Chapter 34

Idealistic bullshit only mothers said. With her gone, he lost the ambition. He didn’t enjoy being alive. His only hobby became sexual encounters—with practically any guy who showed him even the slightest interest.

Dakota only applied to that school at the behest of his elder sister, who lived with her own family. She did half the application for him and even set up the interview. He needed something to keep him busy, she said. He needed a positive distraction. But she saw the writing on the wall. She knew he’d end up dead, one way or another, with the path he was on. She didn’t want to see her baby brother die, even though she showed little more than mild discomfort at her own mother’s passing.

If she hadbeen there for the illness and everything that came with it, she might’ve seen how pointless sending him off to college would be. A giant chunk of his spirit vanished, long before he set foot on campus.

Then again, he never would have met Terrell if he didn’t agree to it.