Page 113 of Five for Silver

They both knew it was true.

Romeo stopped reaching, and curled hisfingers into his t-shirt, twisting the fabric covering his heart.“You did it for me.”

Chad shook his head. “I did it forus.”

“Us.” Romeo agreed. He nodded, never lookingaway from Chad. “Because it’s us, it’s us against everyoneelse.”

“Chad and Romeo,” Chad whispered.

“That’s right.”

The whining in the distance grew louder,Chad could follow the rhythm of it, it wailed with lower and highernotes in a sequence he recognized.

They were sirens, police sirens.

“Chad,” Romeo reached for him again.

“Don’t touch me.”

Romeo’s face folded in on itself. His eyeswere wet, and his hand shook, but he’d misunderstood.

Chad tried again.

“Youcan’ttouch me.”

Romeo frowned and lowered his hand.

“They’ll swab me for blood,” he said.“They’ll take it from my clothes, and my shoes. None of it can beyours. You have to get inside the house, Romeo, you have to hideupstairs, youhaveto fix your arm.”

Romeo covered the dark holes in his bicepagain. “I will.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Romeo said. “I’ll be fine,but—”

“And I will be, too. We have to fix this. Wehave to makethisworth it.”

Romeo started crawling towards the back ofthe house, glancing back at Chad every few feet, until he roundedthe corner where Chad couldn’t see him. Merc followed him with histail tucked between his back legs.

Then it was just him.

Him and Lucy, he amended because dead or notshe was still there.

The back of his feet were touching part ofher. Her legs, he imagined, but he didn’t turn around to look.Romeo’s blood soaked into the field, blending in with the dirt. Itswallowed any evidence of him being there, and the scuff mark inthe ground, Chad’s aching and dirty shoulder made it look like he’ddived out of the way, not been saved by Romeo.

He reached into his pocket for his keys,then tossed them to the dirt.

It didn’t take long for the police cars torace up the track. The ringing in Chad’s head subsided, buteverything continued to sound like it was underwater, most toneslower in pitch, but a few higher, like the shout of his name thatcut into him.

He turned towards it. He didn’t glance downat Lucy on the ground, but he could see her at the edge of hisvision, the vibrant color red glistening in the sun. Josh crashedinto him, sending him back a few steps. He gripped Chad by hisarms, shaking him slightly before letting go and looking at hishands.

“Shit. Holy fuck,” Josh looked at him again.“Are you hurt, Chad,are you hurt?”

“No,” Chad said, and his voice buzzed in hisears. When he spoke, he couldn’t hear anything else, just his ownlies as they left his lips, “I tried to get the gun off of her, andI don’t know what happened, it went off.”

Liarthe detective screamed.

He winced. Josh bit his lip.

---