Temptation: A Novel (30 page)

89. Dirt

I’m standing at my locker at the end of the day when Lily stops by.

“Are you avoiding me?” she asks.

“I’m going to be seeing you in a few minutes.”

“I know, but still.”

I close the locker door and face her. “I saw you at lunch.”

“Look, Chris—”

“Look what? There’s nothing else to say. Is there?”

“What do you want me to do?”

How about go back in time, say no to Staunch’s ridiculous offer, and never come across my path?

“Nothing,” I say.

“But you’re going to be like this, huh? Was the truth
that
bad?”

She’s asking me if her lies were
that
bad?

“Yeah, the truth was pretty bad.”

“What part? The fact that I lied to you or the part about my feelings for Kurt?”

“How ’bout the part about you having no heart or soul?”

For the first time since Lily has come into my life like a wrecking ball, I see a break in her confidence. A look of astonishment and surprise on her face.

I wait for a response. She seems to wait for an apology.

I guess this is what they call a checkmate. No, make that stalemate.

In the corner of my eye I see two girls walking by. They’re already past when I realize it’s Kelsey and Georgia.

“I’ll see you at Brick’s,” I tell her as I head down the hall.

I don’t ask how she’s going to get there. But she’s old enough to have her license and have a car. And I’m tired of worrying about her.

We agreed to meet up at Brick’s house after he told Lily he’d be more than happy to divulge the “dirt” on Staunch.

For now, I have more important things on my mind.

I speed up to get to Kelsey just as she walks outside.

“Hey, do you have a minute?”

Georgia catches me and locks an arm around Kelsey. “I’m sorry, but she’s busy.”

“Kelsey, please?”

She nods to Georgia and then stands still as her friend leaves, shaking her head.

“Listen—I just want you to know something. You have to know this, okay?”

Kelsey doesn’t say anything but stands there, wondering when I’m going to say what I have to say. She looks serious, and I wonder if she’s given up on me completely.

“I’m not with Lily, okay? We’re not dating or anything. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says just like a girl.

A girl who’s acting like she has no idea why I’m telling her this.

“And maybe—I don’t know. I’d like to try and make up for being an idiot these last few months.”

“Just these last few months?”

“Well, an even bigger idiot than normal. That’s huge, you know.”

I see a tiny smile coming on her lips.

“Do you want to go out?” I ask.

“What?”

“This Friday.”

“There’s a game.”

“After the game. I’ll go to the game.”

“It’s away.”

“Even better. I can pick you up. Then we can do whatever you’d like.”

Kelsey laughs, looks at Georgia who’s waiting in the distance.

“Why all of a sudden?” she asks.

“Because I’ve realized a few things. Okay? Just—you know how slow some guys can be.”

“But you’re not one of those guys.”

It’s comments like those that make me wonder why in the world she thinks so highly of me.

“I’m just as clueless as anybody or even more. But at least I admit to it.”

“How about Saturday night?”

“I don’t care about going to the game.”

“I don’t want to be wearing a cheerleader’s outfit all night.”

“Really?” I ask. “You look pretty good in it.”

“Saturday, okay. Want to come over to my house around five?”

I nod and say yes without thinking about it.

It’s time I stopped wasting time. It’s time I started choosing wisely the friends I make.

Especially one who might one day be more than just a friend.

I’ve passed by Brick’s house a dozen times or more since I’ve moved to Solitary. He’s up the hill from the main town, the house sitting like a poor man on a slab of concrete, just wasting away with all its junk surrounding it. There are half a dozen signs everywhere that say to keep out and beware of the dog. But as I walk toward the open garage where I can see Brick, I don’t see any animal.

“Where’s the dog?” I ask Brick as he gives me both a fist bump and a hug.

“I’m the dog they need to beware of,” he says with a laugh. “What’s up, Big Buck?”

“Is Lily here?”

“Yeah. She’s looking real excited to be here.”

I walk past an old refrigerator sitting on a patch of dirt that maybe once had grass covering it years ago. When I reach the garage, I see an old car with the hood opened. Lily is standing next to it, looking uncomfortable. I give her a brief and subdued hi.

Brick comes back into the garage and looks at us.

“So you two want to know about Staunch, huh?”

“You might want to tell the whole world,” Lily says.

Brick laughs and gives her a nod, then walks over and pulls the garage door down. It slams to the concrete floor with a loud thump.

“That better, princess?”

“Much.”

Brick wipes his hands that seem to be covered in oil. “So what do you guys need to know? Height, weight, preference in women?”

I think Brick is joking, but I don’t know for sure. Lily looks at me to let me do the talking.

