Becca

 

“I’ll see you Thursday, Cindy. Night, Rusty,” I called as I zipped up my jacket.

“Night, sugar. Stay safe.”

The cool air hit me as I stepped onto the sidewalk. Fall was slowly becoming winter, and I tugged the zipper higher, burying my face in the collar.

“Hey,” a deep voice said.

“Malachi?” 

Hands jammed in his pockets, he pushed off the wall and came over to me. “How’s it going?”

I glanced around. This was ... well, this was weird. Malachi had hardly spoken to me since the Scarlett-Evan thing. He didn’t go out of his way to avoid me or anything, but he was even quieter than usual. 

“Is everything okay?” I asked, confusion furrowing my brows. 

He offered a tight smile and nodded. “Yeah, I just thought you might need a ride home.”

“Don’t you have better things to be doing?”

Stubbing out the cigarette against the wall, he flicked the butt, and said, “Come on.”

Well, okay then. But then a thought crossed my mind. “Wait. Did Scarlett put you up to this?” I’d caught her looking at me a couple of times today like she wanted to come over and say something, but she never did.

He gave a throaty chuckle if you could call it that. Malachi’s expressions were pretty much all the same. “No,” he replied.

“Evan?”

Malachi threw up his hands. “I come unattached.”

“Okay, I guess.”

We walked to the small parking lot on the side of the diner where his beat-up Ford was parked. 

“Is that thing road worthy?” I eyed it warily.

“Get in, Torrence,” he ordered, and I complied, wanting to get out of the cold. 

“So this is new,” I said when he climbed inside. 

“Look, I thought you could use a friend. What they did ...”

“Did you know?” Malachi had encouraged my relationship with Evan. It made no sense that he would know, but a lot of things didn’t make sense these days.

“I figured it out.”

I sat back, hands clasped in my lap. “Oh.”

“They just wanted to protect you, Becca.”

“Don’t, okay?” I let out a heavy sigh. “They lied, Malachi. They hurt me; he hurt me.”

“I know. Shit, I know.” He fired up the engine, and the car whirred to life. “Do you want to go somewhere?”

Did I? My social life was non-existent thanks to Scarlett and Evan. Even Lilly—although I expected it to happen—was back in Scarlett’s corner, and I had no one again.

“What did you have in mind?” Mom and Dad would flip when I texted them to say I wouldn’t be home, especially on a school night, but I couldn’t find it in me to care right now. I caught a hint of a smile on Malachi’s lips as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street. 

“You’ll see.”

~

Heat clung to me, licking my skin, as the room vibrated with the force of the bass. 

“They’re good, right?” Malachi yelled over the music.

I grinned over at him and nodded, rocking on the balls of my feet. Someone’s arm brushed my back, and I inched closer to Malachi. The place was small and busy; so busy I’d felt anxious at first, being among so many people, strangers. But once the band started and the first beat played, my anxiety washed away. No one paid me any attention. To them, I was just another reveler out to enjoy the music.

I was no one.

It was refreshing, and it was exactly what I needed. 

As the tempo increased, the crowd surged forward like the waves crashing against the shore. Malachi’s chest ended up squashed to my back. But better him than anyone else. 

After six or seven songs, the lead vocalist, a huge guy with shaggy brown hair wearing a tight ‘Rock My Life’ t-shirt, announced they were taking five. 

“Drink?” Malachi really wasn’t a guy of many words.

“Sure. Lead the way.” I was thirsty, and my tank top had molded to me like a second skin, but everyone looked the same—sweaty, hot, and completely at ease.

We pushed and shoved our way through the crush until we reached the bar. “Beer?”

I shrugged. One wouldn’t hurt. 

“Here. It’s on me.” He handed me the bottle. 

“Thanks,” I said, feeling more awkward now without the music and cheering crowd to blend into. “Do you come here a lot?”

The bar was on the outskirts of town in the opposite direction of Rogues. I hadn’t seen the small wooden building set off the main road before.

Malachi took a pull on his beer. “Sometimes. It’s an older crowd; the kids from school...” He trailed off, his eyes scanning the room.

“I get it.” I figured it was the reason he’d brought me here. No one would recognize us.

“It can get a little crazy sometimes, but I like the music. And the owner, Teller, is a good guy.”

I interpreted that to mean he didn’t card anyone since we both had a beer and I hadn’t seen the bartender ask for ID. Turning to face the room, I leaned back against the bar. “I like it.” It was far different from the kind of places I hung around in Montecito, but so was The Vault and Rogues.

“I thought you might.”

“You never bring the others?”

