SIX DAYS (15 page)

“I’ll get the check,” Luke said and got up.

“I’ll have Frederick pull the car around.” Tosh held her phone to her ear and followed Luke. Chase and Hazel left, too.

“I guess we’re leaving,” Kasey mumbled. He stood and held his hand out for me. I was still sort of in shock from having a crazy girl clear out our table in under a minute, so I killed the rest of my beer before putting my hand in his.

“I’m sorry about that,” Kasey said as we walked out of the bar. “Bethany has always been a little dramatic. It’s worse when she drinks.”

I looked at him, not believing that that was all he was going to say. That he wasn’t going to tell me the truth about what had just happened. Kasey pushed my hair behind my ear and smiled at me.

“I don’t want you to be alone tonight. Do you want to stay with me or go to Hazel’s?”

“So that’s it,” I gasped. “That’s what I get—that this Bethany chick is overly dramatic when she drinks. Whatever she was talking about scared the hell out of everyone at our table. She was furious after seeing you with me. Talking about dead or alive and the significance of this day and you’re trying to skate right over it. The last twenty-four hours have really sucked hard for me in case you’ve forgotten. My mother tried to off herself, I found out my father got his stupid girlfriend pregnant and now this happens, and you’re offering me nothing! No explanation at all for why that girl was so upset with you.” I started to cry. I couldn’t help it. I felt like I was being strangled from inside myself.

“Who is Chloe Caldwell?” I asked, defeated and teary eyed. Even though I wasn’t sure
that I really wanted to know because she was involved with Kasey somehow.

Kasey hugged me, which truthfully made me feel better, like I was safe from the evils of the world that were trying to crush me. After a while, he kissed my forehead. “We’ll talk about it when we get to my house.” He waved the others on and helped me into his car. We held hands during the ride, but didn’t talk.

When we got to Kasey’s, we went to the kitchen where he poured us both a drink.

“I don’t like talking about her,” he murmured, downed his whiskey, and then poured another. He took a deep breath and looked at me once he let it out.

“Chloe and I met during our spring break sophomore year. For almost the entire first year, we saw each other in secret because she was fifteen and her parents didn’t want her dating until she was sixteen. A couple weeks after her sixteenth birthday she brought me home to meet her family. Her father hated me as soon as I set foot in his house. He told me that instead of telling Chloe that she couldn’t see me, he was going to let our relationship play itself out. That she was smart and would soon figure out that I was no good for her.”

Kasey grinned a little. “It was so hard for me not to tell him how long we’d been together. That Chloe knew me inside and out, and that I wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, I followed her dad’s rules. I did everything he asked when it came to Chloe, which only pissed him off more. He wanted me to screw up somehow so he could force her to get rid of me.”

I already knew this story ended badly after hearing Bethany’s rant. How badly, I wasn’t sure. One thing was clear to me though—Kasey hadn’t just been involved with Chloe Caldwell, he’d been in love with her.

“At the time, Hazel was seeing Asher, and Tosh and Luke were together. We had plans to go out as a group one night when Carter showed up from college to see Hazel at the last minute, so she brought him with her...” Kasey’s eyes went dull, like he was drifting away, searching through the memories of Chloe in his head.

“Today is her birthday. She would have been nineteen today.” The words
would have been
were hard to swallow. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine.

“What happened to her?” I asked as delicately as I could, placing my hand on his. 

“Carter didn’t go back to school; he dropped out and stayed in town. At the time, I had just begun regularly hanging out with Hazel, so Carter and I didn’t know each other very well. A few weeks later, Chloe’s dad found out how long she and I had actually been together and forbid her to see me again. That’s when my new friend Carter offered to help,” Kasey breathed, and refilled our glasses.

“The plan was that he and Chloe would pretend to date. I knew her father would love Carter—even though he was older. He was slick and knew how to talk to people, how to make them feel like they could trust him with anything—even their daughters. A few weeks later, Chloe brought Carter home for dinner so he could work his magic. He’d gotten Chloe’s father’s blessing to take her out. So, Carter began getting Chloe out of the house and bringing her to me.”

I knew what came next was bad especially if what Carter said at Devan Montgomery’s party was true.

“About a month later I noticed Chloe had these bruises on her arms that looked like someone had wrapped their hands around them and held her too tight…” he trailed off, clenching his fists together.

“She got defensive when I asked her what they were from. She told me to leave it alone, that bruises fade. I asked Carter if she’d said anything to him about it. He said she hadn’t, but that Chloe’s father had been getting stricter with her and believed her dad had bruised her arms. I was furious, but felt helpless. I knew if I confronted her father that he would find out Chloe had been lying to him and would make sure we never saw each other again.”

“The next time Carter was supposed to bring Chloe to meet me he showed up alone and told me that her father knew what we’d been doing and wasn’t going to allow Chloe to leave with him anymore. He said she had a black eye and that he tried to make sure she was okay, but her father wouldn’t let him talk to her. Carter said he was afraid for her, so I flew over there, busted through the front door and threatened to kill Chloe’s father if he ever touched her again, and that no matter what he did, he could never keep us apart.”

I was so enthralled with the story that I had almost forgotten it was real. Kasey swallowed his drink and poured another. I swallowed mine down, too.

“Turned out, her father had no idea Chloe and I had been seeing each other, and Chloe’s eye was nowhere near black. Carter had set me up. I felt like a complete idiot and at the time I couldn’t think of a single reason he would have done that to me,” Kasey said, teeth gnashed.

“What did her father do?”

