Page 169 of Voices

“I’m not leaving here until I get answers.”

“Gracias.” She lets my hand go and stands next to an older man, both blocking the door we came through.

“Why the fuck are you here, Hawkins? He’s gone. G-O-N-E. What about that don’t you understand?” Benji stands in the middle of the garage with his hands on his hips.

“He’s not gone. You know where he is, and I swear to fuck if you don’t tell me in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to fuck you up so badly that not even a plastic surgeon will be able to fix your face.”

“Ha! Good one. Why do you care so much about his pathetic ass anyway? It’s not like he was good for anything,” he scoffs.

My nostrils flare as red-hot anger boils in my veins. “He’s the love of my life. Something your self-centered ass would never comprehend. How can you think that way about your ownbrother? Fuck, your twin brother at that? You fucking disgust me.”

“Me? He’s the one who’s been suicidal since we were fifteen. Always doing shit for attention, faking being ‘depressed’, and then having the nerve to drink so much he had to be hospitalized. Please. You think I’m the disgusting one?” He walks to where I’m standing with my arms crossed over my chest. “He forced himself onto Conrad on our fifteenth birthday. FuckingbeggedConrad to fuck him because he was jealous that I had been having sex for two years by then. He was so desperate to have sex that he propositioned a man three times his age.” A mean smirk has his lip lifting. “But once he had Conrad’s dick up his ass, he freaked out and suddenly became ‘depressed’. I don’t buy it though. It’s all for the attention he’ll never receive from our father. He’s always been the weaker one between us.”

“You’re a fucking liar!” Lily yells.

He looks to where she’s standing next to Ryder. “Am I though? Are you not the one who begged me to put those bars on his sliding door so he wouldn’t use the balcony as a launch pad? I don’t know why you’ve wasted all this time on him. He should have jumped that first night and saved us from his shitty mood swings.”

“You piece of fucking shit!” Matt runs up to him, arm cocked back, and delivers a blow so hard that it knocks Benji out for a second. “Stay down, bitch.” He spits on Benji’s dazed face then puts his foot on his chest.

Lily is crying into Ryder’s chest and it’s taking all my strength not to break down with her.

That sick perverted man raped a fifteen-year-old boy on his birthday. Then he did it again today. Were there other times? Did he force himself onto Charlie that night I found him bleeding on his bathroom floor? Does his father beat him because of what happened?

Bile races up my throat for a second time tonight.

“Get your fucking foot off me, Kane.” Benji tries to lift Matt’s foot from his chest, but he’s nothing against Matt’s strength.

“Why did you keep using air quotes when you said depressed?” Ryder’s irritated voice comes over Lily’s crying. “Do you not understand what a person goes through when their own mind works against them? It’s a mental illness that he CANNOT control! Have some fucking empathy!”

Benji just laughs.

“Tell us where Charlie is, and maybe I’ll consider not crushing your fucking ribs.”

Benji wheezes as Matt adds pressure to his chest.

“Fuck you. All of you. I hope he drowns in misery and finally finishes it this time. Always taking the coward’s way out-”

Matt moves his foot to Benji’s throat, cutting him off. He leans down, making Benji’s face turn red. “Wrong answer. How do you feel about having a crushed windpipe?”

Lily snaps her head up and runs to me with wide, fearful eyes. “I know where he’s at! Why the hell didn’t I think of it earlier? He always runs there when everything goes to shit.”

“Lily!” I grab her shoulders harder than I mean to, making her stop. “Where?”

“Ayers Beachfront Landing.”

That whooshing sound from his voicemail. It was waves!

“How do I get there? Fuck it, send it to my phone. Ry let’s go, Ash stay with Matt in case Benji gets any ideas.” They both nod.

I turn on my heel and sprint for my truck.

“Shane,” Lily calls as I’m about to close my door. “Take Central Avenue ten miles East just over the bridge that leads to the highway. Main Street is the first road on the right. It’ll lead right to the gates of Ayers.”

“Got it. I’ll call if-when I find him.”

Fifteen minutes later I come to a stop behind a silver Aston Marton smashed against the welcome sign with the trunk open. We rush out, not bothering to close the doors behind us. He’s not in the car but his stuff from his townhouse is all over the trunk. Looking around the dark entrance, I don’t see any trace of him.

“Charlie!” Cupping my hands around my mouth I call for him again. “Charlie, where are you?”

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