I didn’t believe what everyone had been telling me until this morning. I didn’t believe my little Roxy could be so careless and devil-may-care, but she is. It’s not hard for me to imagine her getting wasted every weekend and doing God knows what with God knows who.
Shit. What the f**k happened to her? Of all the ways she could have dealt with Cam dying, she’s chosen this? Ruining herself?
I shake my head in my hands, and my eyes fall on the framed image hanging above the fireplace. It’s of me, Cam, and Roxy from a year ago, taken right after our last football game of high school. Cam and I are both grinning from the win, our helmets tucked under our arms, and Roxy’s sandwiched between us both. Her black hair is over one shoulder, and her blue eyes are as bright as the smile gracing her lips.
A heavy sense of loneliness hits me in the gut. I’ve barely been home a day, but I can feel it. I can feel the gaping hole left by Cam’s absence. It’s like Verity Point has lost a part of the town – and it has. It’s lost the life and soul of the party, the joker, the class clown. That was Cam; the guy who could make everyone laugh without even trying. But I’ve lost more than that. I’ve lost my best friend, my partner-in-crime, and my brother.
I should have just chopped off my f**king leg after his dad called that night. It would have been less painful and a fitting description of what it feels like to be home and know he’s not here. Know he won’t ever be here again.
The front door opens, and I still stare at the picture.
“Alright, son?” Dad asks, walking into the front room.
“It isn’t the same, is it?” I don’t turn around. “Without him here. I can feel it.”
He sighs and throws his jacket on the chair before lowering himself next to me. He leans forward, his elbows on his knees, and clasps his hands together. Scamp, our terrier, bounds over to me and wags his tail against my leg. I scratch the top of his head absently.
“Nope. Hasn’t been since the moment he died. It’s too quiet around here. It was bad enough when you left – we only had one half of the dynamic duo we’d all come to secretly love, no matter how many tricks you played on us.”
I smile.
“You leaving for college left a gap here we all noticed… But Cam? Cam’s death has left a damn canyon. There isn’t a person in this town that doesn’t miss him.”
“I don’t need you tell me that, Dad. Everyone loved Cam. He was the golden boy.”
Dad nods. “Roxy’s taken it the hardest.”
“Yeah… I saw her earlier.” I rub my face.
“Sounds fun,” he replies dryly.
“About as fun as finals. She pretty much let me have it at one point. I guess everyone’s been treating her like a princess, right?”
“You guess right.” Dad settles back on the sofa. “No one wanted to tell her no at first, everyone thought her acting out was her way of coping, but it just got worse. By the time Ray and Myra realized how bad she was, it was too late. I spoke to him last week about her, and he’s lost for what to do. She won’t listen to them.”
“You know she won’t. Roxy was the sweetest damn girl ever, but that doesn’t change how headstrong she’s always been. Tell her she’s wrong, and she’ll do all she can to prove she’s right. Tell her no, and sure as hell she’ll go and do it.” I pause. “What about Selena? She must have tried.”
“Every weekend, Ray said. At this point, Selena goes along with her just to make sure she gets home safely. Or so she says. If you believe the rumors, Roxy usually takes a detour on her way home, if you get my meaning.”
My jaw clenches, my teeth grinding together. That riles me and brings out every protective instinct in my body. The thought of Roxy sleeping with random guys on a weekend after getting herself wasted…
“Let me guess, there’s a party tonight?” I look at my dad.
“Even if there wasn’t, I don’t doubt Roxy would find one these days.”
I stand up, pulling my cell from my pocket and scrolling down to Si’s name. My closest friend aside from Cam. I fire off a message to him asking if he knows where Roxy will be tonight, and sigh. Dad’s sympathy-filled eyes meet mine when I look up.
“I know you always promised Cam…” he starts.
“I owe him this much, Dad. I wasn’t here six months ago but I am now, so I can try and sort the shit she’s getting herself in.” My cell buzzes and I glance at the screen. Si’s reply. I scan the message, getting the place of the party.
“Alright. If anyone can knock some sense into her, it’s you.”
“I’ll try, at least.”
And I don’t exactly want to watch her destroy herself, either.
~
Miami’s football program has done Si good. Since I saw him at Christmas, he has to have put on another half a stone of pure muscle. He was easily our top linebacker – hell, he was probably the best guy on our damn team at school.
“Never thought I’d see Selena having a party,” I mutter.
Si snorts as we walk in. “Three guesses who convinced her.”
I don’t need three. I wish I did though. “She’s really that bad?”
“You’ll see for yourself tonight.” Si shoulders his way through a group of girls toward the fridge. He pulls out two beers, hands me one, and leans against the side.
“Great,” I say dryly, leaning next to him. I look out over the large kitchen, my eyes scanning heads for the raven black hair I know so well. “How many f**king people are here?”
“Too many. Thanks in part to-”
“Roxy,” I finish for him.
“Out of town party a month or so ago. Selena told me she hooked up with one the guys there and apparently has herself a small fan club. They’re here tonight.”
“Hence why you’re here.”
“Like I’m gonna leave my cousin with a bunch of guys I don’t know. I’m pissed she went out of Verity to party as it is.” Si swigs from the bottle and eyes me. “You really think I’d be here if it wasn’t for that? Selena is the sensible one out of those two.”
“Mmm.” A flash of black hair catches my eye from the corner of the kitchen. My muscles tense at the way that hair flicks over a shoulder flirtatiously, and the smile on Roxy’s face isn’t one I’ve seen before. It’s almost predatory, focused on some guy in front of her I don’t know. She puts a hand on her hip and runs the fingers of her other hand in small circles over her chest.