Bayward Street (24 page)

Heath had his session with the Olympic coaches the next afternoon. He killed it, and I was so relieved. Arthur had stayed home and went with him. They all discussed his potential and said they would be in contact very soon. He had to leave the next day to go back to work, but I appreciated what he’d done to come back and support me, and Heath.

Heath tried to play it all off like it was nothing, but this was everything to him—his future. One he had made on his own through hard work and persistence.

I was proud of him.

Heath and Bray said Jay hadn’t been at school. There were whispers around about what was going on. I guess people weren’t as oblivious to mine and her tension as I thought. And with both of us absent, the rumor mill was running rampant, but so far there were no facts.

Despite her being AWOL, I took the entire week off, doing my school work through emails from teachers and with Braydon’s basically illegible notes.

Come Friday night I was excited. Braydon had promised to go and pick up Layla on Saturday and bring her here for the weekend. I felt horrible that I hadn’t seen her, but with everything that was going on with Jay, Helen said it was best if she came to us, rather than risk going down there and possibly giving Jay’s defense any kind of substance.

I knew Layla would understand, and that if anything were wrong she’d find me.

My phone, that the boys and Helen had demanded I had on me, buzzed underneath my pillow. I swatted at it, wishing it would shut the hell up. Heath’s warm body felt good against my bare back, the comforting feeling lulling me back to sleep.

When the phone began to buzz again, I pulled it out, ready to toss it against the wall to shut the damn thing up. But when I saw Flick’s picture lighting up the screen, I quickly hit answer.

“Hold on,” I whispered, slowly untangling myself from Heath’s arms and creeping off the bed. I turned and checked he was still sleeping before I tiptoed into the bathroom and shut the door.

“Flick?” I asked quietly.

“Fable…” her sniffles made me stand up straighter, “…I need you.”

“Where are you?” I asked urgently, my mind already racing. She went to bed earlier, where the hell could she be, and how was I meant to get there.

“I’m at that party that Heath and Bray were talking about.” She sniffed a little louder, and I heard someone whispering to her softly, “Can you come and get me, please? Don’t tell the boys.”

There had been a large party planned tonight, but neither Heath nor Braydon had the urge to go. They said the person who owned the house wasn’t someone they got along with, and if they went it would only be asking for trouble. Trouble that none of us needed right now.

“Felicity, they said there would be trouble. What the hell were you thinking?” A loud sob broke through the phone, and I instantly regretted snapping at her. “Okay, honey, I’m sorry. I’m coming, okay?”

She gave me the address and hung up.

I knew I wouldn’t need it, though, because as much as she wanted me to keep it from Heath and Bray, I wasn’t about to. I’d learned my lesson about hiding things. It only made problems worse. Unfortunately for Flick, she was about to learn the hard way, just like I did.

I’d kept her secret thing long enough, and only because it seemed like things had died down. But I was starting to wonder if maybe that it hadn’t, and she didn’t want to remind me of her little secret. I switched on the lamp beside the bed and shook Heath. It took him a minute but soon he was rubbing his eyes and squinting at me.

“What’s wrong?”

I pulled my sweatshirt over my head. “Your sister went to that damn party and just rang me in tears. We need to go get her right now.”

He was out of the bed before I’d even finished my sentence, pulling on his jeans. “We need to get Bray.”

“Why?” I asked, following him as he crept down the hallway.

He stopped at Braydon’s door. “Because that was Eli Sampson’s party. We don’t exactly have the best relationship with him, and his parties are notorious for getting way out of hand.”

He reached in and switched on Braydon’s light. I heard him grumble an annoyed, “What the fuck, man?”

“Flick’s in trouble. Get up.”

I groaned quietly. “I guess this is a bad time to mention that Flick’s been dating a guy named Eli?”

The look on Heath’s face was a mixture of shock and anger. “She’s been what?”

“She’s been sneaking around.” I scrubbed at my face. “I wasn’t sure why it was such a big deal to hide some guy, but now I get it.”

His fists clenched and Braydon appeared at the door, pulling on a T-shirt. “What’s going on?”

“Our little sister is apparently dating Eli,” Heath growled, his eyes not leaving me. I squirmed under his gaze.

Braydon laughed. “Yeah, okay. That’s a sick joke.” He looked to me, but I just shook my head.

“You can explain on the way,” Heath said gruffly, grabbing my hand as we jogged down to his car. We pulled out the drive, and he looked over at me. “It’s not far, so you need to talk fast.”

I sighed. “I thought it was innocent. She was texting a guy. I figured it was a crush. I caught her sneaking in on Saturday after seeing him. And on Sunday, she went and met up with him.”

