“What if I wanna know what shit went down?” Knox asked.
“I’ll give you the short version,” his brother offered.
“I fuckin’ love the short version,” Knox decided. He looked at Joel. “You got ’em?”
“I got ’em,” Joel agreed.
“We don’t need babysitters,” I insisted. “And I don’t need to get anything off my chest.”
But it was too late. Nash and Knox were already sauntering off, drinks in hand.
“I’ll help you get something off your chest.”
I turned on my stool and found a greasy, gold-toothed guy drowning in gold chains. He leered at my chest.
“Didn’t you hear about the cult?” Stef asked him.
“I don’t mind a girlie who’s whacked in the head.”
“Go away before I make you require an eye patch,” Lina announced.
“Feisty filly,” he said, licking his thin lips.
Joel leaned across the bar just as Nash and Knox started back toward us, but I held up a hand. “Listen, you unshowered, deodorant-avoiding dumbass. I’m in the market for a husband and kids. So unless you’re willing to start showering, see a dentist, and learn to assemble nursery furniture, I suggest you move along.”
“Nobody ever wants to just have a good time anymore,” he grumbled and wandered off.
“That’s because all good times must come to an end, as I recently discovered,” I called after him.
“Okay. Spill it,” Lina insisted, swirling her mediocre scotch around the glass.
“It’s time,” Naomi squeezed my hand.
“Or we’re just going to speculate wildly,” Stef added.
“It’s not just my story,” I said. Even though Lucian was a big, dumb, well-hung idiot, I couldn’t share his part of the story.
“Then just tell us your part.”
I took a bracing gulp of vodka and tomato juice.
“They arrested Lucian?” Naomi gasped.
I’d told them a heavily redacted version that included no details of what Lucian’s father had put him through. But even this edited version induced rage.
Lina slapped the bar. “Pardon my language but what in the fucking fuck?”
“I never liked that Wylie guy,” Stef slurred.
My friends were a little bit tipsy, which made them an even more enthusiastic audience.
“Wylie Ogden was friends with Lucian’s dad. Ansel told him that Lucian attacked them, and Lucian’s mom backed up his version of the story.”
I stared down at my second, mostly untouched Bloody Mary and decided I didn’t want it anymore.
“That’s horrible,” Naomi said.
“He blamed me. I’d promised I wouldn’t call the police, and then I did.”
“Sometimes the right thing to do is also the wrong one,” Stef said philosophically.
“You had your reasons,” Lina said, reaching out and grasping my hand. Alcohol made her more affectionate.
“May I have some napkins, Joel?” Naomi asked, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Knox looked up from the pool table and glared. His husband radar was top notch. Naomi gave him a watery smile and a wave before blowing her nose on a cocktail napkin.
“What happened next?” Lina demanded.
“My dad went down to the station to try to get Lucian released, but Lucian’s dad insisted on pressing charges. They were going to charge him as an adult. My dad kept fighting for him, but I felt so guilty. It was my fault he was in there in the first place. And I knew he’d be terrified that something was going to happen to his mom. So I decided to fix it.”
“Uh-oh,” Stef said.
Lina covered her eyes with her hand. “Oh God. What did you do?”
“I decided that I needed irrefutable evidence.”
Naomi groaned. “This is going to go horribly wrong, isn’t it?”
“Let’s just say I achieved my objectives.”
“At what cost?” Lina asked.
I looked down at my right hand and flexed my fingers. “Ansel Rollins caught me recording him at the window and broke my wrist in three places.”
Stef held up his hand. “I think we’re gonna need some shots here, Joel.”
“It was fine,” I assured them, even though bile rose in my throat. “Not only did I get him on camera, but a neighbor saw him come after me. No friendship could keep him out of jail with that kind of evidence. Lucian was released the next morning. But not before he missed his own high school graduation.” I looked at Lina. “I think that was the moment Nash decided to become a cop. He saw how easily the bad ones could hurt good people and decided to fix it from the inside.”