School, Sex and Secrets (School, Sex and Secrets #1)

by Sheila Michelle

  “Well, I’m glad you didn’t do that!” I said. “But you didn’t touch her phone, did you?”

  “Fuck no, I didn’t! I barely got my hands to stop shaking to take this picture of it!”

  I looked at the picture again. I just couldn’t believe it. I picked up my phone and went to my photo gallery to the pictures that I had of Natalie. I looked at a picture of her holding her phone up to her ear and compared it to the picture that Brad took of her phone in Marc’s drawer. “It’s an identical match. That’s her phone — no other girl has a phone like that — it definitely stands out.”

  “No doubt. Look at the way it’s laying in there in all of that junk? Damn! I can’t fuckin’ believe he fuckin’ killed her!” he said, and then got up and paced backed and forth.

  I got up and embraced him. “Brad, we’re gonna have to go to the cops with this picture you took. I know he’s your best friend, and this is gonna be the hardest thing that you’re ever gonna have to do in your life, but you gotta do what you know you gotta do, baby.”

  He continued to stare down at me as we held each other, and I could see it all in his eyes that he was hurting from this, as if Marc was the last person he would’ve thought that killed Natalie . . . and he was.

  The doorbell rang.

  We looked at each other and then at the door, and then slowly walked towards it.

  I looked out the peephole — and gasped! “Holy shit, Brad! It’s Marc! Oh, my God!!”

  CHAPTER 30

  Brad looked out the peephole and saw that it was in fact Marc. “Go upstairs and take off your clothes and put your robe on — GO!” he said to me, and then quickly removed his top.

  I ran upstairs and quickly undressed and then got my robe and put it on. I ran back downstairs.

  The doorbell rang again.

  “JUST A MINUTE!” I shouted through the door, and then looked at Brad. “Ready?”

  He nodded as he came to the door. “Let me open it.”

  “Okay,” I replied.

  He opened the door. “What’s up, man?”

  “Hey, what’s up, you two? Looks I interrupted something — sorry about that,” Marc replied with a grin.

  “No problem at all. Come on in,” I said while I stood behind Brad and held on to him.

  Marc walked in as he looked around the house since he’d never been here before.

  “So, what brought you over here?” Brad asked.

  “You forgot your wallet at my house,” Marc said with a grin, and then gave it to him.

  “Oh, shit! Thanks, man! I was in such a hurry to come over here and get it on that I really did forget it!” Brad said.

  I looked at Brad and smiled.

  “Well, I’ll let the two of you get back to doing what you were doing,” Marc said with a grin.

  “We’re done. My parents will be home soon,” I lied while I still held on to Brad.

  “Well, I’ll get going so the two of you can get dressed. See you both later,” Marc said.

  “Okay,” we said.

  Brad opened the door and let Marc out. We waved as he drove off.

  “Oh, my God! That scared the crap out of me!” I said while I shut the door and locked it.

  “It scared me, too. I honestly did think I had my wallet on me. I was in such a rush to get out of there because I wanted to tell you about what I found, not because I wanted to have sex.”

  “Hey, I don’t blame you for that!”

  He looked at me and smiled, and then kissed me on my head. “Well, as long as we’re pretty much undressed, do you wanna do it?”

  I looked at him in shock! “Brad! How the hell can you think about having sex right now? A murderer was just in my house and your best friend at that! I’m afraid that he still could’ve known that we knew something! It gave me the creeps the way he was looking at us!”

  He nodded. “You know I was only kidding about having sex, Vanessa,” he assured me. He sighed. “But yeah, it freaked me out, too, with the way he was looking at us. It’s like I don’t know him anymore. Damn, he’s my fuckin’ best friend! This feels weird, Vanessa. Natalie would still be alive if it wasn’t for him. It makes me believe that he just hasn’t been very honest with me about how he really felt about her.”

  I looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I just think that he liked her more than he even wanted to admit that he did — and he didn’t even wanna admit it to me — and maybe did get upset about her being with that guy from Westmore. Marc can’t stand that guy. He told me that he could tolerate her being with any guy from there, but not him. I took this as him still obviously having some feelings for her because if he truly didn’t care for her at all, he wouldn’t care who she was with regardless of how much he couldn’t stand the guy,” he said.

