Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4)(41)
Author: Brenda Novak

But then he realized if he had his keys, Baxter didn’t. He’d driven. So Baxter must’ve left on foot. He had a long walk ahead of him if he decided to hike back to town on his own, but he had a cell phone. He could call someone. At least he wasn’t going to get into a drunk-driving accident.

“Thank God,” Noah muttered, and sank back down to the floor.

“Grab that bottle of wine, too.” Lisa motioned toward the counter, talking to Yvonne. “I’m going to need it after seeing that.”

Her friend seemed a little hesitant. “That hasn’t been opened. We can’t just—”

“Take it,” Noah snapped.

Yvonne hugged the bottle to her chest as she walked past him, but even gas money and a good bottle of wine wasn’t enough to get rid of Lisa without further comment. Her lip curled in disgust as she turned back for a parting salvo. “Fag!” she spat, and slammed the door behind her.

14

Kevin Colbert stood behind the bar he’d had Riley Stinson build in his basement. This part of the house was his domain, a place his wife rarely visited, except to clean. His kids liked to come down here. So did his football players, because he had a pool table, a big-screen TV with the most extensive sports package available on satellite and the latest gaming system, along with plenty of comfortable seating. It was the perfect man cave. But it was late, even for a Saturday night. His kids were in bed. His wife knew he had friends over; she was upstairs reading yet another book—she went through four or five a week. And his football players hadn’t been invited. Tonight he’d asked only Stephen Selby, Tom Gibby and Derek Rodriguez to stop over for a few minutes—and they’d each reluctantly agreed.

“Have you seen this?” He pushed Adelaide’s front-page story in the Gold Country Gazette across the wooden bar.

Folding the paper in half, Derek set it aside. “Look, we all know why you asked us here. So let’s just cut to the chase and get this over with so we can go home. I don’t like meeting with the rest of you, especially after midnight. Someone could see our cars out front and put two and two together—figure out that we’re in a panic and scrambling to cover our asses.”

“And how would anyone do that?” Kevin challenged. “We’ve been friends for years. We have the right to socialize.”

Stephen gave him a look that said he was out of touch with reality. “We haven’t hung out in ages, Kevin. Not since you started thinking you were too good for the rest of us.”

He was the most successful of the four of them, wasn’t he? Although Tom had a family and a reliable job, he didn’t have the public image Kevin had. Besides, Tom was weak, run by his wife. Kevin no longer had any interest in these people but, thanks to the past, he was tied to them whether he liked it or not.

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “I’ve just been living my life. And so have you. It’s not like you’ve extended me any invitations in the past decade.”

“No one’s extended any invitations.” Tom shook the ice in his glass. “Why would we? Seeing one another reminds us of what we did, and what we stand to lose if it gets out. At least, that’s what it does to me.”

Stephen laughed as if he didn’t care. “Yeah, well, some of us stand to lose more than others.”

“You think it’s funny?” Kevin kept his voice down. He definitely didn’t want to attract his wife’s attention. She could be oblivious, but that didn’t mean she was outright deaf. “Maybe you don’t understand that we could all lose our freedom.”

“That’s unlikely,” Stephen scoffed. “Maybe it’ll cost you your job and your marriage. Tom, too. But I doubt we’d go to prison. They’ve got to prove we did it first.”

“It’s better if we don’t go down that road.” Kevin had been so on edge ever since he’d heard Addy was back he’d scarcely been able to function, and this was only making his anxiety worse. “I’ve looked into it. There’s no statute of limitations on gang rape in California.”

Stephen sucked the foam off his beer. “Is that why you panicked and kidnapped her? Because we all know Aaron didn’t take her to the mine.”

Kevin shook his head. “It wasn’t me. That’s why I called this meeting, to make sure we all understand that kind of shit can’t happen again.”

“Why not?” Derek wanted to know. “I, for one, am grateful. Maybe now the bitch will keep her mouth shut.” He chuckled softly. “I had Noelle deliver a message making the same point. I wish I could’ve seen her face when she found out the necklace she was wearing came from me. Courage. I knew she’d eat it up. You gotta love that.”

“You don’t get it,” Kevin said. “If one of us gets caught doing something stupid, it puts the rest of us in jeopardy. Hurting her will only make things worse.”

“You mean hurting her again,” Tom said.

“Fine. Again.” He didn’t hide his impatience. “But even you will like this next part,” he told Tom. “From here on out, we leave her alone. If she says anything about what happened at the mine, we deny it. It’s that simple. There are four of us and only one of her. Together we have a lot more friends than she does. Her accusations won’t go anywhere.”

“I don’t want to make what we did worse by calling her a liar,” Tom said.

A flash of anger, and desperation, nearly made Kevin lash out. “Would you rather go to prison?” he responded in a harsh whisper.

“Of course not. I just—I feel so bad.”

“You’ll feel a lot worse if your wife has to live with the shame and embarrassment of what you did, if she has to raise your kids without you. She hasn’t done anything wrong, any more than my wife has.”

When Tom kneaded his forehead but didn’t answer, Derek shot Kevin a glance that confirmed he was concerned about Tom’s state of mind, too. They all had to stand together. If Tom cracked…

“We might be able to avoid criminal charges by denying it,” Derek said. “But even being accused of rape will create doubt and suspicion, and that could follow us around for years.”

“There’s no help for that,” Kevin said. “The people who really count will believe us.” At least, he prayed that was true. He’d never done anything to his wife that would lead her to think he was capable of rape. But if Addy spoke up, he was afraid Tom would finally cave. Or maybe others who’d been present at the party would start remembering certain details—snippets of conversation or having seen them drag Addy into the other part of the mine. So far, no one had come forward but then, the specter hadn’t been raised. Who knew what would happen if it was?