418 Irreparable Damage

(Jayden)

But Lance had to see his mom’s slow decline into depression before she finally ended things herself too. He had no other family he knew of and a shit ton of money.

So, we just became best friends, and then we met Winona and Lisa. We became each other’s family when he didn’t have one of his own, and I guess I didn’t realize how much that bond had shaped us both until now.

Lance and I bonded over our shared, fucked-up parent issues, and it made us inseparable. My mother might have been dysfunctional in her love, but at least she stood by me. He never had anyone.

Only us four friends hanging out and doing life. We were the ones who helped each other survive high school, then college, through all the madness of growing up.

We were just kids then, thinking we could save each other and the world. But adulthood and this betrayal make those bonds fragile.

But none of that changes what he did. It makes it worse. I glare at him, refusing to soften. “You don’t get to make this about som