Chapter 14
fourteen
The sun is warm on my head and sweat trickles down my side as I shift position on the curb. I’ve been sitting here too long, and it feels like my arse cheeks have gone completely numb.
The sound of a door opening distracts me from my woes, and I jump up, almost staggering, until I get my balance. “Ben?”
My brother’s best friend looks up from where he’s rummaging through his messenger bag. “Wes?” His initial smile fades, and he looks behind me. “Is Tyler with you?”
“No. Why?”
He looks uneasily at me. “Erm, no reason.”
“ Ben ?”
“I’ve got to go, Wes.” He waves and begins walking away. “I can’t stop to talk. I’m due somewhere.”
“Oh really? Where?”
My question seems to flummox him because he umms and arrs through what I think is supposed to be an explanation. Ben has never been a good liar. The worry that’s been a steady backbeat to my morning flares into full-on concern.
“What’s going on?” I say, cutting through some convoluted story about his mother. “Where’s Tyler? Is he still at work?”
He gives me a wide-eyed look but doesn’t say anything.
“Hello,” I say. “Earth to Ben. Is my brother still at work? I need a word with him.”
“Erm, no,” he says and bites his lip. “He…he…erm, he doesn’t work here anymore.”
“ What ?” I ask far too loudly.
Ben drags me around the corner until we’re out of sight. “He got the sack,” he says.
My mouth falls open. “When?”
“Last week. Didn’t you know?”
Guilt flares again. “No, I haven’t been talking to him. We’ve just been texting lately.”
He pats my shoulder, his kind face creased in concern. “I don’t blame you.”
“What happened?”
“Honestly, Wes, he was asking for the sack. He hardly turned up anymore, his work was shit, and then…”
“Then what?” I say impatiently as he falters. “You might as well tell me.”
He blows out a measured breath. “He got caught stealing.”
The words slam into me like a blow. “Oh my god .” I loop my hands behind my neck, staring at Ben. “Oh my god,” I breathe again. “How? Why?”
“Apparently, they’ve been watching him for a while, and at first, it was skimming a bit here and there, but then he got obvious and desperate, and they caught him.” He grimaces. “As to the why, you know the answer.”
“He’s gambling again.”
“ Again ? Where have you been, Wes? He’s never fucking stopped.” We fall silent, staring at each other. “Sorry,” he mutters.
“Don’t be stupid. Why would you be sorry? You haven’t done anything.”
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“Why not? I’ve not been much of a brother to him lately.”
“Hey. Stop that. You’re a fantastic brother.”
“I’m not. I just thought…” It’s my turn to falter. “I was just so fucking mad at him, Ben. But I thought it was a one-off—that he’d lost the house, but he would be okay. I thought it had scared him enough for him to be okay again.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works, mate.”
“I’m such a twat. I know how the world works. Why the fuck didn’t I make him tell me the truth?” I already know the answer—because I didn’t want to know. I wanted to hide my head in the sand and cultivate my anger at him.
“Wes, he lost your fucking house. And I can tell you now that he’s done other shitty stuff too. He’s an addict.”
The word falls between us like a percussion blast, and then my world goes silent.
There’s something so final about that word.
Addiction . In my head, Tyler had just made a mistake—we all do that.
He’d get back on his feet, and after we cooled things off between us, we’d resume our usual relationship.
But that one sinister word makes everyone’s future—mine, Tyler’s and Cath’s—suddenly a hell of a lot less certain.
I take a breath and then another as Ben watches me, his eyes wide with alarm. Then I nod. “I know,” I admit quietly.
He slumps against the wall. “I’m so?—”
“Please don’t say you’re sorry, Ben. You have nothing to apologise for. I’m going to sort this.”
“How?”
I snort a humourless laugh. “I have no fucking idea, but I’ll do it. Can you do me a favour, though?”
“Anything. You know that.”
“Can you tell me when he contacts you? He’s not picking up his phone anymore, so he’s obviously feeling guilty, and?—”
“I can’t.” He slowly shakes his head, his expression miserable.
“Why?” I whisper.
His eyes glisten. “Because he stole all my savings, Wes.”
I take a stumbling step back. “No, he can’t have done.” Ben is Tyler’s oldest friend. They’ve been as close as peas in a pod since primary school. “No, he wouldn’t.”
“He did.” The quiet certainty stops the story I’m trying to tell myself. “He hacked into my laptop at home and guessed my password. The next time I checked, all my money was gone. All my savings—the house money.”
“Oh, Ben.” He’s been saving with his fiancé to get a house for a few years. “How much?”
“Thirty grand. There’s no mistake,” he says quickly, his expression earnest. “They showed me the transfers into his account.”
