Stephen finished his drink in several quick swallows. “You’re certain that’s our best course?”
A creak sounded overhead. Kevin waited to be sure it wasn’t his wife, crossing the floor to come to the top of the stairs. When he was satisfied that she wasn’t about to yell down at him, he continued. “As far as I can tell. Think about it. No one’s going to want this to come out, not even the damn mayor.”
Derek nodded. “Mayor Rackham thinks his son could walk on water,” he said. “You saw the tribute Cody received last night. No way would Mr. Mayor want anyone to learn that his son instigated a gang rape. He wouldn’t believe it even if he was told.”
“Exactly.” Picking up the paper Derek had shoved aside, Kevin slapped it in front of them again. “We can’t have any more of this. We have to agree not to touch her.”
“I’m finding it hard to believe you didn’t take her back to the mine,” Tom muttered, staring at Kevin.
It came as no surprise to him that Tom would be the one to say this. His guilty conscience was driving Kevin crazy. Tom was as dangerous to them as Addy. “I’m telling you I didn’t.”
He frowned. “Someone did.”
They all looked at one another, but no one confessed.
“Fine.” Kevin made a dismissive motion. “I can see why no one would want to take responsibility. That’s not necessary, anyway. It’s over and done with. We just have to hope Stacy remains focused on Aaron Amos. But even if he doesn’t, we stay calm. We don’t react. Otherwise, we could really get ourselves in trouble.”
“Kevin, honey?”
Kevin held his breath. His wife was at the top of the stairs. “What?”
“Are you almost done?”
“I’ll be right up,” he called back.
“My wife will be wondering where I am, too.” Tom slid off his stool. “I’ve got to go.”
“So what do you think?” Kevin intercepted him before he could reach the stairs. “Are we on the same page? You’re not going to confess, are you? You don’t want your girls to live the rest of their lives knowing their father was a ra**st. You don’t want your wife to leave you.”
“Of course I don’t want that.” Tom looked tired as he rubbed his face. “But you know what hurts the worst? Besides the fact that what we did will never, ever go away?”
Kevin feigned interest, but he didn’t want to hear it. Why agonize over something he wouldn’t bother regretting if there wasn’t any danger of getting caught? It was something stupid they did at a high school party. So what? “I’m listening.”
“I don’t remember enjoying the sex. It was brutal and degrading—to her and to us.”
“You can thank Stephen for getting us into that one,” Derek piped up. “As I recall, it was his idea.”
Stephen slammed down his glass. “Don’t you dare blame me!”
“It was your idea,” Tom said sullenly.
He slid off his stool, too. “Cody’s the one who wanted her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her.”
“So you told him to rape her,” Tom said. “Told him she deserved it. Said she’d been leading him on all night.”
“Shut up!” Kevin didn’t like where this was going. “I don’t want to discuss it anymore.”
There were a few seconds of strained silence. They were all laboring under a certain amount of fear. But they had no choice; they had to control it.
Finally, Derek picked up his keys. “Why the hell didn’t she tell anyone back when it happened?”
“Because she doesn’t want anyone to know, either,” Kevin said. “See what I’m saying? We lie low and everything will be okay.”
“Sometimes I wish I’d been crushed in that mine instead of Cody,” Tom said.
Shocked by the vehemence behind those words, Kevin seized his arm. “Look, you have to forgive yourself and put it behind you.”
“You have a daughter,” Tom responded. “Don’t you ever think about what you’d do if something like that happened to her?”
“No.”
“Because...”
Kevin refused to even entertain the possibility. “Because my daughter won’t turn out to be a stuck-up bitch, okay?”
* * *
Noah wasn’t sure why he eventually made his way to Milly’s. He had plenty of friends to turn to—except they were Baxter’s friends, too, and he didn’t feel he could go to any of them. Whether Baxter decided to come out of the closet was up to Baxter. Noah couldn’t out him; a guy deserved more from a lifelong friendship. Besides, he didn’t want anyone to know what had happened at the cabin. He was humiliated by it—and yet he felt the need to talk to someone. He sure as hell didn’t want to be alone right now.
Fag...
He’d never been called that before in his life. He shuddered to think what Baxter would endure if he openly admitted that he was sexually attracted to other men. Imagining the repercussions made Noah angry—angry with those who’d feel superior enough to put him down and, perhaps illogically, angry with Baxter for being vulnerable in the first place. And how was it that Baxter had fallen in love with him?
He certainly hadn’t done anything to solicit that type of interest.
Taking another pull on his bottle, he stared at Adelaide’s house. She didn’t want anything to do with him. So...why had he come here?
Because he was just drunk enough to ignore his better judgment. He’d sobered up so he could make the drive from the cabin, but as soon as he arrived home, and started thinking about Baxter kissing him like a lover, he’d decided he couldn’t handle being clearheaded quite yet. He’d gone directly to the liquor store down the street and had been walking around town ever since, trying to ease the upset that had both his mind and his stomach churning.
When he swayed and almost fell, he knew he needed to go home and call it a night. It was twelve-thirty, too late to pay Addy a visit. He’d scare her by banging on her door in the middle of the night.
But home was beginning to feel like a very lonely place. He already dreaded morning. No matter how much he drank, the reality of what Baxter had done, what he’d revealed, would hit him hard.
“Shit.” He walked away. He only lived a few blocks down. But when he reached the corner, he pivoted and headed back. He might as well knock. Addy had her own door. She didn’t have to open up if she didn’t want to.