Malachi joined me in watching the room. The band was back on stage, gearing up for their next set. 

“No. It’s kind of my place, you know?”

I did. Malachi wasn’t like the others. He was guarded. Kept himself to himself. I sensed it had something to do with Ami, but he didn’t share things easily.

“Yet you brought me here.”

“I know what it’s like to need space, and there isn’t much of that at school, Becca. Everyone’s always so up in everyone else’s business.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his jaw clench. “Sometimes, I just need away from all that bullshit. No one cares here; they come for the cheap beer and the rockin’ music.”

We settled into an easy silence, watching the band strap on their guitars. The vocalist dragged a stool onto the stage and adjusted the mic stand.

“I bet you didn’t get much of this where you’re from,” Malachi said with no judgment in his voice, just curiosity, and I wondered what he thought about it all.

“My weekends were spent on my friend’s yacht or at her pool house.” For some reason, it felt right to tell him the truth. Maybe it was because he watched his best friend fall at the hands of Kendall, or maybe it was because of Simone, the girl I suspected meant more to him than anyone knew. She stayed in town last summer with her dad. I remembered Malachi talking about her once like they were more than friends for the summer. And Jay and Vin talked about her like she was from money, which meant Malachi didn’t care about that kind of thing. Not like a lot of the kids at Credence who stuck together and kept outsiders at an arm’s length.

“And now you’re stuck in Credence.”

I elbowed him gently. “It’s not all bad.”

He laughed, something you didn’t hear often, and I found myself smiling right along with him.

~

After the band had finished, Malachi suggested it was time to head home. Truth be told, I wasn’t ready to go back. I’d felt free for the first time since walking into school that morning and seeing my face plastered everywhere.

“Thank you for tonight,” I said as we reached his car. Malachi nodded, opening the passenger door and walking around to the driver’s side. I climbed inside and waited for him.

“Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.”

“Huh?”

“They have live music on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.”

“Okay,” I replied, uncertain of whether he was asking me or informing me.

Malachi was quiet the rest of the ride home until he pulled up outside my house. “Don’t let her win. Whatever she does, whatever she throws at you …”

I met his intense stare and forced a tight smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He nodded stiffly. “I’ll see you at school, Becca.”

I climbed out and watched him pull away, wondering what the hell had just happened. I didn’t get an interested vibe from Malachi, but we had some kind of mutual understanding. Comradery. We had both been screwed over by Kendall and lived to tell the tale.

But I couldn’t help but replay his warning. Don’t let her win. I’d known it was too good to be true that Kendall was done with me, but why did he make it sound like the worst was yet to come? That while the battle was over, the war was just beginning.

~

When I arrived at school the next morning, I debated on making a beeline for Malachi, but when I walked into the building, he was standing with Scarlett, Lilly, and Jay, so I walked right on by, not sparing them a second glance. I got his message loud and clear. Last night was an exception. He’d let me in on the secret that was Teller’s Bar, but that was it.

Fine by me. At least, I knew it wasn’t going to be a regular thing.

I headed to my locker, ignoring the whispers and snickers. I was so used to them by now that they barely registered. But I felt the person move behind me. Turning slowly, I came face to face with Evan.

“Hi.” The corners of his mouth tipped up.

“You’re in my way.” I flicked my head for him to back up, but he stood firm.

“I …” He ran a hand over his face. “I wondered if—”

Helping him out had been a mistake. I realized that now. He’d mistaken my concern for Eli as my desire to smooth things over.

“Evan,” I cut him off. “This”—I motioned between us—“is over.”

His smile faded, replaced with defeat. “But I thought—”

“Wrong. You thought wrong. You needed my help, and I helped. Eli is just a kid.” I lowered my voice. “I would always help him. But that’s it, Evan. Now I have to get to class. Excuse me.” I brushed past him and kept my gaze trained on something—anything—ahead of me. When I turned the corner, out of his sight, I ducked into the girls’ bathroom and locked myself in a stall.

Tears rushed up my throat, burning the backs of my eyes. But I pushed them down by clenching my fists and inhaling deep breaths. My plan was solid; hold my head high, not give a shit, and get on with it. There was one major flaw—every time Evan looked at me, I remembered. My mind conjured up the memories of our bodies pressed together, his kiss, his touch. He’d pieced me back together that night and healed some of my brokenness. And then he’d shattered me. All the will in the world wouldn’t erase that. Wouldn’t let me forget. But I had to find a way to push it down. In order for me to survive at Credence, I had to find a way to forget about Evan Porter.

Only I knew he wouldn’t make it easy.