Page 105 of The Season
“Yah. Okay. Fine.” His lip peels back from his teeth in a grimace, and he sways a little, making me wonder just how coherent he really is. “So I roofied her. Not like the bitch didn’t deserve it. You saw how she outed me to my girlfriend. You know that was out of line.”
I wince despite myself. At the time, I had thought that, hadn’t I? I’m pretty sure I even said something to Lily, criticized her decision to tell Tom’s girlfriend he’d been cheating on her.
“And why do you even care?” he continues. “You jealous or something? What, were you hoping that I’d share her with you?”
I swallow back the bile that threatens to rise in my throat, and force my expression to blank as I stare at Tom. I’ve never wanted to kill someone before. Not really. I’d like to think I’m too practical for all of that. But I think I might want to now.
Tom tips his head back, leaning against the wall and giving me a full view of his blood-crusted nostrils. “Probably good I didn’t end up fucking her,” he adds, his voice sounding slightly garbled. “Probably would have picked up some disease…”
I give him my back, bending to scoop up the phone I’d left on Lily’s bed. The phone that has been recording our entire conversation. I press the ‘stop recording’ button, then turn to face him.
“You’re moving out,” I tell him without preamble. “As soon as you can walk, you’re taking all this shit”—I lift one finger, circling it in the air—“and moving out of the flat.”
He opens his mouth to protest, but I lift my phone, turning it so he can see the voice recording app.
“You better be out of here before Lily wakes up,” I continue, “if you want to be able to walk out of here.”
I step forward, not quite putting myself within arm’s reach of him, but close enough that I’m towering over him.
“And if I ever hear you spewing crap about a lawyer again, I’ll send this recording to every single person in charge of this mountain. When you change jobs, I’ll send it to your new boss, and when they fire you, I’ll send it to the next idiot who hires you.”
His cheeks pale, skin going splotchy, but I continue. “I’ll send it to your mum and your grandma. When you get a girlfriend, I’ll track her down and send it to her too.”
I slip the phone back into my pocket. “Fuck with me, and I’ll be the ghost that haunts you for the rest of your life.”
Tom stares at me, horrified disbelief written across his mangled features. I stare back, my own expression blank, the excitement from earlier gone.
Now, I just want to get out of this room, away from Tom. I wish I could erase his vile words from my memory, wish I could erase the memory of him standing over Lily in that bathroom.
I wish I could erasehim.
Instead, I have to hold on to his words forever, to keep that recording like a knife tucked in my pocket. To protect myself. To protect Seth. And most of all, for Lily.
“Fine. I’ll move out.” Tom huffs, squaring his shoulders, then wincing at the movement. “This mountain sucks anyway. Can’t even work as a snowboard instructor here. I was already planning on quitting.”
I do smile at that, a thin, angry smile that has resolve building behind my ribs.
Liam had mentioned that Tom had been in the same training cohort as Lily and Matty, but then he’d had some sort of altercation with Stephanie Jealouse. We should have stopped him from moving in then, because what sort of guy gets in an argument with Stephanie Jealouse? Any snowboarder with two brain cells would have been falling all over themselves for the opportunity to train with her.
My hand settles on the doorknob, and I pause to give him a last look, wondering if I should say anything more. Like ‘don’t fall down the stairs on your way out.’ But the sight of him staring back at me, angry and unrepentant—it has my stomach churning, and for once, the thought of making some cutting remark is unappealing.
Instead, all I can think about is Lily.
Her smile when we dropped into backcountry. Her eyes in the lamplight, before her lips crashed against my own. The sound of her laughter, rich and lilting.
I pull the door shut, blocking out the cloying scent of Tom’s unwashed ski clothes and the metallic scent of blood, and stare down the darkened hallway, to the slice of light peeking out from beneath my bedroom door.
To where Lily is.
The second I step inside my room, Liam, Seth, and Antoine’s eyes snap to me.
“He’s alive,” I say, in answer to their silent question. “And he’ll be moving out just as soon as he can walk. Hopefully in a few hours.”
I know I should tell them about the conversation, about recording Tom’s confession. But I don’t want to think about him anymore. Not now. And it feels wrong talking about all of this with them while Lily is unconscious. She deserves to have her say in everything, more than any of them.
“How is she?” I ask, my voice dropping low, my chest aching uncomfortably at the sight of Lily stretched out on Liam’s mattress. My toe nudges something solid, and I blink in surprise at the sight of Matty’s massive form stretched out in the small patch of carpet between mine and Liam’s mattresses. “Why is Matty sleeping on the floor?”
“Not asleep,” Matty mumbles, his face pressed into what I am pretty sure is my pillow. “Promised Lily I’d stay…”
