Page 157 of Imogen

I laugh as I slide out, closing the door behind me. I wait for him to exit before answering. “I would. It was funny the first time.”

“It would have hurt less walking in myself,” he growls.

On the day of us returning home, the guys met us here. They didn’t wait for Ben to get out of the car. Maddox took his arm and pulled him up. Once he was free of the car door, Liam moved to his other side, and together they each hooked one arm around his torso and their other under his thigh and carried him like he was sitting on a throne. And at one point, Liam’s arm slipped and had squished Ben’s balls.

“It could have been worse. They could have thrown you on the sofa,” I splutter out. Hayden has the whole thing on video and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve replayed it. Ben cried out in pain, and Liam got grossed out from being that close to another man’s ball bag.

“Imogen,” is called.

I lose my smile and spin around, causing myself to go dizzy. Lindy and Colin walk towards me, and I begin to shake. Lindy is in a black nylon dress that falls to her knees, and her husband is in a black suit with a black shirt. Their eyes are red and puffy, the swelling visible, along with the heartbreak they’ve been carrying for the past three and a half weeks.

“Now isn’t a good time,” Ben announces softly as he comes to my side. “Maybe we can do this another day.”

Lindy’s gaze meets mine, and my lower lip trembles at the sight of her. “Only close family came to his funeral. None of his friends turned up,” she announces, her voice breaking.

“I’m sorry, Mrs Armstrong,” I whisper.

I can’t take my eyes off her. Her grief is like an item of clothing on her, and it has me in a chokehold.

“He had loads of friends,” she continues.

Unable to bear her pain any longer, I step forward. “He did.”

“They didn’t come to say their goodbyes. Neither did you.”

“This isn’t appropriate,” Ben softly points out.

“It’s okay,” I assure him, then turn to Lindy, taking her hand. “I’m so sorry for your loss, but I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t forget the things that happened, and I’m sorry if that has hurt you. But being there would have been fake. My presence would have reminded you of what he did, and you needed to remember him asyousaw him.”

“We know,” Colin replies gruffly. “It was just hard to say goodbye and have the room empty. He was our son.”

I don’t know what else to say. It feels cruel to tell them their son pushed everyone away, or that he treated his friends so poorly, they didn’t want to say goodbye. “I really am sorry for your loss.”

“I wanted to blame you,” Lindy mewls. “I wanted to blame the world. But instead, I blame myself.”

“This isn’t your fault, Lindy. It’s neither of yours. You loved him and cared for him. His actions aren’t a reflection of your love for him or his behaviour. It’s a tragedy that this happened, and my heart hurts for you. No one should have to bury their child.”

She whimpers as she clings to her husband. “I knew something was wrong with him.”

I cuddle up to Ben, not understanding her words. “I’m not following.”

Colin clears his throat. “When you were in high school, me and Lindy found pictures of you in a notebook.”

I gulp. “Pictures?”

“Of you at school, or hanging out at the park. There were tons of them. Then we found a T-shirt that didn’t belong to Zach. He said it belonged to his girlfriend. You. But you weren’t together. We knew that because we asked his friend about you. He told us you were kind of friends, but that you weren’t his girlfriend. We should have confronted him about it. But back then, we thought it was just a crush and he was embarrassed to tell us. Then you ended up together and we thought maybe his friend was mistaken.”

A shiver races down my spine at their news. I didn’t know. I had no clue he did those things. “I didn’t know,” I rasp.

“You’re telling me your son showed signs of obsessive behaviour, and you did nothing?” Ben grits out.

“Ben, they’re grieving,” I remark. “Please. It’s okay.”

“No, this is bullshit. You come here, make her feel worse than she already does, and then drop a bomb like that? No. This is out of order.”

Lindy begins to sob. “We didn’t know. He is our son and we love him. We know now it wasn’t normal. The police went through his things and found diaries from before you were together. We didn’t know how obsessed he was with you.”

“It’s okay, Lindy. You didn’t know it would end up like this.”

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