CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Leighton
“Your phone has been buzzing since you got up to go to the bathroom,” I tell my husband as he comes back, having a seat across from me.
“Must be something big, everybody knows I’m off tonight and it’s date night.” He flips the phone over and I raise my eyebrows at the five missed calls.
“Told you it went crazy while you were gone.” I was so hoping we’d have a nice night tonight. Violet’s not back at work yet; she’s recovering while Caleb and I have been picking up the slack. But Ernie closed early tonight to give us some time off. I had grand plans on taking my husband back to our house and showing him how much I love what he’s wearing.
His jaw tightens as he situates himself in his chair, pressing a button on the phone. “I got a bad feeling about this.” He presses his fingers against the bridge of his nose, pinching it in a way that tells me this may be a long night.
Something in the way he says the words puts me on edge as well. Our food hasn’t gotten to us yet, and I’ve already lost my appetite. Listening as the person on the other end of the phone answers, I try to make sense of what Holden is saying.
“I know you wouldn’t call unless something big is going on. Tell me.”
My heart beats faster and may palms get sweaty as I see his face pale.
“How many, and where? Have you called the ambulance yet?”
Now I’m really paying attention, trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and who it’s happening to. “Don’t,” he slaps his hand against the table. “I’ll be there ASAP.”
I watch with wide eyes as he slams the phone on the table with barely leashed restraint. His jaw is ticking double-time and I don’t recognize the man sitting across from me. For the most part, Holden is completely in control of his emotions, his anger rarely gets the best of him when I’m around, but I have a feeling right now I’m about to learn what the nickname Havoc means. He pulls his wallet out, throwing down a couple of bills across the table as he stands up. “Let’s go.”
He drags me out of the building, on high alert, watching the scenery as we make our way to the truck. I imagine this is what he looks like doing his day job, how he makes sure he and his guys come home safe and sound every night. It never occurs to me to ask where we’re going, what we’re doing. His eyes are wide and wild; they’re haunted by something I haven’t been a part of. As we run to the truck, and I get in, he flips on lights I’ve never seen him use. “Buckle up and hold on,” he instructs before he puts it in gear, and we take off like a damn rocket.
I’m hanging on as tightly as I can as we take turns at speeds that can’t be safe. I’m scared, no denying it, but if he’s this upset and worried, there’s a reason. “What are we going to?” I finally ask when the curiosity gets the best of me.
He doesn’t answer for what feels like the longest time. Sparing a glance in his direction, I see the firm set of his jaw, the way his teeth are clenching and the panting breaths he’s taking, evidenced by the flaring of his nostrils. “When we get there, I want you to stay beside me,” he growls as someone doesn’t get far enough out of his way. “C’mon!” he beats the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, frustration making his body tighten into a string that I’m scared is going to break.
“Where is there?”
“There’s a barn party out in the county,” his words are clipped, terse, like he’s trying desperately to keep his emotions out of this.
“That’s not unusual, right? I remember kids doing it back when I was in high school. What’s different about this one, babe?” I ask, putting my hand on his knee, trying to offer him some sort of comfort.
“This one includes Caleb. Menace is the one who called me. It’s bad, Leighton.”
I don’t know why, but the tone of his voice sends shivers up and down my arms. I’m worried, but I’m not completely sure what I’m worried about. The quietness in the truck lets me know we both are.
A half-mile from the scene, I can see the lights against the canopy of the trees. There are a ton of vehicles there, ranging from fire, to ambulance, to cops. As we come to a screeching halt, Holden bails out of the truck. For a few minutes I sit there, taking everything in. I see three stretchers with paramedics attending to what look like teenagers laying on them. One of the stretchers has a tarp covering one of the bodies, and I know without a doubt that person is dead. There’s another three or four being surrounded by law enforcement, they’re all bent over at the waist. As I slowly unbuckle my seatbelt and open the door, one thing sticks out to me. There’s blood everywhere.
I see Blaze, who’s standing behind one of the ambulances, with her rubber-gloved hand covered in blood braced against the metal, her head hanging low on her shoulders. Carefully I walk over to her. “Are you okay?” I whisper as I approach.
She turns quickly, not able to wipe the tears from her eyes, as her hands are still covered in blood. Slowly she takes the gloves off and throws them on the ground. “No, and Trevor can’t be over here right now because he’s working.”
“I can be, do you need a hug?” I ask her softly.
Her bottom lip trembles and I can hear her sniffle, trying to keep it in. “Yes, yes I do.”
I throw my arms around her, holding her as her shoulders shake against me, as she sobs. Desperately I want to know what’s happened, I want to make sure the person under that tarp isn’t Caleb, but I’m scared to ask the question. “It isn’t Caleb,” she finally says.
“Thank God,” I breathe out. “I was worried.”
“Me too,” she nods, pulling back as she wipes her hands over her face. “When we got the call, I knew this was the type of thing he’d be at, at his age. I didn’t expect what we found.”
Looking around again, I try to figure out where all the blood came from. I don’t see anyone with a weapon, or one that’s been discarded. Trevor and Holden are walking toward us, each wearing their vests with their badges proudly displayed. MTF in yellow letters glow in the darkness of the night as they approach.
“I need your help, Leigh,” Holden tells me when they come to a stop in front of us.
“My help?” Now I’m really confused. How in the world am I going to be able to help with this? But I know without a doubt I’ll do anything for this man. Putting my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, I rock back on my feet. “Whatever you need, you know I’ll give you.”