“You said you had ‘dirt’ on him. What kind of dirt?”

“Oh, the dirtiest dirt you’ve ever seen,” Brick says with a laugh.

“We’re being serious,” Lily says.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. What’s your beef with Staunch?”

“Why do you need to know?”

Lily seems extra snotty today, while Brick seems extra amused.

Good thing we’re not going on a cross-country trip or anything like that.

“I’ve had a bit of trouble with him,” I tell Brick.

“’Cause of Gus?”

“Yeah, somewhat.”

“You know, Staunch isn’t a guy you want to mess with. He’s loaded. Anytime someone’s loaded it means they can do whatever they want. ’Specially around a place like this.”

Brick picks up some engine part sitting on a bench and then throws it into a metal garbage can.

“Look, whatever,” he says. “No big deal what you want to do with it, as long as it doesn’t get back to him that the info came from me.”

“It won’t,” Lily states firmly.

“Okay,” Brick says in a suddenly urgent tone, mocking Lily.

“How do you know about him anyway?” I ask.

“I worked on his property one summer with a landscaping crew. That’s how much dough the guy has. ‘Oh, yeah, I’m going to need you to come work for me all freaking summer long.’ Crazy. But it was good money.”

“I hope you’re going to say you have more than just actual dirt you played around with for your job,” Lily says.

Brick has to think about her statement for a second. “Oh, yeah, funny. Good one. No, there were two things I filed away in the good old memory that nobody thinks I have. You know—you smoke dope and people just think you’re stupid. But I remember. And I remember finding a tunnel leading into his house.”

“From where?”

“You ever been there?” Brick asks. “Okay, then you know the stream just beyond his lawn? Yeah? The one with the nice little waterfall? We helped build that, thank you very much. Do you need any work done?”

“I’m good,” Lily says.

“So one day I find this hidden door that was connected to a tunnel. I mean, there are tunnels all around this place, so that’s not new, but this one was connected to his house. The other thing is this.” Brick pauses and looks out a window just to see if anybody’s around. “I swear he’s got someone down in his basement. We heard things when we were working. Like, weird sounds. The guys I was with, half of them didn’t speak English, so I didn’t know what they were saying. But we all heard it.”

“What’d it sound like?” Lily asks.

“Like some kind of caged animal. Screams. But if I had to guess, I’d swear they were human.”

We don’t say anything. I don’t need to say anything, because I know. I peek a glance at Lily and see her looking quite anxious.

“The other thing—maybe even worse than that—we were told where to work and to avoid going farther downstream. There’s nothing much down there, just woods. One day I decide to take off for a smoke, so I start to follow the creek in the woods. I keep going for a while until I reach a place in the woods that looks cleared off. Like just a circle or something, trees missing and everything. I took a look and—no joke, I’m not lying—there was like a huge hole in the middle of the woods, a crater or something, with a tarp covering it. The place just reeked, and I knew, man, I knew.”

Brick curses and keeps talking about how ridiculous this might sound but how true it is.

“I took off one of the stones holding the tarp down and checked it out. Sure enough, there was a body. And I’m telling you, man, that hole looked like it could hold
a lot
of bodies.”

“This is crazy,” Lily says. “You’re making it up.”

“No way. I swear. No joke.”

“And you think it’s still there?” I ask.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be? I mean, I didn’t say anything. I got out of there fast.”

“Why didn’t you tell someone?” Lily asks.

Brick just laughs. “Oh, yeah, sure.”

“What?”

“The stoner guy sees a mound of bodies in the woods just down from the Staunch house. Oh, yeah, that’s going to go over well. I’ll be in the mound, that’s what would happen.”

Lily looks at me as if she wants to leave.

There’s something bright in this dark, grisly tale that Brick has told us.

This could get Staunch and others arrested. This is proof. More proof than just saying I was there when Jocelyn died.

And who knows what’s in his house, too.

What’s in the basement?

“I’ve never told anybody this,” Brick says.

“Maybe because it’s all made up?” Lily asks as she starts moving toward the garage door.

“I might do a lot of things, but when I say something’s a fact, it is.”

I look at his square face and buzzed head. I want to thank him for this information. But I realize I can’t. The info is just too awful to thank anybody for.

Lily opens a door to head out of the garage. I tell Brick bye and then head out to follow her.

I can’t tell if this information is going to help or if it’s made things worse.

90. Nothing to Dislike

I come home to see Mom and Dad making out on the couch telling me not to bother them so they can make me a little baby brother.

Okay, this doesn’t happen, of course.

Instead, I find my father packed and ready to go home. But before he goes, we’re all going to go out to dinner.

