Page 154 of River of Deceit

The pain in my chest eases, and suddenly the whole evening is lighter again.

I don’t tell River how relieved I am to hear that the dead person is a complete nobody. River cared for him, so he’s important for that reason alone.

But this is something we can get over.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “What happened?”

“So dumb,” he mumbles. “God. I didn’t even know you could die from vaping. I thought it was… something people do that’s stupid.”

He’s not making much sense.

“People can be allergic to the ingredients,” I say slowly. “It’s rare, but it can happen.”

“Cinnamon,” River tells me, wiping at his eyes. “The guys…” He smiles, but it’s not a pretty smile. “They convinced him it was fake. It wasn’t.” He shudders. “He died in the back of Blaze’s fancy fucking car. By himself, without me evenknowing. Icould’ve at least… I don’t fucking know! I should’ve done something. Anything.”

“Oh.” I bite my lip, not sure if I should say anything, but I did just learn about this thanks to a classmate’s presentation. “Even the cinnamon flavorings can be cytotoxic."

River looks blankly at me.

“It’s an irritant to the lungs,” I tell him. “That, and the—” I shake my head. “There are different things he could’ve been allergic to along with the cinnamon.”

“Of course there were,” River says, his voice edged.

I know the anger isn’t directed at me, and I stroke his hair again.

“It should’ve happened to Brock, or Tate, or hell, even Zayden,” he says.

I don’t know much about Brock or Tate, but I am always happy to hate on Zayden.

“Do you want it to happen to them?” I ask. “We can make it happen.”

River chuckles, a dark, ugly sound. “Oh, Brock is already paying for it. Tate… Blaze is going to take care of him.” He pauses, then adds, “He’d better, or I’ll do it.”

Now my chest flutters, because of course Blaze would already be taking care of it. I knew I liked Blaze. Between the four of us, we can take down anyone who gets in our way.

Or hurts us.

“If you need any help with raining revenge down on anyone, I’m always here for you,” I say. “I’m thinking, choking death? That would simulate the allergic reaction.”

River is quiet. If I had to place bets, I’d say he’s considering it. But he slowly shakes his head. “He’ll see what happened to Brock — which we had nothing to do with — and think better of fucking with people like that again.” He closes his eyes. “Fuck. Just… fuck. I should’ve insisted that they leave him alone when he told them no. He told themno, Pandora, and they didn’t fucking listen.”

My vision hazes over then.

Like they’d done to Carly.

They hadn’t given her a choice at all. They’d tried to wash it all away.

No, they’d blamed her for it.

Getting just Declan isn’t enough. I do need to take down the entire Kappa Ass house.

I take River’s left hand and raise it up so I can kiss it—and notice the bruising on it. “Oh. Is this from where you took care of Brock? I hope his nose is so broken he can’t ever breathe properly again.”

He goes silent for several heartbeats, and I’m starting to think he’s not going to reply when he finally says, “No. This was something else.”

“Something else? Boxing?” I give River a soft smile. “You should have told me you were doing street fights. I’d have bet on you.”

He doesn’t smile back. “Someone attacked the frat house. Well, several someones. I don’t know who.” He grimaces. “I know I recognized one of them, but I don’t know from where. Not from boxing.” He closes his eyes again and sighs. “Why the fuck am I even telling you this?”