60. Jude
Chapter 60
Jude
I don’t know what happened back there in the Impala, but suddenly Harper is no longer my vindictive stepsister. She still looks the same, still has the same silky hair and curvy body and piercing blue eyes...but the fact that she’s willing to fess up for the shit she’s pulled gives me a newfound respect for her.
Which makes me feel bad about taking her inside to confront our parents. Especially if she was telling the truth about what her mother said about her. I wouldn’t put it past Diana to blame her teenage daughter for their misfortune, though. That woman is a conniving bitch.
Dearth Manor is surprisingly quiet when we walk in. Although what did I expect? Cops standing in the hallway, a temporary HQ set up in the dining room, walkie-talkies squawking non-stop?
The downstairs lights are all off except the kitchen. We head for that beacon, Harper a few steps ahead of me. She glances back every now and then, the trepidation on her face palpable.
It’s a big step, Sis. But it’s the right one. The first one on your journey to recovery.
Diana spots us first. She’s busy packing something in plastic containers—I suppose the leftovers from whatever they had for supper. Her eyes are even puffier than before, and it looks like she’s been messing with her hair because her ponytail is skew.
“Harper?” Diana drops what she’s doing and hurries around the kitchen counter.
Harper speeds up too, her arms opening wide to embrace her mother. I slow down, giving them some space, angling toward my father as he turns in his stool.But when I blink, the tearful Sloane family reunion I was expecting transforms into something else entirely.
Diana takes a quick double-step and slaps Harper so hard that her daughter staggers.
“You slut!” Diana screeches.
Something inside me snaps. I’ve never hit a woman—never thought I could—but that doesn’t stop me from lunging at my stepmother.
Father intercepts, jamming his body between me and Diana before I land a blow. I grab him, and he grabs me, and we stand there like we’re waiting for our first dance.
“You disgust me!” Diana says, stepping back and dragging her hand over her mouth like the very sight of Harper is making her sick.
My eyes dart around the kitchen, desperate for an explanation. That’s when I see the nearly empty bottle of wine. The ashtray filled with cigarettes. I didn’t even know Diana smoked, but why would Dad allow her to do it in the house?
Harper lets out a ragged sob, veering away from her mother. She throws her head back, finding me, locking on with brimming eyes, begging for some kind of intervention.
But I’m as shocked as she is. All I manage is a strangled, “What the hell?” aimed at my father.
He releases me but stands tense and ready as if expecting me to go savage again. “I can’t even look at you right now,” he says to Harper before glancing away. “Go to bed, both of you.”
Harper whimpers, wrapping her arms around herself as she takes another step back. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. I just—I just needed some time, so I went to the lake?—”
“You think I give a fuck where you were?” Diana picks up her box of cigarettes and lights herself one, her eyes flickering as she takes a deep drag. “You should have stayed there.”
“What are you...why are you...?” Harper cuts off with a strangled sound.
“Stop sniveling,” Diana snaps. “Do you really think a few tears will make us forget what a goddamn whore you are?”
“Diana.” Wayne’s voice is steel, but it’s trembling and his jaw is so tight, his neck muscles are cording.
“Dad, what’s going on?” I try for calm, and probably get closer to indifferent. Better than yelling at him. Better than charging at Diana again.
My stepmother cackles like the evil witch she is and fumbles on the kitchen island for my father’s phone. She shoves it toward him without looking. “Show them.”
My blood turns to ice. Christ, no . How did they...
Dad unlocks his phone and taps on the screen a few times before turning it in our direction.I spent hours putting that video together. All I need to hear is the first three notes of the intro soundtrack to recognize what’s playing.
Harper rips the phone out of Wayne’s hand and smashes it on the floor. “That’s not real!” she yells.
“Daddy?”
All three of us turn to stare at Rosie. What the hell is she doing down here? She knows to stay in her room when there’s fighting.
“Go upstairs,” Dad says.
“But—”
“Now, Rosie!” he yells.
Her brown eyes pop open in shock, her bottom lip trembling. Then she turns and runs out of the kitchen.
I’m torn in fucking two. I want to go after her, make sure she’s okay, but Harper’s going to need my help, maybe even my protection if her mother decides to slap her again. I tell myself that Rosie will be okay because fuck, I’m only mortal and I can’t split myself in two.
“This isn’t you?” Wayne says as he picks up his shattered phone from the floor.
Harper shakes her head, her arms tightening around her chest. “No, I mean, it is, but?—”
“But what?”
“We went to a party,” I blurt out.
Dad glances at me with a heavy frown on his face, and then looks back to Harper, dismissing me. But fuck, I need to make this right. I don’t know what I expected to happen if our parents ever found out about the video. I guess I was fucking na?ve to think they wouldn’t—Cinderhart is small as fuck.
I step between him and Harper, blocking her, forcing him to acknowledge what I was saying. Frustration turns his lips into a sneer, but he listens. Diana goes to pour herself another glass of wine, chuckling like she already knows the punchline to this joke.
“There was a lot of booze,” I say. “Drugs too. Things...things got out of hand.”
Wayne’s frown deepens, but he says nothing, choosing instead to sit back on his stool and fold his arms over his chest.
I resist the urge to look back at Harper, to give her some kind of signal. There’s no way to avoid this—if I don’t tell them what really happened, then they won’t believe me.I just need her to nod along.
