Chapter 10

Ten Years Earlier

The day Sage’s bond was finally posted, London and I waited for four hours outside in the county jail parking lot.

Apparently even in a redneck county like ours, releases of inmates only happened once a day without a real concern for people’s lives or schedules. Geoff originally told us to be there at nine a.m., but it wasn’t until after the lunch hour when Sage finally appeared.

He walked slowly behind two larger, scruffy men who looked like they hadn’t showered in weeks. Sage himself was looking pretty haggard and shitty, even though he’d only been in custody for five days.

I didn’t have to be in jail to know it wasn’t a garden party. Although he hadn’t mentioned how bad it was, there’s no way Sage would ever want to return there. Who would?

With every step closer to us, we watched Sage transform; the deep lines of worry in his forehead slowly dissipating and erasing the closer and closer he got to my truck.

London, unable to hold herself back any longer, jumped out of the cab and ran toward him, arms thrown wide open as she launched herself against him and enveloped him in a tight bear hug.

Staggering back slightly, he reciprocated with his own hug, lifting her up in his arms so she could swing her legs around his waist. Sage buried his face into the curve of her neck and even from where I stood, I could see his body shaking with emotion.

I moved in until I was just inches from them and I swung my arm around his shoulders, pulling them into my embrace.

“I’m so glad to see you, Sage. We missed you so goddamn much.”

His long, thick lashes were wet when he reluctantly peered up at me.

“Get me out of here, man.”

Dropping London to her feet so she could walk on her own, the three of us wordlessly walked back toward my vehicle, London sandwiched between us, her hands clasping ours on each side of her. Always between us.

As we situated ourselves in the cab and I turned on the engine, the air flicking on to eliminate the heat, the atmosphere was atomic. It was still – the way the sky gets moments before the funnel cloud sweeps down out of the sky and annihilates everything in its path. It felt both the same as it had always been and yet wholly uncomfortable. Like wearing an ill-fitting pair of jeans that you’ve grown out of but don’t want to throw out. We still wanted to make it fit between us, but the dynamics had changed.

Everything had changed since that prom night just a few days before.

We had changed.

I should’ve fought harder for him to join us. But instead, I was a jealous asshole who wanted London all to myself. Had I not been so selfish, that night would’ve ended differently. His father would still be alive, and Sage wouldn’t have to go to trial for charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Sage stared out the window, completely still, London holding his hand as we drove toward my house.

As a condition of his bail, and approved by my parents, it was required that Sage was to live at my house. It was no big deal, considering he’d been a fixture at my home since we were kids. This time, however, he didn’t have a real home to go back to. No mother. No father. No family.

Just London and me. We were his family.

It was like a kick in the gut knowing that Sage’s life would never be the same again. Starting now – and dependent on the outcome of the trail – he would always carry the weight of his father’s death on his shoulders. The blood on his hands.

“You hungry, bro?” I asked him, figuring he was probably starving after having to eat prison food and would want something to eat.

“Nah. I just want to sleep.”

I could feel the weight of London’s stare as I glanced to the side where she gazed at me with a deep-green eyed, fragile look. I knew she felt exactly as I did – hopeless and useless. Uncertain what we were supposed to do for him. Unable to change the situation or make things better. Walking on eggshells with Sage because the circumstances were so tenuous.

But I wasn’t about to let him wallow in this depression or state-of-mind. So, I pushed him. “Come on, man. How about we stop by Pete’s Burgers for burgers and shakes? Your favorite. My treat. We can take them back to my place if you want.”

“Whatever.” His response nearly broke me. Nothing could cheer him up if his favorite food didn’t work.

“Or how about pizza?” London added hopefully, her voice overly chirpy.

“Jesus Christ!” he exploded, startling London so that she jolted back against my shoulder. “I said I wasn’t fucking hungry and just want to go to bed. Can’t you two mother hens just give me that? I just need some fucking sleep.”

It wasn’t the tone of his response that surprised me so much as it was the way he immediately shut down and didn’t say another word the entire ride home. Sage turned away from us, leaning his head against the passenger side window, crossing his arms at his chest and closing his eyes to shut us out completely.

“Sure thing, honey. Whatever you want.” London stroked his thigh reassuringly, the tension vibrating off his body so intense, even I could feel it from where I sat. And London’s normally sunny disposition suddenly became clouded with sorrow.

The minute we parked in my driveway, Sage flung the door open and was already jumping out of the cab before I’d even turned off the ignition.

“Sage, wait.” I demanded, jumping out of my seat and rounding the truck hood.

He turned to stare at me with a far off look in his eye, as if he heard me but wasn’t really present.

I walked toward him slowly – to avoid startling him – and held open my arms. Before he could protest, I pulled him into me and squeezed him tightly.

We’d shared bro hugs in the past, but never one of this magnitude. I wanted him to really and truly know I was there for him. That I loved him, even if I couldn’t necessarily say it out loud.

“We’re here for you, man. Always. No matter what…”

The rest of that sentence died on my lips. I couldn’t bear to say them. The implication that he could lose the trial and be given a prison sentence was too heavy of a reality. A weight that could easily bury us in the coming months. Or years.

We had to find a way to keep Sage’s spirits up.

To help him live his life fully in the event the worst possible outcome occurred, and our world would be turned inside out and upside down.