Chapter 85

Chase's POV 

It was a really surreal moment for all of us. 

Gray was beside himself with grief. 

Prom was a little over twenty four hours away, it used to be what was on everyone's lips. 

I remember him telling me that he was thinking about taking the chance to propose to Lily before everyone, just like I did., before shit hit the roof. 

 "Hey man." I called him as soon as I settled in. 

I had much explaining to do, to Mrs Linda and my dad. 

Hearing myself say all the words, almost made me cry. 

But I had been through worse shit than that in my two decades of living. Nothing could beat holding the body of my mom in my hands as a ten year old. 

Mrs Linda flinched and winced and groaned and cried in all the right places, puncturing my report. 

 "Thank you," He said, his voice still sounded very hoarse, I could imagine the effort he put into speaking. 

 "Where are you now?" I asked him. 

It was a little past midnight, I stayed over at my dads because of Emma, but she was being a bit bitchy. I understood that we still had unresolved issues, and that she had just lost her best friend, so I thought it better to keep off for as long as I could. 

I planned to drive back to my place before dawn. 

 "At the hospital lot." He answered truthfully. 

I was expecting him to break down in tears. Gray was really emotional, and the thought of how he'd take her death pricked me more than even what happened, I have to admit. 

 "Yo! Man! Don't be causing any nuisance there. I thought we agreed to go home?" I asked him, disappointed that he foiled my efforts. 

 "I'm not." He said, calmly. "I came to get my car." He explained. 

I wondered why he couldn't leave that for the next day. 

 "And you had to do that tonight?" I asked him, surprised. 

I hate to think what would become of myself if roles were reversed. I had muscle spasms just imagining it. 

 "Yeah." He said, dryly. I felt like more was gonna come out, but he shut his mouth too quickly. "Mom and dad are getting back together. The house smells like sex." He said. 

I wanted to laugh, but I didn't know how he'd take it in light if everything that was going on. 

 "Is that a bad thing?" I asked, I wanted him to say how he felt about it. Some of us would kill to have our pets back together. 

 "It isn't." He replied. I felt good that something nice was happening to him. The good couldn't negate the bad, but it would sure help to deal with life. "They lived their lives thinking they were good without each other… " 

 "Just like you and her." I completed his sentence, saying what was on our minds. 

 "Just like Lily and I." He reiterated. 

We both let out steam, and sighed really deeply. The sync of little things like that was proof of how much we had in common. 

 "I'm sorry man." I consoled him. 

It might have been too fresh for talk like that, but he seemed like he was faring a bit better 

 "It's all good." He replied. I found that weird and sketchy as hell. He was too much of a cry baby to be so composed hours after what had happened, worse still, sitting in the same building where she was. "I mean, I mean, uhm, I'll get over it, things will get better is what I meant to say." 

 "Are you okay though?" I asked, I just had to. It was sounding more of the onset of mental issues than composure and moving on. 

Lily's body was barely cold and the tears in his eyes were dried already. 

 "You sound, I don't know, I don't think I wanna say what's on my tongue." I said. I really didn't know how to deal with grief. I never cried for my mom. It just happened, maybe that's why I've been stuck in that moment for the rest of my life. 

It was a wonderful break from the horrible nightmares when Patty started seeing me at nights, about three years after it happened. 

 "I think I wanna go now." He stuttered. "Later bro." and the line went dead. 

I stared at the phone for a bit, trying to make sense of what had just gone on. 

The sleep I wanted was far from me. 

I gave way to my instincts and decided to have a chat with my dad. 

I knew the chances of running into him banging Emma's mom were slim. The house was in a mood too bad for that. 

Plus they had the police up their asses. 

 "Why not kill the fucking bitch and let us all have peace?" I heard from the other side of the door. 

 "No you listen to me!" He screamed again. "I give an order, and you complete it, get me?!" He screamed again. 

 "Hello, father." I said, comically. "How's business going?" I put emphasis on 'business', and sat on his bed. 

He glared at me, his eyes were bloodshot and thrown wide open. 

 "I hear all of that, and I have a guess." I offered. 

He looked down on his phone and turned it off. 

 "Why do you keep doing this?" I asked him. I was tired of being careful. 

There was no point to it. 

 "I do not have to answer to you." He shot back. 

 "I think you do. Matter-of-fact, I think I should speak with Gray first." I said. 

 "Isn't he the one who was with that sleazy girl Emma now befriends? The one you used to sleep with on my couch?" He asked. 

I flinched. I didn't know he knew that much. 

 "Chase, we are more alike than you think." He said. 

 "Or you're just jealous you didn't end up with your high school sweetheart?" I taunted. 

I once stumbled on my dads diary. I had a lot of time on my hand as a kid, and I was really inquisitive. I knew so much about my dad from reading that than from living with him. 

Perhaps, the information was a little too much for me as a child. 

 "I really should be more careful with my belongings." He said. 

 "I think those around you too, should." I replied to him. 

He was angry and almost fuming. 

I knew it wasn't the right time, but if there's something I'd known, it's that there was no right time. 

 "Chase, watch your tongue." He warned, pointing his fat index finger at me. 

 "I won't." I replied. "I'm done with all of that. I'm done turning a blind eye." 

 "You're done with what exactly? Young Man, I will put you in your place if you say too much? How do you think I manage this household, with over five staff, and multiple businesses across the country?" 

 "By threatening the lives of others? Bullying people? Misappropriating funds? And then you're lucky to have a couple of honest businesses that are strangely doing well? Oh please!" 

 "Is that really what you think?" He asked, looking at me painfully. 

I'd known too much over the years to permit him to gaslight me. 

 "It's what I know." I replied, fully convinced. "And oh! The days of me sitting by the sidelines to watch are over." 

 "It's a new dawn, innit?" He asked me, pouring himself a glass. "You know, my own father was a clergyman." He started. I knew that bit from his diary too. "We had a little house by the countryside. Mom was a traveler, couldn't settle. She had me and took off as soon as I got off breast milk. Poor old man was left to raise me on his own."