I could tell Heath was struggling to keep it together. He was angry. No, furious.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you, but I didn’t know who he was, and I promised her that I wouldn’t judge him until I met him. That’s something people never gave me, so I was giving her the benefit of the doubt that she knew what she was doing.” I stood by my words. As much as I wished now that I would have told him what was going on. I did what I felt was the right thing.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Braydon said from the backseat. “Hope you’re prepared for this shit storm.”

“What’s the deal with you guys? Why do you hate him so much?”

“Because he’s the guy who got Anton hooked on prescription meds.”

Heath’s words sucked the air from my lungs. “What?” I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “How do you…” I could see Eazy’s face in my mind, watching him so broken, so beaten down. He’d made his own choices, and he paid the consequences for them in a way he didn’t deserve. I tried to focus, but my heart was racing.

“Eli used to go to Diamond Cross. We were on the swim team together. He used to be okay, a little crazy, but it didn’t bother me so much,” Heath explained as he navigated the car through the streets. “I caught him using and told our coach. They found pills in his locker, and he got expelled.”

“And now he’s using Flick to get back at you.”

The pieces finally fit together, and my small panic attack had morphed into something so much more. Fury.

“Not for much longer, because I’m going to kill him.”

Not if I get there first.

The streets were lined with cars, and I could feel the bass of the music through the windows as Heath pulled up just down the street.

“Find Flick and we’ll meet you at the car,” Heath ordered as we climbed out and jogged toward the house.

“Heath. You need to be smart, don’t do anything stupid,” I tried to reason. Braydon had been quiet, but the look of determination on his face told me that these two were going in here looking for trouble.

“Find Flick,” he said again as they took off toward the house, disappearing through the front doors.

I stood in front of the house, the cool breeze cooling my skin as I scanned the oversized front porch and steps. The house would have been beautiful if it wasn’t for the teenagers strewn all around and bottles and other miscellaneous items scattered across the lawn.

It was trashed.

“Fable!” A body came at me from the shadows, and when she reached me, I wrapped my arms around her tightly and pulled her in. She cried loudly into my sweatshirt, gripping the material in her fingers. One of her friends that I recognized from school ambled up behind her, her eyes looking around warily. She looked frightened.

My hands rubbed up and down Flick’s back, and I tried to give the other young girl a reassuring smile. “It’s okay.”

“I want to go home.” She sniffled.

Placing my hands on her shoulders, I pushed her back, she resisted, but I needed to get a good look at her. When she finally released me, her head hung low and she stepped back. The dress she was wearing was torn at the shoulder, the thin strap hanging down. Her hair was a mess, her ponytail no longer tight but hanging limp at the side like it had been pulled on.

Anger began to build again. “Tell me what happened,” I demanded.

She looked away. “I just want to go home.”

“Fable?”

A voice I recognized called me from the stairs. I squinted against the bright lights of the porch, but Payton stepped forward, jogging down to us at the curb. “I just called Lucas to come get me. This place is nuts. Heath said I should get Lucas to take you guys home?”

A loud boom of cheering voices went up from inside, followed by a smash which sounded awfully like a window. “What the hell is going on in there?”

“You brought Heath with you?” Flick’s eyes widened. “I told you not to bring them.”

“Most of these kids are from East Street,” Payton explained. “Things are getting destroyed, and I’m gonna guess it won’t be long before the police show up,” she explained, looking over Flick with a worried expression.

“Was this Eli, Flick?” I gestured to her dress and her matted hair.

“Why did you bring them?” Her voice sounded hurt.

“Was this because of Eli?” I demanded, my voice stern and my body tense.

She tightened her lips, refusing to answer me.

“He tried to take her upstairs,” her friend explained softly. She looked at Flick with sad eyes. “When she said no, he tore her dress and grabbed her by the hair. I pulled her away, but he threw both of us to the ground.”

Flick shuddered, but still didn’t speak. I was furious now. Ever since I was little, watching my dad come at my mom with a heavy hand, had always made me swear I’d never let myself be treated that way. Neither would I let someone I care about be subject to it. Eli didn’t have the right to touch her like he had, and I was going to make damn sure he knew it.

“Payton, can you stay with them until Lucas gets here?”

“Fable, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go in there,” she answered nervously. We both looked up at the house as we heard another crash echo in the night. “Heath said you needed to go home.”

I didn’t give a shit, though, Flick had become my family. Where my own blood had failed to protect me, I wasn’t about to fail her.

“Fable, please,” Flick pleaded, grabbing my arm.

“Stay with Payton,” I ordered, pulling from her tight grip and storming toward the house. I could hear her calling after me, but I didn’t care. This asshole was about to realize that not every girl was going to lay down and take their misogynistic bullshit. And maybe, just maybe, it might make him think twice next time he thinks about putting a hand on a defenseless girl.

