I jammed the mop into the bucket.

"You missed a spot," Dylan joked as he walked into the barroom. "Just kidding. Fuck, are you ever going to stop looking like the boy who lost his puppy? I warned you that Becca was flighty and overdramatic. You should—"

"Dylan, stop. I can't listen to another one of your asshole 'told you so' lectures. I just can't fucking listen again."

He held up his hands. "Fine. I'm done with being an asshole." He walked back to the office.

"Yeah, I seriously doubt that," I quipped as I rolled the mop bucket to the back alley. It had been two long weeks since Rebecca had stopped answering my calls and texts. I'd finally decided to take the hint and stop trying to contact her. Asshole or not, it seemed this time Dylan was right. Everything had been going great. Or at least that was how I saw it, but Rebecca had obviously decided it wasn't working for her. It would have been nice to be able to talk to her face to face one more time, just to hash things out. More than once, I'd thought about driving to the city to see her. But I'd stopped myself. She'd already broken my heart clean in half. I didn't need her to stomp on it too.

I dumped the dirty water out in the alley and carried the mop and bucket back inside. The alley door didn't snap shut like usual. I swung around to see what had stopped it from closing. Rebecca was standing just inside the door. She looked pale and weary. Her fingers shook as she reached up to push her hair behind her ear.

"Rebecca?"

"Where's Dylan?" she asked sharply. "I need to see him."

Stunned speechless, I pointed toward the office.

She marched past me, almost as if we hadn't been in a wild love affair just weeks earlier. She walked past me almost as if she hadn't seen me standing there.

I followed behind her angry strides as she headed through the backroom door. She walked into the bar area. "Dylan, where the fuck are you?"

I walked out and stared at her. As mad and determined as she looked, she also looked one step away from falling apart into a million pieces.

Dylan came around the corner. His face turned to white stone when he saw her standing in the bar. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Rebecca turned to me. "Joshua, please go. I need to talk to Dylan."

I stared at her for long enough that it seemed to crack that confident facade she'd been working on. Reluctantly, I turned to go.

"No, wait," she called. "Stay."

I turned back around. Her eyes were glassy with tears. "I'm always a stronger person when you're near. And I need every ounce of my strength."

"I don't have time for your silly, fucking dramatics, Becca," Dylan said. "It seems you haven't grown up at all."

"That's what you wish," she said to his back. "You wish I were still that scared, confused little girl, the girl you took full fucking advantage of." She marched toward him. "You sent that picture. You were worried that Joshua and I were getting too close and that I might let him in on our dirty, little secret. Actually, it's not my secret at all. It's yours. And I kept it for you because I was embarrassed and scared and I didn't want to ruin my dad's happiness. I kept it in all these years." Her shoulders shook but the tears had slowed.

And each word was splitting me apart. As I sorted them out, I tried hard to find another meaning for them. One that wouldn't be impossible to swallow. I forced myself to look at Dylan. His mouth was tight. Nothing about him looked familiar, as if he was wearing someone else's face.

"But it wasn't a secret really," Rebecca continued. Her hands were in tight balls. "It's coming clear to me now. I was too young then and Emily was too. The truth was too much for her to accept. So she ignored it. She ignored the harsh reality that her brother had a big problem. That's why Emily and I couldn't have friends spend the night. That's why Michelle kept urging you to find jobs away from Camden Beach." Rebecca took another step toward him. "I tried to stop the constant nightmares. I even tried to step in front of a bus just to knock out the memories, to wipe you away for good, but you were always there, in the back of my mind. Anytime I felt happy or as if things were going well, I thought about you, and it just wiped me right back to despair. Everything was going perfectly. I had a new sister, a stepmom . . . but you fucking ruined it!"

I stepped farther into the room and stopped ten feet from the guy who I'd known for years. Only it seemed I didn't know him at all. I stared at his worried face. "What. The. Fuck. Did you do?" My pulse was pounding in my ears and my fists were tight.

