and even has its own bathroom.

“Damn,” I say as I admire the empty space. “You could rent this thing out as an apartment if you wanted to.”

Hayes hums skeptically. “As a studio, maybe. But that would require putting in a kitchen or letting them use the bar as one. And besides, I would not make a good landlord.”

Okay, he has a point. “Fair enough.”

We step into the bathroom to make sure everything has been cleared out, and right before we head back down, I stop and turn to Hayes.

“Do you think she’s okay?” I ask him. “Like, genuinely okay?”

“Mali?” he replies, and I nod. “I mean, she looks like it to me, but you know her better than anyone.”

“I know I do, and I can’t shake this feeling in my gut like I should be worried about her. I am worried about her. Last night was…intense.”

He exhales slowly, pulling me in for a hug. “You’re allowed to be worried. She’s your best friend, and she went through something that has the power to change her. But Mali is one of the strongest people I know. I don’t see her letting herself be a victim.”

That’s definitely all true, but I still feel uneasy about it. “I just want her to be all right.”

“She will be,” he promises. “And in the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on her. Though personally, if I were Isaac, I’d be afraid of running into her while she’s sober. That girl is ruthless.”

I chuckle because he’s right.

But there will be no sympathy from me for anything that happens to him.

ONE OF THE BEST parts of not having to hide anymore is being able to enjoy these bonfires while sitting on Hayes’s lap. Sure, Cam had some complaints about it at first, whining like the child he is, but he got over it. Everyone else, however, keeps looking at us like we’re some kind of circus act. And feeling like we’re in a fishbowl isn’t exactly pleasant.

“I still can’t believe you two are together,” Owen says.

Lucas obviously isn’t too happy about it as he grumbles fucking bullshit under his breath.

“I’m still trying to figure out how long it was going on. How the hell did this even happen?” Aiden questions.

My lips press together in a thin line as Cam sarcastically looks at Hayes. “Yes, H. Tell me. How did you end up corrupting my innocent little sister?”

“Innocent?” Hayes scoffs. “She’s practically corrupted me at this point.”

Mali snorts, knowing everything that’s gone on in the last couple months, but something tells me Cam isn’t looking for the dirty details. He’s only looking to find out when it started so he can bitch again about how long we hid it from him.

Cam cringes. “Gross. I did not need to know that.”

“You started it,” Hayes quips. “But it was when I kissed her in front of Craig that shit changed a little. It didn’t become a thing until I got kicked out of that hockey game, though.”

“I fucking knew it!” Aiden shouts, putting his hand out to Owen. “Pay up, motherfucker.”

“A bet? Really?” I deadpan.

Owen rolls his eyes as he passes Aiden a twenty and Aiden’s grin widens. “I called that shit. Hayes doesn’t give his jersey to anyone. I don’t give a shit who you are.”

Cam doesn’t look impressed, or even slightly amused, but I think with the shock of it wearing off, he’s becoming more accepting of it. At least, I hope he is.

“So, when you came over to talk about Laiken a month ago…” he starts.

Hayes finishes it for him with a nod. “I was trying to tell you.”

My head whips toward him. “That’s news to me.”

If I had known that he was even considering telling Cam about us, I don’t think I ever would have turned him down when he tried to get me back. There are no words to explain how badly I wanted to just fall right back into his arms. But I knew the pain I felt when he left all too well at that point, and I couldn’t risk going through that again.

Instead of responding, he smiles sadly and half-shrugs. I know him well enough to know what’s going through his mind right now. He’s thinking about how he didn’t tell Cam and how he left me instead. But none of that matters now because we got here eventually.

I put my hand over his and tap my thumb three times.

I. Love. You.

He smiles as he exhales and does four back on my leg.

I. Love. You. Too.

There are parts of our relationship we’ll let others see, but there are some things we just want to keep to ourselves. To keep hidden and protected from everyone else. It’s ours, and it’s sacred.

I keep my eyes on Mali, watching closely as she seems to guard herself a bit. No one else is paying enough attention to see it, but there are little things she does that show me that while she’s okay for the most part, she’s still affected—like how it took her twice as long to decide to crack open a beer. Or how she gravitated toward Cam once the guys showed up.

But Hayes was right when he said she’s strong, because if that were me, I’d probably still be curled up in my bed right now. Not Mali, though. She’s a spitfire, and while I’ll continue to keep an eye on her, I know she’s going to be fine.

