Tortured Souls (Rebels of Sandland 2)

The Hardy’s house was next door to the garage, and Emily led us into the kitchen and clicked the kettle on. I sat down at the small wooden table in the middle and fiddled with my fingernails, while Ryan leant up against the kitchen counter next to Emily. His arms were folded over his broad chest and his muscles were tensed like he was getting ready to defend her. I didn’t know what to say. Should I apologise? I didn’t want to. If Mr Hardy was in front of me, I might have done, but I didn’t want to use the word sorry to Emily or Ryan, because I didn’t feel it. If anything, they should have been apologising to me.

Emily put a black coffee in front of me then placed a sugar bowl and some milk on the table. Ryan watched her every move, and when she sat down next to me, he joined us.

“Let’s just get straight to the point. You have a problem with Ryan. Me too, I suppose. I don’t know why. We weren’t there that night, when…” She sighed and looked guilty. “Anyway, we don’t know where Brandon is. We’ve tried looking for him. We’ve looked everywhere, but he’s gone. If we knew where he was, we’d tell you.”

“I don’t believe you,” I snapped. I’d heard this all before. I didn’t come here for the rerun.

“Why would we lie?” she answered, and it was on the tip of my tongue to reel off a million and one reasons. I went with the obvious.

“Because

you’re his friends. Cheaters help other cheaters. You covered for him that night and you’re still covering for him now.”

“No, we’re not. We didn’t even know he had a fight that night. He hadn’t told any of us.” She glanced at Ryan before she said the next part. “We had a falling out and Brandon went off on one. If any of us had known he was heading to the barn to fight in the headspace he was in, we’d have done everything we could to try and talk him out of it, but we didn’t know.”

She’d just handed me the single biggest piece of evidence to show Mathers was guilty without even knowing what she’d done.

“What do you mean, headspace? What happened?”

Her eyes bulged slightly as I leant forward, waiting to see how she’d worm her way out of this one.

“He was angry, hurt, and probably wanted to lash out.”

Then Ryan butted in to defend his friend.

“He wouldn’t have gone into that fight with the intention of killing anyone. He isn’t like that. He might be a shady fucker sometimes, but he’s not a murderer.”

Like he’d say anything different to me.

“How would you know?” I could feel the spite and anger rising to the surface again. I knew coming in here would be pointless.

“Because I know him better than anyone else. We’ve been friends since we were four years old. I know exactly what he’s capable of, and whatever’s been said about him, its bullshit.”

He needed to take off his rose-tinted glasses. The Brandon Mathers he knew was a million miles away from the one I saw that night.

“I was there, remember? I know what I saw. People lie, but eyes don’t. Mine saw the truth.”

“Grief can do things to us,” Emily chipped in, like she’d read my mind and was trying to argue that my sense of reason and truth had been distorted.

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“No. Not at all,” she bit back sharply. “But your adrenaline would’ve been through the roof that night. I’ve watched Brandon fight, and even I lose all sense of reality. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’d be like to watch a loved one up there.”

“You’re right. You can’t imagine, so please don’t try. You’re just embarrassing yourself.” I went to stand, but Emily’s desperate tone stopped me.

“We aren’t going anywhere fast. Please, Harper, just listen. If we find out anything, we will tell you. You will be the first to know. You can trust us.”

Could I? Could I really trust her to put my feelings, a complete stranger, above those of her boyfriend’s best friend? I doubted it. That was why I kept my little night-stalker bombshell to myself. I figured if I told anyone, they’d commit me for sure.

“Trust.” I laughed. “I can’t trust anyone. Even Jensen has retracted his statement.”

They both gasped in shock. I stopped myself and took a breath, surprised they were only just finding this out.

“You’re fucking kidding,” Ryan said. “He retracted his statement? Why? What the hell is that fucker up to?”

“He said it wasn’t in the best interest of his family to pursue the case. Said he didn’t want the family name being dragged through the courts.”

They both exchanged a knowing glance and Ryan rolled his eyes.