Loyal Love

by Henry, Max

  “And that’s us, isn’t it?” She reaches out and takes my hand.

  “Yeah. It is.”

  Lacey’s shoulders droop. A sigh slips from her lips. “I wish he was here to do this himself.”

  “Me too,” I admit. “He will be in the morning, though.”

  She lifts her head.

  “He said he’d pick me up and take me home before the party.”

  “You do realise there’s no way in hell we’re getting to Dee’s now, right?” She drops a soft laugh.

  “Without a doubt.” I squeeze her hand. “I want to be here anyway, though.”

  Lace shifts her seat, settling side on to my legs to rest her head on my knee. “What do you think Libby will do? Honestly.”

  I fidget with her pale-blonde hair, smoothing it into a perfect waterfall over my leg. “What she always has. Stomp her foot and whine that nobody else is better to be the queen than she is.”

  “Do you think the students at Riverbourne still fear her the same, though?”

  “Not a chance.” I gently untangle her split ends. “You need a treatment, girl.”

  “I know.” Lace grins. “But nobody out here cares that I can’t afford one, so I’m dealing with it.”

  “Ingrid wants Libby’s spot,” I reveal.

  Lacey jerks upright, twisting to look at me with wide eyes. “Really? She’s the last person I would have picked as having aspirations.”

  “Uh-huh.” I grin. “She’s worried.”

  “Why?”

  “She thinks I’ll snatch it from her.”

  Lacey leans in a little. “Would you? I mean is that something you want?”

  “Not really. But if it came down to doing it myself or having her mess things up, I’d be inclined to agree with Colt.”

  “How? What does he think?”

  I meet her gaze. “He thinks I should put Libby and Ingrid in their place and use my final year at Riverbourne to create change.”

  She tips her head as though agreeing with the concept. “It could work.”

  “Do you think, though? Everyone is set in their ways. I don’t know if shifting Riverbourne to a democracy would make everyone happier or simply open the doors for more chaos.” I shrug. “Don’t you think there would only end up being more students trying to take Libby’s place and creating factions amongst the student body?”

  “Possibly.”

  “So then, having one person to head the masses works, right?”

  Her face falls, and she stares off into nothing. “Honestly? I don’t think anything works. As long as there are people with questionable morals, people hungry for power and influence, nothing will work.”

  “What are we supposed to do then?”

  “Stay in our own lane, Greer.” Lacey returns her focus to me with a smile. “We find happiness in who we are, and we make that the constant in our lives, not what others think of us.”

  I press my palms together and mock pray at her. “You so wise, master.”

  Her hand slaps my leg. “Knock it off.” Lacey glances at the living room door and sighs. “Are you ready to go throw some more petrol on the fire?”

  I stand and offer my hand. “As long as you promise fireworks too.”

  She chuckles, rising to her feet. “Hon. At this stage, a full-on nuclear explosion wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “Hey.” I tug her toward me and give my bestie a quick hug. “You’ve got this, okay? Whatever your dad says, you have Tuck and me at your back.”

  “And Maggie,” she adds. “Pretty sure Beau will follow her anywhere too.”

  “There you go.” I smooth her hair away from her face. “Your very own posse. You know what that means, right?”

  She shakes her head.

  I smile. “It means you’re a legitimate badass now, Miss Lacey Williams. Don’t you forget that.”

  Her fingers thread through mine as we face the door together. “With you to learn from, I don’t think I will.”

  LACEY

  Conversation in the room comes to a dead halt when Greer and I open the door and step through. Dad grills me silently from his corner, brow hard and lips set in a firm line. I hate that I feel I’ve let him down, and I hate even more that I was so naïve to believe I could keep this a secret forever.

  “We’ve decided that after such a long night already, we should perhaps hit pause and retire,” Mrs Epsom says, taking me by surprise. “Emotions run high when we’re tired, and perhaps whatever it is you have to discuss, Lacey, would be better done so in the privacy of your own home.”

  I’m so damn relieved I could cry.

