Chapter Seven

Trick

I t has been a few days since Billy and Lucky attacked Cash, and he’s doing a lot better now. He is managing to move around normally; his ribs were bruised and not broken, which is a relief all around. Unfortunately, his face hasn’t fared nearly as well, and he looks fucking terrible. Something that the rest of us take great pleasure in telling him regularly.

We didn’t have anything to do today, everything has been relatively quiet, and Billy and the others haven’t caused any more shit for us since Cash beat them to a pulp.

I am hoping that seeing Cash lose his shit as he did, and witnessing that scary darkness take him over, has made Billy and Lucky think twice before they try anything else, and that they will tell the rest of their guys to back the fuck off too. If I’m being completely honest with myself, seeing Cash in all his scary glory would make me think twice, and he is one of my best friends.

We decided that since we didn’t have anything to do today, we would go to Knox’s place and check on him. After we dealt with the drug problem, we expected Knox’s parties to start up again almost immediately, and they haven’t. It has been a couple of months now, and we realized that no one had actually told him that the situation had been dealt with. We all just assumed that he would know since he knew so much when we went to talk to him, and warn him about the drug issue the first time. Maybe that was a one-off, though.

He uses the parties to distract himself from some pretty horrific things that have happened in his past, and that’s why we’re worried that he hasn’t started them back up yet. It's concerning. It’s for that reason that we decided to drive up to his place today and tell him in person. Of course, there is a secondary reason, and that is that we found out some really interesting stuff about him and, among other things, that his family founded the town. Which was something that none of us knew and we should have known since we were taught about the town's history in school. It piqued all of our interest, and we all want to know more about it and why it’s not widely known. We are also hoping that he will tell us and hopefully fill us in on why we’re not taught about it.

“That entrance wows me every fucking time that we drive under it,” Jensen mutters, referring to the carved wooden archway. There’s almost something magical about it; there really is.

As weird as it is, there is something different about the place, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.

“I don’t see his truck parked anywhere,” Jensen comments as we get out of the vehicle and head up the steps to the front door.

“Maybe he’s in town?” I suggest, although come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I actually saw him in town.

“His security camera is still up,” Jensen mutters as he moves further down the porch and looks through one of the windows. “I can’t see fuck all.”

“Considering that this guy is most likely dangerous, is it a wise idea to be looking through his windows?” Cash asks with his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyebrow raised questioningly.

“He has a point,” Luc agrees, looking around somewhat nervously, “I mean, we are in the middle of nowhere; he could kill us and bury the bodies, and no one would ever find us.”

We stare at him for a moment before it clicks, and I sigh, “Did you watch one of those unsolved murder things last night?”

Luc’s cheeks tint slightly pink, and he clears his throat, “Erm, maybe.”

We all burst out laughing, and Cash says, “Dude, you have to stop doing that. It just freaks you out.”

“You’re the one that said Knox was dangerous,” Luc replies indignantly.

“We’re dangerous,” Jensen retorts this time, rolling his eyes like we’re all being ridiculous.

“Alright, we’ve gotten distracted,” Riot says, amusement dancing in his eyes as he glances at Luc and says, “Maybe that’s his plan to distract us all before he makes his move. Quick, check that the tires haven’t been slashed.”

“Haha, you’re so fucking funny,” Luc retorts, “douche-canoe.”

“Right, I’m going to go and check around the back and see if he’s around there. He was last time, and I know that he likes watching the lake.” Jensen says, effectively stopping the conversation before the guys not only freak Luc out but also freak themselves out.

It’s happened before and is one of the reasons we no longer watch horror movies. Admittedly it's hilarious watching everyone freak the fuck out.

We all follow Jensen around the side of the house. I have only been to a couple of Knox’s parties, and of course, they always happen in the dark or low light in the summer, so I haven’t really gotten a good look at the place in the daylight apart from when we brought Jensen up before and even then, we only saw one side. As soon as I round the corner and get a view of the lake, I realize that I have been missing out, and this place is fucking stunning.

I know why Knox threw parties here, but if I were him, I don’t know whether I would be willing to risk it. Not just because of the risk of kids damaging the place especially when they’re drunk, but also because I would be protective of this view. I’d want to keep it protected and unspoiled.

“Wow,” Rafe signs, his eyes on the view.

“I can’t believe that I’ve come here as often as I have and never realized that this was sitting behind the house,” Riot says, awe in his voice.

“I know,” Jensen replies, “I feel like we should have noticed it.”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t notice shit when I’m drunk,” I point out.

“Yeah, okay, you have a point. That’s probably why I have never noticed.” Jensen replies.

“You’ve never noticed because you are somehow even more clumsy when you’re drunk, and you often end up on the floor and then just stay there because you figure it’s safer,” Cash grins.

“Alright, feeling a bit attacked,” Jensen chuckles. He moves closer to the house and looks through the window, “I don’t think Knox is here anymore.”

“He’s dead!” Luc exclaims.

Once again, we all just turn to look at him, and Riot says, “Seriously dude stop watching true crime shows. He’s not dead,” he pauses and looks at Jensen, “he’s not, right?”

“No, you dramatic fucks.” Jensen replies, sounding both amused and frustrated.

“What do you mean then?” Luc asks, clearing his throat and pretending he wasn’t ready to run back to the car a second ago.

“I mean, that all of his furniture is covered with sheets, like he’s gone away for a long time,” Jensen replies.

“This might explain things better,” Cash says from further down the porch as he picks up a letter from the table that is placed between two chairs.

“Where did that come from?” Jensen frowns, “I swear that wasn’t there a minute ago.”

Cash snorts, “Dude you are notoriously bad at noticing stuff, it took you three months to realise that your dad had painted the front room, and then you had a new kitchen fitted.”

Jensen shrugs and smirks, “You may or may not have a point, and I refuse to either confirm or deny it.”

I shake my head, “Everyone knows that whatever you’ve been accused of is true when you start talking like that.”

“You don’t know me!” Jensen exclaims indignantly and then bursts out laughing with the rest of us.

“Do you want to read this or not?” Cash asks as he holds out the envelope to Jensen.

“Me?” Jensen asks, his expression dipping down into a confused frown.

Cash smirks, “It’s addressed to you.”

Jensen walks over to where Cash is and takes it off him, looking down at the envelope that definitely has his name on it.

“How did he know you would come up here?” Rafe signs, looking confused.

Jensen shrugs, “I have no fucking idea.”

“It was taped down so it didn’t blow away, and it’s pretty sheltered here, so maybe he was just hoping that you would show up. I mean, it doesn’t really affect anything if it’s just left here and no one finds it, does it?” Cash replies logically.

“He’s got your number, hasn’t he?” Riot questions.

Jensen nods, “Yeah, he does, or at least I gave it to him; he’s never used it, though, so maybe he lost it.”

“Or he wanted to write something that couldn’t have been sent in a text and decided that this was the better option, even if you didn’t get it,” I suggest.

“Yeah, maybe,” Jensen agrees, as he turns the letter over and tears it open, pulling out a single sheet of paper.