Page 81 of Sinful Seduction
She shakes her head, nibbling the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know who they were. I don’t know if it was on the news or anything, but Ben made it sound kinda like that person never got in trouble for it. Justin was tight with these bad people, and those people wanted someone to transport stuff from the bay to Midtown.”
“What stuff?” I cut in again. “How’d they get it to the bay?”
“On a boat. Not a big cargo ship,” she clarifies. “They don’t bring those here anymore. But on a little one. Like a speedboat kind. I don’t know what stuff exactly, because Ben wasn’t involved yet. But it was Justin’s job to get it from the boat and bring it into town.”
“Alright.” Iimaginethe glide of my hand over paper. The scratch of a pen making notes. “Justin’s working for bad dudes, transporting illegal things into the city. And Ben is friendly with Justin. Go on.”
“So Ben slipped.” She sniffs. “I guess Justin called him, chatting about the old times or whatever. Ben didn’t hide it at first. He didn’t lie. But then he started skipping classes. He became less available than usual.” She draws a noisy breath, filling her lungs and expanding her chest. “We knew the odds were working against us. But we also knew we could be okay, like my mom and dad were okay, as long as we promised to always tell the truth.”
“What did he tell you?” Minka murmurs gently, her eyes softening when they meet Molly’s. “What did he confess?”
“He told me the first time he got high with Justin… not, like, the first timeever,” she clarifies. “But the first time since everything got better.”
“Were you mad at him?” Fletch questions. “Did you fight?”
She nods, dropping her gaze. “I got all preachy and naggy, telling him he was better than that. We fought about it, and we shouted and threw things. I know this sounds dumb, but I felt like the fight made us stronger. Likewegrew as a couple, and once it was over, Ithoughtwe’d come to an agreement.”
“But he did it again.” Tori takes her friend’s hand, twining their fingerstogether. “He was skipping school and spending more time with Justin. He’d stay out all night, blowing up Molly’s phone. When he was high, he wasn’t protective anymore.”
“He’d invite me to hang out with them,” Molly rasps. “Even if we had school the next day, and it was the middle of the night, he’d call and tell me to come smoke with them. Or to play pool or whatever. He said he was…” She stops, her cheeks flaming bright red. In response, the monitors tracking her pulse skitter noisily into the air. “He was horny when he was high, and though he didn’t say Ihadto take care of it, it was implied.”
“Did you go to him? I’m not asking about sex,” I add quickly. Jesus, she’s only seventeen. “I’m not talking about that. But you snuck out to see him on the night he died. Was that the first time you went to him in the dark?”
She drags her lip between her teeth, suckling and staring anywhere but into my eyes. “I went to him the first time he called. I was worried, and he sounded…” She shakes her head. “He didn’t sound like himself. He was loud and rude and obnoxious. I guess he’s one of those happy drunks, ya know? Some are mean. But when he was drinking or getting high, he was happy and goofy. Flirty and touchy and…”
Horny.
“I went the second time he called, too. But by the third, I was fed up. I told him the next day, when he finally showed his face, that it would be a good idea for us to take some time apart.”
“You broke up with him?” Fletch presses.
“I didn’t use those words.” She fists her tissue and dabs her nose. “Believe it or not, but I was stupidly in love with him. I was in love with the idea of who he could be. The sober, hardworking, sweet, generous version of him. I didn’t say I wanted to break up, but that we had finals coming and that we needed to focus. We still hung out, especially since asking for space spooked him and, ironically, meant he stopped skipping school. When he’s that person, he was good and decent and the kind of man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
“But he wasn’t that person,” Tori murmurs. “We are who we are when our inhibitions are down, right? Mean people get meaner when they’re drunk. Silly extroverts get sillier. Molly wanted him to be someone he wasn’t, and the harder she pushed, the sneakier he got.”
She draws a shuddering, aching breath. “That makes me a shitty person. Wanting him to be—nagginghim to be—someone else.”
“You wanted him to reach his potential,” Minka croons. “You knew he was capable of amazing things.”
“Yeah, well…” She shrugs. “The last semester was crappy for us. He was sneaking, and I was nagging. We’d fight, and then we’d make up. I think my dad noticed I was…” She pauses. Inhales. Exhales. “Less happy, maybe. He was watching Ben closer than ever, like he knew something was up. But that only made me cover for Ben more. I lied when I should have confided in him. My dad is the one person in the entire world who might’ve had decent, usable advice for me.”
“Why’d you steal the gun, Molly? What did he say to convince you to sneak into Miranda’s office, pilfer around in her drawer, and steal a weapon?”
She chokes on a sob, shrinking in on herself and shaking her head.
“You stole it,” I press. “You held on to it. And then you snuck out on Monday night and gave it to him.”
“No, I?—”
“Yes, you did. You admitted last night. He called you, he told you to come to him, and to bring the gun.”
“No!” She balls her fists and slams me with a fiery glare. “I stole it forme! I didn’t even tell him I had it. He never knew it was missing, and he never asked me to steal a gun for him, ever. He could get his own from Justin. All he had to do was ask.”
“So why did you…” Minka blinks, blinks, blinks. “What?”
“I knew Ben was losing control. He and Justin were hanging out several nights a week this past month. They were getting stoned. They were getting noisy. And Ben’s promise to never lie was just…” She groans. “It was a lie. Justin called me a few days ago… a few days before,” she clarifies. “He said Ben was hooking up with some chick.”
“So you shot him?” Fletch demands. “He cheated, so you wanted revenge?”
