Chapter 14
Ella
Briggs slows down and signals that he’s pulling over. “Everyone shut up. I’ll do the talking.”
I bend forward, clutching my stomach. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Finn turns to me. “Do not throw up in my car!”
Right as he says it, I throw up. It hits the back of the leather seat and slides down to the floor.
“Fuck!” Finn yells. “Why didn’t you open the door?”
“Shut up!” Briggs says. “He’s coming over.” Briggs rolls down his window. “Hello, officer. Is something wrong?”
The officer leans down to the car, looking in the window at the four of us. “Did you know you have a broken headlight?”
“No. I didn’t,” Briggs calmly says. “I’ll be sure to get it fixed.”
“It’s the front right,” the officer says. “Do you think it happened recently?”
“Probably not. I’m guessing it’s been that way for a while but nobody noticed.”
“Any idea how it happened?”
“No. Like I said, I didn’t even know it was damaged.”
How does Briggs remain so calm? I’d be so nervous I wouldn’t be able to talk.
“Is this your vehicle?” the officer asks.
“It’s a friend’s. I’m just borrowing it.”
“Can I see the registration?”
“Sure.” Briggs reaches over to the glove compartment.
“Center,” Finn mutters.
“I forgot he keeps it here,” Briggs says, opening the center console. He pulls it out and hands it to the officer.
“Kingsley. Is that the tech guy?”
“Yeah,” Briggs says. “I’m friends with his son. We go to school together.”
“Can I ask why you’re driving his car?”
Briggs laughs a little. “Check it out. Wouldn’t you want to drive it?”
He nods. “It’s a nice vehicle.” He holds his hand out. “Can I get your license?”
“Is this really necessary? I can just tell my friend’s dad to get it fixed.”
“License, please.” The officer keeps his hand out.
Briggs gives him the license.
“Briggs Chadwick.” He hands him the license back. “My brother has some money invested with your father’s firm.”
Briggs doesn’t respond as he puts his license away.
“What’s that smell?” the officer asks, sniffing the air and making a face. He must smell the puke.
“I don’t smell it,” Briggs says.
The officer hands back the registration. “I’m going to let you go but your friend needs to get that headlight fixed. If he keeps driving it around like this and I catch him, I’ll be writing a ticket.”
“Got it,” Briggs says. “I’ll make sure to tell him.”
“You boys stay out of trouble tonight.” He looks back at me. “You too, young lady.”
I nod, feeling like I’m going to throw up again.
The officer walks back to his car.
“Let’s get out of here,” Parker says.
Briggs slowly pulls back on the road. We look back, watching the officer’s car until he turns down a different street.
We all sigh in relief.
“That was close,” Parker says. “I thought he was going to arrest us, which is stupid since he has no idea what happened.”
“He might now,” Briggs says. “That broken headlight could make us a suspect.”
“A lot of people have broken headlights,” Parker says.
“Not around here. This is a rich area. People fix their cars, especially ones like this.”
“I’m gonna be sick,” I say.
“Puke out the fucking window!” Finn yells, reaching across me to push the button that rolls down the window.
Before it’s down, I throw up, all over Finn’s arm.
“What the fuck?” He yanks his arm back. “Fucking disgusting!”
Parker’s laughing.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I say to Finn.
He’s taking off his shirt. When he gets it off, he throws it out the window. “Now I smell like puke.” He turns to me. “You’re paying for that shirt.”
“With what? I don’t have money.”
“I’ll pay for it,” Briggs says. “Just shut the hell up.” He glances at Finn in the mirror. “And next time, hide your weed someplace other than where you put your registration. The cop almost saw it.”
“Yeah? So? It’s not illegal.”
“It is when you’re seventeen.”
“Yeah, well, he didn’t find it so we’re good.”
Accepting a ride with these guys was the worst thing I could’ve done. Illegal weed? Drunk driving? Hitting a man and leaving the scene? I would’ve been better off alone in my truck all night, but I couldn’t do that to my dad. I need to get home and let him know I’m safe.
“Can you just drop me off first?” I say to Briggs. “I’m feeling really sick and I need to get home.”
“No,” Briggs says, glancing over his shoulder as he changes lanes. “Finn needs to get this thing home and hide it in the garage.”
“Just fucking drop her off before she pukes again,” Finn says.
“And risk getting pulled over again? Fuck no.” Briggs turns down a side street that goes up a hill.
Finn leans forward to Briggs. “What am I going to do about the headlight?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out. For now just don’t drive it.”
“Then how the fuck am I supposed to get to school?”
“One of us will pick you up.” Briggs whips around a corner and continues at a fast speed through a neighborhood lined with fancy homes.
