He Spent Two Years Mocking How Tired I Looked While I Paid Every Bill. He Never Mentioned Whose Name Was on the Mortgage

The whole yard was silent — no music, no laughter, no sneering, fifty people not making a sound.

I handed the mic back to the DJ, who took it from me with something like reverence, and I stepped down off the stage.

Chapter 16 — Crimson

I walked back through the crowd, and the crowd parted for me, and no one laughed.

That was the thing I noticed most, in the end — the silence where the laughter had been.

For two years these same people had chuckled along, or looked away, or let it happen, while Trent made me the joke of every gathering.