“Christian,” Ollie started, his voice raspy and broken.
I prepared myself for the worst. He was going to hate me. He now knew that I was the reason Mom was out driving that night. No one really questioned what she was doing or how I saw the wreck from my point of view on the sidewalk. Things were a whirlwind after that night. Mom in the hospital, then her recovery. She was never the same after that wreck. She suffered a mild head contusion, and maybe that was why she was different. Or maybe it was the pills.
Either way, she was never the same. We saw less and less of her at the house. We later found out that she was seeing multiple doctors for her “injuries” and possibly spending time with them outside of office hours, too. Though, I wasn’t sure if that was necessarily true—it was just from my assumptions over the years.
“How can you possibly hate Hayley for that?”
My own voice was unrecognizable. It was strained, hardly audible, weak. “Because if I blame her, then I don’t have to blame myself.”
Ollie scoffed. “Blame yourself for Mom dying? Are you kidding?”
My chest bled a little more. I squeezed the steering wheel. “No.”
He shifted beside me, but I kept my gaze on the house.
“It’s not your fault, Christian. It’s not Hayley’s either, but I’m guessing deep down you already know that. You were thirteen years old, worried about your best friend. No one could have predicted Mom would get into a wreck when she followed you. And no one could have predicted that she would get addicted to pain pills. If you blame yourself for her dying, then you might as well blame me, too.”
I shot my gaze to him. “Why would anyone blame you?”
He shrugged. “Maybe because after I watched you leave through my window, I told her to follow you.” My brows furrowed, and he nodded. “Yeah, I told her to go after you. She wasn’t going to. She kept saying you’d turn back around once you got wet enough, but I knew better. I didn’t know where you were going, but you were the most determined person I knew, and you never let anything get in the way of what you wanted. Not then and not now.”
His words were soothing to the cut in my chest, but it didn’t really fix me. Every time I looked at Hayley, I was reminded of that night. That dreadful, rainy fucking night that was the start of something terrible. She was a reminder of all the bad in my life.
Yet, there was still something inside of me that yearned to know she was okay.
It had always been that way with her and me. There’d been five years that we were separated, and every day, the little voice in the back of my head thought of her and wondered where she was.
Ollie’s voice brought my attention back. “It’s your best quality, you know.”
I cleared my throat. “What is?”
“Your determination. It’s why we’re sitting outside a mansion, trying to find the girl you pretend to hate. You’re determined to make sure she’s okay, no matter the consequences.”
“And what consequences are those?”
Ollie smirked. “I don’t know. Maybe walking into this party to snag Piper, knowing very well you’re likely to get jumped by a band of pussy-eating Wellington Prep boys because you beat one of their own last weekend.” He gave me a side look. “Not your best idea.”
Oh, right. That. Minor problem. “That’s why you’re going to go in there and pretend like you’re buddy-buddy with Piper.”
He laughed. “Can’t make any promises.” Then, he climbed out of the car and jogged up the steps, giving me a salute before entering the house.
“I can’t fucking believe that I fell for that.” Piper was sitting in the backseat of my Charger, red hot and fiery. Ollie was sitting smugly in the passenger seat, a big grin etched on his face. “I knew not to believe you. The biggest flirt in the school. As if Hayley would really be out here in Christian’s car, wanting to talk to me. She wouldn’t send you. Ugh.” She huffed. “I blame the alcohol.”
“Tell me,” I demanded, keeping my hands wrapped around the steering wheel. She had been in my backseat for twenty minutes and hadn’t budged once.
“I’m not telling you shit, King Christian. You hate Hayley. How do I know you’re not trying to get info out of me to use against her at school this week?”
I peered through the rearview mirror. “What was wrong with her today? I saw you trying to lift her shirt, and I also saw her wince when she climbed into your car after school.”
A coy smile worked itself onto her face. “Wow, for someone who hates Hayley so much, you seem to know a lot about her actions.”
“Fucking tell me.” I smacked the steering wheel with my hand.
“Nope,” she said with a pop on the letter P.
Ollie smirked when he looked back at her. “God, you’re even hotter when you're feisty, Piper.”
Her face twisted. “Ugh, shut up. I’m still angry with you.”