Page 58 of Overdose

“You wanna know everything?” I mutter. “Fine.”

She paces in front of me, one hand still gripping that Polaroid like it’s a goddamn dagger. “You knew her. You knew my sister. And you didn’t tell me.”

“I was trying to protect you,” I grit out.

“Bullshit.”

My gaze sharpens. “You think I wanted this to come out like this? Some grainy fucking photo from a wall in a backroom?”

“I think you didn’t want it to come out at all.”

“You’re right,” I snap. “I didn’t. Because I’ve seen what the truth does. I saw it destroy her.”

She flinches but recovers quick, jaw tightening.

“Brynn was a mess, Blair. She came into this world already looking to burn, and I tried—fuck, I tried—to pull her out of the flames.”

“You think I don’t know she was a mess?” Blair throws the Polaroid at the table, it skids and lands face-up, her sister’s lips on Noir’s. “You think I haven’t spent the last year trying to make sense of how someone can just fucking vanish without a trace?”

I rub a hand down my face.

“She met me at a bonfire,” I say quietly. “Spring break. She was already high. Already hunting for something to numb the edges. She liked the pills I had, liked the feeling but it got bad fast. I cut her off.”

“Then what?” Blair spits. “You just watched her spiral?”

“No. She stole my phone. Started contacting my suppliers behind my back. Got herself locked in with people you don’t fuck with. Started using her own product, and when she couldn’t pay what she owed?—”

I stop. The words catch like smoke in my throat.

“She disappeared,” Blair finishes flatly. “Same as always.”

“No,” I say. “Not the same. She’s gone. And not the maybe-she’s-in-hiding kind of gone. The kind of gone that leaves silence behind it. The kind of gone that makes people stop looking.”

Blair’s hands curl into fists. “And Noir?”

“They were a thing,” I admit. “She was in love with him. Thought he’d save her. I don’t know if he loved her back, but... when she needed him most, he wasn’t there.”

“And you were?”

“I tried,” I say. “I offered to pay her debts. Tried to talk her out of it. But the only person she would’ve listened to was Noir, and he... he didn’t show.”

Blair’s silent. Breathing hard. I can see her fighting the tears, see them lining her eyes like a challenge. She’s furious. She’s hurt. And I deserve every bit of it.

“You should’ve told me,” she whispers, but there’s venom under it.

“I know.”

“Before you touched me. Before you kissed me.”

“I know.”

“Before you made me feel like I could trust you.”

I stay seated. I don’t move. Just lean forward, arms braced on my knees, like if I stay grounded enough, maybe I won’t fuck this up worse than I already have.

“I didn’t tell you,” I say, “because I knew what it would do to you.”

Her eyes narrow, but she doesn’t interrupt. Not yet.