Loyal Love

by Henry, Max

  Kurt sighs, scratching his short beard. “Dee knows, though?” He glances up to Tuck.

  He nods. “She does.”

  “We’re going to have to speak with her parents about this,” Kurt muses. “Anything we do will be on their property, and if we haven’t made them aware first, then they’ll have questions. And rightly so.”

  “Hold up.” I lift both hands. “Do we not get any say in what happens?”

  Tuck avoids making eye contact. Beau seems to find his boots suddenly interesting as well.

  Kurt slowly leans forward in his seat, a slow smile spreading across his lips. I get the impression the response is anything but friendly. “Honey, you should have been the last to have in a say in this from the very start.”

  “Is that so?” Maybe everyone else is afraid of this overbearing man, but not me. “This whole riot relates to my brother and me, so I think I should have the first say in what you all do that affects my future.”

  “You aren’t playing schoolyard games anymore,” he snaps. “You’re messing with actions that have repercussions far outside your precious school gates.”

  “He’s right, Lace,” Dad adds softly. “You’re talking about a mess that has implications throughout not one, but two, communities.”

  I won’t be coddled into backing down. “Perhaps. Although, you both sit and talk about this as though what Christian, Richard, and Libby do is something new.” I shove out of the seat, too restless to sit. “This sort of bullying and powerplay has been going on for years.”

  “I’m sure not to this extent,” Maggie’s mum says hopefully.

  Dad’s silence speaks volumes.

  “If not worse.” I take residence in the centre of the room. “Maybe not as publicly, but just as bad.” I may as well stand right in the middle ,considering this all hinges back to me.

  “Those were issues contained within Riverbourne Preparatory, though, Lacey.” Dad runs a hand around the back of his head and sighs. “This impacts more than one school.”

  Surely, he wasn’t that blind to what went on in his own home? “You know why Mum moved me to Riverbourne, don’t you?”

  “Because you were mixed up with the wrong kids at Portside Girls.”

  God—he’s so damn innocent it makes me want to cry. “I was the wrong kids, Dad.” I toss my hands at my sides. “She moved me because she wanted me preoccupied with boys, not bitchy politics between bored girls.”

  He blows out a rushed breath. “I don’t think so, honey.”

  “It’s true, Mr Williams.” Greer carefully finds her voice in the matter. “I overheard her talking to Lacey about it plenty of times.”

  His gaze darts between us, the way he fidgets telling me he’s embarrassed to have not known.

  “I think she never spoke about it in front of you because she knew you would have objected.” I take a step toward him and sink to my knees to level our gazes.

  “I knew she had preferences over which kids she hoped you’d be friends with,” Dad reveals. “But I didn’t think she’d be that clandestine about it.”

  “Most of our mothers are the same,” Greer confirms. “I’ve been asked to stay away from Colt since you were charged, Mr Williams. My parents would rather I associated with a so-called trusted name.”

  “For God’s sake,” Dad exclaims. “And call me James, Greer. We’ve known each other long enough.”

  “I hate to interrupt,” Mrs Epsom says, both hands raised beside her head. “But can I be brought up to speed on what exactly brings these kids out here to cause trouble?”

  “Status,” Dad answers, staring at the floor. “Lacey’s defiance threatens them, and they blame Colt for bringing disrepute amongst their ranks. In short, they have a vendetta against our family for being the black sheep among the high-end flock.”

  “Posers,” Kurt mumbles. “No offence, James.”

  “None taken.” Dad smiles, wryly. “Unlike most of them, I wasn’t born into it. I can partially claim exemption.”

  The parents all laugh politely at his dour joke.

  Tuck clears his throat, glancing down to Kurt. “We had an idea about how to combat their ambush.”

  “Speak up, then,” Kurt snaps.

  “Well.” Tuck glances around the room. “Beau, Ed, and I went to see Johnson.”

  I suck in a sharp breath. Why would he do that?

  “The four of us figured that if we give the rest of the Arcadia students a quick rundown at the start of the night, they can all be in on defending Dee’s place.”

