Jake gets tired of not hearing, so he discreetly lifts his hand and places another sound amplifier in his ear. It’s small enough to not be seen as long as no one stares directly into his ear. Even then, they might assume it’s a hearing aid instead of a listening device.
“I’m telling you it’s not him. Trust me. I doubt he’s even heard anything about this, and Melissa sent me pictures of him from the church mission he’s on. He’s been texting her daily with updates and such,” Lawrence argues.
“Think Melissa is just covering for him? She is his fucking sister.”
“She’s had a crush on me since we were kids. Trust me, she’d be over that crush if she had any idea what we did, unless she’s into that sort of thing. In which case she’d be outing her brother to us if it was him. Either way, she’s not covering for him.”
“I think it’s him. There’s no one else it could be.”
Lawrence looks around, letting his gaze linger on our table for a fleeting second, and then his gaze moves on, taking in the few people out on the terrace before settling his attention back on Tyler.
“It’s not him. The night he freaked out, who do you think got him back in line?”
Tyler looks confused.
Our waitress has dropped off some bread, and Jake is ordering for us, so it’s harder to hear with so many people so close speaking at once. I strain, making sure I don’t miss anything as I force myself to chew on a piece of bread, finding my appetite to be sorely lacking.
“What’d you do?” I hear Tyler ask.
“I told him the same thing that happened to Victoria would happen to Melissa if he ever said a word. After that, they left town, and he started preaching the gospel. That’s how he sought penance. He’s not out killing people, for fuck’s sake,” Lawrence hisses.
He may have just saved Dev ten fingers.
And a tongue. His tongue was going to be gone too. It was a special column I was going to draw up just for him.
“Then who else is there?”
“I think that’s pretty obvious, don’t you?”
“No.”
Lawrence slaps his head like he’s exasperated. They’re acting like this is normal terrace conversation for a late lunch. I assume it’s why they picked a restaurant that doesn’t have a lot of terrace traffic.
Lawrence has a roommate. Tyler has a wife. I get why they didn’t meet up at their homes to discuss this, but why not do it over the phone?
“The entire town hated them after what their father did. Think of the one person who didn’t hate them. Here’s a hint: his father was their father’s lawyer.”
Tyler shakes his head immediately.
“No. I saw Jacob two years ago. Ran into him at a company thing, and he fist bumped me. Even told me to call and hang out some time. If he’d known, he would have at least taken a swing. I’m sure they both died before he ever heard the truth. And he left town after that, so it’s not like he was around for the rumors.”
Lawrence sits back, now looking confused. Jake squeezes my hand a little too hard.
I remember that run-in. Jake does freelance computer work, and Tyler was working closer to where Jake lives now at that time. It was all Jake could do not to kill him, but he knew we had a plan, and he knew this revenge was mine. He knew he had a part to play, but his part was to be the brains. My part was to be their worst nightmare.
“Besides,” Tyler goes on, “he’s in a wheelchair these days. Some motorcycle wreck put him in the chair a few years ago.”
Jake nudges my foot with his, a calculated grin on his lips. We’ve thought of everything.
“Then I don’t know anyone else who would be enraged over a rapist’s whore daughter and fag son,” Lawrence says coldly.
My stomach churns hearing the way he refers to my brother. My good, honest, strong, loving, incredible brother who never deserved to be mutilated and… So much happened that he never deserved.
Because of them, I was left without anyone. Because of them, the best man who has ever walked the face of the earth died before he could light the world with his smile.
And they think it’s okay because he was gay. They think it’s okay because I’d had sex with two guys before that night.
They think it makes it alright to punish us so brutally for loving our father…