by Henry, Max
We may be in trouble.
TUCK
“We’ve been driving around all afternoon with no sign of him,” Beau says with a sigh. “He’ll let us know when he wants us.”
“I better get back to school and take Major home anyway,” I cede. “Poor bastard will be wondering where the hell everyone has gone.”
Beau glances across as he drives. “How’s your head after this?”
I snort, slumping into the passenger seat with one foot hitched up on the side of the centre arch. “You mean, is she still on my mind?”
He chuckles in response.
“Yeah. She is.” I jerk up in the seat. “I mean what the hell is it with girls, you know?” Beau laughs at my sudden turnaround. “You do everything you think they want you to, be the fucking gentleman, and still they toss it back in your face that you’re not good enough.”
“She actually say that?”
“Not in so many words, but it was implied.”
“Uh-huh.”
I flash Beau a glare. “You don’t believe me?”
“What did she really say?” He indicates right, spinning the wheel with casual ease.
I stare out at the sprouting fields. “She said that all she wants is me to support her decision.”
“Which was?”
“To go to that fucking party to prove she can.”
He huffs. “I can see how that would be trouble.”
“Right?” Folding my arms over my chest, I slide back down in the seat again. “What would you do?”
“You’re asking me for advice?” Beau snorts another laugh. “Mate …”
“I’m screwed, I know.” I chuckle. “Where are you at anyway? Told Maggie you think she’s hot yet?”
He glares at the road before us. “She’s avoiding me. I’m sure of it.”
“What about that Greer chick, then?”
He shrugs. “She’s pretty, but from what Caleb told me about her, not my type.”
“Yeah?” I lift both eyebrows, genuinely surprised. “Why?”
“She’s full-on. I’m not. Likes to live it up. I like to hide away. Can’t see that lasting. You?”
“Guess not.” I flick the .303 casing hanging from his rearview. “Girls, huh?”
“Yeah.”
We travel in silence, each lost on whatever crazy train we boarded after that spell of truth. Doesn’t matter who she is, or how great she seems, all chicks come with problems.
Some? Plenty of them.
I want to take charge and go after Lacey. I want to shake some sense into her and make her see that picking fights isn’t the best way to get her feelings across. I want her to know that what we have goes beyond whether I agree with every little thing she does or not. But that girl has more issues than she lets on, and until Lacey makes up her damn mind to share the load, there isn’t much I can do.
Beau’s phone connects, the ringtone echoing through the otherwise quiet cabin. He reaches across to where it’s snug in a hands-free cradle and taps to answer.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Johnson’s voice replies loud and clear. “Off the grid.” Rustling makes sharp scratches through the line. “I get my arse back to the truck, and there are a million fucking messages from you cunts. What the hell have I missed now?”
“Your mysterious disappearance,” I state.
“You’re there too, huh?”
I scowl at his snarky tone. “Get over it, ball bag. You had everyone worried about you.”
“Doubt it.” More rustling. “Got a pig. Not a huge one, but enough to get a week’s feed out of.”
“You went for a hunt and didn’t invite us?” Beau exclaims, voicing my thoughts exactly.
“Needed the time to myself, bro. No hard feelings.” Johnson pauses before muttering, “Good girl. Get up.”
Beau’s fingers tap the wheel. “Which dog you use?”
“Midget. Took her to where we found that wallow at the start of the year.” He grunts, followed by a loud thud. “Who was it that raised the alarm about me, then?”
“Dee.” I tap my knee as I answer.
“Really?” He seems equal parts surprised and a little disappointed it wasn’t his fuck-buddy stepsibling. “What did she say?”
“That you never showed up to give her a lift to school this morning and nobody knew where you were.”
“Shit.” The slam of a car door. “I forgot I was supposed to pick her up.”
“Everyone forgets about her, bro,” Beau mutters, seemingly pissed about it.
“What’s going on that you need to escape, bruh?” I keep the question light, hoping he’ll toss our differences aside and share the load.
Whatever bullshit has gone down lately, I still care about the guy. We’ve been friends too long not to.
“More shit at home.” His engine starts. “Hold on.” The audio grows distant before it clicks over to hands-free. “You still there?”
“Yeah. We’re here.”
His engine revs as he presumably heads for home. “Dad and Susie were at each other’s throat last night about Amber. Fuck me, guys. You remember how my parents would go at it back in the day, right?”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“How could we forget that experience,” Beau jests.
“Well,” Johnson continues. “This shit was next level. I mean at least Mum and Dad didn’t beat around the bush. They’d air their shit, scream at each other, and then move into the silent treatment.” He laughs darkly. “Not this bitch. She sledged Dad non-stop all night about petty crap until he fired up at her, and then she had the audacity to make him out to be the arsehole.” He sighs. “Sure know where Amber learns her tricks.”
“They good now, though?” The last thing he needs is another divorce settlement to fuck up his home life.
“Fucked if I know. Didn’t see either of them before I left this morning.”
“And Amber?” I ask, damn near choking on her fucking name.