  Kurt sighs, thumb and forefinger splayed across his brow. “Great. Then we have a dozen vigilante fucks trying to be the hero.”

  “It’s a decent idea,” Dad tells Tuck, failing to keep the condescension out of his tone. “But it would backfire.”

  “Why would you go see Johnson?” I glance between the two guys.

  Beau scuffs his toe on the floor. “We wanted to get him back on side.”

  “Whose side is he on?” Kurt asks.

  “Amber’s.” Tuck sighs. “Amber was expelled from school, Dad, and she attended interviews at both Portside Girls and Riverbourne Prep. She was the one who invited the city kids out here.”

  “That little …” Mags’ mum grumbles. “I never liked her. Even back in kindergarten.”

  Maggie lifts a hand to cover her smile.

  Kurt sighs, setting both hands flat on the top of his knees, elbows out. “Well. It seems if we want to make a sound plan, we should include a few more people.”

  “Who do you suggest?” Dad queries.

  Kurt pushes out of the seat so that he can retrieve his mobile from the back pocket of his jeans. “I’ll call Peter and Dot, Dee’s parents.” He scrolls the screen with his thumb before glancing up at Dad. “Do you think we should include any of these Riverbourne kids’ parents?”

  “I’d like to talk to my son first.” Dad produces his phone also.

  Greer stiffens at the opposite end of the sofa.

  “Let me give him a call.”

  “You two do that,” Mrs Epsom says, “and I’ll get in touch with Mick. We go back a long way, so he may be a bit more patient if I break the news to him.”

  “Who’s Mick?” I ask.

  Tuck swallows. “Johnson’s dad.”

  Great. Just great.

  My one-woman crusade for vengeance has somehow transformed into a town-wide lynch mob campaign.

  “You okay?” Greer asks as the adults leave the room to place their various calls.

  “No.” I fix my gaze on Tuck. “Not really. But then I don’t think I ever really have been.”

  TUCK

  What a fucking way for Lacey to meet my dad, right? Even more of a first impression that she chose to make by arguing with him.

  “How did your dad know?” she cries, lunging at me as soon as the olds are out of earshot.

  “About what?” I catch her by the arms, keeping her contained while she boils over.

  “The party. How did he know they’re all coming? Did you tell him?”

  “Unlike you, I don’t keep my whereabouts a secret.” I frown, annoyed I have to justify myself. “But I didn’t tell Dad that they’re coming. No.”

  “How does he know, then?”

  “I think your father found out, Lace,” Maggie interjects. “When he got in Kurt’s ute at the clinic, I saw him on the phone to someone.”

  “What were they even doing there?” I ask. “How did they know that’s where they’d find you? And why not come here first?”

  “Your old man has a friend on the front desk, it seems.” Beau pushes off his spot at the fireplace. “Phoned him after she heard me say I fell off Sally.”

  “Fuck’s sake.” Goddamn small-town gossips don’t know how to keep their shit to themselves.

  Lacey relaxes in my hold enough that I figure it should be safe to let her go. She slumps on Dad’s vacated seat.

  “I think they came to us first,” Maggie adds, “so they could talk to Mum
and see what she knows.”

  “What I know about what?” Mrs Epsom enters the room.

  “What we’re discussing tonight,” Maggie supplies.

  I envy their easy-going relationship. I wish I had one like that with Dad, but then again, I guess I used to have one similar with Mum before she passed. Maybe it’s just a motherly thing, to be so approachable? I kind of hope so, because then Dad doesn’t seem like so much of an arsehole.

  “Mick is on his way over.” She shifts her focus to Lacey. “And no, he hasn’t told Johnson where he’s going. Or that heathen wife of his.”

  Mags snorts, Beau grinning. There aren’t many people in Arcadia who like Amber’s mum, and for a good reason. She’s never made any attempt to be of use to the community, always turning her nose up at the other ladies’ efforts when she’s at public events.

  She sure didn’t marry Mick for the lifestyle.

  “Thank you, Mrs Epsom.”

