Torn (44 page)

“Have a seat, I’ll get us a
drink. Apple juice?” he suggested.

“Bottle of water, please,” I
replied, as I skirted the sofa and sat down on it, my bottom on the edge as I
put my purse on the glass table in front of me. I watched as he opened the
refrigerator and pulled out two bottles, setting them down on the kitchen
island to twist off the caps. He headed back over and sat next to me as he
handed me one. I shifted slightly, putting a little distance between us and
twisting to face him as I took a few glugs, parched from my ride over here. “So?”
I demanded, struggling to fight the urge to yell at him.

“Wow, harsh. Not going to make
this easy on me, are you?” he grimaced.

“Is there any reason you thought
I would? You called me a slut last night, or was it a whore? And not for the
first time. Plus you kissed me when you know that I’m with Nate.”

“A whore? I said that?”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” I confirmed as I
swigged more, eyeballing him.

“Shit, sorry.” He reached up to
scrub his face and let out a pained groan. “God, I feel like crap, my head is
pounding and the room’s spinning. I should have taken my pills.”

“Where are they?” I sighed,
setting my bottle down on the table as I stood up. He might be an ass at the
moment, but he was probably an ass with terminal brain cancer.

“There’s a cabinet above the
sink, through that door,” he pointed, indicating a white door at the back of
the kitchen. “Guest bathroom. They’ve got my name on them.”

“I’ll be back in a minute, then
we need to talk about why you’re so angry lately. It’s not fun being around you
anymore.”

I stepped over his outstretched legs
and headed off in search of his pills and to use the toilet. When I’d washed my
hands, it took me a while to rummage through all the crap in their cupboard. There
were all sorts in there, but I managed to root out a few prescription bottles
and I picked each one up in turn to read the labels. The last thing I wanted
was to give him the wrong ones. I found a container that was labeled Billy
Hudson and contained something called Risperidone. The others seemed to be his
mom’s, or weren’t labeled at all, so I took a chance and set them to the side
before putting the others back. When I finally carried them back out, he was
still slumped with his head in his hands. I set the pills on the table in front
of him and skirted it, then sat a little bit away from him, grabbing my water to
take another good swig. The ride over had made me seriously thirsty. Billy
didn’t even seem aware that I’d returned. “Your pills are on the table.”

“Thanks.” He rubbed his eyes and
shook his head, his fingers massaging his temples.

“Why don’t you trust me to tell
me what’s wrong with you?” I gently prodded.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,”
he grated out sharply, not budging an inch from his current position, not even
to look at me.

“Ok, you’re hungover and
obviously not in the mood to talk to me,” I huffed. I was sick of this. “So if
that’s how it’s going to be, maybe you’ll listen instead, because I have a few
things to get off my chest.”

“Yeah, your chest. That’s one of
the reasons we’re here right now, you flaunting it last night, asking for
trouble,” he hissed angrily.

“Do not
even
go there,
Billy Hudson!” I bit, astounded at his nerve. “I was hardly out in a bikini top
that barely covered my nipples, like most of the girls at that party, and since
when did wearing what I want announce that I’m ‘asking for trouble.’ I should
be able to wear whatever the hell I want without some guy thinking it’s an open
invitation to paw me. And it makes it even worse when it’s a so-called friend,
who knows I’m in a relationship with his cousin. And while we’re on that topic,
I’ve got a few more things to say,” I ranted.

I was furious now. The fact that he
still wasn’t even looking at me wasn’t helping either. I chugged back at least
half of my remaining bottle of water, needing the lubrication for the verbal
tirade that was about to spew from my mouth.

“Nate and Josh are your family,
your cousins, your own flesh and blood. The way it should work is they have
your back and you have theirs, but from what I can see, all you do is take,
take, take. Their mom just committed suicide, for God’s sake. Have you even
once been to their house to offer a shoulder, or to help with the mountain of
paperwork Nate’s had to deal with? No. You just turn up when there’s a party to
go to, or when it’s something fun like the arcade. And while we’re on that
topic, Nate loses at pool and Josh loses at racing just to make you feel good
about yourself. Because … because that’s the kind of guys they are. They’re
selfless and … and … selfless! Where was I? Oh right, you not showing them any
support while they were grieving. And don’t tell me it’s because you didn’t
know what to do to help them. You lost your own dad the same way, you know how
awful it is.” I seriously needed to take a few breaths between sentences, that
had made me dizzy.

“Shut up, Sky,” he growled,
rocking his head in his hands. “I didn’t ask you here for a fucking lecture.”

“Well, you’re getting one, and
don’t even think about interrupting me. I’m saying my piece whether you like it
or not!” I huffed. Damn, my mouth felt dry. Did I have anything to drink at
Nate’s this morning, I wondered, because I felt seriously lightheaded and
dizzy. I drank more water, amazed that Billy just sat there, rocking, not even
jumping in to fill the silence. “They do everything they can to help you, to
try and make you feel better about yourself. You know how hard they struggle
for money. Have you ever even offered Nate any money for gas for chauffeuring
you around? You and your … you and your mom are living here, in a swanky place
while they … God damn it, do you have the heating turned up?” I moaned, lifting
my hand to feel my forehead. I was feeling oddly spaced out. “What was I
saying? Money, yeah, you have money and you don’t help.”

“Why the fuck should I?” he
snapped, suddenly sitting up and whipping his head to face me. I blinked a few
times, wondering how close he was sitting, as he was kind of blurry right now.
“They strut around with their charm and good looks, everyone loves ‘the Hudson
brothers,’” he mimicked with an air quote, as I reached out to palm the sofa
with one hand, trying to take deep breaths to rid myself of this oddly drunken
feeling. “What am I? ‘Oh look, there’s poor Billy Hudson, the ugly one, he’s
got nothing going for him.’”

