Torque by Gillian Archer (10 ebook reader txt) 📕

with any of my friends since they were all Nathan’s family. I’d really screwed up in so many ways—I couldn’t even begin to catalogue them all.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“Thank you. There’s a delivery out front for you.”

“Huh? I didn’t order anything.”

She shrugged. “Well, I can’t sign for you. They need your signature, apparently. Get dressed.”

She closed the door behind her, and I sighed. I felt bad for being so horrible to her lately. I had to do better. Be better.

I got dressed in a hurry—yoga pants and a sweatshirt to cover up my lack of a bra, because who had time for bras when you were heartbroken—and shoved my feet into a worn pair of Chucks. Stumbling down the hallway, I pushed my hair out of my face. I probably should’ve run a brush through it, but it wasn’t like I wanted to impress whatever delivery guy was here.

When I got to the front door, it was closed, and no one was waiting.

“Mom? I thought I had to sign for something?”

“He’s outside!” My mom shouted from the kitchen. “He didn’t want to wait in the house.”

“Uh, okay.” I put my hand on the knob and my mom yelled again.

“And when you’re done, we’re going to have a talk about all this, young lady.”

That sounded ominous. And like something I wanted to postpone as long as possible.

Suddenly excited for my delivery, I ripped the door opened, stepped outside, and found Dylan.

Dylan.

Only about the last person alive I wanted to see at the moment.

I turned around. I’d rather get my ass handed to me by my mother than talk to Dylan.

“Maddie, wait!”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I came to apologize and let you know what’s going on.”

“Well, you’ve got shitty timing!” I shouted back as I whirled around. Tears burned my eyes, obscuring my vision. “The time to apologize was a week ago. Or a month ago when you promised you were going to tell everyone what was going on and not lie—repeatedly—to me. I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say. You’re a shitty friend.” I swiped at the tears running down my cheeks.

“I went to the police!” Dylan shouted as he pointed a shovel—of all things—at me. “And I told them everything. Everything.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. “Dylan. Oh my god. What’s… I don’t know what to say. What are they going to do? Will they arrest you?”

He dropped his arm to his side as a disgusted expression swept over his face. “Seriously? Even now, after all the shit I’ve put you through, you’re worried about me?” He shook his head. “I’m not worth it. Like you said, I’m a shitty friend. I know I’m a shitty brother. Why the fuck do you guys still care?”

The naked pain and emotion on his face made my heart ache. I remembered he’d looked the same way in the fifth grade when they’d announced the father/son lunch. He’d cried to me that night about how he hated always having to show up with his brother and not his dad. I’d offered to let him use my dad, but he’d sobbed as he told me it wasn’t the same.

I stepped off the front porch and walked over to him. “Because no matter how much you piss me off, you’re still my best friend. I love you, Dylan. Even when you’re an asshole, and I hate you. I’ll always love you, dork.”

“I’m so sorry, Maddie.” Tears welled in his eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry. I never thought they would come after you. When I heard what they did—” He broke off with a gulping sob. “Fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around him—shovel and all—and held him tight. “This is the part where you tell me you love me too.”

Dylan made another gulping sob sound as he hugged me back. “I do. I fucking love you so much. Thank you for not giving up on me.”

“Never. That’s what best friends are for.” I squeezed him tight as a sense of calm settled in my chest. It just felt right. I gave him another squeeze before pulling back. “So uh, you gonna tell me what the shovel is about?”

“Oh.” Dylan dropped his arm from my shoulders and held up the shovel with his other hand. “I brought a shovel and I have a bag of lye in the truck.” He gestured toward the rental truck parked in my parents’ driveway that I hadn’t noticed.

“What?” I swiveled and took in the moving truck. “How’d I miss that? And why did you bring a shovel? I’m so confused.”

Dylan lifted a shoulder. “You said a few months ago about how we were ride or die friends, and you’d help me bury a body if I ever needed it. I knew you were seriously pissed at me, so I thought I’d give you a hand.”

“With getting rid of your body?” I blinked.

“If it came to that.”

“Oh my god.” I laughed. “You’re insane.”

“So are you gonna need it, or is all forgiven?”

“I don’t know. Depends on what’s in the moving truck. It’s not bodies to bury, is it?”

“Nah. That’s just all your furniture from your apartment.”

“What?” I blinked. “How did you—why did you…Why do you have all my furniture?”

“Nathan said you had to get all your stuff out of your apartment by today to get out of your lease. So we all loaded up your stuff. I have your walkthrough and lease termination paperwork in the rig.”

Nathan. Even now he was trying to move me like a fucking puppet. I gritted my teeth and glared at my best friend. “And where is the most annoying Burns brother?”

Dylan raised his eyebrows. “Uh, he didn’t think you wanted to see him right now. Something about you not returning his calls or texts? So he asked for a volunteer to haul the stuff over. And I knew I owed you about a million times over, so here I am.”

“Right.” I bit my tongue and