Chapter Fifty-Three James
Chapter Fifty-Three
James
Thirteen Years Ago
The old Abbott barn was one of the few places James and Edie could get away from everyone and be together.
The way their relationship had evolved had been a slow burn, though he’d liked her from the minute he stepped foot in Bennett’s house and saw her there, head in a book.
James knew then that she would be the only person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and Edie believed she wanted the same.
She wasn’t like the other Corrigans. She was sensitive, compassionate, and nice.
She never made it seem like she was anything more than a regular awkward girl.
James loved that about her. She wasn’t like Myles, who was too cool to even be considered human.
He was already off in the air force, having made a quick getaway from his overbearing father.
She wasn’t like Bennett, who toggled between hating Edie with a passion and being overprotective of her.
James only wanted to be with her. But even that, Bennett wouldn’t let happen.
The moment he suspected James was interested in Edie, he was on James like white on rice, shaming him, trying to get him to fuck other girls, outright demanding they not see each other.
All because he knew that Edie was the one their father loved the most. So he made it his goal for her to have the least.
The five of them—James, Edie, Bennett, Danny, and Roger—had gone to the barn to hang out and drink. Bennett, Danny, and Roger were drinking the most, guzzling all the booze they’d found at home and bought from the store, where a fake ID got them all the whiskey and tequila and beer they wanted.
James and Edie sneaked away, climbing up to the loft when it looked like the guys below had finally passed out. Now they could be alone. Quiet, so as not to wake the ones below, but alone.
The two of them finally gave in to the desires they’d kept in check for months.
They made love, and it was the most special night of James’s life.
As they were getting dressed and silently laughing at the hay stuck in their hair, Danny’s head popped up through the door in the floor, and he grinned at them lasciviously. Below, Bennett and Roger waited.
Danny sniffed the air and yelled, “Smells like someone’s been fucking tonight!” He laughed boisterously. “James, you goddamn dog! I thought Bennett said Edie was hands off for his friends.”
Below, Roger, always the clown, whooped and hollered, saying the most asinine things. They were still drunk, even more so if that was possible. The alcohol wafted off them, and they were unsteady on their feet.
“I’m the one who decides who’s on or off limits,” Edie said, brushing away the last bits of hay.
“You better get your deciding ass on down here so we can go.” Danny laughed, climbing back down the rickety stairs.
James and Edie shared a look, knowing Bennett was about to explode, preparing themselves for the inevitable.
James knew exactly how it would go down.
They’d drop Edie off at home, and then Bennett would get Danny and Roger to beat the shit out of James for daring to be with his sister.
All James wanted was to get her home safely.
The rest would be what it was going to be.
Bennett watched them hawkishly, his eyes dark and stormy beneath the mess of his curly light-brown hair.
His gaze went from Edie to James and back to Edie again, his expression unreadable.
The air around him was thick with repressed anger, booze, and all the other demons bottled inside him.
Edie stood her ground against him, refusing to make what she and James were to each other something cheap and ugly.
She slipped her hand in James’s, and for a moment, he relished the feel of her soft hands, remembered the touch of her body beneath his.
But he stiffened at the way Bennett looked at their intertwined hands.
Gently, James pulled his hand from hers, refusing to face her when she looked at him full of hurt.
He couldn’t face anyone, ashamed that he was afraid to stand up to Bennett.
Bennett had a bottle of whiskey in his hand and took a deep drink of it. “So this is what you do when Dad’s not around. Just wait until I tell him. He’ll ship you off to where your fucking mother is slumming in Florida. Get the fuck in the car. I’m taking you home.”
James and Edie were the sober ones, and they attempted to get the keys from Roger, but Bennett was insistent on getting behind the wheel, and Roger gave the keys up to him without a whimper.
James and Edie said they’d trek down, to which Bennett replied, “This time of night? As far as it is by foot? Over my dead body.” He looked at James, his words meaning more than just walking down the hill.
Roger’s yellow Jeep raced through the night, slicing through the darkness of the winding two-lane road that cut through the hills. The air was thick with the tension that only comes from too much liquor and the reckless thrill of youth.
