“Oh, my god, Lila, this is insane,” Olivia started. “I just won a game of beer pong in the garage.”
“By won, you mean lost.” Hannah laughed, the beer in her hand sloshing around. “She drank more than the senior guys.”
Olivia leaned forward to whisper in Lila’s ear but spoke loudly when she said, “Andrew Brickner grabbed Hannah’s ass.”
“Olivia!” Hannah gasped, looking around to see if anyone was in earshot. Lila and Olivia giggled wildly knowing the crush Hannah had on Andrew. When it was clear no one else had heard, Hannah smiled. “He did.”
Lila watched as J.R. said something angrily to Ethan before storming out the back door. Ethan turned back to her as she jumped down from the counter. He reached a hand out to help her as she stumbled forward.
Hannah handed Lila her cup. “Here, I need to sober up.”
Lila took it and lifted it to her lips, but the smell of the sour beer made her tummy turn. She set the almost-full cup on the counter behind her.
“Are you leaving?” he asked.
She liked the look of disappointment on his face. She bit her lower lip to keep from giggling, but the smile she couldn’t hide. She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Good.” He slipped a hand around her waist. “I told J.R. I’d shut down the cabin for him. Want to come with me?”
Lila felt a rush of adrenaline flow through her. Even as a sophomore, Lila had heard rumors of Bryan Lawson’s cabin that was tucked away in the trees of his backyard. She felt a nudge on her arm and turned to see Hannah smiling. “Of course she will.”
He wasn’t asking her for sex. He was simply asking her to take a walk with him to clean up for his friend who had been denied sex. And maybe, in their moment alone, away from prying eyes, he would try to kiss her again. This time, she wouldn’t screw it up.
She nodded her head. The nerves that set fire to her veins kept her from speaking. He took her by the hand to steady her step, and she followed him out the back door. The cool night air caught her by surprise and she shivered. Ethan let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. If he was drunk, Lila thought, he held his liquor well. She could smell the booze on his breath, but his walk was steady. He held on to her as her heels dug into the soft dirt, catching her shoe a couple of times. They walked, unnoticed by a group mingling in the hot tub. Girls swam in their bra and panties while the boys sat in their boxers, feet dangling in the water. One of the girls straddled a boy, and they didn’t seem to care who watched them make out. Lila blushed at the sight of it.
“I should have grabbed my coat for you,” Ethan said, cutting through her thoughts. “You’re freezing.”
“I’m okay.” Her teeth chattered, but if she had his coat, Ethan wouldn’t hold her as close.
“It’s just a little farther up here,” he said as they entered the dark woods. The moon was bright tonight, guiding their way down a small trail.
“You’ve been here before?”
He knew what she was implying, and the answer was no, he had never paid for the cabin before. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t made out with girls in there.
“We used to have slumber parties here in middle school.” Slumber parties where the girls would sneak out from their sleepover and there would be a couple in every corner until the sun came up.
“Oh,” she said, relieved, and then smiled to herself.
She wobbled and fell against him. She started laughing again as he stopped to swing her onto his back, but she couldn’t hike her dress up enough to straddle him. So he picked her up and cradled her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You are going to break an ankle,” he said with a chuckle as he continued the walk through the trees. She rested her head against his shoulder, breathing him in. They were completely alone, away from all the sounds of the party when he arrived at the cabin and gently dropped her back to her feet. There was a warm glow that flowed from the draped curtain windows, and when Ethan opened the door, the heat hit their face in a nice welcome.
Lila took one step forward, her mouth dropping at the sight of the room.
“Wow,” Ethan whistled.
“Uh huh,” Lila agreed as she took it in. J.R. had gone to the extreme to impress Grace, and if Lila had been her, she would have loved this room for herself. White pillar candles sat atop any surface that would hold them, mixed with lavender burning incense. The room was small. It held a sink, a futon couch with a table stand next to it, and a coffee table in front. In the corner was a T.V. with a VHS player attached to a makeshift stand of wooden crates, but what caught Lila’s attention the most was the bed.
The queen-sized bed took up most of the room, becoming the focal point of the cabin. But it wasn’t the fresh sheets and down comforter that caught her eye, but what lay on top. J.R. had taken the time to lay rose petals in the shape of a heart that nearly covered the top of the bed. He then had scattered the rest of the petals around the floor, one below Lila’s pointed heel.
“Man,” Ethan said. “I can see why J.R. was so pissed.”
“Yeah,” Lila murmured.
Ethan walked to the sink where a bottle of champagne sat open and inviting. He took the two cups and filled them to the top, handing one to her. “We can’t let this go to waste.”
She sipped at the fizzy drink, her belly feeling the odd sensation again as she smelled the liquor.
Ethan took a taste and then set his cup down. He was watching her, studying her and the way she lifted her eyelashes to him. It was her and the booze and this room that made him reach out to take her hand and pull her close to him. She went willingly, tilting her face up to him, inviting his lips to join hers. And when they did, she let out a soft moan that almost made him lose it. He gripped at her dress, pressing her body to his, and deepened the kiss, his tongue slipping in to meet hers. Her whole body trembled in excitement. He walked her back until her knees touched the edge of the bed. He lay her back, never breaking the kiss, and climbed on top of her. His hands were everywhere, in her hair, on her neck, down her leg and then up her thigh. She kissed him back with the same intensity, but when his palm clasped hold of her breast, peeling back the fabric that covered her, she froze.
