“Jump...”
The room began to spin.Romeo scrunched his eyes shut, shaking his head.
“The bridge.”Chad murmured, but his voice sounded far away, too far for Romeo to understand.“A witness saw me.He got me out of the river.”
It didn’t compute.“No.You didn’t jump.”
“Yes.I did.”
Romeo snorted.“That’s not possible.”
“That’s what happened.I jumped.A conscious action ...unlike falling.”
“No,” Romeo growled, surging forward.The chain cut into his throat, and he staggered back, falling to the floor.Chad got to his feet but didn’t retreat.
“I don’t believe it!”Romeo shouted.“You wouldn’t do that.This witness, whoever it is, they’re wrong.They did this.They pushed you.”
“I jumped.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me not unless someone forced you, someone put a gun to your head—"
“There was CCTV footage covering the bridge.It’s clear I was on my own.No one pushed me.”
Romeo’s chin trembled.He squeezed it until it stopped shaking.
“I don’t believe you.”
But the more Romeo thought about it, the more things started to make sense.Ally and Josh had kept Chad in their sights since his release from hospital.Josh had been vague on the details, wanting Frank to get to the hospital before revealing what had happened to Chad to put him there.He’d even suggested Frank might have had something to do with how Chad ended up in the water, like he was partly responsible and Chad ...he’d asked whether they’d had a fight or row that day before he got in the car.
“This...”Chad gestured between them, “whatever this is, it was obviously too much.I was a police officer for fuck’s sake, of course a secret like this was too much.”
“You promised me.”Romeo yelled.“It’s us.It’s always us.”
Chad’s smile was sad.“Maybe you didn’t know me as well as you thought you did.”
Romeo’s heart stopped beating in his chest.It turned to stone and cracked down the middle.
“Get out,” he murmured.
“What?”
“Get out!”he roared.And it wasn’t just him, it was the monster, too, filling his head, snarling and spitting.Romeo was hurting, withering in pain, and the monster came to his aid, flinging itself forward in Romeo’s skin.
Romeo grabbed the first aid kit, the bottle, the toilet roll, and threw them at Chad.
Chad scuttled backwards, pressing himself to the outhouse wall.His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open.
“How fucking dare you,” Romeo spat, wrapping his hand around the chain.He yanked, again and again he yanked, until the screws bolting the gym to the floor began to wobble.“How dare you come in here and tell me that!How dare you smile at me and tell me I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did.”
“It’s what happened.”Chad’s voice shook.“I tried to kill myself.”
“No!”
“I did.”
“This isn’t real,” Romeo snapped.“It can’t be real.”
“I—”
