Page 91 of Such A Bad Girl
“Oh, my god, you little prick, all you care about is yourself! What do you want from me? Fuck off!”
Avett shoved Harlan again, harder this time. For a moment, it appeared Avett was going to walk away. But instead, he took a few steps and then turned back to Harlan, flinging his words through the wind like he was throwing fire.
“Stay the fuck away from me, you little queen,” he snarled in his face. “Whatever happened between us is over. It was a mistake!”
Harlan froze. Staring at him in disbelief.
“How dare you!” Harlan said.
Avett’s hand was a blur in the dark video but it was clear he punched Harlan. Harlan stumbled backwards, dangerously close to the edge of the boardwalk. Avett came closer, shaking his head and yelling something incoherent. Harlan’s hand held his cheek as he shook his head.
When Avett went to shove him again, Harlan moved out of the way to avoid the blow. Avett didn’t catch himself in time, off-balance as he stumbled forward and fell head-first back into the water.
“Avett!” Harlan shouted, rushing to the edge. He screamed as he looked into the water, slowly backing up, his hand over his mouth.
All of us in the room gasped.
All of us except for Harlan, that is.
On the video, Harlan looked over the edge again for a quick second before he took off running, leaving Avett’s lifeless body lying in the water.
“What a video, huh?” Everleigh asked, flipping it off.
“Really interesting story behind it, too,” Kaylee jumped in. “Apparently, it was taken by a birdwatcher out looking for owls that night. They turned it into the police, but then that caused all kinds of commotion, didn’t it, Harlan?”
She looked at Harlan, but he still hadn’t looked away from the door.
“Turns out Avett did die from blunt force trauma to the head, but not because of Theo’s boot.” Kaylee said. “What was most interesting to me was that Harlan’s father was the District Attorney for Travis County at the time this video was taken. Also, probably not shocking to anyone, he’s a very conservative, old-school Texan. Once dear old Daddy saw this video of his very closeted son professing his everlasting love for, and heroically saving the life of his gay lover before fighting with him and leaving him for dead — well, needless to say he wanted it covered up.”
“You little prick,” I muttered, staring at Harlan.
“Now, who wouldn’t cover up their child’s crime, right? The love of a parent is stronger than anything, we all know that. And there conveniently happened to be a serial killer in the area that killed via blunt force trauma to the head. When Harlan moved out of the way and Avett fell in the water, his head hit a rock. It perfectly matched the killer’s MO. But that’s not why Harlan’s dad covered it up and Harlan knew that. Didn’t you, Harlan?”
She paused in front of him, waiting. He didn’t reply.
“If it was just murder, he’d have thrown his son under the bus. But Harlan’s sexuality was a direct failure on his father’s part according to those in the elite circles of conservative Texans. He knew that all his friends would shun his family, murder or no murder.”
“They’d have lost everything,” West said. “His dad would have lost his job, they would have lost all their money, the house, everything. Their reputation would have been shot forever.”
“It’s true. Harlan, why didn’t you tell me?” Jill demanded. “I ran off after Everleigh and Theo did. I didn’t see any of this.”
Harlan’s eyes flashed with anger as he finally spoke up. “Because, what the fuck was I going to do? Yeah, it’s all true, obviously. But what you don’t see on that video is why I went along with my asshole father in the first place. If our family lost everything, then my sister did too. She was the one thing I cared about. Except for Avett, that fucking prick.”
His words rang through the air, the truth heavy and shocking to all of us.
“Harlan went on to go to law school,” Kaylee continued. “He moved to San Francisco so he could live the lifestyle he wanted, away from his father’s prying eyes.”
“Then why the fuck are you here now?” West demanded. “Why all this?”
Harlan shook his head, looking away again. “My old man died last year. But not before losing all of my family’s wealth making risky deals in the stock market. Mom died years ago. All that’s left is a ton of fucking debt and my disabled sister.”
“So, it’s just the money?” Everleigh asked.
“No,” he insisted. “If none of this would have happened, I could have stood up to my father and lived the life I wanted out in the open. But he held this shit over me all my life. Forcing me to submit to his wishes, forcing me to become a fucking lawyer, just like he was. Anytime he had an inkling that I was breaking free, like daring to date a man or trying to find some semblance of love, he’d remind me that he could destroy it all in a second if he wanted to. Turns out, he did it by gambling away our inheritance and leaving me fucked anyway.”
“That doesn’t answer the question of why you did this, if not for the money?”
“Maybe I wanted to see someone else pay for it, too. Avett wouldn’t have been in that water in the first place if it wasn’t for you, Theo.”