“You okay?” he asked as his lips slid down to her throat.
Was she okay? They were just kissing, and now her breast was exposed and she had never been with a guy like this before. Her head spun and she couldn’t think straight. If she told him she wasn’t okay, would he call her a tease?
She felt the queasy sensation build in her tummy. The nerves, and the booze, took over with the fear that she wasn’t ready for what he was doing to her.
“Oh, god,” she groaned as she shoved off of him and ran to the sink. She made it just in time before she vomited the alcohol that was sloshing around her belly. She heard Ethan swear and jump up from the bed just as she puked again. She had enough sense of mind to be mortified by what was happening and held a hand up at him. “Don’t,” she said between hurls.
“Lila,” he started. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how. “I should go get your friends.”
She slumped down to the floor against the counter, her body breaking into a sweat. “No,” she moaned. “Don’t leave me.” She wanted him there even though she would never be able to look him in the eye again. There went any chance of being with Ethan Young. She started to cry.
“Lila.” He leaned down beside her, ignoring the stench that came from the sink. “Let me help you get into bed.” He lifted her arm around his neck and picked her dead weight up. She groaned as her head fell back against him.
He laid her atop the sheets and searched for the trash can to put next to the bedside. She appeared to be asleep, so he snuck to the door and softly opened it.
“Don’t go!” she cried out.
He flinched at the sound and turned around to see her trying to lift her head. “I’ll be right back,” he promised.
“My dad is going to kill me,” she mutter
ed as her head hit the pillow.
She closed her eyes, wanting the spinning world to fade away. She didn’t bother to pull her dress down or adjust her breast that was still hanging out of the top. And when she heard voices that seemed so distant and yet so near, she had a fleeting thought that Ethan couldn’t already be back with her friends that quickly, could he?
But as the door opened to the cabin and footsteps walked in, she forced a lift of her lid just enough to see it was not Ethan, or Olivia or Hannah who had found her. When the shadow appeared over her, she opened her mouth to speak before a hand clasped it shut.
Fifth day gone
“Chief, Chief!”
Rex rolled his head to the side, moaning as a burning jab shot up the back of his neck. He reached a frozen hand to the back of his collar, rubbing the strain of tension. He shivered in the cold causing the affliction to shoot up from his neck to his head. He swore under his breath as the pain clouded over his brain like a prickly blanket.
“Chief!”
Banging on glass distorted his thoughts. He wanted to open his eyes, but the pressure on them was unbearable. He felt the queasiness in his stomach roll around in an acid bubble bath and he needed to take a piss, bad.
He groaned as the banging continued, and he heard his name again. Only he wasn’t the chief anymore, was he? Not after the mayor had fired him at Oracle Point.
Oracle. Point.
The memory brought him back to life. His eyes shot open and he was surprised to see he was still in the driver seat of his patrol car. The evening sky had dimmed to a beautiful melody of orange and pink. He must have passed out for a couple of hours. He noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a distressed Maloney pounding his fist on his window. Rex reached for the handle on the door and began rolling the window down. Maloney was speaking about ten volumes louder than Rex could handle before the window was even cracked.
“Hold on,” he muttered.
Maloney leaned in, resting an arm on the opening and meeting him at eye level. His nose scrunched from the smell coming out of the car. Rex remembered the flask sitting in the passenger seat. He should try to cover it with something, paper or a hat, but then it was pointless; Maloney’s eyes darted right to it.
“Chief, I’ve been looking all over for you.” There was that distress in his voice again, Rex noticed. “I’ve been trying to reach you on the CB.”
That’s why he was so cold, he thought. He cleared his throat, feeling a burning sensation rip down his esophagus. “Sorry, Maloney, I turned my car off while I caught my bearings. What’s going on?”
“Chief,” he continued. “It’s not good.” Maloney looked stricken.
Rex sat up straighter in his seat. The way that his officer was looking at him right now made even his blood run cold. He was afraid to ask the next question, almost certain he knew what the answer was.
“What did you find, Maloney?” he asked.
Maloney dropped his head, pressing two fingers between the bridge of his nose. Rex wanted to tell him to get his shit together and tell him already, but he waited until Maloney lifted his gaze back to him.
“We found the bodies, sir.” Maloney choked out his words. “Caleb, J.R., and Ethan are dead.”
Rex’s vision clouded over as he took in this information. His fingers trembled as he stretched them out over his face and slid them down to his chin.
Maloney was still talking. “Caleb was found first on a rocky ledge about one hundred and fifty feet down. Ethan’s body was discovered at the water’s edge, and J.R. was found early this morning floating face down in the lake about a mile south. It looks as though they may have fallen from the top of Oracle Point.”
