Chapter 21
Ben
Ten years ago
It takes a few minutes before the knocking wakes me up. I stumble from the bed, headed to my bedroom door, only to realize there’s no one there. Did I dream that?
Knock, knock, knock. “Ben! Open up!”
It’s coming from the window. I cross the room, still not fully awake, and pull back the curtains to see Margaret’s face.
I throw the window open. “Are you bleeding?”
Her hand goes to her forehead as she wipes the blood away. “I guess a little.” She turns and yanks Silas closer, all but shoving him through the window. “We need your help.”
It takes a few minutes of me pulling and her pushing before we get him inside. He groans when he lands on the floor, a hand going to the spot on his forehead where he’s also bleeding.
“What the hell happened to y’all?”
The call about Mom this afternoon was a shitty ending to an already shitty week, and the last thing I need at midnight on a Friday night is whatever shit Camille’s little brother and his girlfriend have gotten into.
Margaret doesn’t answer until she’s crawled through and closes the window then the curtain. “It’s bad, Ben.” She finally looks at me. “Your house was the closest place I could think to go.”
If they got into some trouble in this part of town, it’s definitely not good.
Silas is in rough shape. He barely looks conscious and there’s a steady stream of blood pouring from his forehead. His right knee is twice the size of the left one.
Silas seems to come to, his glassy eyes slowly taking in my room. “Where the fuck are we?” His voice sounds scratchy. I’m not surprised he doesn’t recognize my room since he’s never been here. Hell, Camille has only been here a few times even though we’ve been dating since senior year.
Margaret drops down beside him. “We’re at Ben’s house.”
Silas seems to focus on Margaret. “We were in that truck.”
She nods.
He tries to sit up but falls back against her. “Shit, my head hurts.”
God, what a fuckup.
I pick up a towel off the floor and toss it to Margaret. “I’d rather he not bleed all over the carpet.” I watch as she mops up his face.
These two are a disaster. Silas is the definition of an entitled asshole who knows money solves all problems and consequences don’t apply to him.
Daddy has always fixed everything and always will.
Margaret is from my part of town, lives a couple of streets away, and latched on to Silas their junior year of high school and hasn’t let go.
There are a lot of similarities between Margaret and me, and it’s not lost on me that most people in this town lump us together when discussing the Everett kids’ dating choices.
It’s clear Randall would prefer both his kids spent time with people he considered socially equal, but there’s no one that fits that description in this town.
The Everetts are in a class all their own.
There was a big push for Camille to keep her options open once she started college at Tulane.
And it would have been easy to do since I went to LSU, but somehow we’ve managed to stay together.
Although I’m not sure our relationship will survive the summer while she bounces through Europe.
Her calls and texts are growing more and more infrequent.
Randall likes to ship both of his kids off for the summer. Silas is supposed to be working on some cattle ranch in Texas but he keeps sneaking back to town to see Margaret any chance he gets.
“Somebody tell me what happened!”
Silas looks at me, his face washed in confusion, then turns to Margaret. “We got in that truck.” His memory seems to stop at that moment.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and force myself not to lose my shit on these two dumbasses. “I’m guessing y’all were in an accident?”
His hands go to his head and he grips his hair, groaning in pain. “Why were we in that truck?”
“How much did he drink? And what did he take?” I ask Margaret. “And whose truck were you in?” Silas drives a jacked-up Jeep, not a truck. Margaret doesn’t have a car.
She ignores me, focusing on Silas. “You wanted to get food. Remember?”
He jerks his head up. “If I fucking remembered, would I ask you why we were in it?”
This takes the air right out of her.
“Okay, let’s settle down,” I say. “She’s trying to help you, Silas. Don’t be an asshole.”
Margaret throws her hands up, defending him even though he doesn’t deserve it. “It’s okay, Ben. He’s confused. And hurt.”
I can’t keep watching this without knowing what’s going on. “Margaret, you can either tell me what happened or y’all can crawl right back out of my window and find somewhere else to go.”
Silas turns to her as if he’s as curious about the answer as I am.
“We were at Paul Granger’s—”
I interrupt her and turn to Silas. “Your dad will lose his shit if he finds out you’re hanging out at Paul’s.”
“Let her finish.” And now he’s taking up for her.
She glances at me then gives her full attention to Silas. “Everyone was there—Grant and Emily, Jack, Nathan and Sam. Partying. You wanted to stay behind when the others left to go to the gin.”
