“Who said I’m looking for her? Maybe I want to see my supposed friend who’s been ducking me these past few weeks.”
The last I’d spoken to her was a week ago when, as promised, I’d sent her a text letting her know that I’d found August.
“I’m sorry. Between classes and cheerleading—”
“And your boyfriend?”
There was that guilt again.
“I was serious when I said Kevin and I were done. But I can’t talk about it now.”
A tear spilled from her eye. She covered her mouth as a choke escaped her. “There’s so much I want to tell you, but I need to talk to August first.”
Then she fled, her abrupt shifting of moods left me with more questions than answers. Something I had to figure out later as voices headed in my direction. I quickly dipped into the first aisle of lockers and pulled out a button-down shirt from my bag. After donning it, I tied the ends around my waist, turned my phone’s video on, and dropped it in the front breast pocket of the shirt. I had just started buttoning when Lacey and her crew walked by.
I spun around so Lacey could spot me.
She made a grand show of laughing in a dismissive way. “Hey girls, look who’s now using our dressing room.” She aimed the rhetorical question at me. “What, acting and dressing like a boy doesn’t make you one?”
Her hand waved over me like I was a dud prize on a game show.
“I wouldn’t expect you to know anything about boys since you hate them,” I said.
She snickered. “I don’t hate all of them. Only the ones that hurt me.”
“Like Lonnie?” I asked.
Her eyes flashed before she turned to her friends. “I’ll meet up with you guys later.”
She waved a dismissive hand at her posse who wanted to stay. She watched and didn’t say anything until their chatter disappeared outside.
She folded her arms across her chest, and I just hoped my phone was still recording.
“If you know about Lonnie, you know that I’m capable of destroying those that harm me.”
Nothing I’d learned matched up with the confident, conniving girl that stood before me.
“How exactly did he harm you?”
Her lip curled in a snarl. “What is your problem? You should be happy I got another predator off the streets.”
Her choice of words was noteworthy.
“Really. That would be good if it were true. But the truth is, Lonnie didn’t touch you any more than Shepard did.”
“You don’t know a thing,” she spun and marched toward the door.
“The truth is a guy named Ross is the one that hurt you.”
Her steps immediately halted. I could imagine the look on her face, but it was fury that met my own when she turned around.
“Who told you about Ross?”
I ignored her question. “Ross is the one that hurt you. No one believed you when you told them what he was doing to you.” I didn’t hate her after the story was pieced together for me by the private investigator Lonnie’s parents had hired.
“Stop it,” she yelled. “You don’t know anything.”
“I know that Lonnie and Shepard look like him a little––around the same height, color of hair and eyes. And wasn’t it around this time when you killed him?”
The killing part was a guess. The story in the paper said suicide, but as I had learned, her family had enough money to cover things up. I hoped she didn’t dispute the fact that they were similar in appearance. I had screenshots on my phone, but I didn’t want to take it out.
“Kill him? I wish. He took the coward’s way out before he paid for what he did to me.”
Her shrill bounced off the walls of the locker room. If anyone was still in here, they wouldn’t have missed it.
“So you’re taking it out on Lonnie and Shepard, instead?”
I hated baiting her because after all, she’d been a victim. Though that didn’t mean she should get a pass on hurting innocent people to ease her own pain.
“My parents let Lonnie off, but Shepard will pay.”
“But Shepard didn’t touch you. What did you use on yourself to make them believe you’d been raped?”
Her snarl was reminiscent of a rabid dog.
“He would have hurt me. I got him before he could and made sure he’d get what was coming to him.”
I wanted to smack her, but I needed her to admit how she’d faked the rape.
“Did you use that bottle you threw in our trash?”
A gleam sparkled in her eye. She tapped her lips a moment before she spoke.
“See, you’re smart. Boys are dumb. If the police had found it, I would have just said he used it on me. I took it from the party. His fingerprints were all over it.”
I shook my head because she was truly crazy.
“Ross really messed you up, but that doesn’t give you a license to destroy other people’s lives.”
She cocked out a hip and glared at me. “What are you going to do about it? My parents believe everything I say now.”
I could imagine the guilt they felt.
“Hurting Shepard isn’t going to make you feel better.”
She needed to go back to the pricey mental hospital where she’d spent most of her high school senior year. That’s how the private investigator started picking up threads that led to helping Lonnie get off. He didn’t have a good enough lawyer. Otherwise, he would have gotten completely off. Hopefully, this recording would finally clear both him and Shepard.
“You don’t know anything. Haven’t you seen the news? Men are predators, and it’s time for us to take a stand.”
“No. It’s time we aren’t silent, but accusing the innocent will only hurt any victim’s cause. People shouldn’t feel ashamed to voice any type of abuse, but we also need to be believed. And when someone like you goes around and points a finger, crying wolf, you hurt every victim out there that wants to be heard.”
She huffed out a breath. “You know nothing.”