  “Yes,” Kurt agrees, pushing out of his seat. “Tuck and I have some work ahead of us still getting the horses turned in for the night.”

  Tuck leans forward on his armchair, elbows to his knees. “You okay?”

  I nod, reaching for him and taking his offered hand.

  “You use the ute to get home, James. We’ll come by tomorrow and pick it up.” Kurt states. “Beau isn’t in shape to ride Sally home, so I’ll need to do it.”

  Beau ducks his head, clearly ashamed of what happened tonight.

  “Would you like a lift home?” Dad asks him. “Are your parents expecting you?”

  He shakes his head. “I said I was out for the night.”

  “You know what?” Maggie’s mum rises from her seat, hands clasped before her. “Beau’s place is out of the way for you, anyway. He can stay the night here if he likes.” She looks toward Beau for an answer.

  Maggie’s eyes go wide, her gaze darting between the two of them.

  Tuck pushes to his feet, hand still clasped around mine as he watches also. Come to think of it, the whole room waits to hear what he says.

  “That would be nice, Mrs Epsom. Thank you.”

  I flash Maggie a secret smile and then turn toward Tuck as Maggie’s mum walks the others out.

  “Thanks for hearing me out tonight.” My nostrils flare with my rushed breath. “I promise I’ll get better at being open about things like this, okay? And I promise this is the last of the major secrets—I think.”

  He smiles, hand cradling the side of my face. “Babe, you’ve got enough shit on your plate without beating yourself up over this too. I’ve already forgotten about earlier.”

  I bite back the tears as Tuck sets a gentle kiss to the top of my head.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, okay? Tell Greer to friend me on Facebook so you can use her phone to message me if you need to.”

  “I will.”

  His huge arms wrap around me a last time. “This shit will pass, babe. Just ride it out.”

  I squeeze the hell out him, reluctant to let go of the safety his strong body promises when he makes a move to step away.

  “I better go. The old man will be waiting, and Major’s probably pissed with me.”

  Tuck and his goddamn horse. I huff a laugh, smiling as he leaves the room.

  “Hey.” Maggie slides up behind me, looping her arm around my shoulders. “You did good, dude.”

  I rest my head against the side of hers. “I hope so.”

  “Try to keep your cool when you talk with your dad, okay?” She nuzzles her nose into my hair before letting go. “He’ll be mad and shit, but that’s because he loves you.”

  “When he hears what I did, he’ll have every right to be mad.”

  “Lacey!”

  I give her a wave and then narrow my eyes at Beau as I back toward the door. “Be good to her, Mr Maun.”

  He gives me a lopsided grin, chewing his bottom lip when he glances toward Mags. “Don’t need to worry about me, Lace.”

  At least one of us is guaranteed to get something good out of this tonight. Rocks line my gut as I step out into the night in time to catch the tail end of Tuck and his father riding out the gate. Dad waits beside Kurt’s farm vehicle, elbows propped between the roof and the open driver’s door. Greer already sits in the centre of the bench seat.

  “Thank you for watching t
he house tonight, Lacey.” Mrs Epsom tugs me into a huge bear hug, her floral perfume soft and welcoming.

  “You’re welcome. Thank you so much for having us, for helping us talk through this.” I frown, checking the gate. “What about Mick?”

  She gives me a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll fill him in when he gets here. It might be better that way.” She sets a hand on my back, gently guiding me toward Dad. “We’ll catch up tomorrow. Sleep well, darling.”

  Dad drops into the ute before I reach the passenger door, giving Maggie’s mum a wave out the windscreen. I take my place beside Greer, finding some small comfort in how homely the cab smells; earthy smells mixed with leather and fuel.

  Dad slots the ute into gear, looking strangely comfortable driving such a vehicle now that he’s mellowed into his country style. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad is this thing you have to tell me, Lacey?”

  Greer stiffens beside me, her hand slipping into mine. I give it a squeeze and rest my head against the cool window to stare up at the hazy yellow glow of the streetlight overhead. “Somewhere over an eight, I think.”