“What about tomorrow?” Finn says to Briggs. “I’m not sitting at home all day.”
“Then take one of your dad’s cars.”
“I’m not allowed.”
“Since when has that stopped you?”
He laughs a little. “True.”
Briggs slows down as we approach a massive, two-story home with a garage that looks like it could hold at least five cars, maybe more. There’s no gate around the house, so Briggs pulls up to the front, stopping behind Parker’s car.
“Hey!” Briggs yells as Finn gets out. “Get your ass back here.”
“Why?” he says, getting back in his seat.
Briggs turns to face us. “We need to come up with a plan.”
“For what?” Finn asks.
“For how to deal with the fact you might’ve just killed a guy,” Briggs says, sounding angry with Finn.
Finn’s either in denial or doesn’t care. He doesn’t seem the slightest bit stressed by what happened. Maybe he’s still high on weed.
“I say we just lie low and see what happens,” Parker says.
“No one says a word about this to anyone.” Briggs’ eyes dart to the three of us. “Understood?”
We all nod.
Briggs stares at me with those intense blue eyes. “That includes your dad.”
“Yeah, got it,” I say, looking away.
“Ella!” Briggs yells.
“What?” I look back at him.
“I’m serious. You don’t tell him anything about what happened tonight, even if he asks.”
“Yeah, I know. I won’t say anything.”
His eyes remain on mine a moment before he finally looks away and turns back to the front. “If anything happens, we tell each other. There’s no fucking secrets, even if it’s something you don’t want one of us knowing.”
“Like what?” Parker asks.
“Who the fuck knows? I just don’t want secrets being kept. You do that shit and it puts us all at risk. We all need to know what’s going on.”
“What if people ask about tonight?” I say. “What are we supposed to tell them? Do I say I was with you guys? Because my dad’s going to wonder why you guys were on that road when you found me. Maybe I should just tell him I got a ride with someone else.”
“You can’t.” Briggs turns back to me. “The cop already saw you with us. If something happened and we ended up being questioned by the police, our stories wouldn’t match up. They’d talk to your dad and know you were lying. And then they’d think we lied about other shit.”
“So what do I tell my dad about why you guys were out there tonight?”
“Tell him I was getting weed,” Finn says. “It’s not like I’m going to get in trouble for it. My dad knows I go there to buy from that guy. He’s even had me buy some for him.”
“Just tell your dad we were out for a drive,” Briggs says to me.
“He doesn’t need all the details.” He looks at Finn and Parker.
“If anyone else asks where we were tonight, keep it vague. Just say we went for a drive. You don’t need to tell them where, and nobody needs to know we picked up Ella.
The less we say, the better. If people ask why we didn’t show up at the party tonight, just say we decided to do our own thing. ”
“What about Scarlett and Aubrey?” Parker asks. “Scarlett’s been texting me, asking why I’m not there.”
“Tell her what I just said. That we decided we didn’t want to go.”
Briggs’ phone rings and he checks it.
“It’s Aubrey,” he says, “Listen and learn.” He answers the call.
“Hey, babe.” He pauses, and I hear her yelling through the phone.
“Aubrey, stop. I’m not going to listen to this.
You either stop or I’m hanging up.” He waits a moment, and I hear her quiet down.
“I get that you’re pissed but you just have to deal with it.
It took forever to get the weed and then we decided to stop at Finn’s house and hang out.
Just stay at the party and have a good time. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I hear her say something in a whiny voice before Briggs ends the call.
“I’m so fucking tired of her,” he mutters. He turns to Parker. “She knew we went out there to get weed. Did you tell her that?”
“No, but I told Scarlett we might drive out there.”
“That’s fucking great. So now people know we were on that road.”
Parker’s phone rings.
“That’s Scarlett,” Briggs says. “You need to tell her what I just told Aubrey.”
When Parker answers the call, I hear a girl yelling, “Where the fuck are you? I’ve been waiting all night!”
“I’m at Finn’s house,” Parker says, looking at Briggs. “Babe, I can’t talk now. Just have fun at the party and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She’s still yelling when he pushes end on the phone.
“I’m going to pay for that tomorrow,” he says with a sigh.
“This is why I don’t have a girlfriend,” Finn says. “They think they fucking own you.”
“Can we go now?” I ask, wanting to get home. I’m nervous about what I’m going to tell my dad, but I’d rather be home dealing with his questions than stuck here with these three.
Briggs turns to face us. “Everyone clear on what we’re doing?”
“Who’s gonna clean this thing?” Finn asks.
“Make Ella do it,” Parker says. “She’s the one who puked.”
“Just have the maid do it,” Briggs says. “Pay her extra. You’re not taking it in to be cleaned. It’s staying in the garage until all this is over.”