  “That’s very true. Well, it’s obvious that Natalie wasn’t seeing anyone else at our school since it was her ex that did this. I still can’t believe it!”

  “I know, baby. How do you think I fuckin’ feel?! But we still have to act normal around him because we can’t let him suspect that we know something.”

  “But he has Natalie’s phone, Brad — it’s like he’s keeping it as a souvenir or something — you have the proof that the cops would need to make an arrest.”

  “Vanessa, that could be anyone’s drawer that it’s in — I have no proof that it’s Marc’s or anyone else’s — that’s what’s so fucked up about this. I have to look at this picture very carefully to see if there’s anything in all that junk that he has in that drawer that can link it to being his. That is the messiest fuckin’ drawer that I’ve ever looked in and it matches the way his room looks in general.”

  I laughed. “I believe it, Brad. But maybe Marc will get a guilty conscience about killing her and turn himself in.”

  “I don’t know about that, Vanessa. I mean, think about it, he talked to the cops about it that day just like all the rest of us, so if he had any guilty conscience about what he did then that would’ve been the time to come clean about it. I’m gonna try and talk to him about this, and I want you to come with me.”

  And I still have a guilty conscience about what I heard in that room the day that Natalie was murdered, but still, it could be a sheer coincidence, I thought. I looked at him. “Brad, I don’t know. Maybe we should have as many people as we can get to talk to him about this. He may get very defensive and who knows what he may try and do. I’ll ask Ava to come along and Marie, of course, since she was Natalie’s best friend. And you get Ken, John, Zac, and whoever else to come as well so we can all talk to him — tell the whole fuckin’ football team to come — I just don’t feel comfortable having it just be us.”

  He nodded with a grin. “Okay, I’ll do that, then. But I’m not gonna have the whole team come by, Vanessa. This is something that I only want my close friends to know about for right now.”

  I nodded. “Okay, that’s fine. I only want mine and your closest friends to know, too.” I took a deep breath. “Well, let’s get this over with. Could you call him now and tell him that we’re having a get-together tomorrow to talk about what happened to Natalie?”

  “Sure, I can do that,” he said, and then got on his phone and called Marc. “Hey, man. You know it’s been really bugging me and Vanessa about what happened to Natalie and we wanna know if you wanna get together at my house tomorrow night and talk about it . . . You have something planned? Well, can you break the plans because this is really bothering us since the cops have no leads or anything because they’re still waiting on the DNA results . . . You’ll be able to come? Okay, cool, man. I’m calling everyone else and having them come as well. We just wanna talk about who could’ve possibly done this, that’s all. Well, I’ll let you go. See you tomorrow, man.” He hung up and sighed.

  “What if he denies it all?”

  “There is no way that he can deny that this is Natalie’s phone in his drawer in this picture. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 31
<
br />   “I’m fuckin’ freaking out, Vanessa! What if Marc just fuckin’ explodes on all of us and kills us all?” Ava said while I drove us to Brad’s house.

  “Relax, Ava. He’s not gonna do that. We’re gonna talk about what happened and then ask if anyone knows who could’ve done this and closely watch Marc’s reaction to everything. If it seems like he’s not gonna confess to doing it, then Brad is gonna tell him about his discovery in his drawer yesterday. And if he doesn’t believe him, he’s gonna show him the picture — then he’s gonna have to confess to doing it. There’s gonna be enough big, strong men there to control him if he gets out of control, and Brad said that him, Ken, John, and the rest of them will hold him until the cops come and get him.”

  “Well, Marc is big and strong himself, and he’s gonna be super hot if this gets out of control! Damn, I’m preparing myself for the worst, Vanessa — I’m really scared! I don’t know why I agreed to come!”

  I held on to her hand. “Honey, nothing is gonna happen, okay? Remember, we’re doing this for Natalie — she can’t speak for herself. Don’t you agree that Marc deserves to be in jail for what he did to her?”

