Page 16 of Our Cracked Pieces
“What in the hell happened here?” Mr. Hilton asked again. He looked over at me, his expression clearly placing the blame on me already. “Mr. Cavanaugh?”
“Lorcan…” I turned to look at Vanessa, and it was all there in her eyes, she was begging me not to say anything. But if she thought I was going to go to jail, and ruin my chances of graduating because of her, she was wrong.
I looked back at Mr. Hilton and told him the truth. “I kicked his fucking ass. And if you’re going to have me arrested for it, then do it, and quit wasting my time.”
Mrs. Johnston was tending to Mr. Hostettler but looked over at me. “For God’s sake, why?”
Looking back over at Vanessa, I said, “Because he got my girlfriend pregnant.”
The collective gasps of shock filled the room. Mrs. Johnston took a step back from Mr. Hostettler in stunned disgust.
Mr. Hilton finally broke the silence. “Paul…Paul, is that…that true?” Mr. Hostettler paled, guilt written all over his face, and Vanessa’s anguished cries only added as confirmation.
I looked back at Mr. Hilton, and for the first time in my life, used my parents’ clout. “Decide if you want me arrested more than you want a scandal at your school, Mr. Hilton, because if you think my parents are going to let an arrest slide, you’re wrong.”
With that, I waited patiently as Mr. Hilton made up his mind.
Chapter 11
Rowan~
It was almost midnight, and we were all gathered in the living room. After I had agreed to let Grayson wake our parents, I had asked for a small reprieve, and he had granted it, letting me take a shot shower before facing my parents. And when I had gone into the bathroom, looking in the mirror, a shower had been the right decision. I had looked like a mess, and this was going to painful as it was, I didn’t need to look like a wreck on top of everything else.
After my shower, I had dressed in a pair of pajamas and one of Grayson’s old, oversized hoodies. As one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing around, Grayson always passed down his old hoodies to me. And right now, being surrounded by his comfort made me feel braver than I really was.
Had I really been a brave person, I would have never put myself in this mess. I would have called Officer Connors’ bluff and dealt with the fallout like an adult.
But I hadn’t.
Looking at my parents, I could tell they were doing their best not to freak out. But how could they not with their son, who was supposed to be across the country at school, waking them up in the middle of the night to tell them their children needed to talk to them.
My dad looked panicked, where my mom looked anxious. As a woman and teacher, she probably thought I was pregnant. My dad, as a man and a lawyer, he probably thought I killed someone. It didn’t help that Dad was a criminal lawyer. He’s seen a lot.
Grayson was sitting behind me on one side of the couch, while my parents mimicked our positions on the other side. My dad sitting behind my mom, his hand on her thigh, showing support even though they had no idea what they were facing.
“I…” Clearing my throat and taking a deep breath, I felt my brother’s hand come up and squeeze my shoulder. His quiet show of support reminded me that we had good parents. We had parents whose love was solid and unconditional.
We had a strong family.
“I need your help,” I told them. “I made a terrible mistake, and…and that led me to make another one, far worse.”
Mom asked the question of her assumption. “Are you pregnant, Rowan?”
I shook my head. “No, Mom. I’m not.” I could see the tension leave her shoulders, but Dad was still looking a bit panicked. If I wasn’t pregnant, then that opened a whole new world of possibilities.
“Then what’s going on, Rowan?” Dad asked. “You can tell us, sweetheart.”
With a ragged breath, I grabbed the courage I knew I needed to get through this and told my parents everything. While I was all cried out, emotion still broken through during my recounting of the events that have led me here, and there was no mistaking the pain in my voice. The regret was there, along with the confusion and exhaustion.
I told them everything, very much like I had done with Grayson.
And as embarrassing and as painful as the details were, the one thing I’ve learned by having a lawyer for a father was that, no matter how damning or upsetting, the truth was paramount to your defense. The truth mattered. The truth really did set you free. And if you were going to pull the people you loved most into your fight, they deserved the truth. So, I told the truth.
All of it.
Every single humiliating bit of it.
When I was done, my mother was in tears and my father…well, my father had jumped from the couch, and unknowingly copying my brother, he started pacing and ranting. “I’m going to kill that sonofabitch. I’m going to fucking murder him,” he hissed.
