Page 23 of Crossing the Line

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“How have you kept this hidden from everyone in town? You found out about Brodie’s dad getting in trouble before the cops came to get all of their stuff. People in this town know everything!”

Shame washed over me.

Turned out weweren’tthe perfect family.

Far from it…

How the hell did I not pick up on things?

“Mom’s relapse incurred a significant amount of debt. And when you signed your scholarship, we used the college fund we’d put aside for you to pay off as much of it as we could.”

I jumped to my feet and took a few deep breaths as I paced the soggy grass near the bench. “It’s gone. It’s… So I can’t go to Alabama. I—I—I can’t…go to college anywhere?”

“I’m sorry, Ryan. We can check into getting student loans. Or maybe community college.” He shook his head, then scrubbed his face with his hands. “We were going to tell you. We were working on that with our counselor but—”

“Counseling? Are you guys—are you getting divorced? Dad. Holy shit!”

“No, but things are…rough between us right now, and we needed professional help to start working through it.” He shook his head. “I know this is a lot, son. I—we—please, we need to talk about this.”

“I’m done talking to you.” My body shook with anger. “In fact, I’m not sure I ever want to see your face, or Mom’s, again!”

And I took off running.

Chapter Nine

Grace

“So, skipping school and standing your friends up for lunch is your thing now?” Brodie said as he manhandled Preach into the Jeep.

Willow was sitting in the front passenger side and me in the back, so I got the wonderful pleasure of getting to sit next to a seriously intoxicated Preach Armstrong.

“You missed our mandated session down in the dungeon today, but I covered for you. So, you’re welcome,” I said, then returned to scrolling TikTok.

Brodie slammed the door, then hopped in and revved the Jeep.

“Here comes the unstoppable Brodie ‘Wind’ Windom, star left winger of the station champions, Woodhaven High Wolverines, saving the day,” Preach sang out, seriously off tune, then fell into a fit of laughter.

“Wow.” I shook my head.

“Wow?” He met my gaze. His eyes were glazed over.

“You smell like a brewery. You better get a shower and some food before PT,” I countered.

“FuckPT.” He smiled. “Man. I have been missing out on not drinking. This is fucking awesome!” Preach clapped his hands together, then leaned toward me. “Hey,Dream Crusher, how’s the hand?”

“Preach. That’s enough,” Brodie said as he steered Preach’s Jeep onto the street leading to the PT clinic. “I can’t believe you right now.”

“Yeah, well, everyone can just fuck off.”

“Ohhh, so you’re a mean drunk. Good to know.” I put in my AirPods, more than ready to get to the clinic and get out of this car.

“This isn’t going to be a regular thing with you, now is it?” Willow asked from the front.

“What?” Preach said, then ripped a belch that had me ducking it was so loud. “Oh my gosh, did you hear that?”

“So you’re saying picking your drunk ass up after you skip school is going to be a regular thing?” Brodie asked.

Preach flicked him off.


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