I hoped that Bray and Heath hadn’t found him yet, because I had a score to settle, for Flick, for Eazy and for me.

There were people everywhere when I entered the house, some drinking and laughing, a few arguing in the hall. A couple of girls danced on the dining room table, their heels denting and scratching the beautifully varnished wood.

It was a home that I didn’t doubt was stunning, before whoever lived here, had invited nearly two hundred teenagers in to destroy it.

Stepping out onto the large entertaining area outside, I took in the space around me. It was a long wooden deck that ran the entire length of the house. There were several tables set up, all of which had people sitting around them and bottles collecting in piles on the top. Two tall standing patio heaters sat on either side of the bi-folding doors, heating the somewhat chilly air with soft flames.

I had no idea who I was looking for, never having met Eli or seen a picture, so I was relieved when I spotted a familiar face standing at the bottom of a staircase that led out to a vast backyard. The place was packed.

“Liam,” I called out, drawing his attention away from the group of guys he chatted with. He looked surprised to see me and excused himself, jogging up the stairs.

“Fable, didn’t expect to see you here.”

“It was a last minute thing,” I rushed. “I need you to point me in the direction of Eli.”

“Sampson?” he asked. “Why?”

“Because he hurt the people I care about.”

Liam scrubbed at his face. “I told him not to mess with Felicity.”

I froze. “You knew?”

He seemed to slump a little. “Yeah. Eli’s a friend. I don’t approve of all the shit he does, but he’s helped me out a few times, and I owe him that much.”

My mouth ran dry, and I attempted to swallow. Clearing my throat, I finally managed to ask, “Did you know he was the one who gave Anton the pills?” It felt weird to use Eazy’s real name, but I didn’t have time to explain shit. I just wanted to know, and I wanted to know now.

He opened his mouth to talk, but he was cut short by another voice. “Of course, he knew. He was the one who was supplying them to Eli.” Heath’s voice chilled me as he stepped up behind me and placed his hand on my hip. I looked down at his hand. It was battered and swollen, so I assumed I was too late to have a piece of Eli myself. Heath dragged me back so my body was flush with his. I wasn’t sure if it was a protective maneuver or possessive. But at the time, my mind didn’t care.

My heart had taken over, and it ached.

Liam’s eyes looked over my head to Heath, then to the side where Braydon appeared. Liam stayed quiet, neither confirming nor denying the accusation. But I wasn’t about to let him get away with it.

“Is that true?”

He didn’t look at me, but he nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t do that shit now.”

My body screamed. I tried to move forward, but Heath held me against him. “He got thrown out of home because of those drugs. He died. He died trying to protect me,” I screamed as I fought against Heath’s hold.

“I didn’t know Eli was giving them to him. It wasn’t meant to go that far,” he defended, looking hurt, like the guilt of what had happened to Eazy weighed heavily on his shoulders. Good. I wanted it to hurt. I wanted him to feel the pain from what his actions had caused.

I heard more glass smashing from inside the house. People screamed, but my focus stayed on Liam.

“I thought we were alike. I thought that you understood me. But we’re
nothing
alike. I would never—”

“Hurt someone?” The sound of her voice made my body shake. “That’s rich considering the only reason you’re here is because you stabbed your own father.” Jay seemed to materialize out of the darkness, a large bottle of vodka in her hands.

Awesome, I guess this party was really about to get started.

People had stopped their conversations. They were moving closer to our interaction, trying to hear what was going on over the loud bass of the music.

“Get the fuck out of here, Jay,” Heath snapped. “You and I are going to have a chat, but I’m saving that for another day… another time.”

“Why? To protect her?” she screeched. She wobbled on her feet, and I knew she was completely trashed. “You cared about me. We had something, a future, and you threw it all away and jumped into bed with a scared little homeless girl.”

“That’s enough,” he roared. His hands tightened around me, anchoring me to the ground. “I didn’t give a shit about you. That was all in your head. You brought this on yourself. And now you’re nothing more to me than a bully and a spoiled brat.”

“That’s a lie,” she screamed, taking the vodka bottle by the neck and tossing it at the wall. It hit the outdoor heater, and a ball of fire burst from it. There was a unified scream from the crowd as the fire engulfed the wooden décor. People rushed to escape the flames, pushing past the patio heater. It wobbled back and forth and started to fall.

Heath shoved me forward. Liam managed to catch me before I hit the ground and started dragging me across the deck. People were still screaming. There was a loud whoosh, and I felt a burst of heat burn at the back of my body.

“What’s going on?” I asked frantically as Liam helped me to stand. I tried to make sense of the chaos around us as people began to run.

“It’s on fire, we need to go,” Liam called over the commotion. His voice was frantic as he pulled on my arm.

I turned, looking for Heath and Braydon. But he was right, the wooden surface was already ablaze.