This doesn’t surprise me. Nothing does, not anymore, especially not with Mom and Dad. But the good news is that Mom is different. And so is Dad.

What about you, Chris? Have you changed as well?

Maybe that’s what growing up really is. Not getting taller or stronger or wider or smarter. But just getting different with how you deal with the world and those around you.

“Where would you like to go?” Dad asks. “Anywhere.”

It’s Friday night, and we’re going out like a regular old family. I can’t say like we used to, because Dad was always too busy to do even routine things like that.

“I don’t care,” I say, because I really don’t. “Maybe just somewhere outside of Solitary.”

We end up at a Mexican restaurant that my dad had spotted recently while driving to Asheville for some errands. It ends up being the best Mexican restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. Perhaps the salsa bar seals the deal for me.

It’s strange to see Mom drinking iced tea. Even my father has a Diet Coke. I remember they always liked to have margaritas with Mexican food. But I guess since Mom is trying hard, Dad is respecting that.

Before the food comes, Dad manages to start the conversation that lets me know why we’re here, besides to eat dinner.

“Mom and I spoke about the holidays, and we agreed to work things out. With all of us.”

“I’ve kept you away from your father, Chris,” Mom says to me. “It wasn’t right. I—we’ve talked about it. We think it would be good for you to spend some time in Chicago with your father around Christmas.”

“We’re actually thinking that I could come down here and pick you up before New Year’s. Have you stay until school starts.”

I nod, wondering why he’s going to pick me up versus flying. A part of me wonders if he’s going to do that specifically to check in on Mom and see how she’s doing.

“Okay,” I say.

It doesn’t sound so bad anymore, going back to Chicago and getting away from Solitary.

“Have you thought anymore about colleges?” Mom asks me.

Yes, between figuring out why the dogs are dead on Aunt Alice’s driveway and learning how to conjure up the dead from dear great-grandpoppa.

“No.”

“I got a call the other day from your advisor urging us to get serious with your choices. You’re already behind, Chris.”

I nod at Mom and don’t bring up the obvious. Like maybe the
reason
I’m behind. They’re not talking to me in their typical way, however. Mom isn’t annoyed. Dad isn’t impatient and irritated. They’re talking to me like an adult. Not that I think I am one, but I’m a year from being eighteen and it’s nice to simply be treated with some kind of respect.

We talk about college, but I honestly don’t have much of a plan. I have to take the tests—the ACT and the SAT—which means I have to study for them. But beyond that—I don’t know.

“There are some good possibilities around Chicago,” Dad says. “If that’s where you want to go.”

I nod, glancing at Mom. She doesn’t say anything. I have honestly not thought beyond high school graduation. Everything leading up to that seems gray and blurry and distorted. It sometimes seems like I’ll get my diploma and then the clouds will open to reveal a clear, blue sky full of opportunity.

I wish.

“Maybe during your break we can check out some schools,” Dad says. “You know—a junior college isn’t the worst idea.”

I don’t want to tell them that all I care about is getting away from this place. I’ll go north or south or east or west. I don’t care. Just nothing within a hundred miles of Solitary.

Our dinner comes, and the burrito on my plate is seriously larger than a football. That’s awesome, because that means I might get a couple more dinners out of this. I’m already full from the three bowls of chips and the nine different salsas I’ve tried.

“Chris, I want you to know something,” Dad eventually tells me after we’ve slowed down on our meals.

He’s got his serious voice and face going. It makes me nervous and brings back bad memories.

“I wanted to tell you this in front of your mother. I just want you to know how proud I am of how you’ve handled everything. Of how you’ve helped Mom. She’s told me some things. I just—I didn’t know. I certainly haven’t given you credit in the past. I’m sorry for that.”

I nod and look at Mom, who has tears in her eyes. She reaches over and takes my hand, then squeezes it.

“I’m proud of you too,” she says. “And I’m sorry.”

I nod, and while I’ve been waiting and wanting these apologies for a long time, I just want this all to be done. I nod and smile because all of a sudden, there’s nothing to dislike about Mom and Dad. They’re just—people, just like anybody else. Except they’re my parents, and they love me, and I know they’re trying.

I want to apologize too for hating them so much lately, but I can’t. I’m ashamed.

“Chris—if there is anything you need, I want you to know you can call me anytime,” Dad says. “I’ll be here if you need me. Okay?”

I nod again. And I believe him.

This belief is something I haven’t had in a very long time. The realization that someone has my back, that someone might be looking out for me.

It’s a nice feeling.

Especially knowing what I’m about to do.