“I know that. Of course, I know that.”
“I don’t know what came over me. I was … lost. I don’t know what the fuck to do to be honest.”
He’d wanted to stake his ultimate claim over her.
“It’s fine, Noah. You know what, you’re right, I shouldn’t overthink it all. We’re together, and we share a dark past. It’s fine.”
“You keep saying it’s fine.”
“I don’t know of any other way to describe it. I’m scared my parents are going to freak out at me,” she said.
“We’re going to have to make a stand so they know not to get between us.”
“You think it’ll be that easy?” she asked.
“I don’t know why it can’t be that easy. We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve been through hell together, and we’re still here standing.”
He parked up at the high school. They’d arrived in record time. He was aware of the curious looks and points.
“Do you ever think back to that time?” she asked.
“Every single day. I … think of what I could have done. If I hadn’t been drugged up to keep me weak. You know I’d never…”
“I know.”
“We killed people there, Skye.”
“I know,” she said. “There are times I think I should be put away for what we’ve done.”
“We were only trying to protect ourselves.”
“It’s not just about the time we were locked in a room or used for amusement. It’s all of it.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t think I should talk about it now.”
He tapped the steering wheel. “Tell me. There’s no better time than the present.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, who cares if anyone in this school can lip read.”
“I doubt that very much. Come on, talk to me.”
She pushed some hair off her face. “We were watched. Denison described some of the graphic videos that were being taken. We are on those videos, Noah. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“It does. Thinking about what they can see, all of it, and yeah, I don’t want anyone to have those videos. Not even for a moment.”
She sighed. “Maybe I’m freaking out over nothing. I can’t help but think about all the men and women that paid for it. That’s what he said, remember, they paid for the pleasure to see us hurt each other.”
“They forced us to do everything to hurt each other.”
“It made me wonder if some had to … you know, kill each other as well, like us. I’m sorry. I think I’m just thinking about this too much.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“Do you want to go back there?”
“To what? You heard what happened. It was burned to the ground.”