  I glance down at Lacey, surprised by how reserved her gratitude is after how hot she was coming at me a minute ago. Her hands knit in her lap, and if I focus long enough on them, I can pick the tremors she tries to hide.

  “Hey.” I drop to my haunches and tap her knee. “These things work themselves out. Nobody will blame you for any of it.”

  “They already do.”

  “Hush,” Mrs Epsom coos. “You’re in a room of friends here, okay? And I won’t allow anybody in my home who intends to be hostile. Mick knows that, so I can assure you he’ll be gracious about whatever we have to say.”

  “I’m more worried about what happens when he goes home to talk to Johnson,” Lacey whispers.

  I tug on her to get her out of the seat and then position myself where she was. Nobody blinks an eye when I pull my girl down on to my lap and wrap my arms around her—I like that.

  “If Johnson has anything to say about it,” Beau replies, “then it’ll be because he feels guilty about how he’s fucked up.”

  “Or he might be deflecting what he gets from his father,” Maggie’s mum adds. “Either way, don’t take it personally. Bullies bully from a place of insecurity and hurt. It very rarely has anything to do with the victim.”

  I hold Lacey tighter, relieved when she lays her arms over mine. The six of us sit in silence, Maggie stealing a chocolate-topped biscuit off the plate before James and my dad return.

  “I can’t speak with Colt right now,” James shares. “He won’t answer my calls, but he messaged to say he’ll ring me in the morning when he’s not so busy.”

  Dad takes Lacey’s vacated spot on the sofa beside James. Greer shuffles away from his legs, but it’s not the physical distance that she needs from my father that has me frowning. It’s how red her face is.

  She knows something.

  “I think that as hard as this is for all of us,” I say, willing my voice to stay strong, “it’s important that we’ve chosen to be honest with one another tonight.”

  “Agreed.” Maggie’s mum nods.

  Greer looks as though she’s about to cry.

  “Greer?” Lacey asks, clearly having noticed too. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.” Her answer is too clipped, too rushed.

  James tilts his head to watch her. “What do you know, Greer?”

  “I can’t say.” Her gaze sweeps the room. “Not in front of everyone.”

  James groans. “It can’t be any worse than what we’ve already brought up, right? If you know something, share it.” He levels her with a hard stare.

  She glances to Lacey with what appears to be regret. “It’s not my feelings I’m worried about.”

  Lacey goes stiff on my knees. “What has my brother done, Greer?”

  “Why do you assume it has to do with Colt?” she argues weakly.

  “Because he told me that I had to remember he loves me, no matter what happens. What has he done? Why would he say that?”

  The whole room focuses on Greer. I can only imagine the heat she feels being under such intense scrutiny.

  “Either you spit it out now,” James says. “Or you share it when Mick gets here. Your choice.”

  She ducks her head to bury her face in her hands, fingers threaded through her hair. It’s clear by the rapid rise and fall of her back that she’s freaking out. I open my mouth to say something yet wait when Maggie shuffles forward. She scoots across the floor and positions herself in front of Greer, legs pressed against hers.

  “Hey. Look at me.” Mags grasps Greer’s wrists and coaxes her hands away from her temples. “Look at me and tell me. Don’t focus on anyone else. Just pretend it’s you and me, okay?”

  “I can’t,” Greer whispers. Her eyes flick toward James. “He doesn’t know.”

  Lacey’s dad frowns. I pull his daughter tighter against me when she starts to shake. Chin to her shoulder, I whisper low enough for only her to hear. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”

  “I think I do, but I hope I’m wrong.” Lacey straightens on my knees, hands tightly wrapped around my forearms. “Greer. Is this to do with Willow?”

  She nods.

  “Shit,” Lace whispers, shrinking into me once more.

  “Is Willow the girl from Portside, Lacey?” James’ gaze narrows on his daughter.

  It smacks me like a brick to the head at that moment that I’d defend this girl against her own. Looking at the way her father seethes on the opposite side of the room, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’d go up against the guy to protect Lacey from more hurt.

  “She is.”

  “What has she got to do with Colt, then?” James asks Greer.

