Chapter Twenty-Three
Cash
I marched through the front door. I didn’t care if my parents were awake. I didn’t care if they questioned where I’d been. I headed into my house fully prepared to tell them I’d walked Katie home after a party. Because that was pretty much what had happened, and I refused to lie to them about her. I didn’t want to hide her. I wanted the whole damn world to know that I liked her. That she was well on her way to becoming mine.
But. No one was awake. So I grabbed an apple from the kitchen and headed down the hall to Crue’s room. The door was slightly open and his bedside lamp was on. “Hey, man, why are you home?” Usually he slept most of the night at Avory’s. “You okay?”
He was sitting on the end of his bed, his hands in his hair. “Nope. Not fucking okay.”
“What’s going on?” I stepped into his room, shutting the door quietly behind me.
He held his phone out. “Melanie wasn’t bluffing. She has proof.”
I took the phone from his hand and read through the text message. She’d sent pictures an hour ago, image after image of Crue making out with Avory. They were sitting on the tailgate of his truck, and she was straddling his lap and his hands were in her long dark hair. “Where the hell were these taken?”
“I don’t know, man.” He stood and started pacing his room. “Whatever random field we decided to use that day.”
“She followed you? Shit.” That was fucking insane. I studied the picture; there was no denying it was Avory. She’d gotten a tattoo on her shoulder using a fake ID over spring break. It was a mandala design, but what no one else knew was that hiding inside it were Crue’s initials. “This is going to sound a little crazy, but what if we tell them it’s me making out with Avory? We can say we had a little fling, but that it’s over now.”
“I already thought of that, but you can see my tattoo in the last picture.” He had a big skull design on the inside of his right arm. Avory’s name was scrawled in cursive around the skull’s crown.
I thumbed through the images again. He was right. In the last picture he was taking his shirt off and you could see it. Not in detail, but enough to know that it was him. Too bad they went out and got those stupid tattoos. “Okay. What if we tell them it was a one-time deal, that it was a mistake and you both felt terrible about it afterward.”
I kept using the word we when it came to this fucked-up situation. I couldn’t help but place myself in hot water with them, even though earlier tonight I’d vowed not to.
“Right.” He grabbed his phone out of my hands and threw it across the room. Luckily it hit his leather armchair and then bounced harmlessly to the ground. “And then we’ll never be able to be alone again. They’ll watch our every move. They’ll never trust us.”
“So tell them the fucking truth and deal with the consequences.” I shrugged. “So what if you can’t sneak around banging Avory morning, noon and night? Who cares if you have to have a normal fucking relationship for the next year? Is that really the worst thing?”
“That’s best-case scenario.” He threw his hand out wide. “What if they separate us completely? What if Uncle Dash spazzes out on me like he did Beau? Avory still has another year of high school left. She isn’t eighteen yet. Dash basically accused Beau of statutory rape.” He pointed to himself. “What do you think he’ll do to me?”
“Well, since you’ve never knocked her up, maybe leave out the fact that you’ve been fooling around the whole damn time.” Crue wasn’t thinking clearly; he was upset and he was worked up. I needed to calm him down, get him to see that telling the truth was the only way to do this. “Look, I’m just saying you have options here.”
“We have two options. Two.” He put his hands on his hips. “Either I go out with the bitch, or you do.”
“Me?” I narrowed my eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Come on, man, it’d be one little date. Hell, the party is tomorrow night. You’d be gone for three hours, max. Avory could keep Katie entertained and I’d cover—”
“Fuck. You.” I jabbed a finger in his direction. “Fuck you, man.” I shook my head. “How could you even suggest this? Suggest I lie to Katie. That we all lie to Katie. I care about this girl, Crue. I—”
“You care about her? You’ve known her for less than a week, Cash. I’ve been in love with Avory for two goddamn years.” His held his hands out, keeping them inches apart. “We’re this close to being out of here. We’re this close to being free.”
I shook my head. “You’ll never be free. As long as you keep lying, you’ll never be free.”
“You’re one to talk, bro. If my lies come out, eventually yours will too.” I clenched my jaw, trying like hell to remember that he was my brother. That he was scared, and he felt trapped. “It’s common sense. Once people find out I’ve been with Avory this whole time, they’ll know what you’ve been doing.”
“I did that for you. I did it because you asked me to. Because you’re my best friend.”
“I doubt it’ll matter in the end.” His smile was cruel, and I could feel what was coming. “How many poor girls did you let call out my name while you were inside them?”
My heart was pounding, my blood starting to boil. “Don’t do this, man.” I silently pleaded with him to stop.
“How ‘bout Katie? She scream out Cash? Or did you ask her to call you Crue?”
I hit him. I hit him as hard as I could, letting the last year and a half worth of misery and frustration fly. He stumbled back, holding his hands up to his bloody nose.
“You fucking deserved that.” I walked out, closing his door softly behind me.