"Yeah," he said. "At first… maybe it was about Liam. Okay? I'm not gonna lie and say I wasn't desperate to figure out what happened that night."
He rubbed his palms together.
"You were there. You were the last person he talked to. I thought… maybe you were hiding something, or… I don't know. I was messed up about it. I wanted answers. You were the only one up there with Liam that night, and everyone needed someone to blame. I didn't want it to be you… but I didn't stop it either."
"I guess I thought… if I stayed away, it'd all go away faster. But it didn't. And the more I saw you, the more I started thinking… what if we were all wrong?"
He looked at me again.
"No one believed you. But you never stopped trying. That's not easy, Ash. That's not weak. That's guts."
I sat there, stunned. I hadn't expected… that.
"But it's not just that anymore," he said. "I swear to you, it's not."
I opened my mouth, but he raised a hand.