“I believe you,” I say sadly. “Well, I guess that answers the question as to why he isn’t stopping with you anymore. Mate, I’m so sorry.” I think hard and make a decision. This I can fix. “Give me your bank details.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to pay you back.”
“What? How?”
“I’ve got some cash.”
“Some cash ? It’s thirty grand. Not ten quid in change you found down the back of your sofa.”
“It’s all good.”
He frowns, concern written all over his face. Ben’s always been like another brother to me. “Where did you get thirty grand from? It’s not your uni money, is it?”
I leap at that with relief. “Yeah, but it’s all good, Ben. I saved it up.” If he thinks for even a minute about this, he’ll know I’m lying, so I carry on talking quickly. “Bank details?”
He reluctantly gives them to me as I access my banking app. The amount of money in my account doesn’t even make me blink now. I’m glad it’s given me the chance to repay this kind man. Maybe now the money is out of the way, he and Tyler can mend their friendship after a shed load of fucking work.
I tap away and then close the app. “Done. Check your account.”
He does it and nods slowly. “Yeah, it’s in there.” He looks up at me, his eyes suddenly hard. “Wes, I need to know if you’re okay.”
“Of course,” I say quickly. “Of course, I am.” I spread my hands. “See? You’re looking at me.”
“You’re not in any trouble, are you?”
“No. I think Tyler’s got our share of the Archer family’s trouble at the moment.
Have you got a paper and pen?” He nods, rooting through his bag and producing them.
“I’ll give you my address. Could you pass the word to your group of mates that I’m living there at the moment so they can give Tyler the address and tell him I need to talk to him? Make sure he knows it’s urgent.”
He looks up, his pen paused. “Knightsbridge? That’s a bit swanky.” Suspicion is clear in his eyes. “How are you affording that?”
“I’m not,” I say quickly. “I’m staying with a mate for a while. It’s his place.”
He relaxes. “Wow, good mate, eh?”
“You have no idea.”
He steps back. “Okay. I’ll pass the word around. I’ll give the address to John at the Castle if that’s okay?”
“It’s more than okay. Thanks, Ben.”
“No, thank you.” He hesitates. “I don’t feel right taking that money off you, Wes. You need it.”
“I don’t feel right that Tyler pinched it off you, so I need you to take it. Don’t worry about me. I’ll work things out with Tyler. It will be fine.”
He draws me into a tight hug. “Thank you so much. I’ll never forget it. I was dreading telling Paula that it was all gone.”
“Just buy a nice house and be happy, yes?” He nods, and with a last quick hug, he walks away.
I watch him go, biting my lip. It’s like he’s taking the last vestiges of my past with him.
A few months ago, I was a man with a plan.
I had uni, a promising prospective career, a loving brother, and a brilliant sister-in-law.
Now, there’s nothing. It’s like walking onto a beautiful sandy beach only to find it’s quicksand.
I breathe in and out slowly to quell my panic. I need to talk to some more people and get the word out that Tyler needs to contact me. Desperation picks at my heels, but I keep moving. It’s all I can do.
Three Days Later
I lie on the bed amongst the tangled sheets. I’m sweating all over, and the throbbing in my arse and my heartbeat seem to have synchronised.
Mac is moving around the room searching through the clothes that are strewn everywhere. He curses, and my mouth curves into a smile I could have sworn I’d never make again. “Your shirt is by the window.”
He looks over in that direction, shaking his head. His lips are swollen from blowing me earlier, and there’s a bite mark on his shoulder that must have come from me, even though I have only a dim memory of it.
I roll to my back, watching as he grabs the shirt and pulls it on. He looks much better now compared to the last time I saw him. He’s moving easily, the sling abandoned, and his bruises yellowing.
He grimaces at the ripped sleeve on his shirt. “Must you tear at my clothes like a deranged orangutan?”
“I really think I must,” I say very seriously. He’s already got his trousers, socks and shoes on, so it’s obvious that he’s heading for the door. “Do you have to go?” I say and immediately regret it.
It’s just that when he’s here, my only focus is on him and how he makes my body and heart feel. Despite the distance he keeps between us, he’s a safe harbour, keeping everything and everyone at bay.
The problems I’ve been ignoring for the past few months are back full force now, beating against my brain, demanding to be let back in.
I’ve spent the last few days visiting every place I could think of where Tyler might have gone, and I’ve found some very unhappy people.
If my brother ever gets his act together, he might have to go into fucking witness protection.
Mac sits down on the bed close to my leg. “Are you okay?” he reluctantly asks, his hand sliding onto my thigh.