Exit Wound (11 page)

The world was mine, and I was going to take it.

CHAPTER TEN

Our last day in Missouri went really well. We had another show, and once that was wrapped up, we were on the road again. I kept remembering little things again, things that we had done together during the summer up until Everett had died.

One particular day, Splinter and I were alone on the bus. He was playing Taylor Swift’s album
1989
, and I was reading a book. I asked him to turn down the music, and he refused.

“Don’t you like T. Swift, Bea? C’mon, she’s like a queen,” he said, which made me laugh.

“Sounds like you love her.”

The song “Shake It Off” came on, and I saw him switch on the repeat button on the sound system.

“I’m gonna play this song until you admit that you like her even just a little bit.”

He was dancing to the song, and I was trying to ignore him by shielding my eyes with the book. It was no use. He was being
so
obnoxious.

“Splinter, cut that out. You’re being annoying.”

“Am I? Good! Come dance with me, Bea.” He was doing the Carlton, and all I could do was shake my head.

“I’m not dancing with you.” The song played another three times until I finally gave in. I was dancing with Splinter and lip-syncing to the song. It was ridiculous, but I kind of did like Taylor Swift. It was more of a guilty pleasure, though. I remember how freeing it was.

“Bea?” Splinter called out to me.

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked as we drove through the sunset.

“Sure, I’m okay.”

I looked at him closely, and I thought how I really had misunderstood him in high school.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.

He looked at me curiously and asked, “Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry for being such a bitch in high school. You didn’t deserve it.”

He laughed.

“That wasn’t meant to be funny, Splinter!” I said, slamming him with a pillow.

“I know it isn’t. It’s just…I never thought you’d be the one to apologize. I guess I was wrong.” He shrugged. “I guess you are doing better.”

“I guess I am,” I answered.

“Okay, kids, time for bed,” Ben yelled, and I groaned. I may have been in my pajamas, but that didn’t mean I wanted to go to bed right then and there.

“Fine, five more minutes. No more!” He was acting more like the mother we never had as the days passed. It made me want to laugh and cry.

“So, we’ve got five minutes. What do you want to do?” Splinter asked.

“Relax, I suppose.”

He faked a snore, and I glared at him.

“You might as well go to sleep with that attitude, Bea. We need to take advantage of these last five waking minutes!”

“Yeah, you do what you want to do. I’m just going to relax.”

He let out a sigh and made his way out of the lounge and back into the bunk area.

While I was relaxing, I tried to think of Everett and Mackynsie. At all I could do was see their deaths: Mackynsie and her car accident and Everett getting shot. That’s all I had left of them. I didn’t have any pictures of Everett, and all the ones I had of Mackynsie were back at home, packed away in boxes. I wanted a part of them that no one could take away from me, that not even time could take away from me.

Time takes everything away eventually, and someone can always steal your happiness if you let them. I had memories of them stored in a drawer in the back of my brain, but was it really enough to remember them forever? When I first met Mackynsie, we were in kindergarten, and we had been in the middle of a fight with two girls over some crayons. It was ridiculous, but we were ready to tag team those girls together.

After spending time in the corner together, we had promised we would always have each other’s back.

“Promise?” I had asked her.

“I promise,” she’d replied as we were told not to talk.

From there, it was pure chaos. We always managed to get into some form of trouble, and we moved from corners to detention desks, to afterschool punishments. It was always worth it. She always did have my back, and I always had hers. That didn’t change until we went to Rosewood.

Things were different between us there, and quickly noticed how different she was. A lot had changed for me too. I wasn’t a virgin, and she was, I didn’t have a boyfriend and she did. Even though it was petty stuff, we still had plenty of differences that were piled up against us. Despite it all, it was hard to not keep up with one another. She was in charge, and she was the star of the school. I was a nobody.

“Bea, it’s time for bed,” Splinter called.

“Fine, let’s catch some ‘z’s.”

While I was walking back into the bunk area, I wondered idly why Ben wanted us to go to bed so early.

***

The first time I saw Eden Sank play live was in the living room in an old apartment Ben and I lived in with our mother. I was eight years old, and Ben had just turned sixteen. He thought he was all that because he had gotten his driver’s license and a beat-up old car that he had been saving up for since he was twelve. It was a rust bucket and a gas-guzzler, but he loved it. This was also the first time I met the boys. Rian, Grayson, and Everett. They played some song they had been working real hard on, and it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that great either. I had set out all my stuffed animals like they were watching along with me, and when they were done, the boys bowed to us and said, “Goodnight, New York!” as if we were an actual audience. Humble beginnings for these guys and they never let the fame get to their heads. Even the high school popularity crap hadn’t affected them. They didn’t get big headed over any of it. I appreciated that. It showed me that being humble was the best way to be.

“Wakey, wakey, shake and bakey!”

I heard this being shouted from what must have been a megaphone, and it was almost like my last memory at Rosewood when that asshole of a guy used a megaphone against Splinter.

I jumped out of my bunk and snatched the megaphone from Rian.

“Who made you God and allowed you to use a megaphone this early in the morning? Stop it. Just stop!”

I threw the megaphone off to the side, and went to the bathroom to laughter coming from the bunks of the other band members.

When I was done getting ready, I went into the lounge, where breakfast was waiting. I piled food onto my plate and ate silently until everyone came in from the bunks. Most of the guys were still in their PJs, all except for Ben. Ben was dressed to the nines, and I was wondering what on Earth had made him dress in a fancy shirt and tie.

