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KEENE

“O h my God,” I gasped, stumbling from my chair as I stared dumbfounded at my girlfriend’s wrist. Her voice was distorted, her face was blacked out, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt the girl on that screen, sitting in that chair, was Waverly.

My gaze shot to her mother to confirm it. And the hateful, hard look Ms. Breeker sent me made me moan in agony.

I shook my head, wanting to deny it. My skin went clammy and damp. My head immediately started to pound. And my stomach rebelled.

Unable to control the nausea, I slapped a hand over my mouth and spun toward the door, bolting from the room and ignoring my professor calling my name.

As soon as I pushed my way out of the nursing building, a face full of fresh air hit me, and I darted to the right, falling to my knees where I vomited into the grass.

And I just kept puking. Every time I pictured Gerald Sprout’s wrinkled, pock-marked face, I saw a young, innocent Waverly cloistered in his windowless, wood-paneled office, as he reached for her hair and called her a good girl.

Teeth clenching, I growled out my rage and pain and puked again until I was drained and sweaty with chills that alternated with moments of white-hot anger and cold, terrifying fear.

Dizzy and nauseous, I knew I needed to move. I needed to get out of here and have my episode somewhere more private so I could punch a wall to get myself back under control, but the shock still had such a grip on me I continued to freak out right there in the grass for everyone to see.

When a gentle hand touched my shoulder, matched with a concerned female voice saying, “Keene?” I jerked upright with a snarl, rearing back my arm as if I were going to swing.

Raina yelped and leaped away, her green eyes flaring and auburn curls bouncing.

“Shit,” I muttered and opened my fisted hand to look more apologetic. “Sorry.”

“Are you okay?” she managed to ask.

“No.” Beginning to shake uncontrollably, I looked at Foster’s girlfriend and wheezed, “I need—I need—I need someone.”

I had no idea if she knew that was a code phrase among the seven. When one of us hit a low, we’d cast out the bat signal with those three words, and another member of the group would always sweep in to check on the buddy in distress and help however he was needed.

Bobbing her head insistently, Raina seemed to understand just fine as she dropped to her knees next to me and swung her backpack off her shoulders to dig out her phone, all the while, saying, “Okay. We got you. Just hold tight. Foster will be here soon.”

I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut, bowing my head and trying to block out everything else as I repeated those words through my head over and over again.

Foster will be here soon. Foster will be here soon. Golden Boy always showed up right on time to save the day. He’d make this better.

Except I had no idea how he could make Waverly un-raped, or how he could take away her years—fucking years —of abuse at the hands of that monster. How the hell could anyone fix any of this?

“Dammit,” I roared, clenching my teeth along with every fucking muscle in my body as I fisted my hands again and vibrated with unspent fury. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.”

“Holy shit,” I heard Raina croak fearfully.

“Pick up, pick up, pick—Foster. Oh my God. You—you need to get over here to the nursing building. Right now. Something’s wrong with Keene.

He’s having some kind of breakdown. I think he threw up.

No, he’s not okay. Something is very, very wrong.

I have no idea! He’s either having a panic attack or—or something.

I can’t tell if he’s going to cry, hit me, or just…

explode. Honestly, it’s scary as hell and—Okay. Okay. Thanks. I love you too. Hurry.”

“Foster’s on his way,” she told me.

I nodded, not daring to open my eyes yet.

“D-don’t call Waverly,” I managed to say.

“Don’t—” I shook my head and finally opened my eyes to send her a hard, warning glance, still finding it nearly impossible to talk…

or calm down. “Don’t let her see me like this.

She—she’ll think—I don’t want her to know how much I freaked out. ”

Raina nodded and whispered, “Okay.” She looked scared as hell, but she stayed there in the grass next to me and even gave me some water from her bottle to swish and spit and then drink from until a panting Foster raced up, looking worried as shit.

The cavalry was here. Thank fuck.

Wilting, I went back to closing my eyes, but something inside me had loosened at least. I didn’t have to carry this by myself anymore.

“What happened?” I heard him demand.

“I have no idea,” Raina shrieked. “He just—he’s not Keene. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he has rabies and is going to snap at anyone who tries to touch him even as he dies in pain right at our feet.”

“Dugger?” Union said softly, and I finally looked up at him, shuddering out my rage and grief and fear as I looked into his kind, blue, supportive eyes.

