Chase spears a hand through his wavy hair, runs his palms down the length of his face and lets go of a sharp, ragged breath. “Yeah, I might need your help with that,” he admits, and Jade just smiles at him like she knew, and maybe hoped he’d ask.
Jade is talented, the kind of musician that knows what note goes with what. She could play with her eyes closed. And yet, it’s something she never wanted to pursue. She’d always said that the stage would be her brother’s sanctuary.
“How is it already three in the morning?” Jade asks, her voice filled with bewilderment. Her phone screen is bright and bold in the darkness, the light illuminating her blue irises, sharp brows and rosy lips as she thumbs around on her screen. She flicks her gaze to mine. “Can I stay with you tonight?”
I nod. “Since when do you ask?”
Harlen pinches the bottle from between Chase’s open legs and finishes it off, standing and hitting him on the head. “Let’s goooo,” he hoots.
Chase’s wrists are hung over his knees. He curls his shoulders toward his ears, trying to catch the bottle when Harlen decides to return for round two. Only, Chase is on hisfeet before Harlen can make contact, pulling him under his armpit and dragging him into a headlock.
Jade slides her fingers between mine, pulling me to my feet, and we begin to skip down the river’s edge leaving the two idiots at our back.
Our arms swing, our half-dry hair trailing behind us in the wind. The boys are a few feet behind us now and I gaze over my shoulder, watching Harlen stuff the sauces my father gave him earlier into his pockets, Chase spinning a stick in his palm as they laugh and shove each other, talking their usual garbage.
I turn back and squeeze Jade’s hand, my gut flipping over itself. “Why does your brother give me butterflies?”
She chuckles, slowing our rhythm until we are stumbling beside each other.
Jade slithers her arm into mine and curls into my side, righting herself. Her lips slide across my ear when she underestimates the space between her mouth and me, and I shiver as she whispers, “Because you have the hots for my…” Her voice rises, and I suck on my bottom lip. “BROTHERRRRR!”
My free hand shoots across my body and I pinch her arm, clipping her an octave. “Shut up,” I whisper-growl, laughing, feeling my glassy eyes pearl out of my head.
Her laugh joins mine, but then she slaps at my arm and uncoils herself, rubbing at the tender spot on her wrist. “That fucking hurt, you bitch.”
I snort, then I find myself glancing between my best friend and her brother, and when I catch his eye, he winks at me.
I quickly snap around and drop my chin. Heat simmers beneath the skin at my cheeks, flourishing to the surface. Jade is right. I have the hots for Chase Keller, my best friend’s older brother.
“Hey, do you see that?” Jade’s voice pulls me back to reality.
“See what?” I ask, squinting my eyes in the direction she’s pointing, trying to make out something, anything in the darkness.
“That.” Her voice rises, and this time I don’t miss the tremble on the edge of her tongue.
“What the…” I whisper, stepping into the canopy of trees that sit between the river and our trailer.
I move slowly, an apparition that has slipped out of my body. My eyes are locked on an object hanging from the thick branch of a tree.
I float toward it as it sways back and forth and before I can register what is happening,I run.
“DAD!” I scream.
He is limp, lifeless. The rope, a coiled, remorseless noose around his neck.
Chase and Harlen fly past us, Chase yelling to his sister over his shoulder, “Catch her for me, and don’t let go.”
I collapse to my knees, sticks and leaves crunching beneath bone as I fall into my best friend's arms.
“No, no, no, no.”
Feral cries rip out of me.
Searing hot tears burn in streams down my cheeks.
I watch Chase grab my father’s legs, lifting him higher, taking his weight, while Harlen climbs the tree, severing the rope.
And that's when everything goes black.