That time when she stormed off, I let her go. I should have had enough. I took my phone out and stopped the video. I then started playing the recording to ensure I had her on screen through the pocket. I did. I sent it to the cloud just as she leaped at me.
“You taped me, you bitch,” she screeched, releasing fury with her fists.
“It’s too late,” I said, trying to roll away while she scrambled to get my phone. “I already sent the video to the cloud. You can destroy my phone if you want.”
She came at me again, and it was on.
36
shepard
This time I sat in the conference room and not an interrogation room. My hands weren’t bound at my back. Hastings walked in with Miller right behind him.
My lawyer stood and buttoned his suit jacket before introducing himself.
“Am I correct in hearing that you have more evidence to support your client’s innocence?” Hastings asked.
I listened as my lawyer explained about Lonnie and the private detective who linked Lacey to claims she’d made about her brother before his untimely demise.
Miller jumped in. “So, what does that have to do with this case?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious Miss Foster is disturbed by whatever unfortunate thing happened to her. She’s destroyed one boy’s life; will you let her do it to another? She has a pattern. The boys look like Ross Brisk, and the timing coincides with her claim of rape in both cases. And you’ve been provided clear evidence that has disputed her claim.”
“She corrected her story,” Miller said with a smug smile.
“Exactly. She corrected it to fit the evidence she created,” he began and laid out the theory we’d come to about what Lacey had been doing on the side of the house in the few minutes she’d spent out of camera shot.
“This is crazy, why would she hurt herself like that,” Miller said.
Hastings held up his finger
and frowned as he read something on his phone. My phone had also buzzed, but I hadn’t looked at it yet. Since Hastings had everything on pause, I pulled it out. Finley had sent me something. When I opened it, I saw Lacey’s face at the same time Hastings told Miller he needed to see something. When they stepped out, I turned up the volume a little so I could hear the video play out.
Before it finished, Hastings and Miller came back.
“Your client is free to go. We won’t be filing charges,” Hastings announced.
“How do we even know this is admissible?” Miller argued.
“It doesn’t matter. We have her admitting to lying. Admissible or not, no prosecutor will touch this. Besides, he hasn’t been formally charged. You need to apologize to Mr. Connelly.”
Miller looked at me when I said, “No. He was just doing his job. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
I stood up, leaving my lawyer to finish whatever he needed to finish. I wanted to watch the rest of the video and then call Finley. I was pissed at her for taking a risk, but I also wanted to kiss her.
Once I got the door opened, I caught sight of Lacey cursing as she was hauled in. That was fast. Then I caught sight of her bloody face right before Finley came in behind her with a huge bruise on her cheek.
She ran over to me, and I caught her.
“You did it,” I said. “I owe you.”
She nodded and kissed me. Nothing could have been sweeter, even with Lacey cursing me to hell and back in the background.
“You do. Let’s get out of here.”
The air smelled a little cleaner as we left. Home was only a pit stop on Finley’s agenda. She told me to get dressed because I was taking her out. I laughed because it was more like she was the one taking me out, considering only she knew where we were going.
She was waiting for me in my room when I left the shower. I put on the best pair of pants I had. I’d worn them at graduation. We almost didn’t leave when she put her hands on me to button my shirt because I ended up using mine to glide up her bare thigh, slipping under the thin fabric of the dress she wore.
“Later,” she said, slapping my palm away and dragging me out the door.
We ended up at a little restaurant twenty minutes outside of town that lacked respectability, but won on charm. It was pretty dark and had a vibe about it that shook in the room. I wasn’t sure why she’d chosen the place until I spotted the small dance floor.
“We could have gone to a club,” I said, even though I had no idea where one was.
“This is great,” she said, forcing a bite of the dried-up wings that had arrived shortly after we ordered.
I laughed. “You know, I should be mad at you.”
“But you’re not. You never did get mad at me like ever, even when August would get pissed that I would tag along with you guys.”
“I had ulterior motives. I liked it when you were around.”
She leaned over, giving me a great view of her tits.
“You shouldn’t have worn that.”
She laughed. Her smile made me want to take her in the bathroom and work the wood out of my pants.
“Give me a minute. I’ll be right back,” she said as if she’d heard my dirty thoughts.
Not too long after she left, the lights overhead dimmed to a low glow. A spotlight came on in a corner, and I realized what she’d done. A guy came on the stage.
“Welcome to our Monday open mic night.”
I turned to see where Finley had gone. She appeared a moment later with my guitar case.
“You’re up,” she announced, grinning.
For a second, I couldn’t speak. I’d never truly performed for anyone other than my mom and grams.
“I can’t.”
She came over and kissed me. “You can, and remember, you owe me.”
I’d give her that. She had saved my ass. How could I not give her what she wanted? I’d probably suck up the joint, but I chuckled, shaking my head. “Fine. But tonight, that pretty ass of yours is mine.”
“Promise,” she said.
