Locked In Silence (Pelican Bay 1)

“I thought we were going to the baseball field to hit a few,” I reminded him. Jimmy and Doug weren’t the most reliable of guys when it came to getting in some extra batting time outside of normal practice, but Doug had a couple of decent pitches in him that at least made putting up with their childish antics worthwhile. I didn’t recognize the neighborhood we were in and wondered if we were planning on picking up someone else to join us.

“Is this where Manny lives?” I asked, using Tim Mandrake’s well-known nickname.

“He’s over a couple of streets,” Jimmy said. “Open your sunroof. Hurry up, he’ll be rounding the corner any second now.”

“Who?” I asked as I did what he said.

But Jimmy ignored me and unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed onto his seat so he could stick his body out the sunroof. He braced one foot on the console between the front seats. “What the hell, Jimmy?” I asked. Doug was practically hanging out the back window.

“Now!” Jimmy yelled. My eyes were on the intersection we were just starting to enter, so I didn’t notice him right away.

And by the time I did, it was too late.

Too-small-for-his-age Nolan Grainger let out a few soft cries as he was pelted with one egg after another. His violin case went flying as he tried to cover his face, and his backpack hit the sidewalk. The book he’d had his nose buried in was immediately covered in sticky yellow yolks.

“Jimmy, what the fuck?” I shouted as I instinctively hit the brakes.

Which didn’t help the situation because it made it easier for Doug and Jimmy to hit Nolan with the last of the eggs.

Jimmy was laughing his ass off when he dropped down into the seat. “Go, go!” he yelled at me.

I didn’t go, of course, because I was too busy watching Nolan as he dropped his arms and tried to wipe at his face. Even from where I sat in the car, my window open, I could hear him crying.

“Fucking go, Dallas!” Doug yelled from the back seat. The car suddenly lurched forward, and I realized Jimmy had reached over to jam his foot down on top of my own on the gas pedal. I barely managed to swerve the steering wheel in time so the car didn’t go up onto the curb on the opposite side of the street.

“Get off!” I snapped at Jimmy as I shoved him hard. He and Doug collapsed into a fit of laughter as I got the car moving. My brain was screaming at me to turn around and make sure Nolan was okay, but coward that I was, I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

Because Dallas Kent couldn’t stick up for Nolan Grainger.

Not in his world.

Not in mine.

Not in any.

So, I numbly drove until I pulled the Jeep into a spot by the baseball field at school. As Jimmy and Doug climbed out of the car and high-fived each other, I sent Nolan Grainger a silent apology, and then I got out and followed my friends onto the baseball diamond. It was an apology I’d never have the guts to speak out loud.

“Turn here,” Nolan said softly. I did as he said, even as I stifled the urge to pull the car over so I could get out and throw up the meager dinner I’d eaten just before I’d left my house to go meet my anonymous hookup. “It’s the last one on the left.”

I pulled into the driveway, since I figured Nolan would probably go through the side door rather than the front one. A light over the garage came on, flooding the inside of the cab with light. I knew I should look over at Nolan and send him some kind of benign farewell message with a nod of my head or something, but I couldn’t do it.

Even if I could have spoken, what the hell was I supposed to say to him?

Sorry I was such a prick back then, but if it makes you feel better, I’m paying for it now.

“Um, thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it.”

Don’t fucking thank me, Nolan. Don’t ever fucking thank me for anything because I’m a cowardly piece of shit.

I nodded, but didn’t look at him. There was absolute silence for a moment before I heard him finally open the door. The second it closed I was putting the car in reverse and before I even put my car in drive to head back to the center, I did something I hadn’t done in a really long time.

I begged Fate and God and anyone else who would listen to make it so I never saw Nolan Grainger again.

Chapter Three

Nolan

“Nolan, it’s eight. Time to get up,” my mother announced from somewhere behind me. I was lying on my side facing the window. I’d actually been awake for several hours, but I didn’t tell her that. The only reason to tell her would have been if I’d thought she’d be curious about what had kept me up all night.