Chapter 17 #2
“Do the Legion people show up at Twisted Pine parties?”
“Usually not. We can afford to hire security to keep them out.” His phone dings. “They’re here. I gotta go.”
When he’s gone, I get up and go inside.
I text Jackson.
Are you at the Legion party?
Yeah, he texts back.
How’d you know?
Before I can text him the answer, he sends another text.
Who’s crashing it? B or T?
T, I text back.
Who else?
I don’t know. Maybe a few of the players.
I’m on it. Thx.
Shutting down my phone, I notice my heart thumping. I take a moment to breathe.
Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this. I don’t think I like being a spy. And I’m starting to think Braden’s not so bad. He was actually being nice to me tonight. And he opened up to me about his mom, which might be a sign he’s accepting me. Or maybe it was a trick to get me to trust him.
For now, I’m sticking with the plan. Take down Braden. Take down Twisted Pine.
* * *
The next morning, around ten, I head to the kitchen and hear Braden talking really loudly, almost yelling.
“Some fucker ratted us out,” he says.
“What happened?” I ask, joining them in the kitchen.
Trystan laughs. “Legion had their bouncer guarding the door.”
“You think this is funny?” Braden shoots him an angry look. “The asshole almost called the cops.”
“On who?” I ask.
“Barron and Kade,” Braden says. “They’re on the team.”
“Braden’s team,” Trystan clarifies.
“What’d they do?” I ask.
“They were trying to start shit,” Braden says. “Kade, the dumb fuck, pulled out a knife.”
“And then what?”
“Novak took him down,” Trystan says. “I didn’t see it, but I heard Kade barely got the knife out of his pocket before Novak took it and had Kade on the ground.”
“Who’s Novak?” I ask, trying to sound completely clueless.
“Don’t ask,” Brock says, coming into the kitchen and opening the fridge. He takes out a bottle of water. “Braden, you need to just let it go. It’s over, and nothing happened.”
“Let it go?” Braden shakes his head. “You don’t know shit about this. If you actually went to the games, you’d know Kade’s one of our best players. We can’t lose him because fucking Novak goes and tattles to the cops.”
“That guy shouldn’t have shown up there with a knife,” I say.
Braden narrows his eyes at me. “Whose side are you on?”
“Twisted Pine’s,” I rush to say. “But that guy could’ve hurt someone.”
“It was all for show,” Braden says. “He wasn’t going to stab anyone.”
“Who do you think told them they were coming?” Brock asks Braden.
“Who the fuck knows? Kade and Barron didn’t tell anyone but Trystan.”
“And Alyssa,” Trystan says.
“She wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Who’s Alyssa?” I ask.
“Kade’s girlfriend,” Trystan says. “She could’ve told on him to get back at him for what he did.”
“What he’d do?” I ask.
“Fucked a Legion girl.”
“Boys, I think we’ve heard enough,” Brock says.
“It was only one time, but still,” Trystan says. “Alyssa was pissed. She almost didn’t take him back.”
“Trystan, go to your room,” Brock says. “Braden, I want to talk to you in my office before you go to your afternoon practice.”
“About what?”
“Just come down to my office when you’re ready.” Brock takes his water and goes down the hall.
“What’d you do now?” Trystan says to Braden.
“Shut up and go to your room.” He takes off down the hall, following Brock to his office.
“What are you doing today?” Trystan asks me.
“Not sure. Maybe sit by the pool. Take a walk.”
“You walk a lot.”
“Not really.”
“You walk all the freaking time. I’ve seen you on the cameras.” He smiles. “And yeah, I saw you sneaking out. Better not let Dad catch you doing that.”
“What cameras?”
“There’s security cameras all along the outside of the house. Front and back.”
“Why were you checking the cameras?”
“Because I don’t trust you,” he says, his smile now gone. “You may have Dad and Braden thinking you’re all sweet and innocent, but I can see right through that shit.”
“Braden?” I laugh. “He doesn’t think I’m sweet and innocent. He hates me. He called me a bitch.”
“That’s his way of saying he likes you.”
“He doesn’t like me. And I’m sure he doesn’t trust me. I don’t trust you guys either.”
“So where do you go?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where do you go on all these walks you keep taking?”
“Nowhere. I just walk the neighborhood.”
“And the beach.”
“Sometimes.”
“The beach is private. You’re not supposed to be on it, except for the part we own.”
“Nobody’s complained about it. I don’t think half the houses even have people living there.”
