“Yeah, and I wish we hadn’t,” Kyle said. “Remember the one that was obsessed with that Ultra music festival? I swear, I think he would have gotten a full-body tattoo consisting of EDM song titles and ecstasy pills.”
“Exactly,” Silas said, confident as though his point had been fully proven. “There’s a different culture nowadays. We didn’t have all these fancy clubs and massive parties to go to. We didn’t have the huge parades that shut down entire cities and the crazy after-parties that follow. Not to mention all the apps there are nowadays. You want a bear? Oh, download Grizzly. You want a twink? Here, download Twinkle. Maybe you want a daddy? Go get Dadder.”
We all looked at Silas before cracking up.
“Honestly,” Corey said, “I think you’re onto something with that last one.”
“Oliver isn’t like that.” I had to defend him. As funny as Silas was, I knew he was speaking from his own experience and was just looking out for my best interests. But I had to let them know that I didn’t need to worry about things like that. “He’s really mature. He’s been through it, and I think he’s matured because of the things he’s been through. And, also on the same token, he’s so fun to be around. He’s not a stick in the mud; he’s not scared of experiencing new things. We’re always laughing. Always having a great time. I know that he doesn’t want to be on any apps, and neither do I.”
Silas looked at me. He had a penetrating stare with a pair of emerald-green eyes that resembled two jewels. “You sure, Beckham? I’m just saying, we’ve all been wanting someone for you as bad as you’ve been wanting someone for yourself. Trust me. I just don’t want you getting carried away.”
“I know you’ve been hurt before, Silas. And I appreciate you looking out for me. I do.”
“But you’re sure on this one, huh?”
“Dead sure.”
Deadass.
He nodded at that, seeming to accept my answer as final. Corey perked up and lifted his glass in the air, some of the vodka soda spilling over and onto the table. “Cheers, then, to Beckham and Oliver and Silas’s new Dadder venture.”
We clinked our glasses, the group of us smiling.
That’s when two massive warheads were dropped on me simultaneously.
First, my phone buzzed with a message from the corner store I talked to earlier in the day. They were able to fix the corrupted files and sent over the footage from that night. Before I could even click to open it, my phone started to buzz again, this time with a call.
It was Oliver.
“Hello?”
“Beckham! Beck, I need you. My apartment. Someone… it’s bad, I can’t. Beckham, please.”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Olly.” I felt all the eyes at the table turn to me. “What happened?”
“Just come. Please, Beck. My apartment.”
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone and stood, almost tipping out of my chair. My mates knew there wasn’t any time to explain; my face must have said it all. I left the bar, feeling a terrible sense of helplessness. Oliver needed me, and I was at least twenty minutes away, and that was with me not giving a fuck about speed limits.
27 Oliver Brightly
I was shaking and in tears by the time Beckham got to me. He held me and managed to bring me down from the cliff of panic I had climbed. The cops were already inside my apartment, turning it inside out. I wondered if I should have let Beckham take a look first, but honestly, I wasn’t thinking at all when I walked into my apartment and saw what was written on the wall.
“Are you okay?” Beckham asked me first thing when he got to me.
I nodded, barely able to answer a squeaky “yes.” Next to me, Mason and Jar both meowed from their cat carriers, no doubt recognizing Beckham and taking as much comfort in him as I was.
“What happened?” The red-and-blue lights of the parked police cars bounced off Beckham’s face.
I took a deep breath, unsure if I was able to even recount what I’d seen.
“I was coming home and I unlock the door, open it.” I swallow, my mouth incredibly dry. “I open it and right there, on the wall, there’s the words ‘You’ll regret this’ and it’s written in blood. I thought it was paint at first, but no. It was blood.”
Beckham’s face turned to my apartment. I heard him hiss a curse word.
“Juan had said those exact words,” Beckham noted.
“I know. I keep replaying them. I heard him say it from my room.”
“Was there anything else? Was anything taken?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. They went in there to leave that message and the rest of…” My voice cracked. Beckham pulled me in tighter. His hand went up and down my back, and it was absolutely the most comforting thing in the world at that moment.