“Well, I didn’t see him physically fuck her, but I did see them all over each other,” he states. “And he acted like he had been when I confronted him about it.”
I hold up her phone. “She said everything I need to know is on here.”
He gets out of the pool and dries off before sitting down in the seat beside me. I open her Facebook app and search his name. None of us ever deactivated it after he passed. It was like erasing too many good memories when we were a team. When there were eight sharks and not five. And it wasn’t much time after that that his sister was killed. There was no one else to take it down besides her.
I click on his page and go to message him. Their conversation pops up.
“Scroll up,” Cole orders.
I do as he says and then stop when I see the date of the night of the car wreck. It didn’t take long since this was the last conversation they had. Cole begins to read it out loud.
Eli: I might have oversold it.
Demi: What does that mean?
Eli: Cole is pissed at me. I thought he was gonna knock me out right then and there. He’s probably already messaged Deke.
Demi: What did you do?
Eli: I kissed her. A lot. Acted like I was already fucking her.
Cole lets out a sigh from beside me before he continues.
Eli: Demi?
She doesn’t respond.
Eli: I had to do it.
Again, nothing from her.
Eli: I’m sorry, baby.
Baby? Just how much were they seeing each other? He never mentioned her to us. I knew he had a thing for her, but I didn’t think it was anything serious.
Ten minutes later, she texts him back.
Demi: I hate this.
Eli: Me too.
Demi: I don’t understand why you couldn’t have just told him what kind of person she is. What she did to me.
Eli: Sometimes words aren’t enough. I know him, and he’d confront her. Her being the vindictive bitch she is will cry and lie her way out of it. He’ll fall for it. Not ’cause he’s stupid, but because he is in love with her.
Demi: Are you going to sleep with her?
Eli: Fuck no! Cole, Landen, and Maddox now know. That’s enough.
Demi: Why is she doing it? Why would she jeopardize what she and Deke have for you?
Eli: She’s pissed at him. I overheard Cole telling Maddox at the party earlier that Deke hooked up with Kaitlin last weekend. Becky hates her. So, she’s willing to spread her legs for his best friend. In her eyes, it’s retaliation.
Demi: Your friends are gonna hate you. Think you backstabbed him.
Eli: Yeah. But maybe eventually, he’ll understand.
Demi: Will I see you tonight?
Eli: Yes. Cole is going to go fuck some girl. Not sure what Maddox and Landen have going on. Once I figure out what I’m doing, I’ll call you, baby.
Then there’s a thirty-minute gap before all messages turn one-sided. And they’re all pretty much the same thing.
Demi: How did it go?
Demi: I keep calling.
Demi: It’s going straight to voicemail.
I exit out of it and shut down the screen. Leaning back, I run a hand over my face.
“I should have never said a fucking word to you about it.” Cole growls.
“I’m glad you did,” I tell him, trying to reassure him that he did the right thing.
“Why the fuck didn’t he tell me the truth?”
I could ask the same thing. Why did he choose to parade Becky around, knowing that I would be pissed at him? He knows I would have broken his nose over her. I can’t say if he was wrong or right about me believing him if he had just told me what kind of girl she was. Would I have believed him? I was in love with her. Or so I thought. Definitely obsessed. I guess in a way I do understand ’cause I would have cut her off right then and there for fucking my best friend. That was a line I wouldn’t allow her to come back from. “We’ll never know.” I sigh.
“Fuck, what else do we not know?” he asks.
That’s a loaded question that I don’t even want to get into right now. Too much shit has happened to dig any further tonight. I look at the cigarettes and no longer want one.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that we got in a fight with Peter and his friend over Demi about how they would share her and then Seth tries to rape her? Saying he had no choice?” he asks.
I’ve thought about it. “How would they know about what we’ve done? How would they know Evan Scott is me?”
“Becky,” he answers and shrugs “She’s pissed at Demi. I don’t think that any of us should underestimate what she’s capable of doing.”
Isn’t that the truth. “Maybe we should pay them a visit?”
“I think so.” He nods. “And Seth?”
I just give him a smile, and he chuckles.
Standing up, I go to walk inside when I hear a phone beep. I turn back to look at Cole, and he shakes his head. “Wasn’t mine. It’s upstairs.”
I look down at mine. Nothing. Then I open Demi’s, thankful she doesn’t have a passcode on hers. “It’s from Evan Scott.” I growl.
Cole comes over to me, and I open the PM.
Evan Scott: You should have let him fuck you. It would have been far less painful than what’s to come.
“Fuck!” Cole hisses. “Guess whoever it is knows that Seth didn’t succeed tonight.”
“What the fuck?” I bark out.
I type back.
Demi: Try to touch her … If you dare.
Cole runs his hands over his wet hair, and I fist mine. “This fucker …” I screenshot the message and then back out of it. I go to my old spam page and block it. Then I go to our GWS PM and drop the screenshot.
Bennett reads it immediately. Seconds later, my cell rings. I place it on speakerphone. “Hello?”
“What the fuck is going on?” he demands. “And what does he mean by let him fuck her? Who?”
“Seth.” I growl.
“Her boyfriend?” he asks.
“He’s not her boyfriend,” Cole answers. “He’s gay. She’s his cover.”
“Oh, well that changes things.”
“There’s more.” I sigh.
“What is it?” he asks, sounding irritated. Aren’t we all?
“The cabin on Lake Travis …” I start.
“Yeah?”
“His parents own it.”
A long silence follows my words.
When he finally speaks, he sighs. “Hang on. I’m gonna call and wake up Shane. We all need to be in on this conversation.”
DEMI
A year ago
I pace my bedroom at my father’s house. I’ve called Eli a hundred times by now, but it keeps going straight to voicemail. And I don’t know why he would turn his phone off. His Facebook says he hasn’t been active in over thirty minutes. I dial it again.
“Come on … pick up. Pick up.”
“Hey, you’ve reached Eli. Leave me a message …”
I yank the phone from my ear and scream out of frustration. I told him not to do it. That it was fucking stupid! He should have listened to me. I hope Deke didn’t catch them …
My bedroom door flies open, and I spin around to see my sister running in. Her blond hair is a tangled mess. Her crop top and shorts are covered in dirt and blood. Her makeup is streaked from tears.