Instead, I turn and find her lying in the middle of the road.
A scream lodges in my throat and I scramble my drunk ass out of the convertible. Nearby, the buck we hit huffs and struggles to get to his feet, his antlers casting shadows that are eerily similar to the ones cast by my own mask.
“Luke,” I whisper, voice shaking as I kneel beside her, choking back vomit. There’s blood streaming down the sides of my face, but I ignore all of it, reaching down and turning my friend’s body over.
Dark brown eyes stare up at the blanket of stars above us. Sightless. Unseeing.
My best friend is dead.
The scream in my throat claws its way out, echoing around the dark woods, startling the buck into finding his feet and limping off, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
That’s when another car comes around the bend, and I look up into the brightness of their headlights.
Fortunately, that’s the last bit I remember.
Chapter Nine
THERE’S BLOOD ALL over my steering wheel.
I lift my head up … and find myself looking out at the gas station parking lot.
Again.
Calix hauls me from my car again.
And we start all the hell over—again.
The first thing I do when I can get away from him is to call Luke.
Because I have to know if she’s alive.
The thing is … at this point, I’m not sure that I am.
TO BE CONTINUED …
Look for the full version of “Devils’ Day Party” on May 1st, 2020 and thank you for supporting this anthology and helping us support Ditch the Label, an anti-bulling organization.
C.M. Stunich is a self-admitted bibliophile with a love for exotic teas and a whole host of characters who live full-time inside the strange, swirling vortex of her thoughts. Some folks might call this crazy, but Caitlin Morgan doesn’t mind—especially considering she has to write biographies in the third person. Oh, and half the host of characters in her head are searing hot bad boys with dirty mouths and skillful hands (among other things). If being crazy means hanging out with them every day, C.M. has decided to have herself committed.
She hates tapioca pudding, loves to binge on cheesy horror movies, and is a slave to many cats. When she’s not vacuuming fur off of her couch, C.M. can be found with her nose buried in a book or her eyes glued to a computer screen. She’s the author of over eighty novels—romance, new adult, fantasy, and young adult included. Please, come and join her inside her crazy. There’s a heck of a lot to do there.
Oh, and Caitlin loves to chat (incessantly), so feel free to e-mail her, send her a Facebook message, or put up smoke signals. She’s already looking forward to it.
Stalk me, please!
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Blurb
Some say what I did was wrong. He was a great guy, a talented athlete who had a big future. People asked me why him as if I had picked a random kid out of a crowd.
He was innocent, they argued. But they were wrong. Blind to the truth that I saw.
He was arrested for his crimes and not even once during his three-month trial did he deny it. The evidence was stacked against him, but the prosecution was missing one key element to convict him.
The body.
I saw it.
I was the one who found her. A young girl taken too soon by a vicious, evil teenage boy. The media shamed me while praising him. He kept his head held high, and I was an emotional wreck. It hurt to turn my best friend in, and then everyone took his side, warning me to retract my statement. They wanted me to say I was drunk and couldn’t remember what I saw. I knew what happened, and I refused to turn a blind eye.
I'm the only person who can make him pay. Consequences be damned.
Prologue
HENLEY
“ALL RISE.”
Everyone in the courtroom stands. I let out a shaky breath and run my sweaty palms down the black pencil dress. My knees begin to shake, and my heart beats rapidly.
I jump when my father rubs my back. He notices and gives me a reassuring smile. His blue eyes are soft, but I see the worry lines around them. He hasn’t said, but I know he’s terrified of what’s to come. If this doesn’t go the way it should ...
“Council,” Judge Mattis speaks. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”
“They have, Your Honor.”
I look at the boy who stands next to his attorney at the front of the room. He’s got his head held high and broad shoulders pulled back. He looks pretty confident for a boy whose hands are cuffed in front of him while facing a life sentence. At the young age of seventeen, he’s being tried as an adult.
His three best friends stand in the row behind him with their parents at their sides. Rellik and Law keep giving me threatening looks over their shoulders. Scout hasn’t even glanced my way. He hasn’t always hated me, but he does now. They all do. We were friends, best friends. Until I turned on one of them. Now, I’ve been shunned, thrown away for my betrayal. If you can call doing the right thing betrayal.
“Breathe,” my father whispers in my ear. And I drop my eyes to my black leather pumps. I bought them just for today, as well as the dress. Hell, even my underwear and bra are new.
Camera crews are present because these proceedings are being televised. This case has been a high-profile case since the moment I dialed 911. It’s sick and disturbing how our town has welcomed the media’s attention. But most here are willing to pay any price for fame. They want their spot on the map. This is going to give it to them. No matter the outcome.
Lifting my eyes, I see the judge nodding, giving his permission for the jury to speak.
“We find the defendant … not guilty, Your Honor.”
The air rushes out of my lungs.
No.
The entire left side of the room lets out audible breaths of relief. Rellik, Scout, and Law slap their buddy Dax on his back.