Dylan released an ugly laugh. "She's fucking nuts. She's always been nuts."

"I was thirteen. Most kids think there are monsters hiding under their beds, but my monster slept just down the hall."

"Boogeyman," I said, absently, not even realizing it fell from my mouth. I looked at Rebecca. I would have given anything to wipe away the agony in her expression. "You let one boogeyman go."

My words pushed the tears from her eyes, and they ran down her pale cheeks.

I turned back to Dylan. "I'm going to fucking kill you." I ran at him and threw my right hook before he even knew it was coming. Crooked fingers or not, my fist struck a satisfying blow. Bones cracked and blood sprayed across the floor I had just finished mopping.

"No," Rebecca screamed. "Don't, Joshua. I don't want this. I just wanted to let you know what kind of man your friend and partner is."

Dylan was still shaking off the stars when I turned to her. "I didn't know, Rebecca. I promise I had no idea. If I had . . ." My words choked off, and I spun back with my fist ready to pound Dylan.

Rebecca grabbed my arm and swung me toward her. "I know." Tears dripped over her chin. "You've always been a friend, Joshua." She sobbed. "I've loved you since I could remember knowing what being in love was. You were always there. You kept me from getting swallowed into that ugly darkness that followed me around like a rain cloud." She grabbed my face between her hands and kissed me.

"That's right. There it is. The kiss of betrayal. Just like the kiss that broke Emily's heart," Dylan sneered from behind his hand.

Rebecca stood as still as a statue as she looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Mindy's text." Dylan grabbed a dish towel from the bar and wiped his bloody nose. It was definitely not the same nose he had ten minutes ago.

"Shut the fuck up, Dylan." I shook my head slightly. "You're heading to fucking jail."

"What text?" Rebecca placed her hand against the bar to steady herself as if she already knew the answer.

"The one Mindy sent Emily just before the crash. Just before Emily died," Dylan sneered. "It was on her phone. You know Mindy. She was always more enemy than friend to Em. She texted Emily all about the kiss at the party. The time showed that it was the last thing Emily saw before she died."

Rebecca looked to the one person who knew for sure. Her green eyes were glazed with tears as she turned to me, her lips quivering in despair. "Joshua?" she asked weakly, as if she had to use all her energy to say it.

I stared back at her, unable to speak. I was suddenly no longer standing in real time. Everything was moving slowly, and I was stupidly trying to find a way to erase the last few minutes. The color of anger that had risen in Rebecca's face washed away. She swayed and I reached for her, but she dashed through the bar to the back door.

I raced after her. "Rebel, please don't. Emily knew you loved her."

She pushed out into the alley where her car was parked. I had to keep myself from touching her.

"Rebecca, just stay. I'll get my keys and drive you to my house. I don't want you to drive like this."

She opened her car door and used it as a barrier between us. "I don't blame you for anything, Joshua."

"Rebecca, stop. What are you going to do about Dylan?" Just thinking about what he'd done made me want to puke.

She shook her head. "No, this is my problem. Not yours." She slid into her car.

I watched helplessly as she drove off.

I walked back into the bar. Dylan was leaning against the counter holding a bag of ice against his face.

He lowered it. "She's full of shit. I never touched her."

I headed across the floor and threw my fist into his already broken nose. He doubled over and struggled to regain his balance.

I stood in front of him with my arms out. "Take a shot. It'll give me a reason to hit you again."

Blood trickled over the bag of ice, and his eyes were starting to blacken.

"Hit me, you fucker." I shoved him hard against the bar. "Come on, asshole. If you're so innocent, take your best shot. Or maybe you're not fighting back because you know you deserve it."

He pressed the ice to his face again and stared at me through swollen eyes.

I stuck my finger in his face. "Find that business card so we can sell this place. You and I are no longer partners." I walked to the back, grabbed my keys off the hook and slammed out the back door. I needed to leave before I fucking killed him.