“The timeline won’t match up,” Parker says. “Ella’s dad knows she’s not home yet and we told Scarlett and Aubrey we’re here. They could find out Ella’s here with us.”
“They’re not going to find out,” Briggs says. “Ella’s dad isn’t going to be talking to our girlfriends, and Scarlett and Aubrey are too drunk to even know what time it is.”
“Can we go now?” I say. “My dad’s going to think something happened to me. I’m sure he’s sitting outside right now, waiting for me to get home.”
“He’d seriously sit outside and wait?” Briggs asks.
“He worries about me, and I’m sure he’s freaking out right now because I didn’t answer his call and I’m still not home.”
“Just to be clear,” Briggs says. “Nobody says anything to anyone unless they have to, which shouldn’t happen because there’s no reason anyone would ask, other than Aubrey and Scarlett, who we’ve already talked to. Any questions?” When none of us respond, Briggs says, “Okay, let’s go.”
Briggs gets out of the SUV, and the rest of us follow. I don’t like taking orders from Briggs, and I usually don’t, but right now he’s the most level-headed of all of us. I don’t know how he’s remaining so calm and how he’s able to think and take charge like this. It’s kind of impressive, not that I’d ever tell him that. I still hate him, although tonight he hasn’t been that bad to me.
Parker and Briggs get in the front seat of the Porsche while I get in the back.
“You better not puke in here,” Parker says as he drives away from the house.
“Just roll her window down,” Briggs says. “She’ll feel better with fresh air.”
I roll it down myself, the cool night air hitting my face and making me feel a little less queasy.
“Is it something you ate or are you just nervous?” Briggs asks me.
“Nervous. I’ve never been in trouble like this. I’ve never committed a crime.”
“You’re not in trouble,” Briggs says. “None of us are. And we didn’t commit a crime. You can’t think that way. Innocent until proven guilty. As far as we know, nothing happened tonight. You have to believe that or people will know you’re lying.”
“Are you saying this from experience?” I ask.
“I’ve told a few lies,” Briggs says. “Nothing like this, but a lie’s a lie.”
“We’re not really lying,” Parker says as he speeds down the road. “We’re just choosing not to tell people.”
“You think that guy’s going to be okay?” I feel sick again as an image of him sprawled out on the road flashes in my head.
“He’ll be fine,” Briggs says.
Parker blows out a breath. “I don’t know. Finn hit him straight on, and he was going fast.”
“Oh God,” I say, my hand going over my mouth. “What if he’s dead? What if we killed him?”
“Did you really have to fucking say that?” Briggs says to Parker.
“What? We were all there. We all saw what happened.”
“She had her eyes closed,” Briggs says, but I don’t know how he knows that.
“Did you see what happened?” I ask Briggs.
“No, I wasn’t looking. I just heard the sound when we hit him.”
It’s a sound I’ll never forget, a loud thud as the body slammed into the front of the car.
“Why do you think he was out there?” Parker asks Briggs.
“I don’t know. He’s probably a drifter, hoping to catch a ride with someone.”
“At night?” Parker says. “Standing in the middle of the road?”