  “You can’t be sure?”

  I swallow, straightening in the seat. “I don’t know where you stand on these kinds of issues.”

  “What are we talking about?” He indicates right. “Drugs? Blackmail? Underage sex?”

  Greer’s so damn still between us it’s hard to know if she even breathes.

  “None of that.” I fuss with the hem across my knees, acutely aware how unsuitable my short dress is for this revelation. “I guess if you had to categorise it into something, it would be pornography.”

  Greer chokes, her hand crushing mine.

  Dad’s foot slips off the accelerator, the ute briefly slowing before he regains his composure. “You said it wasn’t to do with sex, Lacey.”

  He can’t do as much damage while driving, right? “It’s not.” I sigh, figuring it’ll be easiest to understand if I quit beating around the bush and cut to the chase. “Willow and I managed a Patreon account where we’d showcase the dick pics boys sent to the girls at Portside. It started as a way to shame them—we never named who they came from—but then people turned it into this game of guess who.”

  “Fuck’s sake,” Dad growls, hands tight on the wheel. “Is that all? Or is there more?”

  “People began to submit pics of themselves to be shared on the page.”

  “It was a thrill for them to see if anyone figured it out,” Greer explains.

  “Is this account still active?” Dad’s so flustered he misses our street. “Shit.”

  I wait until he’s finished his U-turn before I answer. “No. We closed it down when I moved to Riverbourne.”

  Tense seconds that feel like years of my life pass by before he speaks again. “Do you girls have content on there?”

  “No,” Greer bursts. “But I did submit a picture I was sent from a guy,” she admits.

  I feel an inch tall. “Willow and I submitted our own content when the submissions were quiet to keep the patrons happy.” My whispered words are almost lost amongst the road noise.

  Dad slams the heel of his hand against the steering wheel. I yelp. I have never seen my father get so mad he becomes physical.

  I guess if there ever was a reason to start, this is as good as any.

  “And why is Colt messed up with this?” His tone has risen, the question bouncing off the confines of the vehicle.

  “He’s using the content as blackmail to keep the Chosen out of Arcadia,” Greer mutters.

  “The Chosen?” Dad hollers, clearly frustrated.

  I wince. “They’re the elite students. The popular kids.”

  “And you two have a damn name for them?” He pulls into our driveway with such haste that Greer and I bounce on the seat when the wheels hit the gutter. “Who are they? Which kids?”

  “Richard, Libby.” Dad switches the car off and turns to hear me out. “Ingrid, Arthur… Greer and me.”

  He expels a laboured breath out his nose. “Colt’s not a part of it?”

  “He’s on the outer ring. So, although he’s not officially one of us, he was around a lot of the time.”

  “What the fuck is this shit, Lacey?” He jerks his elbow against the steering wheel, diving his fingers through his hair. “You have this, this clique I suppose you’d call it. What else? What other privileges do you girls get from putting yourself over your peers?”

  “Immunity,” I mutter, chin to my chest.

  “They leave us alone,” Greer adds. “We don’t get bullied or caught up in any trouble in the school.”

  “You make the other kids take the fall for you, huh?” Dad’s utterly disgusted. “Did your mother know about this, Lacey?”

  “She encouraged me to be friends with them.” I lift my head and plead my case. “She’s the reason I changed schools, remember.”

  “Because you had bad friends at Portside.” He recites my statement from earlier.

  I shake my head, realising that Greer has now flicked her attention to me also. “It was more than that. Mum wanted me to go to a co-ed, so I had a better chance of marrying into the right family.”

  Greer’s eyes go wide.

  Dad positively radiates rage. “She what?”

  “She thought if I stayed at Portside, that one of the Riverbourne girls would get the top choices.”

  “What the fuck is there to choose from?” he hollers. “Do you have a goddamn menu with the most desirable family names on there?”

  I can’t help but snicker at the idea. “Almost.”