“Heath!” I screamed.

“Fable, get out,” I heard him call back, but I couldn’t see him through the flurry of people and the blaze that was quickly beginning to spread.

“Go!” Liam pushed me, and we managed to slip in through the door, the flames from the first fire already creeping along the top of the frame. My body was jolted and twisted and jabbed as two hundred teens attempted to escape the flames. Liam’s hand slipped from mine, and I was shoved to the ground. I could hear him calling out to me, but he was being pushed out. He couldn’t fight through. Someone else grabbed me and dragged me down a hall, I tried to scramble to my feet, but they kept pulling, the carpet scratching at my back as my shirt rode up.

“We have to get out,” I screamed. But when I turned my head to see who was pulling me, the bleach blonde locks told me I was in more trouble than I thought. She pulled me into a small office, tossing my body on the floor and slamming the door shut behind me and flicking the lock.

“We aren’t done,” she yelled as she turned to face me, her features contorted into a kind of fury I’d never seen before.

“We’re going to die!” I screamed back, trying to force myself to my feet. There was only a small window in the office, a rectangular one that was up high.

“You can’t just come in here and take everything from me.”

I groaned as I stood, pulling my clothing back into place. “I didn’t take anything.”

“You did. You took Heath. My mom and dad separated six months ago. My mom is always traveling, so I had to live with my dad.” Her breathing was heavy and harsh. “My dad doesn’t make a lot of money, so we had to get a different house. Everything changed, and the only thing I had left was Heath.”

So many things made sense now including her desperation to keep him.

The Chief of Police’s salary couldn’t contend with that of a super model, so their lifestyle had changed dramatically. I realized that this whole effort was her last ditch attempt at keeping things the same. She wanted to hold on to Heath because that meant she would still be considered as having a certain amount of status in a world that she was slowly losing. It wasn’t an excuse, but it made sense.

I could hear sirens now, and fire alarms inside the house going off because of the smoke.

“Jay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry about your mom and what’s going on, but we can’t do this here. The house is on fire. We are going to die if we stay here.” I was frantic but trying to reason with a crazy person isn’t exactly easy, especially when time isn’t on your side.

Tears started to drip from her eyes. “I want my life back. I want my mom back. I want my house back. I want Heath back.”

There was a loud bang, and the both of us dropped to the floor, screaming. She was breaking down, crying and sobbing on the floor.

“You can get your life back. You just have to fight for it. And right now, that means trying to get the hell out of this house before the both of us lose our lives forever.” I jumped up and ran over to when the small window was. It was too high, so I started looking around. I needed something that we could stand on.

“The desk,” Jay said, pushing herself off the floor. “We can push it under the window and climb on it.”

We ran over to the large office desk. It had a computer and was covered in paperwork and files, but we shoved everything off the top onto the floor, not caring when the screen smashed.

Standing at one end, we both pushed. It was heavy, but it slowly began to move.

I choked and spluttered. We were breathing heavily as we struggled to move the large wooden piece of furniture. Smoke was filling the room faster, and with us standing and exerting ourselves we were taking more and more into our lungs.

I was struggling to breathe.

They always told you to get low in a fire because smoke rose to the roof, but with our only option for escape a high window, we had to risk suffocating if we wanted to be free.

Managing to get the desk partially below the window, we both climbed up onto it. The smoke burned my eyes, they stung and started to water. We were both coughing, trying to cover our mouths with our shirts as we struggled with the locks.

The small window didn’t open very far, but we would be able to squeeze through one at a time. I put my head out. I could hear people and see flashing lights filling the darkness.

“Help,” I screamed at the top of my voice. There was no reply. “Help!”

We were too far away, and there was too much going on. No one could hear me.

The ground wasn’t too far of a drop, so we’d just have to risk it. A broken arm was better than suffocating to death.

“Go!”

Jay didn’t ask twice. It was a long window, so it was easy enough to go through sideways and hopefully we could hang from our hands and drop to the ground.

Jay put her leg through first, then an arm and half her body. As she lifted her other leg through, she drew it back.

The smoke was in my eyes and affecting all my senses. My mind couldn’t figure out what was going on until her foot connected with my body. Already feeling lightheaded and dizzy, I fell backward.

The wind was knocked from my lungs as my body hit the floor.

I gasped.

Trying frantically to fill them again.

I was in the water again, and I was drowning.

I heard her talking as she climbed out the window. Her voice scratchy from the smoke. She sounded so far away. “You’re right. I need to fight for the life I want, the life I had before. And in that life, you didn’t exist.”

Once again, I’d underestimated her. She was insane. She’d lost her mind. She didn’t care who she hurt on the way to the top. And she would do whatever it took to get to where she wanted.

Including leaving me in this room to die.