“I was outside for a while. Kinda lost track of time. Then Alex came to tell me...some of the guys had locked themselves in a room with Harper.” I can’t help myself, I glance over my shoulder.
My stepsister has her face in her hands, but she’s not crying. It’s like she’s hiding, trying to cover the shameful glow on her cheeks.
“I got there before they could do anything, but someone had been recording and?—”
“You’re saying someone tried to rape her?” Diana chimes in.
My neck feels rusted when I turn to look at her. She gives me a rictus grin. “That,” she points at Wayne’s shattered phone “does not sound like rape.”
“Because I edited it. I wanted to make it look like...It was a stupid prank.”
“Did you report this to the police?” Wayne says as he slowly gets to his feet. He steps to the side, craning to look at Harper. I follow, and he grimaces at me when I block his view again. “Did they take a statement? Were the boys questioned? A case opened?” His voice is growing deeper, louder, sterner.
“I didn’t,” Harper whispers, “I mean, I was too scared to?—”
Wayne barks out a dry laugh.
Harper pushes past me. “I promise, I’ll go to the sheriff’s office tomorrow, Mr.—”
“ Enough. ”
My stomach turns over at the sound of his voice. I’m not in the least surprised that Harper stops talking. Even I’m starting to regret speaking up.Wayne takes turns looking at us, the disgust in his eyes slowly building until he’s openly sneering at both of us.
“When was this party?” he asks quietly.
I drop my head and close my eyes. I’m not a friend of failure. I hate the way it makes me feel empty, worthless, fragile as fuck. “A while ago,” I murmur.
Wayne breathes out heavily through his nose, sets his phone down on the kitchen island, and turns back to us with his hands on his hips. “So the methamphetamines they found in your blood, was that from a different party? Or do you dope up before every Friday night game these days?”
I drag my hands over my face, no fucking clue what to say. I shouldn’t have mentioned the drugs at Sean’s party—but I wasn’t even sure what I was going to say. I should tell him they drugged her.
No, fuck it, I should shut the fuck up. We’re both in even bigger shit than when we walked in here.
“What did Heller say about the test?” I ask.
“ Principal Heller has expelled you.” Wayne takes another breath. “ Both of you.”
Harper’s shocked gasp feels like a physical blow, and I’m already reeling mentally.
“Dad, please, isn’t there something you can?—”
“You want this to go away?” Wayne’s eyes are too bright, too feverish for me to think for a second that he’s going to agree to use his influence to get us out of this shit. “Sure, son.” He picks up his phone and pantomimes making a call. “I’ll just call the principal and tell him my degenerate children should be given a second chance so they can learn nothing from this and get away with everything .”
Harper sags like she’s seconds away from sitting down on the kitchen floor. Wayne’s hand darts out and grabs her arm, hoisting her up straight again. “No, Harper, Jude. What you two have done is inexcusable. You will be punished.”
“But I didn’t—” Harper wails.
Wayne shakes her so hard, I hear her teeth clack together. She gasps, puts a hand to her mouth, and brings it back coated with blood where she bit her lip.
I don’t know what the fuck comes over me, but I can’t bear him touching her anymore. I can’t even stand the fact that he’s breathing the same air as her. That he made her bleed. I charge forward, taking my father completely by surprise. I’m distantly aware of Harper’s gasp, Diana screeching at me to stop, but by then I already have him bent backward over the island, my forearm pressed against his throat, the other raised to punch him.
Harper grabs me, perhaps Diana too. But they’re too small, too weak to stop me.
My father’s body goes weak when my fist slams into his jaw. The second blow has him slithering out of my grip to land on the tiled floor.
Then Harper’s face floods my vision, her bright blue eyes glittering with tears. “Stop!” she whispers furiously. “Jude, stop!”
Her voice, the panic in her eyes, it’s the only thing that stands a chance to snap me out of my rage-induced trance. I step back, letting out the breath I’d kept trapped inside my lungs in a short, harsh huff.
Diana is on her knees beside Wayne, sobbing like he’s fucking dead, while he groans and nurses his jaw.
“What did you do?” Harper says.
I drag my eyes to her. Swallow. “I don’t know.”
She presses her knuckles against her mouth and glances down at Wayne as he rolls onto hands and knees before slowly pushing himself up to a stand.
He leans on his hands, his back to us, and says nothing for a long time. I lick my suddenly dry lips and start to move forward. Diana points a shaking finger at me like she’s about to curse me, and I stop moving.
“Pack your bags,” Dad says quietly, his voice rough.
“What?” I murmur on top of Harper’s trembling, “Why?”
Wayne turns his head but keeps his back to us. Like he’s afraid I’ll have another go at him or something.
Diana faces us with a manic grin on her Botoxed lips.
“Camp Joy,” she says. “Heard of it?”
Oh, God.
I step back, shaking my head. “Are you serious? No. Dad, please?—”
“It’s lovely there, you’ll see,”Diana spits out. “They’ve got programs for kids like you.”
But I know it’s not lovely there. That place is hell on earth. I’ve known guys who went there. They came back shadows of their former selves. Some never came back at all. Fuck knows why. It’s like the earth swallowed them.
“Dad, please?—”
“Don’t sulk.” He turns, his hand a fist at his side like he’s making a point of not touching his bruised jaw. “They have an excellent sports program.”
He pushes away from the island, not looking at either of us as he heads out of the kitchen. “They’re coming to collect you first thing in the morning.”