  My reaction appears to crack the ice when Dad slumps in his seat and laughs also. “Jesus, Lacey. What the fuck happened in our house while I was at work?”

  “A lot, it seems.”

  He slides down further, setting both hands over his face. “How the hell do I manage this?”

  Greer and I wait in silence while he works through his confusion.

  I’m thankful the tension has dissipated from between us. There’s broken trust that’ll be harder to repair, but I can cope with that over losing the connection with Dad any day.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he finally says straightening in his seat. “I have to think about this.”

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s go inside.” He glances at the dash display. “It’s after midnight, for Christ’s sake. We’ll get some sleep and ease back into this tomorrow.” He opens the door, then muttering to himself, “Hopefully, I have a damn epiphany about it.”

  I get out and wait for Greer. “Colt’s coming out in the morning.”

  Dad freezes, hand on the keys, ready to lock the vehicle.

  “He’s coming to pick me up,” Greer fills in. “He said he’d be here for breakfast.”

  “Good.” Dad tries the fob a couple of times before deciding the batteries must be flat and using the key in the door instead. “I apologise for dragging you into this, Greer.”

  “It’s okay, Mr Williams.”

  “No.” He pockets the keys and jerks his head toward the house to indicate we should follow. “I should have involved your parents before you were put under pressure like that.”

  She laughs. “I’m glad you didn’t, to be honest.”

  Dad glances back at her as he unlocks the house with his own set of keys. “Why do you say that?”

  She looks between the two of us as we head indoors before her. “Mum would rather I had nothing to do with Lacey because of this very thing. And Dad… My father thinks I should stay loyal to Libby.”

  “Because he’s loyal to her father,” Dad mutters. He closes the door after her. “They’re bound to hear about this, Greer. You won’t be able to avoid it forever.”

  “I know.” She hugs her arms to herself, standing in the middle of our small kitchen. “I like pretending I can, though.”

  Dad nods before drawing a hand over his face. “Off to bed, girls. I’ve got a long night of thinking over coffee ahead of me. I’ll try to keep quiet
for you.”

  Greer retreats up the hall toward my room. “Night, Mr Williams.”

  I hang back, waiting until she’s gone. “I really am sorry, Dad.”

  He keeps his back to me as he fills the jug with water. “Go get some sleep, Lacey.”

  As if I’ll be able to.

  COLT

  The updates are never-ending. I lay in bed propped on one elbow, scrolling through the enormous list of notifications on my phone’s lock screen—screenshot after screenshot from Willow and a stream of social media tags.

  I knew this would cause a stir amongst the Chosen, but it seems they’ve seeped news to one or two close confidantes amongst the commoners who’ve then taken it upon themselves to put the frights up every damn student who submitted content to the girls’ account.

  And I know why they would have done that. Why, if you’re one of the Riverbourne elite would you let your loyal subjects know that you’re human and infallible to bouts of guilt the same as them?

  To flush the sewers.

  The damn Chosen hope that by making #PortsidePeepshow the top trending subject amongst our age group, they can force the rat into the open.

  They want to know who else is behind this.

  My phone vibrates in my hand, Willow’s name flashing up on the screen. I swipe to answer and then set her on speaker before placing the device on the bed.

  “And good morning to you.”

  “Have you seen the shitshow this has caused?”

  I smack my morning wood with the back of my hand and growl. “Hard to miss.” Same as the physical reaction my body has to remembering who I get to see today.

  “I knew it would ruffle their feathers, Colt, but if my mum and dad find out it was me—”

  “They won’t.” Tossing the sheet aside, I rise and head for clean clothes. “If any of their parents want to be involved, it’ll be for no more than lodging a suppression order to keep their angel protected.”

  “You’re so optimistic,” she drones. “Has Lacey been in touch?”

  “No.” And neither has Greer, which interests me more.

  I thought she would have been keeping a sneaky eye on proceedings all night. Surely, she’s witnessed the fallout my bribes have caused. A bit more than I planned, sure, but if it gets the job done…