Page 25 of One of Our Own

Somehow, the interview ended, but I missed everything after that point—I had no idea what Chloe said or what happened next. I must’ve said goodbye and walked out of the hospital, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t remember the drive home, but everything came crystal clear—instantly sharp—when I stumbled into my house. I raced into the laundry room in the basement.

Laundry was my least favorite chore, same as Hunter. We both ignored it for as long as we could. Just stacked our clothes inbaskets until we had no other choice but to do it. I’d started a load of my whites last night, so I’d sorted all my stuff, but Hunter’s hamper stood there still filled with all the dirty clothes I’d brought down from his closet over a week ago. I dumped it out, frantically pawing my way through crusty socks, dirty uniforms, and smelly T-shirts. I couldn’t find the underwear. But it had been there. Where was it? And then suddenly, I felt something. Like a ball of rolled-up socks in my hand. Pink, purple, and yellow strings tied into a knot, a handful of different women’s underwear.

I untied them slowly.

One. Two. Three. Four.

They could all be his ex-girlfriends’. They could. None of them looked like Chloe’s… and then, in the next breath—there they were. Tiny, white with “Yummy” scrawled in pink cursive coupled with a cute ice cream cone. Nausea filled my throat. I threw them like they’d burned me. Like they were the thing responsible. I sank to the floor.

This couldn’t be happening.

Except that it was.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Hey, Mom,” Hunter called. I heard his footsteps through the living room, like he was going upstairs up to his room like he usually did when he came home from school.

“Come into the dining room. I want to talk to you,” I said. My pulse was pounding so hard it made my head hurt.

“Make it quick, because I’ve got a math test tomorrow and a bunch of other homework I’ve got to get done before I can even study.” He popped into the room. His backpack was strapped to him. AirPods snug in his ears.

“I’m not messing around with you anymore,” I said with my eyes locked on his, like a dog trying to establish dominance. I did my best to keep my voice steady. “You’re going to tell me exactly what happened with Chloe at the party.”

“Oh my god, Mom! Again?” He stomped and rolled his eyes. “Can we seriously be done with this? I told you. I’m over it!”

I flung the underwear on the table. “Well, I’m not. Want to tell me where these came from?”

He grimaced and backed away like he was scared to touch them. He put his hands up. “What the hell is this? Something isreallywrong with you. Why are you throwing dirty underwear on the table? Where’d you get that?”

“Where didyouget them, Hunter?” I yelled. I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but I couldn’t help it.

“Bruh, settle down.” He looked even more annoyed. “Probably from the last girl I pulled.”

I jumped up from my chair and leapt in front of him, unable to control myself anymore. “This is Chloe’s underwear!” I grabbed it from the table and shook it at him, flailing it in his face. “Now you tell me what happened. This is your last chance!”

“God, Mom. That’snotChloe’s underwear. Those are Raven’s, I recognize them now.” He tried to snatch them away, but I wouldn’t let him. This was the only physical evidence we had. “I don’t know what’s up with you and that girl, but you need to chill. I’m starting to actually get mad now.”

“Oh,you’restarting to get mad?” I stabbed my finger into his chest. “If you don’t start telling the truth, you’ll have a lot more to be mad about. These are the exact same underwear that Chloe said she was wearing the night of the attack. She described everything about them—the color, the design, the writing. And guess where I found them? In your closet.”

“So what?” He took a step back. “Do you know how many girls have that exact same pair of underwear? They all shop at the same places. You need to get over it.” He turned around and stormed out of the room, stomping up the stairs like he used to do when he was a toddler throwing a tantrum. “And you might want to think about getting some help. This is turning into a weird obsession,” he yelled right before slamming his bedroom door.

I stood there next to the table holding the dirty underwear in my hand. I’d never considered the possibility they were someone else’s. But Hunter was right—all the teenagers shopped at the same places. We only had one mall in town. Was he right that my obsession was clouding my judgment? Was I just being paranoid?If James wasn’t his father, would I still be afraid that he could be capable of this? I tried to steady my thoughts, but they were all over the place.

There was only one way to know if they were hers. I stepped outside and called Stan. He didn’t answer, but called back within seconds.

“What’s up?” His voice was hurried. I couldn’t imagine how much pressure he was under. Nothing like this had ever happened in this town, and now everybody knew.

I struggled not to cry. I wasn’t supposed to be doing this. Mothers protected their children at all costs. But what if your child was the one others needed protecting from?Please don’t let it be true.I clutched the dirty underwear in my hand.

“Stan, you know how Chloe described the underwear she was wearing and how one of the boys took them? Well…” For a second, I felt as though I stepped outside of myself, watching myself from a safe distance, as I laid out my suspicions about my own son. It felt unnatural. All of it, horribly wrong. “The truth is, things haven’t felt right about Hunter since this happened. He was at the party that night and was supposed to be staying overnight at a friend’s house afterward, but he called me in the middle of the night to come pick him up. When he got in the car, there was a scratch on his neck and a mark on his cheek. I tried to figure it all out myself—I really did. Even if he was involved, I wanted to know the truth. I asked him about the fight, the party, the video. Chloe. Multiple times. I even searched his room.” I could feel myself getting sidetracked by my feelings. I had to stay focused. “When I cleaned his closet last week, I found women’s underwear. I figured they were his ex-girlfriend’s, because some of her other stuff was there, too. I hadn’t thought about any of it until today. Not until we were sitting with Chloe and she described theunderwear. That’s when I remembered. I found underwear in Hunter’s closet, and I think it’s hers. It’s… it’s the exact pair she described.”

He was silent, digesting everything I’d just said. The space stretched out between us. He didn’t try to hide the disapproval in his voice when he spoke again. “It would’ve been helpful to have this information about Hunter when we started the investigation. I’m not happy you kept it a secret.”

“I know, and I didn’t intentionally keep it from you, but—” I cut off midsentence. The truth was that I did. I started over. “I didn’t know what to do, Stan. He’s my son. And I honestly couldn’t tell if Hunter’s stuff was related or just a bunch of coincidences. All I wanted to do was save Chloe. Just help her. That’s all. I didn’t want Hunter’s mess getting in the way. I never believed he was actually involved and never… I’m sorry if it took me awhile, but I’m his mother, and I didn’t want it to be true. You can’t blame me for that.” And he couldn’t. This was a parent’s worst nightmare, and he was a parent, too. I swallowed hard. I didn’t even know how to say it. Once the words were out of my mouth, I couldn’t take them back. The magnitude of the situation washed over me. “I kept hoping things would play out differently, and it wasn’t until halfway through the investigation that I even started suspecting him. Here’s the deal, Stan. All I had before were suspicions. That was it. The moment I found any real evidence indicating that he might have anything to do with Chloe’s attack, I brought it to you. He’s barely gone upstairs from our conversation.”

“You really think he might have something to do with this?” Stan had met Hunter a few times over the years and we bumped into each other quite frequently at various functions. I spent the first five minutes of every conversation gushing about whatever was going on in his life, so on some level, Stan had grown up withhim. And even though he was mad about me keeping my suspicions from him, the way he asked was telling me I better be sure. That I needed to think carefully about opening this door, because once we did, there’d be no shutting it. We would live in a different world.

I knew that no matter how the investigation ultimately resolved, Hunter would forever be guilty in a town this small. That was just how it worked. If they suspected you of something, you were as good as done. Hunter’s entire future would be ruined by this. There’d be no going back. It was my last chance to get out, but I didn’t take it. Instead, I did what was right. What I should’ve done a long time ago.

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