Page 36 of The Embers That Remain

“He wasn’t letting go.”

Sawyer drew in a careful breath.

“Cali stepped in,” I said. “Didn’t hesitate. Just walked right up and told him to let her go.”

“That sounds like her,” Soren muttered.

I nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

“Dawton laughed,” I went on. “Then he let go of Sawyer. Only so he could turn on Cali. Started shit-talking and running his mouth. Sick threats. Every one aimed at Cali.”

I’d heard enough.

“And you stepped in,” Jonah said.

It wasn’t a question. Not when it came to Cali. I huffed lightly. “Yeah. I stepped in.” My jaw clenched.

“He got in her face, called her a—” I didn’t finish. “He was too close. Too aggressive. And I just . . . didn’t think about it. I told him to back off.”

“And he didn’t,” Soren said.

“No,” I said. “He didn’t. He swung first.”

Soren raised a brow. “That actually matters?”

“Legally? Not as much as you’d think,” I said dryly.

Jonah’s mouth twitched faintly.

“I punched him back and broke his nose,” I continued. “And then he lost it. There was blood everywhere. Teachers were yelling. Someone called it in. By the time it got broken up . . .” I looked down. “He was on the ground, and I was getting dragged off him.”

Sawyer’s voice was quieter now. “And you got arrested.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But Bryant had me out a few hours later.”

“Didn’t want his name tarnished,” Jonah stated.

By the time Bryant got me out, Cali was already gone.

Soren ran a hand through his hair, piecing it together. “Okay. So . . . something happened. Sawyer doesn’t remember it—at least not fully—and you decided not to bring it up.”

“Pretty much,” I said.

Soren’s gaze flicked to Sawyer. “And now you’re saying Cali isn’t to blame. Which implies . . . what? That someone thought she was?”

Sawyer hesitated.

I answered instead. “At the time? Yeah. People blamed her. It was easy to. She stepped in, things escalated, and suddenly it was her fault for ‘starting something.’”

“She didn’t start it.” Sawyer never looked away.

“You remember that much?” I asked.

“A feeling,” she said. “Not details. Just . . . knowing she didn’t start it.”

I nodded. She didn’t remember the details, but somehow she’d remembered the truth.

Jonah leaned against the wall, still turning over everything he’d heard. Soren rubbed a hand across his jaw, fitting over a decade into a few short minutes. Sawyer stayed where she was, steadier than she’d been when this conversation started.