“That’s not true, Billy. You’re
smart and … and … funny, or you were … you were when I first … met you.”

“Well, all of this is your damn
fault!”

 “Billy, I’m going to go, I don’t
feel so good,” I slurred, as I tried to put the bottle back on the table, but
missed and dropped it on the floor, the last few dregs pouring out onto the
wooden floor. I’d felt like this before, I was sure of it. Why wasn’t my brain
clicking?

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m telling
you how I feel and you’re running back to Nate, your knight in shining armor.”

“Billy, I really … don’t … feel
great.”

“Well, Nate can’t save you today,
and neither can Josh. They may have last time, they may have fucked up my plans
to make you realize I was the one you wanted, but not today.”

“Billy?” I panted for air as the
walls started closing in, my blurred vision tunneling, blood roaring in my ears
as saliva started to pool in my mouth. Party. Blackout. Drugged. It was coming
back to me, I’d felt like this when I’d been drugged. “No!” I cried as I tried
to stand up, but my knees buckled under me and I collapsed back onto the sofa,
slipping as I misjudged it and falling to the floor, blinding pain searing
through my head as it cracked on the wooden floor.

“I thought you were clever, Sky,”
Billy murmured in my ear as I felt his fingers run down my cheek. “I drugged
you then, and I’ve just done it again. Any minute now you’ll pass out, and when
you wake up, you won’t even remember this conversation. You won’t even remember
me fucking you while you’re unconscious, like the slut you are,” he snarled in
my ear, sending a shiver of terror down my spine.

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even
lift my arms to fight back. Why couldn’t I move? I
needed
to move, I
needed to fight, but my stupid arms and legs weren’t listening and I felt so
drowsy. It had been Billy who’d spiked my drink? My so-called friend?

“I can’t wait until the next time
I see you, or see Nate looking so smug that you picked him. He won’t have a
clue that I fucked you, and I’m not even gonna wear protection. Maybe you’ll
get pregnant and he’ll think it’s his. I’d love to see the look on his face
when he found out it was mine, that I’d tainted something he wanted so badly.”

“No,” I cried, as I felt his
fingers starting to unbutton my top. “Noooo!” I managed to scream the words,
but he clamped his hand over my mouth as he continued to undo my buttons,
peeling back the top to expose my breasts in the pretty bra I’d put on for Nate
later. I had white spots in my vision, and while no tears were leeching from my
eyes, I was crying buckets on the inside. How could he do this, we were
friends. The thought that I’d wake up with no knowledge of what he’d done, with
him gloating every time he saw me, was horrifying.

“You should have picked me, Sky,”
he laughed, shoving his other hand between my legs to cup my pussy with the
heel of his hand. “But this was inevitable. I knew I was going to fuck you the
minute I set eyes on you, I knew that–”

I zoned out, his voice becoming
just faint mumbling in the background as his hand squeezed one of my breasts. Some
of his body weight shifted, smothering me as he pressed me down into the cold
hard floor, his lips moving across my cheek. The last fractures of light
disappeared as I closed my eyes and heard shouting, the pressure on me suddenly
lifting. There was a loud crack and a thud as darkness claimed me.

Then nothing.

Nate

I stood looking at Billy on the
floor, my chest heaving as I gasped for air, watching the red circles on his white
t-shirt expanding rapidly and flowing out from under his body to pool on the
floor. I felt like everything was happening in slow motion, like I was
underwater or something. My eyes moved from my cousin’s body to the black and
silver pistol in my hand that I’d just fired, and I dropped it automatically to
the floor, Dad’s voice ringing in my ears. “You only ever use a gun in self-defense,
Nate. To use it otherwise is reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible.” What the
hell would he think of me now, standing here over my cousin’s body and not
feeling one ounce of regret. The fucker had touched my girl, what the hell had
he done to her?

“Nate? Jesus Christ,” Josh exclaimed
behind me, snapping me back to reality. “Is he dead?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, my mind suddenly
whirring, trying to decide what to do. “Go and call 911, we need the paramedics
and police,” I advised, trying to get my shaking hands under control. I looked
over at Josh, his face as pale as mine probably was. “Josh, do it! Then get me
a glass of water from the tap for Sky, I need to check on her.”

“Nate, what’s gonna happen?”

The poor kid looked terrified. Hardly
surprising. He shouldn’t be here. He’d just lost his ma, for fuck’s sake, he
didn’t need to be around this. I didn’t want him mixed up in this shit. It was
my job to protect him from stuff like this, from anything that would cause him
pain. I’d promised my parents that I would.
Great job, Nathan,
my dad’s
voice laughed. I shook my head, not needing to be told something I already
knew.

Thank God Josh had texted me to
say he’d seen Sky heading here, that she’d refused to listen to him on the
phone. He’d cycled here as fast as he could, while I’d broken every speed limit
known to man. It was lucky I’d been back in Boulder City when Josh called me.
I’d warned her to never be alone with Billy. How many times had I told her? I
closed my eyes for a second and took a sobering breath. No, this wasn’t on her.
It was on me. This whole clusterfuck was squarely on my shoulders, right where
it belonged. I should have told her the truth.

“Forget the water and the call,”
I barked out as I made up my mind. “I want you out of here. You go straight
home and wait to hear from me, ok?” He just stared blankly at me, so I grabbed
his shoulders and shook them. “Damn it, Josh, do as you’re told! I need to see
if Sky’s ok and I don’t want you anywhere near here when the police come, ok?”