“Ouch. I’m sorry, I can’t imagine how hard it was for you.”
Her gaze drifted off. “Harder for Cairo, I think. He woke up one morning and his family was ripped in half.”
“So did you,” I said, squeezing her hand.
“Yeah, but... my mother didn’t leave me behind.”
My heart panged painfully in my chest. “Yeah,” I whispered—another one unheard. “That’ll mess you up.” I shook my head. “Damn, we’re getting deep right out the gate. Now I’m going to start thinking of your brother as a wounded bird who needs someone to fix his broken heart. I’ve always been a sucker for those.”
“Don’t fall for it,” she said, bumping my shoulder. “Cairo Sharpe is many things, but a wounded bird is not one of them. I’d say he’s closer to a wounded wolf.”
Twice as deadly when he bleeds. “Good to know.”
Elise stuck herself between us. “Is she telling you all about the Bedlam Boys, our infamous hosts? Wow. What I wouldn’t do to be the sixth in that orgy.”
“I know about the Bedlam Boys,” I said. “Cairo Sharpe, Arsenio Creed, Roan Banks, Jacques Stone, and Legend St. James. We weren’t that sheltered out in the muck. My sister had a run-in with the Bedlam Boys a few years ago.”
The girls huddled in. “What happened?”
“They were hanging lifelike corpses off the top of Chaney Bridge as a Halloween prank. The driver in front of her slammed the brakes and Ivy rear-ended her. Ivy got out and chased them off with a tire iron. That’s my sister.”
“Um, she’s awesome,” Paris said. “Where is she? Invite her to join us.”
I shook my head. “Ivy moved out two years ago. After our grandma died.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Let’s not bum ourselves out,” Amy said, though she rubbed my shoulder in sympathy. “Back to the lawless hotness. Your sister went after the Bedlam Boys with a tire iron. How did she survive?”
“She said they thought it was funny. They skipped away laughing their heads off, and said they’d run into each other real soon.”
“Did they?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. She never said. But over the years, I’d come into town and hear their name mentioned, like passing stories of the boogeyman. ‘Lisa Nash’s house burned down. Maybe it was the Bedlam Boys,’ or ‘I was coming out of a bar and the Bedlam Boys cornered me.’ Bedlam Boys. Bedlam Boys.”
I looked to Paris. “I never really understood what their deal was other than they were dangerous and I should stay away. Are they in a gang? Are they the gang?”
She pinked. “It’s not a gang. They’re just friends.”
“The most lethal combination of friends,” Presley said. “You know who they are, Rainey, so you know who their parents are. Cairo’s father is the sheriff. Jacques’s mother is Judge Stone. Legend’s family owns the distillery that employs half the town. Roan is the son of Dean Banks. Arsenio is the mayor’s son.
“The children of every single person in this town you’d be a fool to piss off, and they go and become best buddies. Their parents own Bedlam. That’s why—”
“—they call themselves the Bedlam Boys,” I finished. “Goodness, why didn’t I see that? I guess out on the farm we didn’t have to worry about who’s who. The only ones who had control over our lives were the cows and the loan officer.”
“They’re not that bad,” Paris spoke up. Assface or not, it seemed the family loyalty ran deep. “They messed around in high school, acting like they were kings of the school, but every teenage guy is like that.”
Amy raised a brow. “P, you haven’t been on campus the last three years. Believe me, they are still very much the kings. They rule.”
A shiver crawled up my spine.
It wasn’t that she said it with menace. It was that she stated it like a simple fact of life. Rain fell from the sky. The sun’s heat hazed the air. The Bedlam Boys were our lords and masters.
As the silence stretched, I waited for someone to contradict her.
No one did.
“Here’s what I really want to know,” I said. “Paris and Cairo? Are you hiding a twin sister named London?”
Paris laughed, breaking the tension. “Our parents first met and fell in love on a trip to Cairo. They honeymooned in Paris. Thus, our names were chosen.”
“Well, it could’ve been worse. Imagine if they honeymooned in Bangkok.”
“Bangkok Keller? Hmm. I think I could pull it off.”
Zara clapped. “Settled. That’s your new stripper name.”
Amy jumped to her feet, working and grinding her hips. “Bangkok on the stage, ladies and gentlemen! Get those dolla bills ready!” She thrust like a wild woman, sending us all to the floor, howling.
For a minute, I forgot what brought me here. I forgot I had to keep my distance from everything and everyone. I forgot friends, parties, and happy memories weren’t something I could have. I forgot for a minute.