“Eh,” he dismisses. “Harping on about how her mum wants her to go to a so-called better school. That was what half the damn argument was about. Susie wants her to go to either Portside or Riverbourne, but Dad doesn’t want to fork out those kinds of fees if the stupid cow keeps fucking it up with bad behaviour.”
“Fair enough,” Beau says.
“That’s all, though? Some heat at home?” I check.
Johnson huffs. “If she heads in there, how the fuck can I keep her out of trouble?”
“Bro,” Beau groans. “You can’t keep her out of the shit as it is. Besides, why the fuck is that your job?”
“I feel responsible for her.”
“Why?”
Beau pulls up outside the school’s back gate. Neither of us moves.
“I don’t know. She just … she’s not as cold as she makes out. She’s messed up.”
“And you think it’s your job to cuddle her better?” I can’t keep the snide out of my tone.
“Isn’t that what you do with your toy?”
I’m done. I’ve had enough.
I catch the tail end of Johnson asking what my deal is when I slam the door to Beau’s truck. The muted tones of the continued conversation follow me over the school gate as I propel myself toward where Major waits.
At least he won’t fucking take the piss out of my thing with Lacey.
Whatever the fuck that is.
I left her alone after I hung up, figuring she needed time to cool off and we’d bump into each other at school. So much for that. Instead, I spent the day going after a pal who couldn’t give a rats arse that I threw another mark against my record for him.
Fucking Amber.
But as I shunt the stall door open to get Major ready to leave, I know what hurt worse was that she didn’t bother getting in touch when I wasn’t around either.
Fucking pussy. I sound like a chick, bitching and griping that my feelings weren’t considered. But hey, maybe that’s what wrong with this fucking world. G
uy’s can’t voice what it is they feel or need without being minimised.
So what if I’m not a girl? I love and hate just the same. I’m sick and goddamn tired of being expected to be available for everyone without any pushback. Fuck me for having needs, right? Fuck me, for hoping people would consider them.
Major’s warm breath tickles the back of my neck, his fuzzy nose nudging at the base of my skull.
“In a second, mate.” I fish my phone out of my jeans pocket. “Gotta send something first.”
Fuck subtle. If I want it known how I feel, guess I better get blunt.
LACEY
T: I’m fine, thanks for asking. Glad you were worried about me being gone all day.
“For crying out loud.” I slam my phone down on the café table, knocking my third refill.
Maggie leans across, twisting her head to read the glowing message. “Oh, man.” She snorts. “He’s pissed, dude.”
“You don’t say,” I deadpan, hanging my head between my shoulders. “Too bad if I have something to deal with other than him, right?” I heave a sigh. “Seriously. Who knew guys could be such needy drama queens?”
“He has a right, you know,” Mags states, reminding me of who her allegiance was with first. “He’s done a lot for you.”
“I know.” I dig the fingers of my right hand into my messy hair and rest my head against it. “And I’ve done nothing for him.”
“That’s not entirely what I said.” She grimaces.
“But it’s the truth.” I level her with a stare. “It’s most of why I don’t think I deserve him. He needs someone who isn’t so self-absorbed.”
“Yeah.” I earn a roll of her eyes. “Because dealing with your mum kicking you out and shifting schools twice in a month is being self-absorbed.” She shrugs. “Maybe if you guys at least call a truce you can agree to pick things up again when life settles down.”
“Will it?” I lift one eyebrow. “Settle down?”
“Trying to stay positive here,” Maggie says with an exasperated sigh, slouching against her seat. “Deal with him in a minute.” She waves toward the now black phone. “Pick up where you were before he interrupted.”
I sigh, eyeballing the people around us. “I don’t want to get into specifics, okay?”
“All up to you,” she reassures.
“But when I was at Portside, I did something really stupid.”
“Aren’t all fun things stupid when you look back on them?” Maggie grins.
I shake my head, deadly serious. “Not this one.”
She frowns.
“I have content out there that I’d rather nobody match up to me. Anonymous stuff.”
“Okay …” She turns her head slightly, sucking her lips together. “Surely if you don’t say anything, it stays a secret.”
“I wish.” My nails tap against the glazed ceramic of my over-sized mug. “There was another girl who knows about it. Somebody who helped me do it.”
“Right.” Maggie’s frown deepens. “And she’s surfaced, I presume.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe,” she echoes with a hint of a question to her tone.
“She’s Colt’s ex. He spoke to her this week about something.”
“You?”
“He said no, but he also wouldn’t tell me what.”
Maggie heaves a deep breath, fingertips tapping on the edge of the table between us. “You think she’s about to spill the dirt?”
“If Amber ends up at Portside, she might.”
“Why?” Her fingers pause in their drumming. “Why not let it lie if she’s kept quiet this long?”
“Because nobody is immune to temptation.”
“You think Amber will make her a trade offer?” Maggie shrugs dismissively. “How would She even know this girl has any dirt on you, to begin with?”
“I’m worried about the opposite. What if Amber rips in there and takes charge, making Willow grasp at straws to get on her good side?”
“You think she’d trade info on you once she learns about the rift between you guys to save her arse?”
