Page 102 of The Season
“Trying?” Antoine’s voice is sharp as shattered glass. “He didn’t…”
“No. Thank fuck.” Eddie’s voice is thick with anger, and I feel my own throat tightening in response, a sickening mixture of horror and relief making my stomach churn. “Lily was passed out on the bathroom floor and Tom was… he was trying to undo his pants. That’s when Seth… um… went a little‘hulk smash everything’and tried to rearrange Tom’s face.”
White-hot rage rushes through me, making my vision tunnel.Lily. My wonderful, sweet Lily.If it had been me there instead of Seth, Tom would be dead right now. There isn’t a doubt in my mind.
“I... I’m going to…” The words catch in my throat, every curse word my father beat out of me threatening to burst forth in an angry torrent. The only thing stopping me from pulling the car over and hauling Tom into the snow is the fact that Lily is stretched out in the back seat. Unconscious.
She needs me.
“The turn-off is there, man.” Eddie says, nudging me with his elbow and pointing to the barely visible sign ahead through the snow.
I give him a curt nod, tightening my fingers around the wheel.He saw. He saw, and he let it get that far.
“So what are we going to do?” Liam grits out, after a long moment of silence. “I take it that was your brother on the phone. The lawyer one, right?”
“Yah. That was Nate.” Eddie taps his foot on the floor. “It’s… it’s not great, to be honest.” He pivots in his seat, angling his body through to look between the seats to the back of the car. “There’s a real risk Tom will bring charges against Seth. And apparently defending other people only goes so far. I guess there are some rules about excessive force or some shit.”
“Mais, c’est fou…” Antoine hisses, but Eddie holds up one hand, silencing him.
“I know. I totally agree. Still, Nate seemed to think the best bet would be to stop Tom from bringing charges in the first place.”
“So we need to kill him?” I ask, cocking my head to one side. “Liam, you’ve got that shovel you use for backcountry, right?”
Eddie snorts out a mirthless laugh. “No. No killing.”
My brow dips, and I dare a questioning glance at Eddie. How else do you keep a man like Tom silent?
Eddie taps his temple, a feral grin spreading across his face. “We just need to fuck with his head a little bit. And, failing that, we use good old-fashioned blackmail.”
* * *
By the timewe get Lily and Tom inside, my arms are shaking, all the adrenaline bleeding out of me. I barely feel anything as I deposit Tom on his bed, not even a flicker of grim satisfaction at his groans of pain or the trickle of fresh blood on his split lip. No, there’s just a hollow, empty feeling. A numbness that used to be so familiar.
I can’t let it take over though. Not now.Lily needs me.
“So, you got his phone?” Eddie asks as I step into the kitchen, one hand outstretched expectantly.
I blink against the too-bright lights of the kitchen, fingers fumbling as I drop Tom’s phone into his outstretched palm.
“And his car keys?”
I nod, pulling those from my pocket. It hadn’t been hard to find the items Eddie asked for—though I hadn’t exactly enjoyed rifling through Tom’s grimy pockets to retrieve them.
“What… what’s the plan again?” I croak, leaning back on the island that separates the kitchen from the living room, my unfocused gaze roving over the growing wall of beer cans. It’s high enough now that I’d have to stand on my tip-toes to see the couch on the other side. “Is this like, a hostage situation?”
Eddie shrugs. “More or less. Or you can think of it as we’re just looking after Tom while he recovers from his unfortunate accident.”
“Accident…” I echo, but the word feels like cotton on my tongue.
My gaze drifts down the darkened hallway, to Liam’s bedroom, where Seth carried Lily moments before, Liam and Antoine on his heels.
I should be there too. I should be with her…
“You should go lay down, mate. You look like shit. No offense.”
I huff out a hollow laugh, and drag one hand over my face. My lips feel numb, my fingertips too. There’s a comfort in the numbness, and let my eyelids flutter shut for a long moment.
“Go lay down.” There’s a bite of command in Eddie’s words that has my body reacting, wanting to obey. That’s easy too, following orders. Always has been. “I’ll stay up with Tom. Make sure he doesn’t die or anything.” Eddie cracks his knuckles, a dark, almost dangerous look flitting across his baby-soft features, and I shudder. It’s a little terrifying. Like seeing one of those angel figurines my grandma always loved coming to life and brandishing a Chucky knife.