Bennett grinned in the driver’s seat, his hand drumming against the steering wheel of the Jeep while Edie sat in the passenger seat, her knuckles practically white as she gripped the armrest. In the back, Roger and Danny volleyed between boisterous laughter and nervous yelps when Bennett took curves too wide.
James sat rigidly behind Bennett’s seat.
“Bennett, slow down,” Edie said tersely. Her eyes were glued to the twisting road ahead. “These roads are dangerous.”
He glanced at her, his grin widening to a sneer. “Come on, Edie, don’t be such a buzzkill. It’s just a bit of fun.”
James’s stomach churned. The alcohol coursing through his veins did little to dull the heaviness in his chest. Bennett was unpredictable, worse than Jekyll and Hyde, and hopped up on wealthy privilege.
One moment, he was charming, smooth talking, the center of attention.
The next, he was . . . this. Cold. Sadistic.
The others exchanged nervous glances but said nothing. They never said no to Bennett.
“We’ve had enough fun for one night,” Edie said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Let’s just get home.”
“Nah,” Bennett said, focused on the narrow stretch of road illuminated by their beams. “One more game before we get to the house,” he said, his tone low and teasing.
“What do you mean a game?” Roger asked from the back, his voice laced with worry, probably about his Jeep.
Roger always worried about his precious Jeep.
It annoyed the hell out of James. James strained to see ahead of them, watching out for any deer or other wildlife that could jump into the road.
But it wasn’t wildlife he saw. He squinted. Headlights up ahead?
Without warning, Bennett flipped off the headlights, plunging them into total darkness.
“Bennett, what are you doing?” Edie was screaming.
“Holy shit, man! Turn them back on!” Roger said, as panicked as James was feeling. Roger grabbed the headrest in front of him. Danny laughed. He was always unserious until he wasn’t.
They sped down the narrow lane swallowed by a dark abyss. Bennett laughed, his foot pressing harder on the gas. The car surged forward, tires whining against the pavement as the road twisted beneath them. The trees that lined the road turned into dark, looming shadows that rushed past in a blur.
“Bennett, stop! This isn’t funny!” Edie was frantic, reaching out to grab the knobs around the steering wheel, looking for the light stalk, which wasn’t on her side. It was on James’s. Bennett batted her hand away with ease, his eyes wild with excitement.
“Relax,” he said, his voice calm despite the chaos he’d created. “We’re having fun.”
In the back, the others fell silent, their breath coming in short, terrified gasps. They all knew better than to challenge Bennett when he was like this, but the fear was palpable. No one wanted to be the one to tell him no.
The car hurtled forward, blind and fast, the road curving dangerously ahead. Then, in the distance, the faint glow of headlights James thought he saw became definite and were getting closer.
“Bennett!” Edie’s yell filled the car.
The oncoming car closed in, its high beams bouncing against the tree trunks.
His grip tightened on the wheel. In the small rectangle of the rearview mirror, Bennett was a blank canvas and determined.
Just as the two vehicles were about to converge, Bennett flicked on the headlights—bright, blinding, cruel.
“No!” James called out, wanting this nightmare to pause. It couldn’t be real.
The high beams of light flooded the narrow road with bright illumination just as the minivan in front of them came into full view.
From his seat, he could see the driver and passenger throw their hands up in the blinding light.
The driver, recovering quickly but not fast enough, grabbed the wheel in his blindness as the vehicles passed each other.
The van swerved, banking hard. With a screech of tires and a metallic roar, the minivan veered off the road, crashing through the guardrail and disappearing over the edge.
The silent night exploded in a cacophony of shattering glass and crunching metal.
Bennett slammed on the brakes, smacking into the rail before finally bringing the Jeep to a jarring stop several yards away from the site of the impact.
The rest of them were thrown forward, smashing into seat backs and whatever else could stop their momentum.
For a second, all was silent before the vehicle filled with heavy, ragged breathing and panic.
James’s heartbeat thundered in his ears, and his hands were shaking. He didn’t want to look behind them.
Edie was the first to unbuckle her seat belt. She flung the door open and stumbled out onto the side of the road. “Oh my God,” she repeated over and over, her voice inching higher. “What have you done?”
