Page 64 of Saints & Sailors

“Dreux,” I shot back. “Come on, give me something. I’ll tell you what I did to land here.”

This seemed to perplex Dreux. “Scott didn’t ask you to come?”

“No, I got in trouble.”

Dreux sat back and focused on me, his dark eyes burrowing into my brown ones. The serious look on his face made him that much more handsome. He tugged on the hooped earring in his ear. “My parents’ split did something to me.”

In LA, I’d seen a few kids lose their shit over their parents splitting up. “I can imagine.”

Dreux hung his head, losing contact. “My dad’s a dick. He’s always been a dick. Ever since I can remember, he was putting my mom through shit. He fussed with her about everything, so much I used to run outside and sulk on our front porch.”

“That’s when Scott stepped in,” I noted.

Dreux agreed. “Yeah, I was a kid then, but it got worse during the later parts of their marriage and when my mom got sick. My dad’s this big lawyer, and he’s cocky about his wins. My mom was sick with chemo and my dad started steppin’ out. They fought about it and he denied it, but we knew.

“When my mom went into remission, he just turned into an even bigger asshole to her. He’d complain about what wasn’t ‘good enough’ around the house. I hated him for what he was doing to her, and to me. I needed to blow off some steam.” His eyes met mine once again. “This was summer before last, when I was friends with Bonham.”

This was quite the revelation.

Taking my stunned look as a cue to go on, Dreux continued. “Bon and I go way back, even though he was a year older we still got along and talked about movies, music, and girls. I never really messed with the drugs and alcohol, but when it got real bad with my dad, I did start smoking and being careless. Bonham was right by my side, telling me my dad was a prick who should pay for what he does.

“One night, we got faded as fuck, and I was just thinking about going to my dad’s law firm and torching the place, or at least trashing it. To take something like what he was draining from my mom and me. Bon thought it was a good idea. It didn’t take much convincing to get into his car. We were both messed up, and I guess he was speeding, he was so excited. That’s when we got pulled over.”

I was beginning to get an idea of what happened, but I needed confirmation. “What happened, Dreux?”

He was ashamed as he frowned at the memory. “It was Rick. He could smell the weed on us and he was so disappointed. But it didn’t matter, Bonham was driving, so Rick let me go and took Bonham in.”

My mouth fell open, immediately understanding Bonham’s grudge against Dreux.

“Holy shit,” I let out.

Dreux reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, I spent the summer doing stupid shit, and my mom was getting fed up, and my dad didn’t notice. This was a big strike, but Rick let me go. My parents found out, and that’s when my mom rained hell on me.”

“And Bonham?”

“Got in a lot of trouble. He already had a record, and the driving under the influence was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He had to pay a fine, his license was suspended, he got some time in juvie, and ended up failing his senior year because of it.”

“Shit, Bonham.” I sighed.

“I always told him I was sorry,” Dreux spoke up. “But he’s got it in his head that I dimed him out to avoid getting in trouble.”

I wasn’t sure which boy I liked more, but I was more on Bonham’s side after hearing the story behind their feud. Sure, Bonham was driving, but for Dreux to get off while Bonham took the whole rap was fucked-up.

“Did they know about the arson?” I asked.

“God no, we would’ve really been in trouble then,” Dreux said. “We just got in trouble for the weed and speeding. And even then, Bonham never ratted me out about my true intentions. He never even said anything about my being high too to the judge.”

Because he was a nice guy.

“I started hanging out with Aidan, and Bonham’s hated me ever since,” Dreux concluded.

“Well, yeah, have you met Aidan, the guy’s constantly tearing Bonham down.”

“Yeah, he’s Bonham’s biggest critic.” Dreux smirked at the thought. “And the thing is, Bonham isn’t that bad. He just likes to do stupid shit, but he’s not a bad guy.”

He wasn’t, that I was sure of.

“You think you two could ever make up?” I asked.