  “Yes, I do. Maybe we should just tell the cops what we know and let them handle it from there.”

  “Ava, we’ve all talked to the cops and none of us gave them any important information about the case because we all truly didn’t know who could’ve done this,” I said. I suddenly thought about what I’d heard that day coming from that room on the basement floor, and still wondered if I withheld some important information from the cops that I’d talked to that day. I still tried to believe that what I’d heard was just a sheer coincidence, but something was still telling me that it wasn’t. I looked at Ava. “And remember, Ava, they even let that poor janitor go who found Natalie’s body because there was no proof that he killed her and now we know that he didn’t do it because we now know who did it and we have to try and get it out of him. It’s gonna be okay, Ava.”

  She sighed deeply. “I hope so, Vanessa.”

  When we got to Brad’s house and walked inside, Ken, John, and Zac were already here. Since Marc wasn’t here yet, we decided to discuss ahead of time what we wanted to say.

  “How should we say that we know it’s him?” Ken asked.

  “I have the proof on my phone, and there’s no way he can deny it,” Brad said.

  “I just don’t want this to get out of control,” Ava said.

  “It won’t, Ava,” Brad said.

  “Can you promise that?” Ava asked.

  Brad looked at Ava as we all stared at him. “No, sorry, I can’t promise,” he honestly replied with a deep sigh.

  “Well, we’re all here to make sure that Marc doesn’t lose it too much. He needs to pay for what he did,” Ken said.

  “No doubt. I honestly didn’t suspect that it was him; I initially thought it was that janitor who found her,” Zac admitted.

  “Well, DNA cleared him, and he was nowhere near the room at the time,” Ken said.

  Yeah, but I was near the room since I was on the same floor, I thought.

  “I knew it wasn’t him, but I never thought that it was Marc, either. I try not to believe that about the ex being the first suspect, but in this case it was unfortunately true,” Ava said as she shook her head.

  “How do you all think I feel? He’s my best fuckin’ friend,” Brad said, and then sighed deeply once again.

  The doorbell rang; we all jumped.

  Brad went to the door and answered it. “Hey, ladies. C’mon in.”

  Marie walked in . . . as well as Lisa! They said their hellos to everyone, but Lisa ignored me.

  “Who invited them?” Ava whispered to me.

  “Brad did, obviously. I knew Marie was definitely coming, but I didn’t know Lisa was — but she was Natalie’s good friend, too, so I knew Marie probably told her about coming here as well,” I whispered back.

  “So you’re sure that Marc’s the one who did it?” Marie asked.

  “Yeah, I have the proof,” Brad replied.

  “I want that bastard to fuckin’ fry for what he did!” Marie said, as she was still clearly very upset.

  “Marie, this isn’t easy for any of us, especially me. Marc is my best friend, and we all know that Natalie was yours. I’m gonna do my best to make him confess to doing it and if he doesn’t, I’m gonna show him the picture of her phone in his drawer, okay?” Brad said, and then put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Okay,” Marie replied, and then sat on the couch with Lisa by her side.

  I stared at Lisa as she remained quiet since she was still mad about Natalie’s death, and she was obviously still mad about the verbal fight that she got into with Brad and me out in the school parking lot over a month ago.

  Minutes later, the doorbell rang.

  Brad went to the door as we all watched him. He looked out of the peephole. “Marc’s here,” he told us.

  We all nodded as we tried to act as normal as we could.

  Brad opened the door. “What’s up, man?!”

  “Hey, what’s up? What’s up, everyone?” Marc said as he walked in. He instantly noticed that we all seemed to have been in a weird mood. “What’s up with all of you? You all look like you’re mad and scared about something?” He walked over to a tray of food that was sitting out and helped himself to it. “Where’s the beer, man?” he asked Brad.

  “In the frig. I really don’t want anyone drinking alcohol tonight,” Brad said.

  “Why not?” Marc asked.

  “Marc, we’re here to talk about what happened to Natalie,” I reminded him.

  “Okay, I know that. Well, talk, I’m listening,” Marc said, and then sat in a chair next to the couch.

