"Braden, it's late," Brock says. "You shouldn't be out."
Braden turns and walks off. The rest of us remain in the living room, listening as Braden goes out to the garage and starts up his car. We hear the engine roar as he speeds off.
"How did he get this?" Brock asks Trystan, holding up the gun.
He shrugs. "How should I know? He probably got it from your safe."
Brock looks it over. "This isn't one of mine."
"You can buy them at school," Jackson says.
"At Twisted Pine?" Brock asks, concern crossing his face.
"At Legion. That's where the Twisted Pine kids go to buy everything. Drugs. Guns. Whatever they want."
"Braden wouldn't deal with anyone at Legion. Unless..."
"I didn't sell it to him," Jackson says, noticing the look Brock was giving him. "I stay out of that shit. I have enough going on, and I definitely don't need the money."
"He held a gun on me," Trystan says, his eyes glazed over.
"He wouldn't have hurt you." Brock puts his arm around Trystan's shoulder. "He's your brother. He'd never let anything happen to you. You know that. I'll put the gun away, then why don't we go get something to eat?" Brock looks over at Jackson and me. "Would you two like to join us?"
"I can't go out right now," Jackson says.
"Yes, of course. I understand. Trystan, go get ready. We'll leave in a few minutes."
Trystan turns and follows Brock out of the room.
"How'd you do that?" I ask Jackson.
"Do what?"
"Get Braden to put down the gun?"
"I know how to talk him off the ledge. We used to be friends."
"I know, but now he hates you. I thought he was going to shoot you as soon as you opened the door."
"I knew he wouldn't. There's a part of him that still wants us to be friends. I was the only person who actually listened to him other than his mom, but she's not in his life anymore. I'm all he has left. That's why he came to my house that day to tell me about Andrea's case being reopened. I was the person he went to for advice."
"That doesn't make sense."
"If you understood Braden it does. He's messed up, but he refuses to get help. Being friends with him was exhausting. He'd be fine one minute and blow up at me the next."
"But you were able to calm him down just now. His dad couldn't. Trystan couldn't. But you could. That's kind of amazing."
"I'm good at reading people. As soon as I opened the door I could tell he wasn't going to shoot me. He was panicking because he was losing control of his anger. I could hear it in his voice and see it on his face. He needed someone to tell him what he wanted to hear."
"You mean you lied to him? He's really being suspended from football?"
"I don't know. I doubt it. The lawsuit isn't based on anything other than revenge. The school's not going to back down from something like that. They'll get their lawyers to fight it and Andrea's parents will end up dropping it."
I hear the front door open and close as Brock and Trystan leave for dinner.
"They're gone," I say. "You want to find something to eat? Ana also has leftovers in the fridge."
"Why don't we order something?" He gets his phone out. "Pizza?"
