Page 73 of The Destruction You Desire

I rest the book on my lap and look up at Luca as he begins to pace back and forth across the small room. A dark angry cloud surrounds him, one that I know will only end in destruction if I try to do anything about it.

A soft knock sounds out on the door before two of the nurses who have been caring for Libby slip inside.

"Hi, sweetie," the older one says, smiling at me. "Anything to report?"

I shake my head as they walk toward the end of Libby's bed and pull her chart from the bottom, studying it.

"We're just going to do her vitals. You're welcome to stay or—"

"I'll be back in a bit," Luca blurts, torment evident on his face.

Both the nurses look over at him and their brows furrow in concern.

"Y-yeah, okay." I force a smile on my lips but I know it doesn't help at all. He's too lost right now. But knowing how much getting away for a few minutes alone helped me earlier, I keep my mouth shut as he slips from the room.

"Is everything okay, sweetie? Things seem tense."

A bitter laugh falls from my lips. "Everything is fine," I force out.

"That sure is a fine young man you've got there, love," the younger one adds, her cheeks heating slightly at her confession.

"Yeah. He's something," I mutter.

"Oh, are you not together?"

I shake my head. "No. I'm not sure what we are."

"Well, Dr. Willis said—"

"Yeah? Well, things aren't always as simple as they seem. Excuse me." I storm from the room, my chest heaving and my hands trembling.

"Shit," I hiss to myself as I realize just how rude I was. "Fuck."

Needing a breather to calm down, I slip inside the empty family room and drop to the couch, my sister's diary still in my hands.

With trepidation, I flip over the first page.

Liberty Banks

KEEP OUT!

I smile as I think about teenage Libby writing that in the hope it would keep my nosy ass out. It might have worked back then if I was feeling nice, but it's certainly not going to work now. I need to know, and if what is on the pages within this book will help me discover what happened, help lead us to more, to the real truth then I'm all in. I'll just have to deal with the consequences later.

The first few pages are her gushing about the quarterback who preceded Luca on our high school football team. I remember him. Much like Luc, all the girls ran rings around him hoping to catch his eye, and my sister was no better. I don't need to read her words about how hot he is and how badly she wants to kiss him to know she was obsessed with him.

I scan the pages until I come to an aftergame party at the Dunn house. Brett was always trying to put himself right in the middle of the game long before Luca got captain, so it wasn't unusual for the parties to be there despite his own kids being too young. We were only sophomores but it didn't stop Brett from allowing his sons to party like seniors. I guess this is exactly how Luca and I ended up losing our virginity together earlier than I'm sure we should have. We were surrounded by it all. It was only natural that we started experimenting.

Shaking thoughts of our past out of my head, I keep reading until I find Brett's name.

My teeth grind at just seeing it. Knowing that he spoke to my sister, that he approached her, probably while she was wasted.

I keep reading despite the bile burning its way up my throat as she recalls just how sweet he was, how he told her how pretty she was and how the senior boys were lucky.

It's disgusting, and reading the bullshit that he fed her makes my skin crawl.

How did she fall for it?

Reading it now, it seems so obvious that he was playing her.