“With me!” I screamed, almost involuntarily, and whipped to face our shell-shocked friends. Lexi’s heavy black makeup was smudged down her face, her bottom lip trembling as she stared at me, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry, Rome, I—”

“She had me!” I shouted again, approaching them furiously. Ally moved before me, trying to stop me with her hands flat on my chest. I cast her aside, yelling over her shoulder. “We were meant to get through all of this shit together! She promised me, over and over! I’m so f**kin’ mad at her! You all stand here crying, but she ran out on you too. She left all of us! She’s almost twenty-one and she still runs when shit gets tough! She should have f**kin’ stayed, stayed and got through our baby’s death with me!”

Lexi and Cass stood rooted to the spot, tears streaming down their faces. I actually felt some semblance of guilt seeing Cass reduced to a weeping mess. But I was pent up with rage, stuck in f**king limbo, unable to see past my own grief.

The door burst open, and Jimmy-Don and Austin stepped in. Austin glared at me as Jimmy-Don wrapped Cass in his arms, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he registered the scene. Austin pulled Lexi beside him, cupping her face, then turned to look at me, mouth tight. He was pissed at me too?

Perfect.

“Rome, you need to calm the hell down and stop ripping on the girls,” Austin said calmly, but I could hear the heavy threat in his voice.

“Fuck off, Austin. You have no idea what I’m going through,” I snapped, moving to walk away.

His already dark eyes seemed to blacken even more, and he grabbed my arm. I looked down at his hand wrapped around my bicep and clenched my jaw.

Austin watched me, lurching back slightly, but hissed, “You’re right, I don’t, none of us do, but don’t give Lexi shit because Molls left you, okay?” That caused me to pause, and Lexi lowered her head in embarrassment, avoiding my gaze.

Whatever. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass as to what was going on between those two right now.

Ripping my arm free, I looked to Ally and asked, “You ready?”

She nodded, exhausted, and addressed the rest of our friends. “We’re going to my momma and daddy’s early. Have a nice Christmas, y’all, and we’ll catch you when we get back.” She hugged each person tightly, but I just pushed past them to the door—I wasn’t exactly full of Christmas cheer.

A firm hand landed on my shoulder.

Austin.

“You okay, man?” he asked, no longer pissed, just worried.

Shit. This was Austin, my best damn friend. I sagged and shook my head no. “She’ll come back,” he assured me.

I met his eyes, then Cass’s and Lexi’s. “Look, about before—”

Austin grasped my face in both of his hands, interrupting me mid-sentence. “Don’t apologize. Just get the hell out of here and get your shit together. We got a championship to bring back, and you need to be in top form.” He planted a typical Sicilian kiss to my forehead.

Stepping back, I ran down the stairs, past all of Mol’s sorority sisters watching me in pity, and out into the crisp winter air, making my way straight over to the Mustang.

Ally joined me seconds later and in silence, we drove to my frat house, I gathered some clothes, rang my coach, and we hit the road.

Destination: Birmingham.

30

“Rome, we’re here,” I heard Ally say from beside me as the roaring engine of the Mustang grew to a stop. At first I was disorientated, but then I remembered… everything… and that excruciating pain that had subsided, if only for a short time during sleep, stabbed back into my chest with vengeance.

Taking a deep breath and opening the passenger door, I smiled at Aunt Alita, who was running from the small country cottage, arms spread, tears running down her face, shouting, “Rome, mia Rome! Viene aqui, viene aqui!”

Smashing against my chest and squeezing her arms around my waist, my tiny Spanish aunt cried into my shirt. The lump in my throat expanded with her over-the-top affection. It was how a mother should be—nurturing, protective, loving—and that thought sliced my heart more. Even though unborn, Molly had been all those things to our child.

Pulling back, Aunt Alita asked, “My darling, are you okay?” in her heavily accented tongue. “Ay dios mio! Such a tragedy. May the Lord strike down your parents for such cruelty!”

My uncle stepped onto the small porch, pulling my attention, a sympathetic frown on his face—his face that looked too similar to my father’s to bring any comfort.

“Mama! Leave him be,” Ally said, rolling her eyes in my direction, ushering her mother away and into the house.

With a deep breath, I walked to my uncle, stiffening as he laid his hands on my shoulders. He immediately lifted his palms into the air. “Sorry, son. I forget how much your daddy and I look alike.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just not used to people touching me, that’s all. And yeah, you do look so much like him at times it’s uncanny.”

Uncle Gabe smiled sadly. “Though nothing alike, I hope?” Placing his hand on the back of my head, he pulled me close. “That man is evil, Rome. I knew he wasn’t a good man. Hell, even growing up, he was an ass, but for both your momma and daddy to do what they have lately… Well, I could never have believed them capable of such behavior.”

Letting out a humorless laugh, I said, “Yeah, well, I’m sure Charles Manson’s family thought the same about him too. Some folks are just born to be bad and no one can stop them.”