“Megan. Welcome to my home.”
“It’s really lovely.”
He gave her a slight bow. “Then it is befitting of your presence.”
She childishly chuckled, welcoming his compliment.
“Evan invited me. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course. It is his party.”
Darren chimed in. “And mine, Uncle Billy.”
“And yours, Darren.” He placated him, as he would a child, and quickly brushed him off, leading Megan into his study.
“So can I assume Evan can now stand to be in the same room as you?”
“Ha.” Megan swallowed. “We’ve…worked things out.”
“Oh, I see.”
“What?” Her face fell at his reaction.
“Is that a sparkle I see in your eye? I didn’t realize…”
“No.” She quickly cut him off. “Evan and I are just friends.”
“And you have forgotten that I’m a psychiatrist.”
“I…have not.”
“Well, aren’t you just adorable.”
Dr. Covington took a sip of his drink as he studied his young student.
“How old are you, Miss Coulis?”
“Fifteen, sir.”
“You’re very smart, especially for your age.”
“Thank you.” She shyly looked away.
“I’d like to dig a little deeper.” Dr. Covington shut the door behind him.
“Excuse me?” Megan felt a bout of claustrophobia sweep through her.
“Can I analyze you?”
“Um, okay?” Her chest began to rise and fall at a quickened pace.
“Great. Why don’t you lay down on my couch?”
She looked around the room. “Oh, now?”
“What better time than the present?”
“But it’s your party.”
“It’s not my party.” He put his hand on his chest as he slyly smiled.
“Right…yes…but there’s still a party happening at your house.”
“Lie down, Miss Coulis.”
Megan didn’t argue; she did as she was told. He had that same power he did in class.
He spoke, and they listened.
He spoke, and they did what they were told.
“Evan! Great party!”
“Great party to you too, brother.” Evan and Darren threw their hands together in a high five.
“And that girl you invited…whew!” Darren waved his hand in his face as if he were fanning off the heat.
“What girl?”
“The pale, black haired girl with that hot red dress.”
“Megan?”
“Yes! That’s her name!”
Evan lowered his voice, intensifying his gaze on his brother. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know. I assumed she found you. I met her like a half an hour ago.”
“What? Did she say anything?”
“Just that I was better looking than you.”
Evan pushed by him to the edge of the second floor balcony, searching the crowd for her face.
“Dude, I was kidding.”
“Right…yeah…do you see her?”
Darren took another sip of his drink. “Oh! Someone’s got a girlfriend.”
“Shut up man.” Evan slapped Darren in the chest.
“Whoa, you really like her! Evan and Megan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…”
“Darren!”
But as Evan turned to stop his brother, he saw her, running out of his uncle’s study. He raced down the stairs, meeting her just before she reached the door.
“Megan!”
“Get out of my way, Evan.”
She looked up at him, her mascara smeared from a wash of tears.
“What happened?”
She shook her head, trying to escape. “Nothing. I just…I just need to go.”
“Stay. I didn’t even know you were here.” He pulled her into his chest, trying to stop her movement. “Megan, you’re shaking.”
She lost it. “I can take care of myself! I don’t need you to protect me from everything.”
Evan pulled her tighter, confused by her outburst. “What are you talking about?”
A crowd of students began to form around them. No one could understand why Evan was holding the Genius Freak, why he was trying to soothe her, or why he seemed like he cared.
Megan wanted to collapse into his arms, she wanted him to save her, to help her, but she couldn’t. Every ounce of her sanity knew that she couldn’t.
She took a deep breath and pushed away from him. “Goodbye, Evan.”
Without an explanation, Megan tore through the crowd and disappeared. A number of partygoers followed her and gathered around the front door, interested in the fiasco that had taken shape, but none could explain it.
Until Dr. Covington proudly stepped through his study door…
“Uncle Billy, what happened to Megan?” Evan begged.
He sadly shook his head and addressed the small crowd. “I found Miss Coulis in my study. She was searching my desk, attempting to steal the answers to the midterm.”
“No.” Evan whispered. “Megan would never do that. She wouldn’t need the answers.”
“It’s so sad. I really thought she had such promise.” He put his hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Unfortunately, she’ll be expelled from The Valley School. That’s the rule. There’s nothing anyone can do about that.”
There were a few murmurs and a few snickers, but they all believed his every accusation. No one ever questioned Dr. Covington.
He spoke, and they listened.
He spoke, and they did what they were told.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It had been an entire year since Megan was expelled, to the day, and Christmas break was yet again upon them. The Covington’s had decided not to throw their annual party, as Darren had graduated and was now in college, and Evan couldn’t bring himself to relive the events of the previous year. Instead, they decided to spend a quiet evening at home.
