Lies Are For Cowards
The party is in full swing, and we have to park at least thirty deep on the side of the road leading up to the main house. We get out of the car, and I take an extra few seconds to stretch out the tension in my body. Riding with a silent, semi-pissed Maverick is not good for stress. He didn’t speak one word on the way here, and even now, he’s already half-way up the road with Lucas right beside him. Teagan and Goose hang back with me.
“What’s his problem?” I ask inclining my head towards Maverick.
Goose follows my eyes, but I know he doesn’t need to, “Let’s just say that Mav is one of a kind. He’s got some anger issues. Maverick is just…”
“Maverick,” Teagan finishes for him. They laugh as we start walking.
The bass of the music thumps all the way out of the house and into my chest as we get closer. I know I said I wanted to come to this thing, but if I’m honest, I’d rather not go inside the house at all during the party. Lucky for me, someone is thoughtful enough to have started a bonfire close to the lake. That’s where we find Maverick and Lucas already sitting. Goose leaves us to take up the spot beside Maverick. I sit down in the closest spot to the fire and Teagan looks like a lost puppy for a second as he looks from them back to me.
Never in a million years would I want him to choose between his friends and me, so I say, “You can go sit with them. I just want to be closer to the fire.” I’m even nice about it, and don’t mention that I’d rather sit on a bed of nails than to go sit next to Mr. Pouty Pants.
He sits down, “Nah. They’re ok. I’m a little chilly myself.”
“Umm, what was that speech you guys gave me the other day about wet hair in the cold?” I tease. “Shouldn’t you be wearing a hat?”
“Well, I would,” he retorts, “But someone never gave mine back.”
“I’m sorry,” I laugh reaching in to the inside pocket of my jacket. I haven’t wanted to give it back. Even after me wearing it, it still has the smell of him on it. I’d really hate for him to get sick, though. “Here,” I say handing it back.
His hand brushes against mine as he takes it, “Thanks. I know you haven’t found yours yet, so I’ll give this one back to you later.”
I nod to keep the butterflies from escaping my stomach. The girl beside me passes over a bag of marshmallows and I watch as she skewers hers and begins to roast it over the fire. It brings back memories of the other night, sitting around the fire with Teagan, when he first kissed me. When I look up to him, I can tell he’s thinking the same thing. My face flames as hot as the fire and I pass the bag to him without taking any. In my peripheral, I can see that he’s still smiling down at me. The bigger problem is that my eyes lift to see Maverick watching us. I could be wrong, but I think that he saw the entire exchange.
He stands up without breaking eye contact with me and heads inside the house. Teagan says he’s going to get us a drink, and leaves me with a promise that he’ll be back in a minute. Lucas and Goose follow the other two inside quickly thereafter.
Fucking boys. What am I even doing here? I’m restless, and I decide now is a good a time as any to take a stroll down to the dock on the lake. Teagan can find me when he gets back.
Once I’m alone, it’s so much easier to breathe. In the darkness, the lake water looks black, and reminds me of a mirror, with the way it reflects the stars in the night sky. Absently, I notice some of the stars are covered by clouds. A storm must be rolling in. Damn I hope it waits until I get home to rain. I love the sound that it makes as it hits the trailer’s tin roof.
“What are the chances I’d find you here, trailer park?” Derrik’s voice says from behind me.
I startle so much that I’m scared I’ll fall into the lake, but I try not to let it show in my voice, “Pretty good since I’m here, huh Dick.”
His face drops from fake friendliness to pure hatred, “Found you some Prim Wood boys to whore out to I guess. There’s no other reason for you to be here. Do they know what you are, white trash?”
He’s got me cornered like a cat and mouse. I can’t move around him, because I know for a fact that he’ll push me in, and I’d rather not go for a swim. So, I do what I should have done a long time ago, and ask, “What’s your fucking problem, Derrik? I’m sorry that Will kicked your ass over me, but that was years ago. Why can’t you just move on and leave me the fuck alone?”
The laugh that he lets out is rough and it gives me chills. “You’re nothing but a fucking whore, trailer park. Why would you ever think that fight was about you?” he sneers.
This throws me for a second, and he inches closer.
“Then why?” I ask. “I’ve never done anything to you.”
“Yes, you have. You lived when it should have been him,” he says harshly.
The words strike home harder than I’d like, and I have to put a hand against my heart to make sure that I wasn’t actually stabbed.