I’m frozen in place while blood rushes in my ears. This... this... no. My eyes fill with tears. “I saw him.” I look up at my dad. “I saw him ...” My throat closes up on me.
He looks as devastated as I feel.
My teary eyes go back to him—the seventeen-year-old boy who should be spending the rest of his life in jail, but instead, they’re removing his cuffs and freeing him.
Dax turns around completely and hugs his dad. Then his stepmother. She’s wiping happy tears from under her eyes. His dad shakes his attorneys’ hands while laughing.
I feel the courtroom grow smaller. The air thicker. I think I’m going to pass out as I sway in my heels.
“Henley.” My brother grabs my hand, but I yank it away, not wanting the contact. “Henley, breathe.”
“I ... I can’t.” I grab my dress.
He starts talking to our father, but I’m not listening. Three months of testimonies down the drain for nothing. This was an open and shut case. I gave them all the information they needed to put him away. He should be spending his life in jail. What he did was unforgivable. Friend or not, he should be punished for his crimes.
I feel hands on my upper arms, and I’m dragged out of the courtroom and into the hallway, away from all the laughter and celebrations.
“Henley, calm the fuck down,” my brother orders in my face.
“He did it...” I choke out. I’m going to keep saying that until someone listens to me.
His jaw sharpens, and his dark eyes look away from mine. Running his hand down his tired face, his eyes land on mine once again. “I believe you.”
I blink, and tears sting my eyes.
“Did you hear me, Hen?” Placing his hands on my shoulders, he gives me a little shake. “
I believe you.”
“No one else did ...” The door to the courtroom opens, cutting me off, and I stiffen. One at a time, my ex-best friends enter the hallway. Ryan Scout is first. He has his hands tucked in the front of his black slacks. The soles of his shoes slap the floor. Van Rellik is right behind him, laughing with Grayson Law. Lastly, Dax Monroe. He looks over his shoulder, and my heart stops when he winks at me before following his friends and their parents down the hallway, then disappearing around the corner. Reporters call his name and run after them.
Lights flash in my face. “Henley? What do you have to say?” one asks, shoving a camera into my face.
“Get back!” my brother shouts, pushing the woman away from us.
“Henley, would you have testified …?”
“I said get the fuck away.” My brother grabs my upper arm and yanks me down the hall before shoving me into the woman’s bathroom. My chest tightens. “It’s going to be okay, Hen. I promise.”
He’s wrong. Nothing will ever be okay ever again. He doesn’t know what all I’ve done. How much the four boys meant to me. I hate that I ever gave Dax something that I can’t get back. Any of them, for that matter. I hate that he’s walking free. And I hate that I did everything right, and it still wasn’t enough. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, but it won’t be that way.
I saw him. He looked right at me that night. I heard his voice. He spoke to me. He said my name. I felt his hands. It was him. He did it. The tears run down my face. I had been drinking. That was what made my testimony laughable. But I had to do what was right. I taste the bile begin to rise.
“Henley …”
“Stop,” I choke out and push around him and run into a stall. I drop to my knees and hug the toilet. He comes up behind me and grabs my hair as he hovers behind me.
“It’s okay.” He runs his free hand over my forehead.
I close my eyes tightly as a memory floods my mind.
“Don’t do this, Hen,” Scout says as we sit in his car.
The sun fell hours ago. He texted me thirty minutes ago that he was in my father’s driveway and wanted to talk. I didn’t want to have this conversation, but there was no way to around it. I’m surprised he waited this long to see me since the investigation has already begun.
I try to ignore the tightness in my chest. Or the way he’s refused to look at me over the past two weeks. He’s completely ignored me at school as well. All of them have. They no longer see me as their friend. They took Dax’s side, and that hurts. I lick my dry lips. “He did it, Scout … He.”
“No, he didn’t.” His hands tighten on the wheel. “You were drunk. Fucked up. You were confused …”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” I growl. “I know what I saw.” How can he not believe me? Why would I make this up? Dax is my friend too, but that doesn’t excuse what he did.
He hangs his head. “You’re wrong. And you’re going to tell the police that. Retract your statement. Tell them you made a mistake.”
He can’t be serious. “I will not.”
His head snaps up, and he finally looks at me. Green eyes narrowed on mine. I suck in a deep breath. “If you do this, there will be consequences.”
Good. “He deserves …”
“For you. Not Dax.”
I begin to dry heave.
I testified. I’ll be the one thrown into the inferno. They’ve already taken that oath. And the four of them keep their promises.
Chapter One
HENLEY
I SIT ON the end of my bed. My suitcases still packed and cover my white carpeted floor. Five months ago, I was in this same position, but instead of returning, I was leaving.
“Dad, what are you doing?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
He’s throwing my clothes into an open suitcase. “I spoke to your mother yesterday, and we decided this is what is best for you.”
“What are you talking about?” I look over at my brother. He shrugs, clearly as confused as I am. Our parents never speak to one another.
My father rips my pajama pants out of my top dresser drawer and wads them up before shoving them into a bag. “You can’t stay here. Not after that verdict.”
