Chapter 13
Ella
“Someone go check,” Parker says. “Finn, you do it. You’re the one who hit him.”
“I didn’t fucking hit him! He ran in the fucking road!”
“Did he?” Briggs asks, turning back to Finn. “What did you see?”
“Nothing. I just went around the curve and hit something.”
“Then how do you know he ran in the road?”
“He wouldn’t just be standing there.”
“Parker, did you see anything?” Briggs asks.
“I don’t know. It’s dark, and it happened so fast I didn’t even know we hit something until I heard it.”
I open my door and get out.
“What are you doing?” Briggs says.
“Going to see if he’s alive since you idiots won’t do it.”
“Wait!” Briggs jumps out of the other side, and we meet up at the back of the Range Rover. “He’s not moving.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s dead.”
The guy looks like he’s around my dad’s age. He’s got a thick, dark beard and is wearing baggy pants and a lightweight jacket that’s ripped on the sleeve. His clothes are dirty and wrinkled, and I’m wondering if maybe he’s homeless.
I kneel down, feeling like I’m going to throw up. I’ve never been this close to a dead body, assuming he’s dead. There’s a chance he’s still alive.
I reach down to his wrist.
“Don’t touch him!” Briggs yells.
“I have to! I have to check for a pulse.” My hand’s shaking as I wrap my fingers around the guy’s wrist. I don’t feel a pulse, but it could be because I’m shaking so much. I inhale a deep breath.
“Do you feel anything?” Briggs asks.
“Not yet.” I move my fingers around, thinking I might be in the wrong spot.
“He’s dead,” Briggs says.
“We don’t know that. Just give me a minute.” I focus on my breath, trying to calm down. My hand stops shaking, and I press more firmly against his wrist. I think I feel something. It’s faint, but it’s there.
“Is he dead or not?” Parker asks, appearing next to Briggs.
“We don’t know yet,” Briggs says.
“He’s not.” I look up at them. “I can feel a pulse. He’s still alive.” I stand up and get out my phone. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”
Parker grabs my phone from me. “You’re not calling an ambulance! Are you fucking crazy?”
“A guy is lying here dying! We’re calling for help! Now give me my phone!” I try to take it, but he holds it too high for me to reach.
“What the hell’s taking so long?” Finn yells, coming up to us. “Let’s get out of here.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “You just hit a guy and you want leave?”
“If he’s dead, why the fuck would we stick around?”
“He’s not dead,” Parker says, staring down at the guy.
Briggs is oddly quiet. He’s usually the leader, but he’s not saying anything.
“So what are we gonna do?” Finn looks at Briggs to answer. Parker does too.
“I don’t know,” Briggs says, rubbing his jaw.
“I say we get the hell out of here,” Finn says. “If someone drives by and sees us, we’re fucked.”
“You’re saying we just leave him here to die?” I say, shocked he’d even suggest that. I knew these guys were assholes, but not helping someone who’s dying is beyond being an asshole. It’s pure evil.
“I agree with Finn,” Parker says. “I say we get out of here. It’s not like we can help him. We’re not doctors.”
“I can’t believe you guys!” I look at them both. “You seriously want to leave a man to die? Not even call for help?”
Parker looks down at the guy. “Yeah, it’s wrong but I don’t know what to do. We can’t stay here.”
“Let’s go,” Briggs finally says. “Everyone get in the car.”
“We’re just leaving him here?” I say, furious that they’re all okay with this.
“We’ll go call for help, but we’re not doing it here,” Briggs says. “And we’re not using our phones. We’ll go to that gas station a few miles up that has a pay phone.”
“I don’t think that thing works,” Parker says.
“We’re gonna find out. Go wait in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“What are you gonna do?” Finn asks.
“Just go!” Briggs yells.
Finn and Parker walk off, but I remain behind.
“Ella, get in the car,” Briggs says, walking around the guy.
“No. I want to know what you’re going to do.”
He glances back at the trees beside the road. “I need to pull him off the road in case someone drives by.”
“I’ll help.”
“No! Get back in the car!”
“Have you not yet figured out I don’t take orders from you?”
He sighs. “Then grab his jacket. I’ll get his legs.”
I lean down to the guy.
“Wait!” Briggs pushes me back. “We can’t touch him. It’ll leave behind evidence.” He yanks his shirt off and uses it to cover his hands. “Hurry up.”
“What? You think I’m taking my shirt off?”
“You got something else to cover your hands?”
“Why do I care if I touch him? I’m helping him. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Trust me, you don’t want your prints all over this guy. Now either take off your shirt or get out of here and I’ll do it myself.”
I hesitate, then decide to just do it. The guy will be hurt even worse if he’s dragged over the road. I take off my shirt, keeping my eyes on the guy and not Briggs. He better not be looking at me, but if he is, it’s not a big deal. I’m wearing a sports bra, not something sexy.
