Chapter Twenty-Six
TWENTY-SIX
Phoebe
Nothing about tonight feels good.
I’m not even five percent as superstitious as Rocky is, but if a crow or a raven or any creepy avian creature flew at me right now, I’d rethink my beliefs.
I didn’t expect for Sidney Burke to call Hailey and beg her to come to Trent’s party.
I didn’t expect her to also say, “You can bring Phoebe, too. I just need help. Please.”
There’s no way in hell Hailey and I were going to ignore the desperate plea of another girl, even if that girl likes me about as much as an ingrown toenail.
The electronic rave music and thumping bass split my head. I drown it out with a big gulp of whiskey soda from my red Solo cup. The liquor burns the back of my throat, but I’m looking forward to the buzz.
I can’t remember the last time I had a sip of alcohol. My days of covering for Hailey are officially over. I’m trying this thing where I don’t take the fall for my friend anymore. Though…it’s hard. But the upside is that Jake and Oliver know she’s pregnant. Soon she’ll tell her brothers and Nova.
My heel gets stuck in the soft grass of the lawn. “Shit. Hails…” I call out.
She turns around and doubles back to me. I use her shoulder for support and unearth my heel. These strappy white stilettos were unwise, even if they are so very cute. I unbuckle them and let them dangle from my finger.
Hailey’s gaze pins toward the north side of the estate. “We should hurry. We don’t know what kind of trouble Sidney is in.”
Sidney wouldn’t give details over the phone, but she sounded distraught. Panicked. Enough that we hightailed it over here and broke our promise to stay away from this party.
“What if she’s pranking us?” I ask as we head toward the Konings’ private beach, the meetup spot. My ears ring as we distance ourselves from the DJ who’s going too hard on the reverb.
Hailey slips me a look. “You don’t think we’d be able to tell?”
“True.” I take another swig of whiskey, practically guzzling the mixed drink, and I can’t avoid Hailey’s beaming smile.
“You’re happy I’m about to get wasted?”
“I’m happy that you’ve finally started enjoying yourself again,” Hailey says, balancing with her arms outstretched, a red Solo cup filled with water in one hand, as we maneuver these slippery stones among the dune grass.
We choose to go off the beaten path since a horde of college students smoke blunts on the stairs to the beach.
She catches my hand as we both wobble. I’m still barefoot, and I try not to spill my drink.
“Just can’t believe I’m enjoying myself at Trent’s party. Gross.” I crinkle my nose. The alcohol settles sourly in my stomach when I spot the petite blonde on the small empty beach. Sidney paces back and forth, and her white eyelet dress billows in the warm breeze.
As soon as we join her on the sand, she races to us with bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. “You both came?” Her eyes round in shock, mostly directed at me. But it’s hard not to notice her shoulders sagging in slight relief.
“We did consider this might be a prank,” I admit. “Are your friends about to jump out and throw pig’s blood on us?”
She sniffs. “Uh, no. I’m not vile, Phoebe. My friends don’t even know I’m here. I just didn’t know where else to go that he wouldn’t find me.”
He.
Hailey and I share a deeply concerned look. Trevor? I never even considered he might have something to do with this. I can’t wrap my head around it though. Trevor is a lot of things—psychopath, murderer—but I would have bet all I have that he’d never hurt Sidney.
I suck in a tight breath. “If Trevor did something—”
Sidney sends me a sickening glare that stops my sentence dead in its tracks. “Trev is helping me. He’s the reason I called you.” Her eyes ping to Hailey. “He said that his sister is really good at solutions and getting people out of trouble. And if I ever needed someone, I should talk to her.”
Trevor. He might actually really love this girl after all.
Wow…I didn’t think…I honestly didn’t think he had it in him. I feel proud, even though I had nothing to do with this growth. I am proud of him, nonetheless, and I think Rocky would be even more so.
Sidney scowls at me again. “So don’t drag his name through the mud over this. He doesn’t deserve that.”
I hold up my hands in defense. Glad to know Sidney hasn’t lost her bite even though she’s asking for our help. If I wasn’t the one being chewed out, I might even respect it.
“What happened?” Hailey asks her. “Who are you hiding from?”
“My dad.” Sidney laces together and unlaces her fingers, fidgeting at the mention of him. “He called me tonight and told me I’ve been unenrolled from Caufield University and transferred to some school in London. A school I’ve never even heard of. He’s moving the entire family to England tomorrow.”
Weston Burke really is a piece of shit.
“You’re nineteen,” I remind her. “An adult. You don’t have to go where he tells you. Just tell him to fuck off.”
“I did. Before I called you. He froze my credit cards and locked me out of my bank accounts. He threatened to take away my trust fund if I’m not on the plane tomorrow morning.
” She shakes her head, her hair frizzing around her face.
“I’m broke, and I don’t have anywhere to stay.
He already sold the house.” Her eyes flash to Hailey in panic.
“I can’t go with him. Overseas? My college is here.