They stumbled out of the back seats, their faces ghostlike, their breaths ragged. Danny ran a hand through his hair, muttering curses under his breath. Roger bent over at his knees, heaving. James felt like he might be sick, while Edie circled around and around in shock.
But Bennett? He was the last to get out, stepping out slowly and sucking in a deep lungful of air. His face was flushed, giddy, like he’d just finished a ride at an amusement park. He walked around to the front of the car, surveying the damage with a lazy smile.
“Your dad’s gonna be pissed about this,” he said to Roger matter-of-factly as he assessed the damage from where the front bumper had hit the rail. “I can take care of that for you.”
Edie spun on him, her eyes blazing with fear and anger. “You’re insane, Bennett! That wasn’t a game. You just made that van crash!”
James and the other two huddled close, casting worried looks at Bennett and behind them, where the guardrail was broken and the van had gone down. It took James a moment to realize what had really happened. A vehicle had gone over the ridge, and it was their fault.
Roger finally spoke, his voice shaky. “We need to call the cops. Someone in that van could be dead.”
Edie was already heading to the crash site, stopping at the twisted metal, looking down.
“They’re not too far down. They may be alive and need help.”
“Need help?” Bennett said, his tone chilling. “We need to get our story straight first.”
Edie stared at him, horrified. “You did this on purpose playing that stupid game! You caused the crash. You—”
“I didn’t know a car was coming up,” Bennett said, stepping toward her, his eyes narrowing.
“No one comes up this side of the mountain. And we were all drinking. You think any of us make it out of this without jail time? State championship’s next week.
You can kiss that scholarship goodbye. And your cushy life after graduation? Gone.”
James shook his head, his voice trembling. “But we have to do something. The people in there, man!”
Danny said, “Shut the fuck up about the people, okay? It was an accident. Just call it in as an accident.”
Edie pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the cops.” Bennett stomped over to her, and James rushed to head him off but got there too late. Bennett slapped Edie in the face. And then slapped the phone from her hands.
James edged closer. “Hey!”
“Get it the fuck together. This was a stupid game gone wrong. An accident. They’ll say it was bad driving for the road conditions or whatever excuse they give for stuff like this. I don’t know, but we’re not calling the police until we call our people first.”
Edie looked like she was about to be ill. Exactly how James was feeling. “You’re disgusting,” she said to her brother.
Bennett turned, eyeing each of them until he landed on James. “If anyone says anything other than we were driving, saw them go over, and stopped to see if we could help them, you’re dead. Understand? This secret goes to our grave.”
Roger and Danny readily agreed. They didn’t have the pull like Bennett and Edie. Their dads had business with the Corrigans. They had college and wives and careers to have. Reputations to uphold. No one had to know about this. No one.
“Swear it,” Bennett said, his eyes boring into James, making him feel like he was shrinking where he stood.
James nodded, feeling ashamed. His dad’s law firm. Edie. Their lives would be ruined.
Edie shook her head emphatically. “No, I won’t. We can’t.”
Bennett leaned in close to her, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
“You will, because if you ever mention this again, dear little sis, I’ll make sure your life is a living hell.
I hope you believe me.” Then he flipped, a disarming smile spreading over his face.
His voice softened. “It will be all right, okay? They will be all right if you call the ambulance fast enough. You can save them.” He picked up the phone and held it out to her.
She recoiled, looked over the ledge at the van, with its wheels still spinning halfway below, and silently took the phone to call 911.
At the same time, Bennett called their father, who came to the scene with Jackson.
What kind of brother—no, human—did that? James asked himself that nearly every day after that night, the guilt eating away at him so that he could barely function. But he was still always too chickenshit to stand up to Bennett and stand up for Edie.
James wanted Edie to never change, like Johnny Cade with Ponyboy in S.
E. Hinton’s The Outsiders—wanted her to stay gold and always remain the sweet, lovable, dreamy Edie she was supposed to be.
The princess in the castle that was the Corrigans’.
But that night changed him and Edie forever.
Neither of them would ever be the same again.