The cotton gin is right outside of town, where high school kids hang out since there’s nothing else to do here.
“Silas, aren’t you supposed to be in Texas right now?”
He lies back on my floor, covering his face with the towel.
Big, fat tears fill Margaret’s eyes. “I talked him into coming home for the weekend.”
Margaret and Silas just graduated in May and they’re in that weird summer where nothing has really changed but you know that change is coming since college is only a handful of weeks away.
There’s an itch that you can’t scratch. A want for something but not knowing what it is, which usually leads to stupid behavior.
My friends and I used to hang out at Paul’s too, but we’ve moved on.
Silas’s group is just getting started over there, though.
“Why didn’t y’all leave with everyone else?” I ask her.
“He got hungry but his Jeep wasn’t there. Paul was passed out so we took his truck.” Her voice is high and shrill.
Silas shuffles around on the floor, trying to find a comfortable position for that bum knee while still holding the towel to his forehead.
“I remember being at Paul’s. Remember talking about getting food.
Everything’s blurry after that.” He’s slurring his words and I’m not sure he’ll remember this conversation in the morning, much less the wreck. “You shouldn’t have let me drive.”
Margaret lets out a huge sob.
“So y’all take his truck to get food and have a wreck.”
Again, both of us look to her for confirmation. “Yeah. There was a car. It was just there all of a sudden.”
“Where was this? Was anyone hurt?” I ask, terrified to hear the answer.
She shrugs and tears spill from her eyes. “On Maple. We got out of Paul’s truck and just started running.” That’s only a few streets over from here.
Silas throws the towel down. “Fuck!” Then he slams one hand into the carpet over and over. “Fuck!”
“Keep it down, you’re going to wake my mom.” My mom is passed out in her room, and even though I don’t think a bomb going off would wake her, Silas needs to lower his voice.
I pull my phone out of my back pocket. “Silas, I’m calling your dad.”
His head pops up. “What? No! Why would you call him?” He genuinely looks scared.
“Because this is more than I can handle! You stole someone’s truck and hit another car then left the scene. And he may be pissed when he finds out but we both know he’s the only one who can fix this shit for you.”
Silas slumps, but it’s clear he knows I’m right. “Where’s your bathroom?”
“Across the hall.”
Margaret helps him up and tries to walk there but he shakes her off. “I don’t need your help taking a piss.”
She steps away and he nearly falls on his ass but catches himself on the end of my bed. If this wasn’t so tragic, it would be comical.
Silas stumbles his way out of my room while Margaret sinks back down on the floor. “Don’t tell Mr. Everett I’m here. That I was with him.” Her voice is small. Broken. “He already hates me. He wants Silas to break up with me.”
In that moment, I begrudgingly acknowledge a camaraderie with her. We’re both fighting tooth and nail to remain in our relationships against the wishes of Randall Everett.
“Get out of here. Go home. I won’t mention you were here but I can’t promise Silas won’t.”
“He won’t. He knows how his dad will react. Silas loves me.”
It’s hard not to roll my eyes. Pretty sure Silas only loves himself, and it will be a miracle if they’re still together a month after fall semester starts.
Silas looks marginally better when he stumbles back in my room since he washed the blood off his face, although his shirt is still stained with it.
Margaret pops up from the floor and launches herself at him, almost knocking them both over. “Ben said I should leave before your dad gets here since we know how he’ll be. Call me later when you can talk.”
He nods and she steps away as if parting from him is painful. His expression does not mirror hers.
“You can use the front door,” I tell her.
Once she’s gone, Silas sinks down on my bed, then falls back. “Call him and let’s get this over with.”
This won’t be swept away as easily as everything else has been. This is just the beginning.
I hesitate just a second or so before I tap on Mr. Everett’s number. It’s late but I know he’ll answer.
“Ben, is there a problem?” His voice is gruff, like I’ve woken him up.
“Yes, sir. Silas is here at my house. There’s been an accident.”
“Put him on the phone.”
I hold the phone to him. “Hey, Dad. I fucked up.”
His head hangs low as he speaks quietly into the phone, repeating everything we both just learned from Margaret. And just as she predicted, he doesn’t mention her involvement. Then he listens to whatever his dad is saying.
When he ends the call, we sit in silence for a long moment.
“He’s on his way over,” Silas finally says. “Can I get some coffee?”