Drake braces his elbows on the table and covers his face.
“Seriously?” Aurora says in disbelief. “I have so many questions.”
“Don’t we all,” Liam mutters.
“Why?” Santi says as he paces.
“You’d have to ask her,” I tell him.
Santi nods. “You’re right. I need to ask her.” He looks down at Aurora apologetically. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because it was my sister,” he says, slamming his hand onto his chest. “My own flesh and blood betrayed me and sold us all out.”
Aurora cautiously gets up and walks toward Santi. She looks at him as if he’s a caged animal but doesn’t hesitate to step in front of him. “This isn’t on you. Your sister is an adult who made her own decisions.”
“How can any of you look at me after what she did?” he asks, looking between all of us.
“The same way we have always looked at you,” Drake says.
“As far as I’m concerned, nothing’s changed between the five of us,” Liam confirms.
Santi looks at me with devastation on his face. Without hesitation, I walk to my oldest friend and grab him by the shoulders. I make sure he’s looking me in the eye before I speak. “We do not blame you. As far as I’m concerned, you are a bigger victim than we are.”
“I need to go home and talk to her,” he says, closing his eyes filled with pain.
“You do. Tomorrow though. It’s too late to do anything, and we all need a night together to process everything.”
Santi swallows hard. “Tomorrow.”
“Do we go outside and hang out, or do you guys want to turn on a movie?” Aurora asks, taking charge.
“Movie,” Drake and Liam say in unison.
“Does that work for you two?” Aurora asks, looking between Santi and me.
“Yeah,” he mumbles. “I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be back.”
We stay quiet and watch as Santi leaves the room.
“I can’t imagine,” Liam says.
“Neither can I, and that’s saying something,” Drake adds.
“Will he be okay?” Aurora asks softly.
I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head. “He will be with time.”
“I wish there was something more that I could do.”
“Same.” Liam sighs.
“We will just continue to do what we’ve always done. Show up and be here for him without question. He’s going to be fucking pissed for a while, but he’ll come around.”
“Okay.” Aurora nods.
Drake touches Liam’s arm. “Come on, let’s go find a movie to watch.”
