Page 68 of You're the Reason

Seth climbed out and nodded toward the sidewalk. Grace dropped into step beside him. Even at nine thirty, there were a fair number of people on the beach.

“I am a recovering alcoholic and a recovering drug addict.” His voice sounded almost robotic.

So they were diving right in. She nodded for him to continue, not really wanting to stop his flow now that he was finally sharing.

“You might assume after meeting my mom that I got into that scene at a young age. But after seeing what it did to my mother, initially I stayed away from the stuff.” He stared up at the night sky a moment, then back at her. His voice relaxed into their usual familiarity. “My junior year was particularly rough, and I just wanted to... escape. Gabe had already been using on the side, and it didn’t seem that bad. But whether it was genetics, life choices, or just randomness, that first hit quickly turned into a life of addiction.”

“Like Gabe.”

“More than Gabe. He seemed to be able to pull back when he needed to, but for me, it became an obsession like I had never known before. It had a hold on me. The same hold I see in my mother.”

“How did you finally give it up?” She released a strong shiver.

“I’m sorry. Let’s head back to the car. I thought walking would help, but I don’t want you to get hypothermia. They turned back toward the car, walking in tense silence while they retraced their steps and got back in the car.

“The night Gregory died is a bit of a blur. I remember buying drugs.” Seth tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and then gripped it tight as if it cost him to go back there in his mind. “Gabe and I went to an abandoned shed in the woods off Dearing. Our usual spot. About an hour in, Gregory showed up.”

A lump formed in Grace’s throat at the mention of his name. Her heart squeezed so painfully that she became sick to her stomach, just like when she heard of her brother’s death for the first time. She stared across the water again as the moon dipped closer to the horizon, the lighthouse fading in the dim skyline. “I didn’t even know he used.”

“I don’t think he did. At least he never had around us.” Seth returned to tapping. “But he kept going on about his Econ test and how angry your parents were going to be.”

She could almost picture her brother’s face. He’d get so worked up about grades. The lump in her throat had grown into a large boulder. She swallowed past it as she closed her eyes. “And then?”

“I honestly don’t know. One minute he was complaining, the next he wasn’t breathing. We were deep enough in the woods and so high, that by the time we got him help, it was too late.”

Her breath left her as she leaned forward on her hands. Too late. Because he was dead. And she never saw him again. Never spoke to him again. Never heard his laugh. His voice.

“Turns out the drugs he took were laced with fentanyl.”

Her head jerked toward him. She could have lost more than Gregory that night. She could have lost everyone. “Then why didn’t it affect you or Gabe?”

“The labs came back that only Gregory’s bag was tainted.” He gripped the steering wheel so hard she feared it might snap. “I don’t know. I’d never had problems before. I honestly only remember buying two bags. Maybe the guy slipped it in because there were definitely three, and one was bad.” His voice broke at the end.

She had lost a brother, and he had lost a friend. Not just a friend in Gregory, but a friend in Gabe that day. “How were you blamed and not Gabe?”

He blinked at her, his eyes red with emotion. “You really don’t know any of this?”

No, and it was long overdue that she did. “My parents protected me, or at least what they called protecting me. I came home for the funeral but was pushed back into my program less than a week later. They wouldn’t tell me anything. Told me I needed to focus.”

Seth rested his head back and closed his eyes. “Gabe was seventeen. I had just turned eighteen. Gregory was twenty, but he had no drug history and was dead. Your parents were angry—still are angry—and I don’t blame them. So the DA went after me. Drug possession with the intent to distribute. Felony.”

“But Gabe?—”

“Left me standing alone.” He lifted his head and returned to staring out the front window. “The guy who I thought would have my back no matter what...”

“Did you go to jail?” Hadn’t her mom said something about that?

“I was given the option of jail or a rehab program. I chose rehab. And Grant went to bat for me to get me assigned to his ranch—Quinn Ranch. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Getting convicted was the best thing that ever happened to you?”

“If that hadn’t happened, I’d be just like Gabe.” He shook his head and leaned forward again. “I’d be worse off than Gabe. I’d be like my mother.”

“Grant saved you?”

“No. God saved me. Grant just pointed me in the right direction and told me to stop being an idiot.”

God saved him? Grace turned her face toward her side window. “Then why didn’t God save Gregory?”