Before I made my way to the stage, I stole a kiss and squeezed her ass for good measure.
It was weird being on stage for the first time. Though oddly enough, it felt right. The place wasn’t full, but I understood why so many people were there, considering the food was shit.
I decided against doing one of my originals and chose a cover from one of my favorite bands, “Renegades,” by the X Ambassadors. It had a nice guitar beat that was immediately recognized. I sang the first lines and every one after to my girl, looking into her eyes. She was my renegade.
When it was over, it felt like the crowd had doubled in size as everyone was on their feet. There was a chant for me to play on. But it was Finley’s nod that had me sitting to play another cover from the same album.
I ended up playing three songs before I left the stage only to find that Finley wasn’t alone. Tori and Cooper were at the table. Tori gave me a congratulatory hug, and Cooper knocked my fist.
After a night I would never forget, Cooper left to ride with Tori, leaving Finley and me alone again.
“Did you like it?” When I raised a questioning brow, she added, “Singing on stage?”
There were no words to truly describe it. The closest I could come was it was a hundred times better than being on the field after scoring a touchdown. Those moments had shown me what I really wanted to do after I finished school.
“How did you find this place?”
Her grin was irresistible.
“Finn helped me. A friend of a friend knew of it. But I would have found it eventually,” she said in her defense.
It didn’t matter to me. I cupped the back of her head and drew her in for a long kiss.
“I don’t think it’s possible for me to love you any more.”
I’m not sure how we made it home. We could barely keep our hands off of each other. Once we were there, in my bed, we made a different kind of music, no less powerful in its lyrical movements.
Eventually when we’d caught our breaths, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what? I should be thanking you.” She slapped my ass.
I smiled, but this was important. “You saved me.”
It was so much more than the cloud of suspicion I’d been under. I’d felt another part of my soul click in place on the stage. The two halves of my heart were complete because of her.
Days later, I got to give Finley the good news.
“What?” she asked as an easy smile played at the corners of her mouth.
I repeated myself. “Her parents caved. They don’t want the confession you got to play on social media.”
Cooper came downstairs. He knocked my fist having heard me speak.
“It’s done?” he asked.
“Not exactly. Sawyer and Shelly think she should publicly apologize to me on the record.”
Finn came in. “I hope she gets more than a slap on the wrist.”
I shrugged. “Her parents want to—”
“Pay to keep your silence,” Finley said, her smile gone. “That’s what they did to Lonnie.”
I didn’t contradict her as she’d hit the nail on the head.
“What are you going to do?”
I glanced up to see August had joined us.
“I don’t know. The money could make things easier for my mom.”
August nodded. “Don’t sell your soul,” he said and disappeared back upstairs.
Once August left, Finn asked, “How about school?”
“My lawyer thinks I should be reinstated by tomorrow.”
Finley wrapped herself around me. “I’m so happy for you.”
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of having her in my arms.
The next day, I was officially let back in school with a written apology from the dean.
I had a monumental road ahead of me. Though I’d kept up with the reading,
I was still so far behind.
With Finley focused on her project, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together outside of sleeping and showers, both of which turned out to be my favorite times of day.
Stiff from sitting at my desk, I got up to stretch my legs. In the hall, I ran into August.
“Hey,” I said, testing the waters.
His gaze slowly met mine. “Hey.”
I thought about what Finn said.
“I should have told you,” I admitted.
He nodded.
“Would it have changed anything?” I asked.
He spread his hands. “We’ll never know.”
“Do you really believe I’d do anything to hurt her?”
I’d rather slit my own throat first.
His cold eyes held mine a second before he shook his head. “I don’t.”
“Can we squash this then?”
His jaw worked as he mulled it over. “You really do love her?”
“Yes.”
“I’m trusting you.”
When he was about to leave, I held out my hand.
“Friends.”
Unspoken pain revealed itself as he stared at my offered hand.
“You broke trust, bro.” I let my arm fall to my side. “But you’re family. And eventually, you forgive family.”
He walked away but left hope that one day things could get back to normal or close. But I worried for my friend. It took a lot to steal a smile from his face, and I hadn’t seen it in weeks. Though, I didn’t believe that my relationship with Finley was the only thing bothering him.
I got a call later that day about Lacey. Despite her bullshit charges against me, I didn’t want to see her in jail. She needed help more than being put in the system. She’d been wronged and needed help. At my lawyer’s urging, I took the settlement not to sue her for defamation of character. But I didn’t sign anything that would force me to keep my mouth shut.
Plus, I had conditions of my own. I wanted her gone from school. Last thing I wanted was her to do this to someone else or try to hurt Finley. My lawyer assured me she’d withdrawn from school. The final thing I insisted on was her setting the record straight, not only about me but Lonnie as well.
finley
It cost me too many nights away from Shepard, but I was proud of my presentation. I knocked on Professor Wright’s door for my appointment with two minutes to spare.
Songs For Cricket Page 23