I have friends here. Trevor”—her voice tremors—“Trevor is here. If I go to London with my dad, he controls everything I do and I’m…
” Trapped. Her eyes well with tears, and she glares up at the sky while she rubs her face with the backs of her hands.
Hailey nudges my shoulder, and I can see in her eyes that she’s already mentally mapped out a strategy. “The Reynoldses still haven’t rented out their boathouse since Rocky moved out.”
“I don’t have money for rent,” Sidney interjects with a hoarse voice.
“Worry about that later,” I tell her. “We can front you. Just get away from your dad first.”
Sidney swallows hard. “I…I can’t take your money. You don’t even like me.”
I roll my eyes. “Do we have to like each other to look out for each other? I do actually know how disgusting your dad is. We agree on that at least.”
I don’t ask why she hasn’t gone to her friends. They’re all college students living off their parents’ money. I’m sure she’s worried they’ll say no, or she’d have to tarnish her reputation by begging them. Hailey and I—we’re not going to judge her as harshly as her peers.
“The boathouse is a longer-term solution,” Hailey says more to me. “Until then, we should get her a hotel room down at the harbor. Under your name. Her dad won’t think you’re helping her.”
“Good idea.” I pull out my phone to book her a room and see a missed call from Rocky. My gut drops. I must not have heard the phone ring while we were near the DJ.
I know he’s worried about us, but we’re okay. We’re on the beach. No one’s even around us. Trent is probably already having a three-way in his pool house.
Sidney rubs at her watery eyes when I email her the room confirmation. She thanks us a million times. “What happens if he cuts off service on my phone tomorrow?” Real fear drains the color from her face.
“One step at a time,” Hailey says before Sidney’s phone rings.
She glances at the caller ID. “It’s Trevor. Maybe he can give me a ride to the hotel.” She answers the call, thanking us again, before she heads toward the stairs.
Hailey and I watch her disappear up them. We’re both silent. Moonlight shimmers across the rippling ocean, and rough waves lap angrily against the sand.
It’s quieter here.
“Was that the only good deed we’ve ever done?” I finally ask, my throat swelling at the thought.
“It might have been.” Hailey lets out a weighted breath.
I sweep the desolate shoreline, the umbrellas fallen and chair cushions blown toward the water, and I pluck my phone from my crossbody purse so I can call Rocky back. But when I dig my feet into the cold sand, I feel floaty all of a sudden.
Brain fog gradually rolls over me, and I stare at my drink. Did I pour more than a couple shots’ worth?
My phone rings in my palm, and I quickly answer the call from Nova. “Hey?”
“Where are you?” The rawness of my brother’s dire concern takes me aback. I figured he’d be pissed I’m here, but not this level of worried.
“I’m at the Konings’ beach. Hailey and I were helping Sidney—”
“You’re with Sidney?” Alarm scratches to the surface of his rough voice.
“Not anymore. She just left. It’s just Hails and me.” I feel so off. Physically off. I struggle to keep my arm hoisted and the phone pinned to my ear. Panic tries to reach me. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me. Rocky just called saying you got roofied.”
“I got…what?” I recognize this sensation that heavies my body now. He put a name to it. “Hailey?” I drop the phone on the ground. It slips out of my hand. What the fuck is happening? I know what’s happening. I know what this is. “I need to sit down.”
She grabs my phone from the sand and follows my hurried pace to the teak lounge chairs sunk in the sand. As soon as my ass hits the cushion, my body sags.
“Phoebe?” Hailey catches my arms, keeping me upright, but I’m falling backward onto the lounge chair. No, no, no, no.
Nova’s voice is muffled in the phone. I try to hang on to Hailey, but my arms droop. “I can’t feel…I can’t control…”
Her eyes are saucers. “Lie down. Lie down.” She helps me lie on the chair like I’m sunbathing. Like this is a voluntary act. A voluntary position.
I don’t want this. I did not ask for this.
I stretch out my legs, but they barely move with my effort. “We bumped into people on our way here, didn’t we?” My voice pitches.
“We squeezed through the crowd.”
“Enough that someone could’ve slipped something in my drink?”
Her horror is mine. I struggle to breathe as the terror starts suffocating me. Rocky. The urge to cry out for him consumes me, but his name is stuck in my swollen throat. Where’s Rocky?
“You’ll be okay,” Hailey assures. “You’re just going to take a nap. I’m staying right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
A nap.
My nose flares and chin quivers as I fight blistering, enraged tears. “I can’t believe this is happening again.” Was the whole whiskey bottle spiked with GHB? Are other people passing out right now, too? “You feel okay?” I ask her.
“I’m fine.” Her eyes keep widening as she stares into the pitch-blackness of the grassy dune cliff.
“Hailey?” I try to sit up. I can’t. I can’t do anything but lie here.
My brain drifts too far away. She’s so fuzzy. I try to squeeze her hand. I barely sense her squeezing mine, but she’s here.
She’s here.
As tunnel vision drives me into complete darkness, I form one last unsteady, desperate plea.
“Rocky.”