Page 62 of Wild Like Us
Beckett and I—we were the ones that had each other’s backs growing up. It was us against the world. We chose to be homeschooled around the same time. Sacrificed family and friendships and everything in between to pursue a dream. Mine was swimming. His was ballet. He’s theonesingular person in my entire life who understands exactly what kind of toll that took.
He was right next to me.
We were together through it all.
But best friends aren’t supposed to lie to each other. They’re not supposed to keep secrets from the person that matters most to them. It was soul-crushing—devastating—to learn about Beckett’s cocaine problem from Charlie. And it’s not like Charlie intended to tell me, he just blurted it out. How could I be so fucking clueless? I wish I’d known. Maybe I could’ve talked to Beckett. Been there for him. Donesomethingmore thannothingto help him.And when I did finally find out, Beckett lashed out at me. Said some cruel things that can’t be taken back.
The silver lining is that Charlie says Beckett hasn’t touched cocaine since Scotland.
I hang onto that.
Maximoff comes closer, eyeing my ankle. “How does it feel?”
“It barely hurts,” I tell him.
“That’s good,” Moffy nods. “Farrow should still look at it though.”
I nod, then glance at Charlie. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”
“My brother couldn’t come because of his ballet schedule,” he says. “So I’m here as his proxy.”
That’s hard to believe. “He sent you?”
Charlie cracks his neck. “In a sense.”
“That’d be a no,” I state.
“He’s miserable without you, and I can’t take it anymore. You need to talk to him.”
I let out a long breath. Beckett and I have shared the same air since the fallout, but we haven’tclearedthe air. “So that’s why you’re here? To convince me to talk to Beckett?”
“Basically.”
The fact that Charlie had a small influence in getting Oscar & Jack together hasseriouslygone to his head.
“It’s not fucking happening,” I say.
Charlie shrugs, but he doesn’t push the topic. Maybe knowing that it’s a lost cause tonight.
Arkham barks from outside the motel room, and for some reason it promotes a yawn from me. Fuck, I forgot how tired I am.
Maximoff watches me, “We’re staying in a hotel in the next city over. I can drive your Jeep, if you, Akara, and Banks want to head that way with us.”
I glance at the sleeping mats on the floor. Even though this was a gross pit stop, I’d be bummed leaving it behind.
Skipping a step in the journey sounds like taking an easy out to the hard trek I committed to. I can hear my mom encouraging me to stay.You can meet-up with them soon. Don’t fast-track anything.
“That’s okay,” I say. “I think we’ll probably just crash here. The fucking adventure, you know.”
He smiles. “Yeah, I know.”
I smile back more. “We’ll catch up with you tomorrow though?”
Jane says, “Most surely.”
Charlie climbs off the bed and makes his way to the door with Maximoff.
“How’d you all get here so fast anyway?” I wonder.