“He called the police; I spent the night in jail. A few days later, Chloe snuck out of school and called me to meet her. She told me that Carter was responsible for the bruises on her arms. That he’d shown up on a night when we didn’t have plans and told
her that I wanted to see her. After they left her house, Carter said I’d texted him that I was going to be late and for them to find something to do for an hour. She said she remembered flashes of things from that night, slivers of time. Tiny pieces she was able to patch together. The only thing she remembered clearly was that they’d decided to get dinner and waking up in her bed the next morning. She felt the soreness in her arms and found the bruises there, along with similar ones on her thighs. She wasn’t sure what happened at first, but when she called me that next morning and I said nothing about the plans we were supposed to have had, she began figuring out what he’d done.” 

And
I’d figured out why Carter had set Kasey up. He wanted Chloe for himself.

“Chloe was crying. She said she felt so stupid and ashamed. That she should have known better. She called Carter and he told her that she’d come on to him, that she’d begged him to take her home with him. When she threatened to tell people what he’d done to her, Carter told her to go ahead because how could she tell something that she didn’t remember happening.”

“He drugged her,” I blurted.
Then had sex with her
, I finished in my head.

“She said she wanted to tell me when I asked her about the bruises, but didn’t because she thought I wouldn’t love her anymore because of what he’d
done to her. Chloe blamed herself for what that pig did,” Kasey gritted his teeth.

“When Chloe’s father found out she’d left school to see
me, he filed a restraining order against me and sent notice to my father that I was not to be anywhere near anyone in their family—especially Chloe. He warned that he would shoot me if I came on their property because I had a formal warning that I wasn’t wanted there, making me like any other trespasser. Being apart was hard on us. We couldn’t talk and didn’t see each other for almost two months. Then one night she showed up here. She looked so different—sick. She told me that she’d only come to let me know that she’d been wrong about Carter. She knew she’d just had too much to drink that night and nothing had happened with Carter that she hadn’t wanted. Then she turned and walked away. I followed her outside. Carter was parked on the street waiting for her.”

“So, she started dating Carter after
he…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.

“Yeah,” he exhaled hard.

“Why?” I gasped.

“Asher called me a couple nights later. He’d seen Carter’s car parked at some strip club on the edge of town. Chloe was there with him. I couldn’t believe he’d taken her to a place like that. It took everything I had to keep from rushing him and kicking his ass right there, but I wanted to get Chloe out more. I waited for Carter to get up, to leave Chloe alone, and then went to get her. She looked like a rag doll. She was so high, drooling, and unresponsive.” Kasey’s lip began to quiver. “I was so afraid for her.” His voice was pale and frayed. “I took her to the hospital and found out she was overdosing on heroin.” He shook his head.
“Heroin.” A few tears fell down his face.

Tonight must have been hard for him, too. Being at the hospital with me must have brought back memories of that night with Chloe. Then Bethany made it worse.

“They called her parents. Her father blamed me. I couldn’t believe he thought I could have done that to her. I never would have hurt her. I loved—” His eyes flashed to mine and then cut away. “I hit him, busted him right in the mouth. I was arrested; the bastard pressed charges and threatened to sue my father. I told him to have at it. It was only money and I would have traded it all for her.”

Kasey reached for me and wrapped his arms around me, clutching so tightly that I could feel how painful this still was for him in his grip.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I just haven’t talked about this in so long. I try to keep it out of my head. It was easier when Carter was gone.”

I kissed his neck and tightened my arms around him. We held on to each other for a long time until he began feeling better, breathing deeper. I felt his fists unclench from the back of my dress. He let go and looked at me. He smiled slightly and I returned the sentiment. 

“I tried to see her after she got out of the hospital,” he sniffled, “her father had me arrested for it. My father was out of town with his flavor of the month, so that time I had to stay in lockup for over a week before I could see a judge. When I got out, she was gone. Her car was found in a parking lot thirty miles from home. The driver’s side door had been left open, her keys were in the ignition, and the contents of her purse had been dumped out on the passenger seat. Her wallet was taken; her phone was smashed and left on the ground.”

“Oh my god.
Did they find her?” I asked fearfully.

“No,” Kasey said weakly. “There was a half-ass investigation. She’s still considered a missing person, although nothing is being done to find her. The police quit looking after her family left town, a few months after she disappeared. Carter was questioned the next day, and then went to Europe after he was cleared.”

“So you haven’t heard anything in over six months?”

“It’s been almost nine.”

No wonder everyone was glad Kasey was showing an interest in another girl, although I understood his hesitation to get involved with someone else again after what happened with Chloe. I also understood his hatred for Carter, which put Hazel right in the middle of their feud.

“Hazel knows about all of the stuff with Carter?”

“She knows. Carter swears he didn’t force Chloe to do anything. That she got into doing drugs on her own. Most people would find it hard to believe that a guy like Carter would rape a girl because he has so many willing to be with him. I think Hazel believed him because of that, and he’s her only real family, so she wanted to believe him.”

“I know it has to be hard for you sometimes, she’s one of your closest friends.”

“I don’t blame Hazel. I was never angry with her. I can’t hold anything Carter did against Hazel.”

“What do you think happened to Chloe?”

“I’ve probably imagined every scenario you could. Not knowing is what’s so hard. If I did, I feel like I could put it completely behind me. I’ve prepared myself for the worst. I feel that when there is news; it won’t be that she’s been found alive.”

I felt so bad for him, heartbroken for his loss. Bethany was right—at least I knew my mother was alive. I couldn’t imagine going almost a year without knowing what happened to
someone I loved.

“Her birthday—that’s why you went running yesterday morning.
You were thinking about Chloe,” I said blindly. The thought hit me like a ton of bricks.

“I thought about her, I think of her most days, honestly, but you’re the reason I went running—because of what’s happening between us. I haven’t felt like this about a girl in a long time and it’s happening so fast that it made me afraid of you, of what I know it will lead to, but fear or no fear, I know I couldn’t stay away from you. That I don’t want to. Hopefully you’ll decide not to break my heart,” he said, something in his tone pleading.