Needing one of my crew, I reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt with shaking hands, gripping it savagely before I gritted my teeth.

“I want to kill him,” I confessed. “I want to kill him.” Shaking my head, I gulped unsteadily as a new wave of emotions poured over me. “I have never wanted to kill anyone before. Not like this. But I want to end his fucking life.”

And it pissed me off even more that I couldn’t.

Sprout was safely behind bars, serving life in prison for raping thirteen girls—thirteen girls who before today were anonymous faceless victims that meant nothing to me.

But now I knew one. I knew her name. I knew her face.

I knew her heart and soul and every inch of her beautiful body.

And it gutted me to know what he’d done to her.

I wanted to gut him . Even though I couldn’t.

Life was so fucking unfair.

My bottom lip trembled as I focused on Foster’s face. “Union,” I pleaded, not sure how to deal with all this hatred.

So I bowed my head and leaned toward him, knowing he’d make it better.

And he did. “It’s okay,” he told me, hugging me without restraint. “Just feel it. Let it out. Go ahead and hate him.”

I nodded and shuddered out the most pain-filled breath of my life as I let myself hate Gerald Sprout.

At some point, I vaguely heard him ask Raina who I was talking about, but she had no idea. And some time after that, others arrived. I heard Hudson’s voice and then Damien’s.

Then a hand took my arm and gently tugged me away from Foster until I was looking into Thane’s soft brown eyes.

“Keene, buddy. Can we take you somewhere else? Let’s go somewhere quiet to talk, okay?”

“Okay.” I nodded and wiped my face, stunned to realize my cheeks were wet, only to blink at Thane and ask dazedly, “Wait. What’re you doing on campus?”

He huffed out a sound of amusement, appearing pleased that I was at least aware enough to know he shouldn’t be here. He’d graduated two years ago.

“All the public-school counselors around town are on campus today,” he answered. “Leading guest classes for students interested in pursuing social work degrees.”

Which explained how Waverly’s mom had ended up in my class.

“And I was on campus to have lunch with Hope,” Parker spoke up, making me wrench around to find all six of my best friends present.

I blinked, finally finding Alec, who’d squeezed between Damien and Hudson to get to my side and silently just be there.

Exhaling again and more settled by their presence than anything, I nodded and clutched Alec’s arm, licking my lips before uttering, “I just—I can’t believe this happened to her.”

Thane nodded as if he understood. But how could he understand? How could anyone understand this? I didn’t even fucking understand it.

Behind him, Parker watched me closely. “You can’t believe what happened to who?” he asked, looking ready to commit murder himself.

I opened my mouth but still couldn’t say it.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Waverly’s mom exit the nursing building. Feeling my face darken with anger, I narrowed my eyes hatefully, not able to forgive her for what she’d just done, whether it had been intended or pure coincidence.

The others turned at my glare, and Parker barked, “Katherine,” in a hard, unyielding voice. “What the fuck did you just do?”

Ms. Breeker stumbled to a surprised halt, looking around until she found him. When she spotted the rest of us—notably me—hovering behind him, her eyes narrowed, and she shifted a snarl Parker’s way.

“I should’ve realized you were one of his friends.”

But Parker shook his head slowly. “He’s not just a friend.

He’s family . And no one gets away with reducing my little brother to that .

” When he jabbed a savage finger in my direction, I could only guess how shaken and pale I probably still looked.

“Now what the hell did you do to him? I can only assume this has something to do with Waverly.”

Something flickered in her eyes—guilt, maybe—but it was quickly smothered with angry defiance as she lifted her chin. “He needed to know.”

Parker hissed, “Fucking bitch.” He shook his head sadly before saying, “No. Waverly needed to be the one to tell him, on her terms, when or if she ever felt ready. You had no right.”

“She is my daughter ,” Ms. B boomed, marching toward him.

“And I will do whatever is necessary to protect her from skirt-chasing little assholes like him. He will ruin her. He will take and take and take, and the moment he learns what kind of overwhelming baggage she comes with, he’s going to abandon her, leaving her broken and more suicidal than the last time she tried to take her life.

You know he will. He’s just like his fucking father. He?—”

“Whoa,” Thane broke in with his steely, calm voice and his hand lifted as he stepped up to Parker’s side to take over the face-off with Waverly’s mom. “Now wait one minute there.”