“Grab his jacket by the shoulders,” Briggs instructs. “I’ll take his legs.” We lower down and take hold of the guy. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Count of three. One, two, three.” We lift the guy off the road, and Briggs slowly backs up toward the trees. “Okay, set him down. Slowly.”
The guy is heavy, making it hard not to drop him. My arms are shaking as I lower him to the ground.
“Okay, let’s go.” Briggs balls up his shirt in his hand and walks back to the SUV.
I quickly put my shirt on and hurry behind him.
“What’d you do?” Parker asks Briggs as we get in the back seat.
“Moved him off the road.”
“What happened to your shirt?”
“I didn’t want to touch him with my hands.” Briggs points to my shirt. “Get rid of that when we get back.” He looks up front. “Finn, get going. Hurry up.”
“Hold on.” Finn’s looking at his phone.
“Why are you letting him drive?” I whisper to Briggs.
“Shit, you’re right.” Briggs jumps out and goes around to Finn’s door, yanking it open. “Get out.”
“What the fuck? I’m not letting you drive.”
“It’s not a fucking choice.” Briggs yanks Finn out of the SUV and gets in, shutting the door and locking it.
“What the hell?” Finn throws his hands up.
“Back seat.” Briggs points to it.
“Fucking prick,” Finn mutters as he gets in next to me.
Briggs takes off, going fast, but at least he’s not drunk. He slows down a little at a curve, then speeds up again.
“How far is the gas station?” I ask.
“Just up ahead,” Briggs answers.
Parker is quiet. So is Finn. He’s on his phone, texting someone, which means we have a signal again.
“Give me my phone,” I say to Parker, reaching up to get it.
“You’ll get it when I’m ready.”
“Parker, don’t be an ass. Just give it to me. I need to call my dad.”
“And tell him what? That we hit a guy? Yeah, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t do well in prison.”
“You’re not going to prison,” I say. “It was an accident.”
“With a drunk guy at the wheel. That’s not an accident. That’s prison time.”
Finn shoves the back of Parker’s seat. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not going to prison.”
“Drunk driving? Manslaughter? Yeah, I’m sure the cops will be okay with that.”
“I didn’t fucking kill him. And nobody knows I was drinking except you three.” Finn shoves me. “You better keep your mouth shut.”
“Okay, everyone just shut up,” Briggs says, speeding up. The lights of the city are in the distance. We’re getting close.
“I need to call my dad,” I say. “Parker, just give me the phone. I’m not going to tell him what happened. I’ll just tell him the truck broke down.”
“Like I’m gonna believe you? No fucking way. You’ll call the cops and turn us all in.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Parker turns back to look at me. “You hate us and want to get back at us. This is your chance, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting it happen.”
“What would I tell the cops?” I say. “You didn’t do anything. You weren’t the one driving.”
“Yeah, so what are you saying? You’re going to turn in Finn?”
Finn grabs my arm. “You do and I’ll fucking kill you.”
“She’s not going to tell,” Briggs says.
“She sure as hell will,” Parker says, turning back to the front. “She’s Ms. Perfect. She loves getting people in trouble, especially us.”
“I don’t get people in trouble,” I say. “What are you talking about?”
“She won’t tell because she’s part of this,” Briggs says.
We all get quiet, waiting for him to continue.
“We just did a hit-and-run,” Briggs says. “A guy could be dying right now and we left him. All four of us left him, which means we’re all at fault. If the cops find out, we’ll all be charged.”
Oh my God, what if he’s right? What if I just committed a crime?
“That’s not true,” I say, hearing the panic in my voice. “Finn’s the one who took off, not us.”
“But we’re with him,” Briggs says. “We could’ve stayed behind, but we didn’t. We left.”
“Shit,” Parker mutters.
“So we keep our mouths shut,” Finn says. “As long as none of us tells, we’re good.”
“That’d work if it were just the three of us.” Parker looks back at me. “But Ella’s gonna tell. She’ll run to the cops as soon as we drop her off.”
“If she does,” Briggs says, “we make her the one who was driving.”
“Wait . . . what?” I lean closer to Briggs. “You’d seriously do that?”
“We’re in this together,” Briggs says. “If one of us tells, the rest of us will turn on whoever did it. It’s three against one.”
“And you’re most likely to tell,” Parker says to me. “So if you want to avoid jail, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”
Finn laughs as he looks at his phone.
“This isn’t funny!” I yell at him.
“I’m just thinking of you trying to make it in prison.” He laughs again.
“Who’s making the call?” Briggs asks as he pulls into a gas station. It looks really old and run-down, like it’s not even in service anymore. The pay phone is near the building.
“Is this place even open?” I ask.
“It’s closed for the night,” Briggs says. “I’m just hoping the phone still works.” He opens his door and gets out. “I’ll do it.”