Page 95 of Say You'll Stay

Kat could very well know about this, and as much as I want to just ask her, I can’t. Not without her running straight to her dad, so he can just cover it up.

Joel gets straight to the point. “The business that had the footage was owned by one Mark Vandenburg, and it is no longer in business. Seems he had a small insurance company for a minute before he shut it down one week after the accident.”

“He would still have the footage, right?”

“We’re going to make a stop and ask about it. Once we do, he’s going to know you’re looking into it and will probably know you borrowed that handy little file in his home.”

Let him corner me. What the fuck is he going to do to me?

“If it was the boyfriend—”

“Ex-boyfriend,” I correct. That’s if one could even consider Ted a boyfriend. I would say no, since Allie doesn’t act like someone that’s been treated exactly right all this time.

“Ex. If he’s being paid for whatever reason to be with her, there’s possibly more than just an accident here. Just don’t be surprised if he tries to come after you.”

“What, you think it was intentional?”

Joel rests a thumb on that giant utility belt he wears for this job that is completely outside of his character. “I’ll be talking to Ted about it. He seems familiar.”

“He slept with half our school and his, apparently, and you know his sister Charity.” I’m pretty sure we had this conversation before, but Joel wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the box. I should probably ask for someone else to help with this investigation, actually.

Joel has a low chuckle and bites down on his lip. “No shit? Might need to interview the whole damn family then.”

“She’s Allie’s best friend, and she was away for college at the time. She wouldn’t have been involved.”

He pulls out his phone and does something on it, I’m not sure. “Nah, that one knows trouble. I may need some help from her in figuring out her brother. Maybe a little undercover work, you know?” God, he’s already about to turn stupid for this girl.

It’s not my business. I really shouldn’t get involved.

“You know, I think she’s seeing a fireman these days.” As in last night.

Joel drops that grin and replaces it with a scowl. “I better get going.” He climbs into his cruiser and rolls down the window. “What’s your move until we figure this out?”

I’m going to learn how to woo the hell out of the mother of my son. “I’ll figure something out. I’ll be staying over at Allie’s until she’s ready to live here.”

“You’re not fucking around then.”

If the damn ring I bought earlier this afternoon doesn’t prove that, I’ll find other ways to do it. “She was the one, man. You know, the one that got away, and I’m not losing her this time.” It’ll be a few weeks before her ring is ready, and I’ll make up for time lost until then.

“Lucas-fucking-Kennedy, you’re growing up. It feels like just yesterday when we had our blowjobs next to each other.”

“Joel, never bring that up again, or so help me,God.”

He laughs and drives off while I cringe at the memory. It was awkward, and I didn’t know what to do. Meanwhile, he was in the bathroom stall next to me, making things even worse with the shit he told Makenzie Wright about how he liked whatever she did with her tongue.

I had Sabrina something, and I didn’t even pull it out of my pants. We sat there and stared at the crude writing on the walls of the stalls until Joel was finished.

Nope. I need to get out of that headspace.

But it’s giving me ideas.

I pack whatever I need for a couple of days and toss it into my truck. No word from Allie, but I know she’s waiting for me.

The sun is going down. She would have already put Jadon to bed, so I missed that while talking about bullshit with Joel, but that’s fine. I get to wake Jadon up in the morning.

It was an awkward morning coming downstairs in a polo Allie borrowed from Tom’s closet for me, and neither he nor I acknowledged it. He was a little distant at work, but warmed up after a couple hours.

Tom’s already off to bed by the time I get inside, and Allie is in the kitchen washing dishes. She’s humming to some music playing on her phone with a slight shake I could watch all night.

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