Evan sat across the study table from his older brother, his uncle, and his father. An empty bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23yr and a half-drank bottle of Laphroaig Cairdeas sat directly in the middle of the cherry wood table, along with five hundred and seventy-five dollars worth of poker chips. Evan lifted his rocks glass to his lips, taking a whiff of the cinnamon and lemon zest, before letting the cool, burnt liquid touch his tongue. He swished the scotch around his mouth, coating it with the tastes of fig and Brazil nuts.
Then he swallowed.
“Call or fold, kid. We don’t have all day.”
He peeked down at his cards: Ten of Hearts, Ten of Diamonds, Ten of Clubs, Ten of Spades, and King of Hearts.
Evan’s lips curled into a smile as he swallowed his sip of scotch. Even at sixteen, he could enjoy a good whiskey. He tossed fifty dollars worth of chips into the pot. “I call. And you’re wrong. We do have all day.”
They all laughed together as they spread their cards out in front of them. Evan reached forward and pulled the pile of chips toward his chest. His father sat back with a smile, full of pride for his son. He patted his own brother on the back.
“Well Billy, it looks like the kid outsmarted you this time.”
“Can’t win them all.” He narrowed his eyes at Evan.
“It’s actually the first time you’ve let me win, Uncle Billy.” Evan chuckled. He wasn’t stupid. He knew his uncle let him win.
“I figured I’d go easy on you, seeing as though you’ve abandoned your soiree, because of the…incident.”
Evan sat back in his chair. Even a year later, the whole thing with Megan didn’t sit right with him. He tried to call her, to visit her, but she refused to answer. She refused to see him. She wanted nothing to do with him.
He never believed that Megan would steal the test answers. He knew her too well. He knew how smart she was: she didn’t need to cheat.
But she didn’t argue when they accused her of the crime.
She took her punishment, packed up her room, and left The Valley School for good.
“That girl was so hot.” Darren began to laugh to himself; he had drank a little too much of the Pappy Van Winkle.
“What girl?” Evan questioned.
“The girl Uncle Billy fucked during the party.”
“What?” Evan was lost, or at least he hoped he was lost.
“Darren, shut up. You’re drunk.” Billy quickly spat.
Evan’s father punched his brother in the arm. “Billy, what did you do?”
Billy snickered to himself and bit the inside of his cheek. “I did nothing.”
“Come on Uncle Billy.”
“Darren, go get some water.”
“I don’t have to listen to you.”
His father elbowed him. “But you have to listen to me.”
Darren, frustrated that he couldn’t argue with his father, stood up and stormed out of the room. His father nodded his head and went to follow him. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get behind the wheel.”
Billy looked to Evan. “Your brother and his imagination, huh?”
But Evan didn’t reply: he simply stared at his uncle.
“Kid? You alive?” Billy waved his hand in front of Evan’s face.
“You bit your cheek.”
“What?” He brought his hand back to the table.
“You bit your cheek.” Evan’s voice rose a bit.
“Yeah, so?”
“That’s your tell.”
“I don’t have a tell.”
“You do. Whenever you’re bluffing, you bite the inside of your cheek.”
“I do not--”
“You do!” Evan stood. “And just then, when you said you did nothing, you bit your cheek.”
“What are you getting at, kid?” Billy stood, meeting him.
Evan pushed back from the table.
“Evan, calm down.”
“You…you…” Evan began to back up.
“Yes, I…I. Spit it out already.”
“How could you?”
His uncle gave a quick laugh. “How couldn’t you? That’s a better question. I have to tell you. It came as quite a shock when I realized I had been the first.”
Evan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But you…you…they kicked her out of school.”
“It was better than taking the chance of her blabbing her mouth. Did you see her? She was a mess. I had figured her to be a little more together.”
Evan was still confused, and the alcohol wasn’t helping him piece the puzzle together. “But she wouldn’t.”
“Well, not without a little motivation. And, a little restraint.” His uncle winked at him. “Let me tell you…you missed out.”
Evan felt a rage begin to burn inside of him: a rage so strong he wasn’t sure he could contain it. It all made sense…her running out of the room…her shaking…her screaming at him that she could take care of herself, that she didn’t need his protection. It was all Billy. He had done that to her…he had…
Evan couldn’t control himself. His body sprang forward, pushing his uncle to the ground. He swung: throwing his fist into the wood floor as Billy quickly turned his head. He rolled over his nephew, pinning his shoulders to the ground, but Evan pushed his elbow into Billy’s gut, knocking the wind from him. Evan found his feet and stood, but when he turned back to his uncle, Billy was holding a gun straight at his chest.