  “Where were you when that happened to her?” Marie asked Marc.

  “I was in Economics. Why are you asking me this?” Marc asked.

  “Well, what did you tell the cops?” Marie asked.

  “What I just told you,” Marc said as he looked confused. “What’s going on?”

  “Okay look, the only person who Natalie was involved with at our school was you, Marc,” Brad said.

  “Yeah, so? And we broke up a long time ago and I had nothing to do with her after we broke up — I even told the cops that. Anyone could’ve killed her,” Marc said.

  “Including you,” Marie said.

  “WHAT?! What the fuck are you talking about?!” Marc asked Marie.

  Marie stayed silent as she stared very coldly at Marc.

  I looked around the room as everyone, including myself, started to get nervous.

  Ken sighed. “Marc — look, man — if there’s something you need to tell us . . .”

  “TELL YOU ALL WHAT, MAN?!” Marc shouted as he jumped up out of his seat.

  A wave of nerves rippled throughout the room as Brad stepped in front of Marc. “Marc! Relax, man, okay?”

  “YOU KILLED NATALIE! ADMIT IT!” Marie shouted at Marc.

  Chaos erupted!

  Ava grabbed on to me as we jumped up off the couch and backed ourselves into a corner as Marc went crazy as expected!

  “I DIDN’T KILL HER, YOU FUCKIN’ BITCH! FUCK YOU, WHORE! DON’T BE BLAMING THAT FUCKIN’ SHIT ON ME, BITCH!” Marc shouted at Marie as Brad, Ken, and John held him back from her.

  Marie began to cry as Lisa held on to her.

  “FUCK YOU ALL! BECAUSE I DIDN’T KILL ANYBODY! I KNEW YOU MOTHERFUCKERS WERE GONNA START ACCUSING ME BECAUSE I’M HER EX! I KNEW IT! FUCK ALL OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!” Marc shouted as he struggled to get loose from everyone who had a hold on him.

  “MARC! CALM DOWN! Just sit back down, okay?” Brad said, and then got out his phone as Marc sat back down. “When I was looking for some condoms yesterday in your room, I looked in your drawer and saw this.” He showed Marc the picture of Natalie’s phone in Marc’s drawer.

  Marc looked beyond shocked that the phone was sitting in his drawer. “HOW THE FUCK DID THAT GET IN THERE! I DIDN’T PUT THAT IN THERE!”<
br />
  Brad sighed. “Marc, c’mon, man. Then how did it get in there?”

  “I DON’T FUCKIN’ KNOW! SOME MOTHERFUCKER OBVIOUSLY PLANTED IT IN THERE! I’VE HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE COME OVER MY HOUSE SINCE THIS HAD HAPPENED SO IT COULD’VE BEEN ANYONE!” Marc shouted.

  We all gasped because we knew that it was quite possible that Marc was telling the truth about the possibility that her phone could’ve been planted in his drawer simply because he was her ex. It never crossed my mind or Brad’s or apparently anyone else’s.

  Suddenly, Zac’s phone rang.

  We all became dead quiet as we looked at him.

  “Hey, Uncle Stan!” Zac said, and then went towards Brad’s kitchen.

  Brad and I followed him.

  “You’re calling to tell me about the DNA results on Natalie’s body?” Zac asked him.

  Brad and I looked at each other since Zac’s uncle was a sheriff at the county jail and had access to the DNA database. We knew that he was gonna tell us who killed Natalie once and for all.

  “Are you serious?! Damn! Okay, thanks for letting me know. Talk to you later,” Zac said, and then hung up.

  “What’s up?” Brad asked him.

  “I think you all need to hear this,” Zac said, and then walked back into the family room where Marc still breathed very heavy as he still tried to calm down as Ken and John stood over him.

  Brad stood next to Marc as well, and I went back over to Ava and sat next to her.

  “That was my Uncle Stan on the phone. As you all know, he’s a sheriff at the county jail. He said that the DNA found on Natalie’s body did not match any of the male students at our school, nor did it match any of the male teachers or other male staff members,” Zac informed us.

  Everyone looked at each other in a stunned disbelief!