“Where am I going?” I ask nervously, pulling on the dress once more. I just want to take it off and shower. I want to wash this horrible day away.
“To stay with your mother.”
My eyes shoot to my brother again, and he ducks his head, running his hands through his dark hair. Our parents separated when I was five, and my brother was eight. We’ve both lived with our father ever since. Our mother remarried only months after their separation, but our father has chosen to stay a bachelor.
“No,” I argue.
“Yes.” He shoves some shirts in there as well. “I work all the time. Your brother is two hours away at college. You need to be far away from this town. Away from those bastards and away from the spotlight.”
“But Dad ...”
He spins around to face me. “I bought your ticket three weeks ago, Henley. Just in case. You are going. And that is final.”
I was supposed to finish my senior year in New York, but here I am. Back at home. My mother’s husband got a job offer in Switzerland, and he took it, forcing me to move back in with my father two months into the semester. So, now I’m going to spend my senior year here in Texas.
With them. My ex-best friends.
My father isn’t happy.
“Hey.” My door opens, and my brother steps into the room.
“Hey.” I give him a weak smile.
He comes to sit down next to me at the end of the queen-size bed. “You could come to college with me,” he offers. “I’ll hide you in one of my suitcases.”
I give a rough laugh. “As tempting as that sounds, I need to do this.” As afraid as I am, I’m also relieved. I didn’t want to run in the first place because I think it made me look weak. And that’s one thing I am not.
“Dad’s freaking out. He’s on the phone with Mom. He’s pissed that they had a deal, and she didn’t honor it.”
I shrug. “It is what it is. Pat got a job opportunity he couldn’t turn down. Not like she sent me back here for her own selfish reasons.”
He runs his hands through his hair. A clear sign he’s frustrated and trying to come up with a solution to a problem. “This is serious, Hen. The boys will try to destroy you.”
My eyes drop to my hands knotted in my lap. “I know.”
“Do you?” he snaps, turning to face me. “That bastard walked. Meaning someone, somewhere high up in the rankings of Wilton was paid off.”
I’ve had five months to think about what I saw. What was said in court. Too many things didn’t add up. I have gone over them in my head a million times, and I can’t understand what I saw and what the court argued. They had proof to back up their arguments. I just had words. And sometimes words mean absolutely fucking nothing. “Maybe I was wrong.”
“Henley!” He grabs my face, and his narrowed eyes bore into mine. “Don’t fucking pull that shit now! Don’t second-guess yourself. And do not allow them into your head!”
I was drunker than I had let on to the court. I was wasted. We were at a party. That was the point. Kids were on Molly and other drugs. I was on my fifth, maybe sixth mixed drink. And I had also had a few shots. I think. Thank God they never drug tested me. “I was drinking …”
“I don’t give a fuck if you were high. The girl had been killed. You saw her. A condom was found at the scene. Just because there was no body doesn’t mean you were wrong.”
Actually, that’s exactly what it means, according to the court. No body, no crime. But I’ll keep that to myself. Instead, I nod, and he lets go of my face. “Do you have protection?” he asks.
“Oh.” I throw up my hands. “I don’t plan on having sex. With anyone.” I’ve only ever slept with two guys—Dax and Scout. One time while Law and Rellik were in the room watching us. It was our secret. And one hell of a mistake t
hat I don’t plan on repeating.
He sighs heavily and digs into his pocket. “I don’t mean sex, Hen.” Pulling a knife out, he flips the blade open and holds it up. “I want you to keep this on you at all times.”
I stand and shake my head. “I can’t …”
“Yes, you can.” He stands and closes it, placing it in my hand. The cold steel feels foreign and heavy. “You keep it in your purse. Or in your backpack. And if anyone tries to hurt you, you use it.”
I roll my eyes. “No one is going to hurt me.” No, they’ve turned their backs on me. I’m the outcast. They will act like I don’t even exist. And just that thought makes my chest tighten. They may think I betrayed them, but I lost my best friends. They betrayed me when they didn’t believe me.
“I love you, Hen.” He pulls me in for a tight hug. “Be careful, and if you need anything, you call me. I’ll be here immediately.”
I sit and watch him leave with tears in my eyes. Not because of what’s to come but because of what has happened. How one night destroyed everything.
Death Valley. Once known as Spring Valley. It was an all-boys preparatory school. They taught boys from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The students and staff lived here on campus twenty-four seven, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. It was known for its five hundred acres of manicured lawn and Victorian-like structures. It looked like a castle in a fairy tale, but its story is anything but pretty. Now it resembles a haunted castle from a scary movie.
A place where we come to get high, get drunk, and fuck shit up. We’re here every Saturday night. Friday nights too after football games during ball season.
I stumble across the uneven lawn. My heels dig into the earth, making it hard to walk. No one maintains it anymore. It’s abandoned and has been for years. A fire broke out and caused so much damage that they couldn’t afford to rebuild. Not to mention all the lives that were taken that night.
Bully Me: Class of 2020 Page 61