Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
What went unsaid was “now she never could.”
Seven
I feel like if cicadas are allowed to sit in a tree and scream, I should be allowed to, too.
—Creole to Audric
AUDRIC
I was drinking a beer, watching Webber’s wife dance excitedly with her newest best friend, the flight attendant from hell, when Webber himself came up and took a seat next to me.
“Going a little hard tonight, aren’t you?” he asked.
“I have no reason not to,” I answered as I thought about why I hadn’t been able to go hard lately.
I was raising a child.
A child that I now knew the parentage of and should definitely tell the father.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
I’d never been so mad in my life.
Mad at Laney.
Mad at the situation.
Mad at Laney’s parents.
Mad at everything and everyone.
Well, everyone but the one that I probably had the second most right to be mad at.
The woman who was trying really hard to appear like she was enjoying herself but wasn’t.
“Drinking for all the time I’ve missed out the last two years,” I said stiffly.
I felt more than saw Webber’s face turn to survey me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I shook my head. “You just got married. I’m not laying my troubles at your feet when you should be enjoying yourself and forgetting everyone and everything but her.”
He snorted. “Yeah, because that’s going to make me not want to know what’s going on.”
I shrugged. “I…”
“Audric.” He paused. “Or should I call you Audi?”
I blew out a disgusted breath. “Definitely shouldn’t go there.”
Apollo sat down on the other side of me, and he leaned forward as he stared at the same two women we were.
“How do you know the flight attendant?” Apollo asked.
I turned to look at him. “Why do you ask?”
He tapped his lip for a few seconds before he said, “I don’t think I should tell you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Apollo, I’ve known that woman for close to three-quarters of my life. She was Laney’s best friend.”
He nodded. “Just because she was Laney’s best friend doesn’t mean that you know anything about her.”
To be honest, he was right.
I didn’t know her nearly as well as I thought I once did.
“Hung out with her every day through fourth grade. I wouldn’t exactly say that we were best friends, because that was what Laney and her had. And Laney and I had. She was just the common denominator between us. But I know her family. Know her mom. Know she lost a child. Even babysat that child for her when she had to work.”
Apollo seemed to hesitate for a few long seconds before he said, “Looked into that douchebag of a pilot. Heard y’all’s conversation. Knew that she was lying because no way would you go there with your wife’s best friend. So I wanted to know what was going on.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Laney was only my wife on paper. Don’t think poorly of Creole because she was Laney’s best friend. Creole and I had just as much of a romantic relationship as Laney and I did.”
There was a long moment of silence and then, “Fuck, that makes so much more sense now. I heard you discussing a few things with another club member, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to act like I knew or not.”
I rolled my eyes. “Apollo, you know more about everyone’s lives than even we do sometimes. Plus, we practically invite you to dig into our lives. You can speak freely with me about anything you want to.”
“Okay, good,” he said. “So since Creole was sexually assaulted, I decided to do some digging into Kory. I didn’t like the way he cornered her in there. Took up…”
I held up my hand. “Whoa. Wait. What do you mean sexually assaulted?”
He looked at me in surprise. “When she was seventeen. You said y’all were…”
I closed my eyes as horror washed through me.
Everything started to make sense.
Her actions. How she reacted our senior year. How she pulled away.
How she was pregnant and wouldn’t tell anyone.
How she had trouble connecting with her own child.
How Laney came over and cried when she told me Creole’s son’s name.
Fuck.
Jesus fuck.
I was finding it hard to fucking breathe.
How had I missed this?
How could I have been so blind?
I scrubbed my face. “Does it show in her records who did it?”
I knew that he’d dug deeper once he’d found out about the rape.
Rape.
Goddammit.
Only thinking the word made bile rise up in my throat.
“Rapist was never found, technically,” he said, “but there’s a boy who unenrolled from the school a few days after she reported it.”
My mind was reeling, trying to remember who’d left our senior year abruptly.
There was only one and…
“Who?” I asked.
Jordie Goodwin.
“Jordie Goodwin,” Apollo echoed my thoughts.
I clenched my fists and tried to breathe.
But I was finding it really hard to.
I’d witnessed the two of them together at a party at Laney’s place.