“Jesus.” Rex exhaled. And then he whipped his head toward Maloney. “Did you say this morning?” That couldn’t be right. He was only out a couple of hours. He turned his car on, the light of the clock on his dash illuminating it was after six. This wasn’t sunset he was seeing, but sunrise.
“Chief?” Maloney jerked back as Rex threw his car into drive.
Lila.
He’d left her alone all night without word. How could he have been so foolish, so careless? He’d only meant to rest off the drink for a couple of hours.
He flipped the lights on his hood on and blared his siren, cautioning anyone on the road to get out of his way. He sped back to town, dodging lights and stop signs until he screeched to a halt in front of his dark house.
He wasn’t a praying kind of man. But at the moment when he stepped out of his car, he asked God to please let his daughter be peacefully asleep in her bed. He steadied his breath as he unlocked the front door and quietly stepped in. He turned right, toward her side of the house, and stood outside her closed doorway, one hand on the knob. He closed his eyes, feeling the beats of his heart pound in his chest. Carefully and as quietly as he could, he opened her door. She would be asleep, her alarm for school not going off for another forty-five minutes. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness of her room. Her dark purple curtains blocked out all of the natural light. When his eyes came into focus, he narrowed in on her small twin-framed bed, expecting to see ruffled sheets, with one leg hanging over the side as she often did when she slept. Since she’d been a child, she would start at the top of her bed, head on pillow, only for Rex to find her most mornings curled up in the middle, her pillow abandoned. What Rex found now was not his daughter in a peaceful slumber but a vacant bed, still made from the day before.
“Lila!” he screamed. Panic rose through him as he pushed off her doorway and raced back down the hall. He flipped the lights as he entered. The bathroom, his room, the living room, calling for her as he ran.
A soft whimper caught his attention, causing him to turn on his heels toward the kitchen.
“Lila, Lila, Lila,” he murmured.
There she was, his fragile child, his soft and broken girl curled up under the kitchen island. She sat pressed against the wall, the cordless phone by her side. Her body was bent in half as her face lay down in her arms on top of her knees. She was shaking. Her whole body trembled.
How could he have done this to her? How could he have been so stupid? All he ever wanted was to protect her, the one person who mattered to him. The only person he loved. And he’d failed her.
He dropped to his knees and pulled her to him. She fell into his embrace, a sob escaping her lips as he threw her arms around his waist. He brushed his hand through her hair like he had when she was just a girl and she’d still allowed him to comfort her when she was hurt.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he breathed. “I’m here.”
Her body shook as she cried into his chest. He held her tight, whispering over and over again. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
And he was. To her, and to everyone he had wronged. He couldn’t be what the mayor needed him to be, what Kate needed him to be, and most of all what Lila needed him to be. He was weak and his weakness had driven him to crumble.
And still, he was sickened that he felt relief that they had found the boys. The search was over. He was freed from a responsibility he couldn’t deliver. He was no longer needed. And there would be no more questions as to their whereabouts. Timber Falls could now be free to grieve these three boys.
As he held his daughter, he wondered how he would break the news to her. He wouldn’t be able to send her to school with the gossip and rumors that would obviously follow. She needed to hear it from him, but he didn’t know how to speak the words. Instead, he held her as her cries deepened, her body going into hysterics.
“Shh, Lila,” he comforted. “It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay.”
Her head jerked up, almost knocking him back. Her face was red, her eyes puffy and swollen. She must have been crying for hours. His heart hurt when he thought of his daughter sitting here alone, in the dark with her fears and her sadness.
“Stop saying that!” she cried out. He was taken aback by her anger. “It’s not okay, Da
d! They’re dead!”
His mouth dropped. “Lila,” he managed. His head spun with confusion. “How did you… Where did you hear that?”
She wiped her arm across her running nose. “Caleb’s mom called, looking for you. She was hysterical saying that Caleb was dead.”
“Oh, Lila.” He leaned back against the island wall. “When did she call?”
“Last night. I think at like ten?” She gave him the accusatory look he deserved. “Where were you, Dad? I called the station, but they said you’d left the scene that afternoon. They couldn’t find you.”
He shook his head. How could he tell his daughter he was passed out drunk in his car when she needed him?
“I was out looking for them,” he lied. “I never heard the radio call me in.”
She was crying again. “Hannah called an hour ago and said she heard they found J.R. and Ethan’s body. Is it true?”
He nodded.
She moaned. “No, no, no.”
He reached for her, but this time she pushed him away. “Don’t. Don’t comfort me. This is all my fault.”
He jerked forward, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Don’t say that. This is not your fault, Lila.”
She glared at him. “You don’t know,” she sobbed. “Oh, god.” Her head fell back against the wall. “I did this, Dad. It’s all my fault. I wished them dead.” She covered her face with her hands. “You don’t know.”
Slowly, he pulled himself up and knelt in front of her. Carefully, he took each of her hands and lifted them from her face. She tried to fight him, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Look at me, Lila,” he said softly.
Her eyes darted away from him, but he held still, waiting. He would wait as long as he needed. He wasn’t going anywhere. Finally, her gaze settled on him.
Someone Knows Something Page 17