Page 25 of The Guilty One

Aaron pinches his lips between his fingers as Dakota taps his knuckles on the arm of the chair.

“He was getting married, and he wanted to tell her the truth about what happened back then. He wanted our blessing. He said he was going to call all of you, but he reached out to me first.”

When Bradley had said those words to me, it was like an ice-cold blow to the stomach. Even now, I feel the chill hearing them spoken out loud.

Dakota’s face curls into a sneer that isn’t unlike the one I feel building on my own face.

“I guess he thought mine would be the easiest to get first, and that I’d help convince you two,” Aaron says.

“And what did you tell him?” I ask.

Aaron stares at me for a second too long, and I raise my brows, urging him to answer. “I told him under no circumstances did I think he should tell anyone what happened that night. We swore that we wouldn’t, we made a pact, and we have to keep our word.” Aaron nods, glancing down at his hands. “We were brothers first, no matter what. We have to protect each other.”

“I told him the same thing,” I say. “When he called me. How did he take it when you told him?”

“I don’t know. He seemed convinced, I guess, but I couldn’t tell. He was in love. Stupid. He wanted her to know everything before they got married.”

“Do you think he told her?” I ask again, worry flooding me.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what do you know?” I shout, my words dripping with venom. Panic is flooding my veins, and I feel as if I can’t catch my breath.

“Come on, man, ease up. I’m telling you everything,” Aaron says, hands up in surrender.

“If the truth about that night ever got out, my life would be ruined,” I remind him in a bitter whisper.

“And ours wouldn’t?” he asks, his auburn brows rising to meet his receding hairline and buzz cut. “We’re in this together.”

I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, weighing my next words. “We’ve never been together in this. Not really. You know it wouldn’t affect you two the same way it would me. I have a hell of a lot more to lose if the truth comes out.”

“We were there, too. It affects us just as much as it does you, and the truth about it ever coming out would be equally damning for every one of us,” he says firmly. “And that’s all I know. I told him to keep his mouth shut, advised him not to talk to you, which we know he didn’t listen to, and that was that. We didn’t speak again after that, and next thing I knew, I was reading his obituary. To be completely honest—” He cuts himself off.

“What?” I ask, leaning in. “Say it.”

He braces himself, slowing his words. “To be…completely honest, I worried he wasn’t going to listen, that he was going to tell, and you guys couldn’t stop him so you—” He cuts himself off again, tilting his head from side to side.

“Killed him?” Dakota says. “I said the same thing. Someone in this room has the most to gain from him being dead.”

His eyes find mine, and I pin him with a glare. “I didn’t kill him.”

“Me either,” Aaron agrees.

“Same,” Dakota says. “So we need to find out who did.”

Later, when we’re leaving with more questions than answers, Dakota says, “We need to find the fiancée. Find out what she knows.”

“I don’t have time for this,” I say, shaking my head.

“Do you have time for jail, then? Because if he told her?—”

“If he told her, what? What are we going to do?” I demand. “Take her out? Kill her? Are you really suggesting we?—”

“I’m just suggesting…” He holds up a hand, speaking slowly. “We advise her to keep quiet. That’s all.”

“Threaten her?” I scoff. “No. I have to work. I can’t go track down our friend’s grieving widow. Sorry.” I turn to walk away from him, but his next words stop me in my tracks.

“You were right in there. If all of this goes south, it’s you who will take the fall for all of it. We were accessories, sure, but it’s your life that blows up. Not mine. You think your pretty little wife will stay with you if she knows the truth about who you are? What you did?”