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Right there, in the doorway, I drop the plastic bags that have our food in them and let Chris wrap me in his arms. I need him and the comfort he offers. The warmth and acceptance I find in his embrace. He is everything I need, especially after the terrible day I’ve had.
My entire family is coarse and rough around the edges. We love each other fiercely, and I know if I ever need them, they’ll drop everything to help me. My brother would have no problems helping me bury a body. And even though Bailey is three years younger than me, she’d cut a bitch if I needed her to.
“Shh, sweetie.” Chris rubs my back and then presses the ibuprofen into my hand. “You have to take it now before the headache gets worse. You know that.”
With a sad nod, I take the pills he offers and grimace as I swallow them dry.
“You could have had some water,” he teases. “Go. Change. I’ll get everything set up for dinner and a movie.”
I do as he orders, and after I scarf down more tacos than a normal person can possibly eat, I lean against his chest and fall asleep in the middle ofLake Placid, right before the good part. When he carries me to bed a little later, I barely move.
“Don’t worry about your knuckles,” Chris whispers after kissing my forehead softly and pulling my blankets up to my chin. “I’ve got just the thing to cover the bruises.”
4
AVERY
The teacher’s lounge is chaotic the next morning when I arrive at school.
“Keegan Matthews died yesterday,” Violet Ortiz, the eighth-grade English teacher tells me as soon as the door closes behind me.
Hearing the name Matthews, my heart skips a beat. Until I realize that she hadn’t said Carter. Not only that, but I can’t figure out why I care if something happens to him. Carter didn’t even remember me, and I sure as hell didn’t remember him. Okay, I’m outright lying, but no one needs to know that.
But Keegan? He had gone to school with me. He graduated in my class. Hell, he’d even cheated off me in order to graduate. I reach for the table to steady myself, my heart immediately aching and hurting for him and his family.
“He was on duty, and a drunk driver he was going to arrest pulled out a gun and shot him. Point blank.”
Everyone listens to her tell us what happened, and I’m sure she’s already told the story more than once before I walked in. Violet’s brother is an officer with the Birch Police Department, so when something huge happens, she always has the information first.
“Holy shit,” I whisper more to myself than anything else.
I’d wondered why Carter hadn’t arrested me. That must have been the call he and Remy took off for.
The room is silent after that, as we all try to process what happened, and what it means. Not just for their family, but for our entire town. Birch Harbor is peaceful. At least… it used to be. In the past decade, we’d had a serial killer, an arsonist, and our entire elementary school had to be rebuilt after a fire that almost cost the life of one of our students.
Numbly, I turn to leave. Not only do I find myself grieving the loss of one of my classmates, but selfishly, I also have to deal with uncertainty over whether I should be glad I didn’t get arrested. Carter might not have recognized me. Our families might have grown apart, but the Matthews brothers had been close with Deacon once upon a time.
Devastated. I’m devastated.
“Don’t forget the fire drill,” Violet calls out to my back.
With a nod, I disappear through the door and down the hall toward my classroom. The rest of the morning goes by in a blur, and I barely even remember the coffee in my hand until the alarm starts to blare directly above my head.
Jumping out of my skin and doing my best not to scream, I almost fling my still-full cup of coffee across the room. Immediately, noise and cheers erupt in my class. The possibility of getting to finish the caffeine I so desperately need in peace vanishes in front of my eyes as I take a deep breath.
“Alright, everyone.” I clap my hands together to get their attention and end their conversations. “Drop everything at your desks. Don’t take anything with you. You know the drill. File out, single line, and go to our spot on the field. Be fast and careful at the same time.”
Once a month, like clockwork, we practice some sort of a drill. Between active shooters, power outages, fire drills, and anything else the school district can come up with, it is a miracle I even get to teach my class. I can’t blame the school board, though. With everything happening in our world, the lives of our students have to be our top priority.
Chris falls into step beside me, his navy blue scrubs pulled tight across his chest. “You know, I’d think they’d take a break, considering the weather. I don’t want to ruin my hair.”
He runs a hand along his very bald head and smiles at the students close enough to hear what he said.
“You don’t have hair, Chris.”
More snickers come from the students who are eavesdropping without trying to make it obvious. Except, since we are standing in the middle of a field surrounded by three hundred kids, there isn’t really anywhere to have a private conversation. Besides… Chris and I are used to having our entire lives listened in on.
Chris huffs with mock irritation, putting one hand on his hip exaggeratedly. “Don’t be jealous just because I’m glorious.”
