“This changes nothing,” Cade said. Something was rocketing around in his head, some idea, and he couldn’t quite get ahold of it.
This was not happening. He had been smart. He had been careful.
This was their fault. If someone had screwed up, it wasn’t him.
Other than today. He hadn’t meant for today to happen.
Not like this.
“Hold on,” Ivy said, her palms up. “What exactly . . . what just happened? I need to know what happened.”
“Everyone calm down!” Kinley said. “We can’t have Mattie upset.” But she actually looked like she was trying really hard not to cry.
“Well”—Tyler dropped into one of the chairs—“it’s time to get upset.” He pushed his hair back and rubbed his neck. “He said he wants me to tell him everything. That he can help me. So what do I do? Cade, do I mention that you punched Stratford and he just happened to die?”
Cade made a deep, guttural noise in his throat. “If anyone mentions that, I swear to God I will hunt you down and kill you myself.”
Kinley laughed. It was a harsh, cold noise, like jagged glass rubbing together. “Well we all know you’re capable of that, Cade.”
Cade’s face darkened further. He had to put the brakes on this now. “Stop,” he said. “Just stop. Don’t act like you didn’t all have a part in this. Before you revert to narc-land, Kinley, don’t act like you didn’t trip the guy. You killed him as much as I did.”
Kinley shot a panicked look at Tyler. “You threatened me!” she said. “And I never meant for him to trip over my shoe.”
It was Cade’s turn to laugh. He couldn’t have Kinley turning all Goody Two-shoes on him and going to the police. Out of everyone, she had the most credibility. He had to scare her. “I know who you are, narc. Don’t think we’ve forgotten, either. Or that we’re not watching your every move. We know what happened with the captain of the basketball team. Or Sarah Larson, the co–head cheerleader? Oh, or maybe Alera Samuelson, when she stole half of her paper off the Internet? It’s your nature to do the ‘right’ thing.” He made air quotes. “Don’t think that if you make one wrong move, we all won’t rip you to shreds.”
“She’s not going to say anything, Cade,” Tyler said, a little defensively. “Let’s just . . . find out what Mattie knows before we make any rash judgments here.”
They all turned toward Mattie, who had been watching them quietly, his eyes as wide as saucers.
Ivy put her hand over his. “Hey, Mattie? Are you feeling up to telling us what happened?”
He closed his eyes for a long moment. So long, Cade wondered if he’d gone back to sleep. But then they fluttered open.
“Someone was following me,” Mattie said. “Someone in a truck. I was riding over to Kinley’s and heard someone behind me. I don’t know for how long, but he ran me off the road. My bike hit the curb, and I thought he was going to run me over. When I passed out, I thought I was dead. But whoever it was . . . they must have hit the brakes hard.”
They all exchanged glances, and for a few moments, the only sound in the room was the buzz and hum of the machines and the quiet murmur of voices in the hallway.
“Tyler,” Cade said finally, pacing the length of the room, “the cops are watching you. I don’t think they’re watching us, yet.”
Ivy shifted uncomfortably.
“The parole officer said he knew what you did, right? Not what we did.”
“Excuse me?” Tyler blinked at Cade.
“I’m saying that . . . well . . . it sounds like the cops are going to bring you in for the crime. And like it or not, Tyler, you were part of it. You’re going to get in trouble either way. I think the noble thing to do is take the fall.”
Tyler stared at Cade for a one full second. And then he started across the room, his first raised.
If there was one thing Cade had never lost, it was a fight. But he knew that Tyler wasn’t exactly a slouch either. He fell back into a defensive position, both fists raised. He didn’t want to beat Tyler’s ass in a hospital room, but he would.
“Stop!” Mattie cried, but Tyler ignored him.
Kinley jumped between the two, her hands raised. “Tyler didn’t do anything wrong, Cade!” she yelled. “Tyler, stop!”
Cade stood on the other side of Kinley, his hands clenched into fists and his chest puffed out. “You want to go, Green? Bring it. I know you want one more thing on your record. But don’t worry. I’ll kick your ass and then my dad will sue your family. And he’ll win.”
“What the hell is wrong with you, man?” Tyler said, his hands on his neck. “You are the whole reason we’re in this mess.”
Cade’s head started to get clouded and fuzzy. He remembered this feeling.
It was the same feeling he’d had right before he’d punched Stratford.
And killed him.
And all of a sudden, the fight went out of him. He bent over and rested his hands on his knees. “I’m sorry, man,” he said, breathless. “But we all had a part in this. All of us.” He looked up, at all of them. “But don’t think I wouldn’t hesitate to kill any of you if you try to pin this shit on me. We are in this together.”
His head spun, and the air in the room felt thick. He stalked out, pushing through the door. He almost knocked into a nurse wearing blue scrubs and holding a big stack of papers. “Sorry,” he grunted.
“Oh, honey,” she said, setting the papers at the nurses’ station and grabbing his arm. “Don’t you worry about it, okay? I know you’re upset about your friend.”
Cade just looked at her. She had a wide, trusting face, lined with years and years of hard work. “I didn’t mean to,” he said.
“I’m fine!” she said. “Don’t worry! See, I didn’t even drop the papers.” She smiled at him. “And listen, I’m on duty tonight so I’ll look in on your friend myself, but I can promise you he’ll pull through. Okay?”
Cade nodded and gave her a smile. She wouldn’t be so kind to him if she knew the truth.
He walked down, through the emergency entrance. He was parked in the lot closest to the emergency room. The one where they’d tow after four hours.
He wasn’t worried about the towing. His stomach was roiling for another reason.
Cade clicked the lock on his black Lexus. It wasn’t what he’d been driving earlier today, when he’d borrowed his father’s embarrassing monster truck from the garage and taken it out for a spin. His father hadn’t ever actually driven it—he’d won it in a charity auction for some tragically rare disease. It had been tucked away in the back of the garage. No one would even notice it had been moved. Probably.
After all, he had only wanted to scare Mattie. To make him believe someone else had been following him.
But then, he had seen the bike.
The same bike Cade had stolen. The bike that was supposed to still be tucked away in Cade’s garage.
And he had realized that maybe, just maybe, someone was messing with him, too. And he’d gotten a little carried away with frightening Mattie.
So carried away that he had nearly committed murder number two.
He’d yanked the wheel away just in time.