Owen’s phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket. “Hello?”

Everyone else goes back to normal conversation, but I notice the way he becomes concerned and looks toward the front of the house. It isn’t until I see the two police cars pull in that I put it all together, and my heart sinks.

“Cam,” I breathe.

We all stare as two cruisers come closer and the officers get out. There’s a small, naive part of me that hopes it’s a misunderstanding. That this isn’t happening. But as they walk toward us, with one clutching a piece of paper in his hand, I know that’s not the case.

“No,” Mali pleads.

“Dude, you’re a fucking dick for this,” Owen says into the phone, but I’m too focused on the officers approaching.

“Cameron Blanchard?” one asks.

Cam sighs. “What can I do for you?”

He walks over to my brother. “For starters, you can stand up and put your hands behind your back. We have a warrant.”

Hayes’s grip on me tightens as Cam stands up. Finding out he was arrested before was hard, but seeing it firsthand is one of my worst nightmares come to life. And judging by the look on Mali’s face, she feels the exact same way.

The sound of the handcuffs breaks through the silence. “You’re under arrest for the assault of Isaac Morrison.”

He reads him his Miranda rights as my heart breaks inside my chest. Cam keeps his mouth shut, his eyes only meeting mine for a second as they start to take him away. He only says four simple words.

“I want a lawyer.”

I can’t do this. The further they get, the more I start to panic. I fight against Hayes’s hold, finally managing to free myself, but before I can cross the yard, he catches me.

“He can’t—” I shout. “They can’t—”

Mali jumps in front of me as I struggle to get to Cam. “Laiken!”

“He’s going to go to prison,” I cry.

Tears build in her eyes, too. “I know. We’re going to do everything we can to help him. But there is nothing you can do right now. Okay? We have to do this right, or we’ll all end up in jail.”

I feel like I’m breaking. Like my entire world is crashing down around me and all I can do is watch it fall. But her words manage to get through to me enough for me to stop fighting against Hayes’s hold.

“I know what he did,” Owen argues, still on the phone. “But this is a new kind of fucking low.”

Hayes’s body tenses up against me. “Is that Isaac?”

Owen doesn’t even get a chance to respond before Hayes rips the phone right out of his hand, but the call ends immediately. The coward hung up. Hayes tosses it back to Owen and grabs one of the camping chairs—sending it flying.

“I’m going to kill that little bitch!” he growls, then turns to Owen. “I know he’s your boy, but I swear to God, when I get my hands on him—”

“He’s not,” Owen corrects him. “Not after this. I can’t believe he stooped that low.”

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Lucas questions.

I wrap my arms around myself and lean into Mali. “You three are going to go home. Hayes will update you when he knows something. I have to call my parents and get to the police station.”

“I’m coming with you,” Hayes tells me as he lights up a cigarette.

“Me, too,” Mali adds.

And I know there’s nothing I could say that would change their minds.

Not a damn thing.

THE WAIT IS EXCRUCIATING. My parents were pissed, insisting that we stay outside while they go deal with this. Somehow, standing outside the police department and knowing Cam is in there is worse than waiting around at home. Every time the door opens, I find myself hoping he’ll come walking out, but it never happens. And when my parents come back out with a lawyer, and without him, my stomach drops.

“What’s going on?” I ask in a rush. “Is he okay? Is he coming home?”

My mom shakes her head sadly. “Not tonight, sweetie.”

What? “Why not? We bailed him out last time.”

“This time it’s a little more complicated,” the lawyer answers. “He violated probation, which means a judge isn’t going to set a bail tonight. He will have a bail hearing within the next ten days, but until then, he has to stay in custody.”

Hayes throws his head back, trying to take a deep breath but needing to walk away for a second to calm himself down. Meanwhile, Mali holds my hand tightly.

“How bad is it?”

The three of them share a look, like they don’t want to answer, but my dad gives him approval to tell me anyway.

“Honestly, it’s not good,” the lawyer says. “This is his second assault in a short period of time, while he’s still on probation for the first incident. It’s going to be hard to prove to a judge that he’s not the violent person this makes him look like he is.”

“But it’s his word against Isaac’s, right?” Mali asks.

The lawyer frowns. “Afraid not. The police said there’s a video the victim’s brother took of Cam committing the assault. The case is airtight.”