“Is that such a wild thing to presume?”
Maggie’s lips twist, concern etched in her features. “Perhaps not.”
“What do I do?” I lean across the table, my desperation clear as day. “I can’t decide if it’s best to lay low and hope for the best, or intervene and speak with Willow first.”
“Take it back another fifty steps.” Mags raises both hands. “Wait and see what happens with Amber first.” She waggles a finger, warning me to stay quiet. “You don’t even know if she’ll cross paths with this Willow girl yet. They might never lay eyes on one another, and all this stressing will be over nothing.”
“I guess so,” I cede.
She taps the table. “Now message Tuck back and tell him to stop being such a little bitch.”
I chuckle. “As though that’ll go down well.”
She shrugs. “Won’t know unless you try.” Using the back of her hand, she dismisses me to do the task assigned. “I’ll wait.”
A final sip of my milky latte later, I muster up the patience to deal with his tizzy.
L: I had a lot on my plate today, so I apologise if you felt I didn’t pay enough attention to you.
Considering the avatar slides into place and his dots dance without hesitation, he had to have been waiting on me to reply.
T: I guess now that I’m not on yo
T: Fuck
T: *your plate you’ve got more time for everything else. You’re welcome.
L: Do you have any idea how childish you sound right now?
T: I’m childish? I’m not the one wh
The message thread goes idle. I glance at Maggie using her fingertip to collect cookie crumbs off her plate.
“What?”
“He’s just stopped messaging mid-sentence. But the weird thing is he sent me that incomplete sentence.”
She smiles but also frowns. “Huh?”
I show her the abandoned thread. She giggles, pointing to the screen. “He’s back.”
Sure enough, the dots pulse again.
T: Where the fuck are you? I just dropped my phone trying to reply and had to stop Major standing on it.
I laugh, the image of him wrestling Major away from the device so vivid in my mind.
L: At the corner café with Maggie.
T: Don’t go anywhere.
“We’re in trouble now,” I singsong.
Maggie props her chin in the crook of her clasped palms and cocks an eyebrow.
“He’s on his way here.”
Her smile grows. “I better make myself scarce then.”
“Don’t you dare.” I make a move to join her when she rises from the table.
She holds out a hand, halting me in my tracks. “I won’t be far away; I’ll give you a lift home if you need it. But this shit it between you two.” She snags her coin purse off the table. “I’ll settle the bill. Consider it payment for an afternoon of entertainment.”
“That’s all I am to you, isn’t it?” I tease, settling back in my seat.
She laughs. “Maybe, but I can confidently say that entertainment isn’t the only thing you are for Tuck.” Her humour softens. “Just hear him out, Lace. He might be acting childish, but you have to remember, guys aren’t as good as we are at voicing what they feel.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Not probably,” she chastises. “I am.” Waving her phone in the air, she turns for the street. “Message me when you’re done.”
I’m not sure any of this will ever be done at the rate I’m going.
COLT
“Are you sure this will work?” Greer regards me with wide doe eyes, leaning daintily on the arm of her chair.
I rest my shoulders against the ornate stone mantle and swirl the foul liquor I found in the cupboard around my glass. “What other option do we have?”
She falls silent, eyes glazed while seemingly lost in thought.
>
“You know as well as I do that they can’t be left to carry on like they are.” I down the disgusting brandy in one toss. “Sure. Today they’re a bunch of spoilt brats operating above the law since they’re too young to be given a real sentence. But what then? Their behaviour is validated, and what becomes of them when they’re adults playing in the real world?”
“You’re worried that if we let them continue, they’ll destroy us when there are more serious repercussions for what they do?”
“Don’t you think that’s what’ll happen?” At least the damn liquor does its job. I can feel the blissful numb creep in already.
“How long have you been drinking?” She edges forward on the seat.
I’ll have the rest of the bottle if it means she’ll come over here and touch me. “Not long enough.”
“You can’t think with a clear head if you’re drunk.”
“Can’t I?” I toss a meaningless smile toward the floor. “You don’t seem all that distressed by the revelations I shared.”
Greer rises to her feet, crossing our living room effortlessly to set her glass on the drinks bureau. “Do you think what you said should change who Lacey is to me?”
“She’s not as innocent as you all presumed.” I give a little shrug. “I figured you’d be clutching your pearls and initiating the emergency phone list.”
She giggles softly, still avoiding looking directly at me. “Maybe once not so long ago, I would have. But I’m not the same person I was, Colt.”
“Are any of us?” I push off the mantle and head for what’s left of the brandy.
“I don’t think so.” Greer swipes the bottle by the neck, sweeping away to the far side of the room.
She’s a pure shot of sin to the heart, standing there with her super short skirt, teasingly see-through blouse, and loose locks framing her smooth skin.
“Give it back.”
“No.” Her eyes spark to life, and she takes a healthy swig of the terrible-tasting drop. Greer coughs, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. “That’s horrific.”
“Give it to me and save yourself the trouble.” I hold out my hand, advancing on her slowly.
She backs up a step.
I quicken mine.