Chapter 21 #2
The adrenaline from the accident and running here probably cleared his head some, but it’s obvious he’s not sober and I’m assuming he wants to be before his dad gets here.
“Sure, give me a minute.”
I head to the kitchen. Our coffeepot is old, but it still manages to make a decent cup. I bring back two, one for me and one for him since it feels like this is going to be a long night. I pass him his along with a couple of painkillers. “Here, take these too.”
He gets up and limps around the room, sipping from his mug, as if even in his drunken state he knows he needs to be prepared for what’s coming.
“Are you injured anywhere other than your forehead and knee?” The last thing I need is Randall Everett’s only son dying in my room from some internal bleeding I can’t see.
“Hell, I don’t know. I hurt everywhere.”
It will take at least twenty minutes for Mr. Everett to get here and that’s only if he doesn’t take time to get dressed.
Silas puts his empty mug on my bedside table and lies back down on my bed. “I’m never getting out of Corbeau now.”
I’m in my desk chair so I swivel around when he says this. “What do you mean?”
“I fucked up. Dad’s gonna fix it. And then he’ll hold it over me forever.” His words are so quiet I almost don’t hear them. And then he passes out.
While he sleeps it off, I pace my room. The longer it takes for Mr. Everett to get here, the more nervous I get.
Finally, my phone beeps with a text, alerting me he’s outside. I walk to the bed, and it takes me forcing Silas into a sitting position to wake him up.
“Your dad’s here.”
Silas follows me into the hall, steadier than he was when he got here but still not clearheaded.
Randall is waiting for us on my small front porch. The lights are off but there’s enough moonlight to just make out his features. He stares at us both, and for some reason it feels like I’m in trouble too.
Mr. Everett scans the front of my house, and I try to picture it through his eyes.
He’s known where I’ve lived since I started dating Camille, but he’s never been here before.
It’s a far cry from their house right outside of town.
The first time I saw their place was on a field trip in eighth grade, when our social studies class was studying Louisiana history.
The Everetts gave our class a tour of their farm and explained how sugarcane grows and is harvested.
Their house was the biggest one I’d ever seen.
I know he hates that I’m witnessing this, knowing he’ll fix it. Because if there’s one thing I’m a hundred percent sure of, it’s that he will fix this.
He steps closer to Silas and grabs his chin, tilting his head back to get a better look at him. “Do you need stitches?”
“No, sir.” The sharp tone and attitude he had with Margaret are long gone.
“His knee may need to be looked at.”
Mr. Everett doesn’t spare me a glance as he inspects Silas further.
“What a fucking mess,” he mutters. He steps back, the disgust on his face clear. “Who else is aware of what happened tonight other than you and Ben?”
I wait for Silas to say Margaret’s name. He hesitates long enough to make me think he won’t tell him about her involvement but he eventually comes clean. “Margaret was with me. Helped me get here. Honestly, without her, I’d still be sitting in that truck.”
“If it wasn’t for Margaret, you would be in Texas working and not hanging out with low-life drug dealers.”
Silas doesn’t say anything else, just stares at the ground.
“Is Paul Granger aware you took his truck out for a joyride?”
“I don’t think so. He passed out before we left.”
When he realizes he isn’t getting anything else out of Silas, Mr. Everett turns to me.
“I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out what we need from you but I’ll explain it so we’re clear.
This is going to be a fucking disaster to clean up.
So this is what happened tonight. Silas chose not to go with everyone else to the gin because he had already made plans with you.
You came and picked Silas and Margaret up from Paul’s shortly after everyone else left.
Once they were in your car, you dropped Margaret off at her house.
” He pauses a second, looking at Silas. “I’m assuming that’s where she ran off to once she heard I was on the way here. ”
“Yes, sir.” I barely recognize this meek version of Silas.
Mr. Everett turns his attention back to me. “After you dropped Margaret off, you and Silas went to our condo in Baton Rouge, where you both stayed the rest of the weekend. As you had originally planned. And if anyone comes asking, that’s exactly what you’ll say.”
I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this. “You want me to be his alibi.”
“Do you love my daughter?”
His question is so surprising, I take a step back. “You know I do.”
“That makes you family.” By the way he flinches at his own words, I’m assuming they were painful to say.
“Family helps each other out. Family protects family. Family makes sure family succeeds in life.” He pauses for effect.
“If there was ever a moment where the ball is in your court, it’s this moment right now.
You’ll never get an offer like the one I’m giving you again. ”
He knows how enticing this is. If I cover for Silas, he won’t stand in the way of our relationship.
But he’s not finished. “And there’s the matter of what happened this afternoon.”
My mom.
She hasn’t been the same since my dad died last year.
I got a call from her earlier this afternoon while I was at work.
She was drunk and crying and rambling on about how we were about to lose everything.
The house, her job, her car. I knew she was struggling emotionally and financially, but I didn’t know it had gotten that bad.
And there isn’t much I can do for her until I graduate, since I’m barely getting by on my own.
Scholarships, student loans, and a summer job are the only way I’ll able to go back to school this fall.
The second call I got this afternoon was from the president of the local bank.
Apparently Mom had gone up there to beg them to give her more time to pay the mortgage and car note.
From what it sounded like, she made a scene.
I told him I would come and look into it, which I planned to do on my lunch break on Monday.
I shouldn’t have been surprised he called Mr. Everett after getting off the phone with me.
He wouldn’t have missed this opportunity to tell him about my family’s situation, since I’m dating his daughter.
“How is your mother now? I heard she had a rough afternoon.”
This shouldn’t feel as humiliating as it does. She’s a grieving woman. I have to clear the emotion from my throat to answer. “She’s resting.”
She actually passed out before I got home. Slumped over on the couch with an empty vodka bottle next to her. I got her in bed without her waking up.
“Another benefit of being a part of a family…my family…is we make sure everyone we care about is taken care of. And since you obviously care about your mother, so do I, which is why I’ll make sure she gets the help she needs and ensure the bank understands a little leniency and forgiveness are called for in tough times like these. ”
Shit. He knows he’s got me now. Because agreeing not to stand between Camille and me doesn’t mean Camille and I are guaranteed to stay together.
But offering to help Mom is a game changer.
She needs help with the depression plaguing her, driving her to drink.
She needs financial help. All the things I can’t give her.
“Ben, am I right to consider you a part of our family?”
I hesitate only a second before saying, “Yes, sir, I would be honored to be a part of your family.”
Mr. Everett’s face relaxes for the first time since he got here. Silas is staring at me, though, seemingly shocked I’ve agreed to his dad’s plan.
Mr. Everett extends his hand and we shake. I can’t help but feel I just made a deal with the devil.
“I expect the two of you on the road to Baton Rouge within the next ten minutes. Do not stop on the way. Not anywhere. I will call to check in tomorrow.”
“What about Margaret?” Silas asks.
“I will speak with her personally.”
I can tell there’s more Silas wants to say but doesn’t.
“And none of us will mention this to anyone.” His gaze focuses on me. “Even Camille. Do you understand? We cherish the women in our family. Make sure they never have to worry about the things we do to protect one another.”
“Yes, sir,” we both mumble.
Mr. Everett turns to walk away but he stops when Silas asks, “Do you know if anyone else was hurt in the accident?”
The look Mr. Everett gives him sends chills down my spine. “What accident?” And then he’s walking away.
Just before I turn to go back inside to get my things so we can get on the road, Silas says softly, “You have no idea what you’ve just agreed to.”