“That tie clashes with that shirt,” I said, hoping to annoy him.

He looked down at his tie and his shirt, and he must have believed me because he muttered something to himself as he rushed back into the bunk area. I snickered.

“Don’t get on his nerves today, Frances,” Grayson said in his normal soft tone. He had left for a moment, and when he came back he was wearing similar attire as Ben.

“Why are you guys getting so dressed up?” I asked him.

“Today we’re meeting with the human resources sector of our label. They say it’s really important.”

I cringed at the thought. Human Resources was one of the scariest sectors of all the sectors in any company. They could make or break you. I was pretty sure Ben and the boys felt the same way.

Soon enough, they were all showered and groomed and dressed similarly to Ben. When Ben came back, he had a variety of ties and a look of desperation on his face. He looked at me for help.

I picked a better tie and tied it around his neck. “You’ll do great,” I told him with a smile.

He let out a sigh and nodded. “Okay, I think I’m ready. Bea, why aren’t you ready?” he asked, looking at me. I looked at myself and looked back to him with a questioning glance.

“I am ready. Why do you think I’m not ready?”

“You have to see HR too.”

I groaned, and rushed back to the bunk area to choose a nicer more feminine outfit than my skinny jeans, tank top, and nasty flannel shirt. I chose a pair of straight-legged jeans, a nice flowy blouse, and pinned my hair up.

“I wish you would’ve told me this last night. My hair is horrendous,” I said to Ben as he passed by.

“I’m sorry—it wasn’t definite until this morning.”

He pressed a kiss to my cheek, and I wanted to strangle him. I knew I was going to go off at any minute, but he was being quite charming, which made my raging anger disperse. When I was done “getting ready” again, I went over to the lounge area and found that all the breakfast food was gone. Everyone had eaten, and someone had even stolen food off my plate. This would normally make me angry—though, I decided to let it slide today. Everyone was obviously high on anxiety and stress already.

When we were in the main office of the label that Ben was signed to, we were called back to the HR section of the building. We were led back by a perky blonde who had a knack for showing off the rack God—or rather, a plastic surgeon—had given her. It was obvious that her breasts were bigger than what they were in her employee ID photo that was stuck in her cleavage. She insisted that they were natural after Rian had asked many inappropriate questions. However, looking at her employee ID, I knew better.

She left us seated in a room with a long black conference table with matching leather chairs that swiveled. Ben and I sat next to each other, Splinter sat next to me, and Grayson sat on the other end of Ben, with Rian next to him. I was wondering why we were here or if we were in trouble. I was hoping it wasn’t about Everett. My stomach dropped when a bunch of men and women in suits filed in with reams upon reams of paper and clipboards hugged to their chests.

“Welcome, welcome,” one bald guy said. I assumed he was the one in charge because he sat at the head of the table. Everyone else flanked to the sides, and we were waiting for them to unload their news onto us.

“So, we’re here on behalf of the Thompson family.”

My heart sank—this was about Everett.

“They want to know how you plan on using Mr. Thompson’s shares into the band now that he has passed. I am aware that you have a temporary drummer—although, he isn’t a permanent fix.”

I glanced over at Splinter, who looked like a puppy who had been kicked in the side. Ben explained the band’s plan for Everett’s shares. I was beginning to feel sick, and I needed some air. I was getting hot, and I couldn’t breathe. I could feel hands on my shoulders, but heard no voices. My head was between my knees as I tried to catch my breath. I didn’t know what happened, at least until Ben explained it to me later that night.

“You had a panic attack, Frances.”

“I’ve never had one before, so why would I have one now?”

While I ate my broccoli and chicken from the nearest Chinese food place we could find, Ben began to explain.

“Things have changed a lot recently. Panic attacks can happen to anyone. Certain things happen, and they become a trigger. When it becomes too much and we aren’t paying attention, we have panic attacks. It sucks, but it happens.”

“I’m assuming you’ve had panic attacks by the way you’re talking.”

“Yeah, I have.”

I paused for a moment and looked to my brother with a saddened expression on my face. “When was the last time you had one?” I asked, hoping that I wasn’t being too nosey.

“A long, long time ago.”

I could tell he was lying.

“Fortune cookie time,” he said, changing the subject.

“What does yours say?”

He ate the cookie first then read the fortune aloud.

True love is around the corner.

We laughed, and when I opened mine and ate the cookie, I read mine:

Proceed with caution—

someone is out to get you.

Ben laughed at this. All the while, my blood ran cold.

Fortune cookies weren’t always accurate. I mean, Ben’s said true love was around the corner. What kind of fortune was that?

When I was getting ready for bed, I found Splinter out in the lounge by himself, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Splinter, you all right?”

“I guess. I guess I got my hopes up.”

I sat down next to him. “I think I did too.”

I rested my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around me. If we were still in high school, this would have never happened. I wouldn’t have even gone near him. Now that I was no longer in high school and I was college bound, I could see how ridiculous high school really was. All the unwritten rules of high school societal bliss and chaos were all a bunch of BS.

When we went to sleep that night, I could feel a sense of closeness with Splinter, something I’d never imagine myself saying if we had never left Rosewood. It was odd how things work out in the end. People you thought you hated could turn out to be the people you’d need the most. People you thought you loved could bring you down into a dark abyss without any real hope of escaping.