I swear to God, if I ever get ahold of Craig’s phone, I’m going to shove it so far up his ass he’ll have to hiccup to make a call.

Mali shakes her head rapidly. “But he was only doing it to defend me. Isaac…he…”

She can’t seem to get the words out, no matter how badly she may want to, but they don’t matter anyway.

“Trust me, I know what kind of people the Morrisons are,” he says. “But unfortunately, there’s no excuse for assaulting someone, as infuriating as that may be sometimes.”

He goes on to tell us that we need to just sit tight and wait, but I don’t see how that’s possible. One of my favorite people in the world is sitting in a jail cell right now. Patience isn’t exactly my strong suit on a normal day, let alone now.

I FEEL NUMB INSIDE.It’s as if I’m watching my life play out, watching everything go wrong, but I can’t move. I can’t stop it from happening. The only thing I can do is watch and wait for a broken system to save my brother.

A system that nearly failed him the last time.

When we left my house, the three of us piled into Mali’s car. I was shaken up, and Hayes was far too pissed to drive. But as Mali slams on her brakes in the middle of Main Street, I’m starting to wonder if we should have taken an Uber.

“Oh, hell no,” she says, unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing the door open.

I don’t even see what she’s talking about at first. It isn’t until I see her storming across the street that I see him. Isaac has definitely had better days. His face is covered in angry bruises and swollen so much I didn’t even recognize him. But honestly, I think he’s lucky that’s all he got.

“Shit,” I murmur.

Cars behind us honk as Hayes and I rush out onto the street. We don’t even shut the doors as we rush to catch up to Mali. But we can’t get there in time before she shoves him with all the strength she has.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she screams. “You know exactly what happened that night! You know that you deserve every fucking bit of what you got! But you just had to get him arrested, didn’t you?”

Isaac snickers, and I have to grab Hayes’s wrist to hold him back. As much as we love Cam, and as pissed as we are, this isn’t our battle. It’s hers. And she needs to do this.

“He did this shit to himself,” Isaac argues.

Mali scoffs. “That’s bullshit. I was drunk and you took advantage!”

He rolls his eyes. “Such a typical girl. Hook up with a guy and then regret it later so you cry sexual assault.”

“Oh, fuck off!” she sneers. “You knew damn well I wanted nothing to do with you. But your ego just couldn’t handle that, could it? Just like it couldn’t handle getting kicked off the hockey team.”

That strikes a nerve, and I watch as Isaac’s jaw locks. “That was my fucking team, and he stole it from me. He deserved a little payback.”

“So, you try to rape me to get it?” she roars.

“Keep your goddamn voice down,” he snarls as he steps closer. “It wasn’t even about you. Sure, you’re hot, but you’re way too much of a handful for me. I just wanted to fuck you so Cam could hear all about it. Rumor is he’s had a thing for you for a while now, and I knew he would just love to know all about how I watched you come apart on my cock. Not nearly enough justice, but it would’ve pissed him off. But him spending the next few years in prison? That’s so much better.”

I can’t see Mali’s face, but when I see her fist clench at her side, I know exactly what’s coming next. She rears back and punches him in the face, right on top of the bruises that intensify the pain of it.

Isaac stumbles back for a moment, then his eyes pin Mali with a vicious glare. “You’re going to regret that.”

She steps toward him. “What are you going to do? Press charges on me and have me arrested, too? Do it! I fucking dare you!”

But something tells me that isn’t what he has in mind, and as he moves, so does Hayes. He steps in front of Mali and pushes her back before getting in Isaac’s face. While Mali is much shorter, Hayes is his height as they square up against each other.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Hayes growls. “You’re going to get the fuck out of here. And I don’t mean out of my face. I mean out of fucking town. You’re going to take your little trust fund and you’re going to leave because this is the only out you’re going to get. If I see your face around here again, I’ll slit your throat with the bottom of my skate and make it look like a goddamn accident.”

Isaac stares back at him, but no matter how hard he tries to hide it, his fear is evident. He didn’t stand a chance against Cam. Hayes could do more damage on a normal day, but when he’s defending someone he cares about, I can’t be sure that he’s bluffing. And neither can Isaac as he steps back and walks away.

Hayes watches him leave for a moment and then turns around to march past us. “Let’s go.”

Mali and I start to follow him back to the car when she leans closer into me. “You’re going to jump his bones tonight, aren’t you?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”