  Lacey’s friend pulls in a deep breath, her chest rising as her resolve seems to set in. She can’t avoid this—whatever it is. “Are you sure you want me to share this, Lace?”

  “Can we talk outside first?”

  Greer turns her head to look toward James for permission.

  He shrugs, hands slapping back down in his lap. “Whatever you have to do. But let me make it clear, I want to hear what this is all about one way or another.”

  I ease my grip on Lacey when she slides forward off my knees. My hands fall away, and instantly I feel hopeless to protect her from whatever Greer is about to say.

  Although deep in my gut as I watch this complex girl who completely stole my heart walk from the room, I know that it’s already too late.

  Whatever Greer is about to say has already hurt her. And there isn’t a goddamn thing I can do about that.

  Except promise to be here for her from now on, so she never has to go it alone again.

  GREER

  Nerves roil in my gut like a damn inferno as I step out of the room and into Maggie’s hallway. Lacey follows close behind, gently shutting the door behind her to give us added privacy.

  “He’s dragged up the Patreon page, hasn’t he?” Lacey asks, ushering me into the corner farthest from the living room.

  Fingers rested against my mouth, I nod. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why?” she whisper-yells.

  I drop my hand, tugging my bottom lip between my teeth. “He’s blackmailing the Chosen into staying away from here.”

  “He’s what?” Her eyes go scarily wide. “Has he mentioned me?”

  “No.” I drop my gaze to the floor beside her and frown. “At least, he said he wouldn’t. That’s why he’s using Willow to help him with it; so that everything shows as coming from the page itself, not a user.”

  “What about… my stuff?” She swallows hard.

  “He’s leaving that out of it.”

  “Shoot.” Lace paces a few steps away before hastily returning. “When?”

  I cringe. “Now.”

  “Oh, my God.” She can’t keep still; the rush of panic makes her move all over as she fidgets on the spot. “Really?”

  Once again, I nod. It seems all I’m able to do. “He doesn’t want to hurt you, hon. He wants the opposite: to protect you.”

  “By dragging up the one thing that I
’m most ashamed of?” she cries before slapping a hand to her mouth. “It was a stupid stunt to make money.”

  “Why, though?” I ask. “It’s not as though you were short of it.”

  “On cards, no,” she clarifies. “But Willow and I wanted untraceable cash.”

  “So that your parents wouldn’t question where you were spending it,” I fill in.

  Lacey nods, somewhat calmer than she was a moment ago. “Mum would have had a fit if she’d seen how much we were drinking in a weekend.”

  I can’t help myself; I snort a laugh, biting back my smile.

  Lace tips her head, eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just here’s your mum, the woman who basically whores you off to the rich boys, and yet she’d lose her shit over underage drinking.”

  “Deportment is everything with her,” Lacey answers dryly. “Flirting my way into money is perfectly acceptable as long as I don’t have my skirt hitched up and my heels in my hand while I do it.”

  I giggle, muffling it behind my hand. “What now, though? Will you tell your dad?”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know. If I do, I put Colt in even more trouble. But if I don’t, then it’s bound to come out, and maybe it’s worse heard from somebody else, you know?”

  “Yeah.” I perch my butt on the edge of a leather luggage trunk used as storage beneath the coat rack. “You want to know what I think?”

  Lacey drops to her knees, folding her legs underneath her. “Yeah. I do.” She watches me intently.

  I swallow the painful truth and then filter it out slowly and carefully. “Colt is in way over his head. He’s wracked with guilt, which sets him up to believe he has to fix all this. The problem is, he can’t. He needs help from someone like your father, but he refuses to ask for it.”

  “You think I need to tell Dad.”

  “I think if you don’t, then Colt will leave it too late before he comes clean about what he’s done. Your dad already knows about the affidavit—that seems clear. But he needs to know all of it.” I sigh, my heart breaking as I picture the boy in my mind. “Colt is a shadow of himself, Lace. You’ve seen it. And your mum doesn’t care.” I twitch a half-smile. “Somebody has to care for him, right?”