“He wouldn’t have even been out that night if it wasn’t for you,” he says digging the knife a little deeper.
Derrik has moved even closer and I’m sure at this point that my ass is getting wet tonight. I can only hope that he won’t try to drown me after I go in. I try to stall him and get a question off my chest at the same time, “Why do you care so much?”
I watch his face as the pain flashes there, and it’s in that moment that I know. He must see something on mine, because he makes a quick move to push me in.
“Hey!” a voice yells from behind him. My stomach falls into my butt in relief when I hear Teagan’s voice.
Derrik turns around with a smile plastered to his face, “Hey man, what’s up? Killer party.”
“What the fuck was just going on here?” he asks. “It looked like you were going to push her in.”
The laugh that he lets out is fake and I hope Teagan can read straight through the bullshit. I’m not opening my mouth. If they find out that Derrik was the cause of my bruises, I have no doubt that he would have a rough night afterwards. I should have known that I wouldn’t have to say anything.
Derrik opens his mouth and inserts his foot, “Oh, you mean trailer park? She was just offering me sex for money, and I had to be a little forceful in telling her off. Figured a swim might do her some good.”
“Is that so?” Teagan asks in a chilly voice I’d yet to hear from him.
Throwing up his hands, Derrik says, “Look man, I wasn’t trying to start any trouble. We were just talking.”
“I thought she was offering you sex for money?” Teagan says crossing his arms. “Can’t be both, so which is it, dickhead?”
He laughs and looks to me, “This is who you’re whoring around with now?”
“Don’t fucking call her that or it’ll be your ass in that lake,” Teagan says, taking a step closer to him.
Derrik throws his hands up again, “You’re more than welcome to her, dude. I’m out.”
We watch as he makes his way to the end of the dock. I breathe a sigh of relief. Only, it’s short lived when he turns around and walks backwards as he says, “See you around.” It would have been fine if he hadn’t reached up and tapped the side of his nose.
Teagan, who had come to stand at my side, stiffens as Derrik’s laughter echoes back to us, “Kendall?”
I look up to his face, only to see a fury that I associate with Maverick not him. “Please tell me that he didn’t just mean what I think he did,” he says barely containing the rage.
Refusing to answer him is enough of an answer, apparently. He storms down the dock as he yells, “Mother fucker!”
“Wait, Teagan,” I say catching up, and trying to pull him to a stop, “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
He stops and turns around to look down to me, “Tell me that prick has nothing to do with the bruises on your face.” When I say nothing, he nods, “Thought so.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
If he makes it to the guys before Derrik leaves, it’s going to turn into a bloodbath. I’m way the fuck out of my element, and I have no idea how to stop them. Ryleigh. I’ve got to find Ryleigh.
By the time that I find her, I almost cry in relief. She’s sitting in Eddie’s lap inside the house. Just as I motion for her to come outside with me, one of the guys’ teammates runs through the middle of the room, “Fight!!!”
Forgetting Ryleigh, I rush out with the rest of the crowd to the front yard. What I see turns my stomach. Maverick has Derrik on the ground pounding fist after fist into his face. Goose tries to pull him off the bloody mess that’s Derrik, but Maverick just pushes him away. So, of course, I do the stupidest thing I can think of.
Pushing my way through the crowd, I get in Maverick’s face, “Stop it! Maverick! Look at him! Stop!”
There’s so much anger when he looks at me that I know some of it is meant for me. He jerks up away from Derrik, who is moaning on the ground.
I want to say something to him, but he’s gone before I get the chance to.
Ryleigh comes up and yanks on my arm, pulling me away from the scene. She walks us back to Eddie, “Go find my brother and tell him that I’m taking Kendall home.” He nods and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Once we’re out of earshot of everyone, she starts grilling me. It takes me all the way to her car to get it all out and when I do, she says nothing. She just stares at me, open-mouthed. At least I think she’s staring at me, until I realize that she’s actually been staring right over my shoulder.
“Why did you lie to me?” Maverick’s voice growls in my ear.
Since I don’t want to turn around and face him, I find a spot on Ryleigh’s tire to stare at, “I technically didn’t lie about anything.”
His palm smacks the Jeep beside me, “Omitting the truth is the same fucking thing. Lies are for cowards. Lies are also for people who don’t want any friends.” The last is whispered so close to my ear that I feel his breath fan over my neck.
He pulls away from me and I don’t watch as he walks away this time. It’s all I can do to fight the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.