Brutal Kiss

She stares at me. She says nothing. Her face is blank, an emotionless mask, like she cried everything out already and there’s nothing left. I’m pulsing, buzzing, barely holding back. The truth is finally in the air between us, and it feels so fucking good. I’ve been obsessing about that accident for eight years, eight long and terrible years, and I think I’m close to finding out why Megan died and why people were so quick to pin the blame on me when it was obvious to anyone that thought about it for ten seconds that it made no sense for me to be driving.

All I need is Daley. She’s my last puzzle piece. She’s the access I need to get to what really happened to Megan.

She’s my path to revenge.

“I’m finding it really hard to believe you right now.” She holds up a hand, and I bite back my retort. “I’m not saying you’re wrong or that you’re lying. Some of what you’re saying makes sense. I’ve wondered a lot over the years about why Megan would’ve let you drive when you were clearly wasted. But this is crazy and really hard to process.”

“I know, Daley. I know. It’s fucked up, and I should’ve told you sooner, but I couldn’t. Not until I knew something for sure.”

“What do you know for sure? All you’ve told me is that you weren’t driving, which I guess I just have to take your word for it, and that you think something else happened to her. What the hell are you even talking about?”

I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I got my hands on the police report from the accident that night. Did you ever take a look at that?”

She barks a laugh, at once absurd and hurting. “No, of course I didn’t see the fucking police report. Why the hell would I do that?”

“You should’ve. There’s one detail, one fucking detail, that I can’t let go of.” I lean forward and grab her hands. She seems startled but doesn’t yank away. “There was a second pair of tire tracks in that front yard, and they found some plastic that didn’t match the wreckage of Megan’s car.”

She takes that in and stares at me for a long, tense moment. I let the implication sink in, and a nagging voice begins to tear at the back of my mind. What if I’m crazy, and this is all some wild conspiracy theory I’ve concocted just to clear myself of guilt? What if this is too far, and Daley will finally walk away for good?

“You think there was another car.” She says it simply. The horrible truth I uncovered. The truth that’ll lead to everything else, this dark path I’m moving down like a train stuck on tracks without brakes.

I nod slowly. “A second car. I don’t know if that car caused the accident or what, but I have a theory based on a lot of conversations over the last few years. Conversations you won’t fucking believe. But, Daley, something happened that night, and I want to find out what. I need you to come back to Delco with me, come back home, and help me figure out what happened to Megan. What really happened to her.”

Her mouth opens and she bites her lip. She bites it hard enough and close enough to the split that it begins to bleed again, but she doesn’t seem to mind. I reach out with my thumb and gently wipe the blood away, and her mouth falls open as she stares into my eyes. That touch was electric, shocking and intense, like the feelings I used to have for her back when we were kids. Back when I wanted her more than anything. Those feelings are still in me, buried down as deep as I can get them, but they’re beginning to surface again. That old, piercing want. That keening desire. There’s a wailing voice deep in my guts that calls out for Daley’s lips, and I don’t know how long I can resist it.

We’re inches apart, and my pulse hammers in my chest like it wants to break free, and I feel us hanging over a precipice. I’m terrified we’ll fall, but I have to keep going.

“This is crazy,” she whispers.

“Crazier than two Turkish thugs nearly cutting your throat? This is the world we live in.”

“I can’t. Rian, I can’t. I tried so hard to get away. I have a life. I’m normal now. You want me to go backwards.”

“I need you. There are people that know things who won’t talk to me, but they might talk to you. If you help, we can find out the truth. I’ll show you everything I have. I’ll tell you everything I know. Then we’ll figure the rest out together.”