He’s carrying a bag, and he pulls a jug out of it, showing it to me. “Is this your family’s?”
I examine the jug. Ours don’t proclaim them to be ours in many ways. They’re usually clear glass, without what looks to be any identifying marks, but they’re there. You just have to know where to look for them. I flip it over, looking for the etching. I gasp when I find what I’m looking for, my eyes meeting Holden’s. “Did they drink this?”
“Yeah.” He nods, his face grim as his eyes search mine.
“Oh my God.” Immediately tears come to my eyes and I curse my dad. “What the fuck was he thinking?”
“Tell me what it means, baby girl.” His tone is light, like he’s scared I’m going to leave. Honestly, there’s a loving lilt to it that I’m not sure I deserve.
My hands shake as I bring it over to him. “This right here,” I show him one of the markings, “says it’s our brand, our batch.” My voice is low and I clear my throat as I try to get out the rest of the words. God this hurts to know my family doesn’t care a thing about the people’s lives they destroy, about the kid they killed here tonight. “This marking,” I close my eyes and let the tears fall, “says it’s a bad batch.”
“So what are we dealing with?” Tank asks quietly.
“More than likely Methanol Poisoning.”
“Fucking son of a bitch,” Tank fumes from where he stands beside of me. “So they knew it was a bad batch, and gave it out anyway.”
I nod. “Probably at a discount, so these kids thought they were going to get wasted for less money than they can go buy a keg for. They had no idea, they couldn’t have.” Immediately a thought occurs to me. “Oh my God! Did Caleb drink any of this?”
“No.” Holden puts his arms around me, bringing me into his chest. “No, Caleb stuck to beer and called us when things started getting out of hand.”
Blaze joins us as Tank quietly tells her what I’ve told him. “Explains why they were puking up so much blood,” she sighs. “As young and small as they are, as much as they normally drink, it probably ate through their stomach lining.”
“One of the reasons the old-timers call it rotgut,” Holden curses as he rubs a hand over my hair. “You didn’t do this, you know.”
“But I didn’t stop it, either,” I fire back. “When is enough, enough for them? You’ve gotta arrest him.”
Holden’s eyes flash. “I arrest him, he knows you told me. You’re already on their radar for telling me what you did at the Founder’s Festival. You know that, right?”
“What’s my life for that kid over there?” I point to the stretcher with the tarp still covering it.
His eyes are hard when they meet mine this time. “You are my life. We will figure this out.” The promise is there in his voice, and I have to wonder what he’s willing to do to protect me and keep me with him forever. At some point my family has to pay for what they’ve done, and I don’t know how much longer I can sit by and watch lives get destroyed while I live the happiest one I’ve ever known. Glancing around, I see Caleb, and I know I have to go to him.
“How are you doing?” I ask quietly as I approach Caleb. He’s sitting off to the side, watching the guys work, taking in the cleanup the paramedics are doing. I’ve watched him for what feels like hours, but I know it’s been less than that. His eyes are glazed over, and his stare is remote.
“How the fuck you think I’m doing, Leighton?”
I’m taken aback by the harsh tone of his voice. He’s never spoken to me like this. In the moment, he’s more of an adult than he’s ever been. What I’m seeing is the man he’s going to turn into, and I’m scared at the rage and anger in his eyes. “It’s okay to be upset.”
“Upset? The kid over there on that stretcher with a tarp over his body? He was my teammate. He was the first person to come up to me at my first practice and introduce himself. He let me eat with him at lunch for a week until I made new friends. He never made me feel like the new kid, even though he was a senior. He was a good guy, had a scholarship to go play in the fall, and now look at him. He’s got nothing.” There are tears leaking out of his eyes, and I want to give him comfort.
Instinctively I know it’s not something he gets most of the time. We’ve both lived without mothers, there’s something about the way they take you into their arms and hold you close, neither one of us have had. “Do you want me to go get your dad?”
“No,” he sobs. “I don’t want him to see me like this, he’s working. God, I wish I’d never have fuckin’ called him. But I got scared when they started puking blood. I knew something was wrong.” He wipes his nose on his arm. “Dad screamed at me over the phone, asked what I thought I was doing. I tried to tell him, being normal for once. Not worrying about being the good kid, blowing off a little steam.” He puts his face in his hands. “I met a girl out here,” he shares with me.
“Is she one you like?” I try to get his mind on something else besides the blue tarp.
“I’ve been trying to get her to talk to me for months. She texted me this address and asked me to come out. She and I stuck to beer,” he reveals his actions. “Because neither one of us likes to get fucked up. We were behind the barn, she was on her knees giving me a blow job while my friend over there was dying.”
I’m speechless. Beyond speechless at what he’s telling me.
“I was getting off, while he was dying,” his voice breaks as he continues to sob. I can’t take it anymore as I pull him into my arms, holding him tightly against me.
“It’s okay, Caleb. It’s okay.”
He doesn’t say anything as he buries his face in my neck, his shoulders shaking. I can’t hold back the tears either, as I rub his back, hoping to offer him a little bit of comfort for this shitty situation. Across the field, my eyes meet both Holden’s and Mason’s. Both of their faces are wrecked, their eyes haunted, and I wonder how this community is ever going to come back from this. How is Caleb ever going to get over this? I know he will, we all figure out how to move past the pain of circumstances in our lives, but this is something I never would have wished on my worst enemy.