“Don’t move, Evan.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.” Evan growled at his uncle
“That all depends. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to get Megan back in school.”
“Mmm, wrong answer.” Billy shook his head.
“Then try to stop me.”
“I’m holding a gun. Don’t threaten me.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Billy widened his stance. “There’s little I wouldn’t do to protect the Covington name.”
“Except not rape a teenager!” Evan blurted out.
“You don’t dare talk to me like that, kid.” Billy cocked the gun in his hand. “I am the man here. Not you. I stuck my cock in her mouth, and I gagged her. I fucked that girl until she was blue. The naïve, scared, little puppy dog look on her face while I took her was absolutely priceless. So, she got kicked out of school. So, she’s destined for mediocrity. What the hell do I care? It was worth it to be the man to take away her virtue. It was all worth it, just to be the man who put her in her place. And, believe you me: that little Megan Coulis is better for it.”
Evan lunged forward, reaching his hands out to the pistol. They fought over the piece, each equally matching the other’s strength. They pushed, they pulled, they cursed, and they screamed.
Then…the gun fired.
They both fell to their knees as the blood began to pool beneath them.
“Evan, no!” Evan’s father and brother ran back through the door after hearing the gunshot.
“Evan…Evan!” His father was frantic as he pulled the two bodies apart. His son was covered in blood. “No, no, Evan, can you hear me?”
As the words escaped his lips, his brother, Billy, fell to the ground. Darren rushed to his side, but the air sucked from the room.
Everyone froze. Billy was dead.
“Evan,” his father slapped him across the face. “Evan, tell me what happened.”
“I…I…he…” Evan’s stare was fixed ahead. He was frozen, unable to move.
His father ripped his shirt from his son’s body, examining his chest for any hint of a gunshot wound. He pulled him into his arms.
“Evan, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
“I’m…I’m…He’s…”
“Shhh. Don’t say another word. We’ll take care of this.”
He stood and solemnly walked over to Darren who was holding his uncle’s lifeless body.
“Darren, get up.”
“Sir…”
“Up.” His father’s stern voice rang through the room.
He picked the gun up from the floor and wiped it clean with his pocket-handkerchief. Then, he took a clean handkerchief, wrapped the same gun in its folds, and handed it to his oldest son. “I need you to take this.”
“And do what?” Darren was confused and shaken.
His father looked back to Evan, still huddled in a ball on the floor, and whispered into Darren’s ear the course he needed to take.
“But, sir, I can’t do that.” Darren, like a child, looked up at his father.
“If you care about this family, that is exactly what you’ll do.”
“There has to be another way.”
His father slapped him across the face, jarring him from his strong stance.
“There is no other way. You do as you were told.”
Just then, something clicked within Darren. He knew he had to follow his father’s orders, he had to protect his family. “I’ll take care of this.”
“Son…” His father gave him a look of determination.
He was suddenly sober. “Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t let you down.”
Darren got behind the wheel of a car.
Darren drove to Megan’s house.
Darren broke into Megan’s house.
Darren planted the murder weapon in Megan’s room.
Megan was arrested the following morning after an anonymous tip.
Megan spent the next year in and out of courts, and the nine years after that in prison, locked up for a murder she didn’t commit.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Hey Evan! Get in here! Your girlfriend is on the TV.”
Evan paced his study, knowing the next move he would make could very well change his life.
But it didn’t matter. He had to see her. He had to right the wrongs he had made.
Maybe it wasn’t fully his fault. His uncle’s death was clearly an accident. Billy had pulled the gun on him. But at sixteen, after watching his uncle fall dead to the floor, Evan was in shock. He had only lis
tened to his wise father and concerned older brother. He wasn’t ready to throw away his life for a mistake. He let his family take care of it.
Only, ‘taking care of it’ was what cost Megan her life—or at least ten years of her life.
But now she was out, she was back, and she was prepared to exact her revenge. If only she knew the person she was after was Evan. Would she change her tune? Or would the pain she’d inflict just be that much worse.
Evan pulled a bottle of scotch from his bar, added two ice cubes to his glass, and poured himself a drink. He downed the liquid, feeling his body warm as the alcohol surged through his veins. He looked around at his home and let out a sigh.
After the incident, he finished school, went on to get his MBA, and then did as he had promised to do: he followed in his father’s footsteps. He did his share of traveling, managing, and decision-making. Evan made his father proud, but none of it mattered. Something was missing: something was holding him back. And, until that something was taken care of, he would continue to feel like a shell of a man.
So he moved back to the town that had caused him so much pain, so much grief, and so much regret. He bought a house nestled atop a mountain only a few miles from the one that he had chosen to call ‘home’ for the better part of his childhood, and he waited.
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