He stares at me, his arms crossed. “You just walk the neighborhood, huh?”
“I’m bored. There’s nothing to do here and I can’t leave because I don’t have a car. Or a license.”
“So get one.”
“Maybe I will.”
“I could probably teach you,” he says.
“Why? You just said you don’t trust me.”
“Doesn’t have anything to do with teaching you how to drive.”
“Thanks, but I’m not ready for lessons. I have enough going on.”
“Your loss.” He walks off.
My heart’s pounding again. I’m not a good liar. I need to get better at it, or Trystan’s going to find out I’m lying.
He’s watching me. Watching what I do and where I go. I wasn’t even thinking about the cameras. They can’t see all the way down to Jackson’s house, but still, I need to find a different way to get there, or Trystan will wonder why I keep going that direction.
* * *
At three, I show up at Jackson’s house, hiding behind the small palm tree that’s in a planter on his porch. I wonder if he has a gardener. I can’t imagine him planting this, or any of the other plants around his house.
He opens the door and looks around. “What the hell?”
“Jackson!” I whisper.
He looks over and sees me. “What are you doing?”
“Hiding. I didn’t want anyone driving by to see me.”
He chuckles. “Get in the house.”
I hurry inside, and he shuts the door.
“Did you just get back from practice?” I ask, noticing his black workout pants and tight gray workout shirt.
“The gym.”
“Which gym? The one Braden goes to?”
“Legion people don’t go to that gym. They use the one at school. It’s small and gets crowded so I go to one in San Diego.” He smiles. “Thanks for the tip last night.”
“Yeah, about that. I didn’t feel right doing it.”
“Did you hear what happened?”
“With the knife? Yeah. Braden was pissed. You should’ve heard him.”
“Pissed that Kade brought a knife or pissed that I stopped him?”
“Both. He thought you might call the cops.”
“I almost did, but I didn’t think they’d do anything. They go easy on people from Twisted Pine. They don’t want their rich parents filing a lawsuit.”
“Braden was trying to figure out who told you guys Barron and Kade would be there.”
“Did he have any guesses?”
“No, but Trystan said Alyssa, Kade’s girlfriend.”
He nods. “Good guess. He cheated on her with a girl from Legion.”
“Jackson, I don’t know if I can do this. I was so nervous. I thought they’d find out.”
“But they didn’t. You did great. Just remember the end goal. Knock Braden off his pedestal and keep Twisted Pine from expanding.”
“I’m starting to question the Braden thing. He was being really nice to me last night. Opening up to me. Telling me stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Stuff about his mom. It was actually really sad.”
“Fuck.” Jackson laughs, shaking his head.
“What?”
“He’s playing you, Rumor. You seriously couldn’t tell?”
“That’s not what he was doing. He told me stuff I don’t think he tells many people.”
“You mean about his mom? How she killed that kid and had Brock cover it up?”
My jaw drops.
“Yeah,” he says. “I know about that. A lot of people do. It’s not a secret.”
“But—”
“He played you. He wanted you to think he was being vulnerable with you, so you’d trust him and believe whatever he tells you.”
“So did that really happen? The story about his mom?”
“Yeah. He wasn’t lying, but he also wasn’t confiding in you. He just wanted you to think he was.”
“He said Brock helped her, not covered it up.”
“He covered it up. Hired a whole team of people to help him and used her money to pay for it.”
“But that’s wrong.”
“That’s how it works when you’re rich and famous. Why do you think you never hear about famous people being convicted of murder?”
“There’s been a few.”
“Not many, and the ones that make it to the news end up getting off and then everyone forgets it ever happened.”
“So Brock’s a criminal.”
“Depends on who you ask. You might think it’s wrong, but in Brock’s world it’s perfectly normal. My dad would do the same thing if my mom got in trouble. Or if I did.”
“You’d let him cover it up?”
“No, but he’d do it anyway. Having a son in jail could hurt his career. He doesn’t want that kind of publicity.”
“Is Braden’s mom really crazy or did he make that up?”
“I wouldn’t say she’s crazy, but she definitely has some mental issues. Hitting that kid really messed her up. She used to travel. Hang out with celebrities. Do all this charity stuff. And now she just sits in her house.” He checks his phone. “We need to get going. I have practice at six.”
As we head to the parking lot for my driving lesson, I keep thinking about Braden and what he told me last night. He seemed so sincere. So honest. I really thought he was confiding in me. Trusting me with his secrets. But it turns out it was all for show.
He played me. But it’s not going to happen again.