Last Good Man: A Crown Creek Novel

by Theresa Leigh

  "Hey!" Liam drunkenly objected.

  That was the last straw. I saw red and in two steps I was up in his face, up on my tiptoes so I could stab my finger under his nose. "Shut up," I hissed. If my mother hadn't raised me better, I would have slapped the mocking grin right off his face, and the effort it took not to do just that had me gritting my teeth. "Just shut up, Cooper. You don't know anything, so shut the fuck up."

  "Charming," he sniffed.

  I wasn’t done. “I don't give a shit what you think of me. You don't know the whole story so you can keep your stupid, uninformed opinions -"

  "I know what I saw, and I know what happened." He shrugged. "What else is there to the story?”

  I wanted to look at Liam, to beg him to back me up, but I knew he wouldn't, so I kept my eyes on Cooper. The real story was right there on the tip of my tongue - this was Liam’s goodbye party, what better place to have it all out? It was the best chance I had to redeem my shattered reputation. I was done with this. Done with his judging me when I didn’t do anything wrong.

  I opened my mouth to tell him that...

  Behind me, Liam groaned.

  I had no idea why. It might have been from being drunk, but it sounded like a warning and snapped me right out of my fury. The truth got clogged in my throat. I lowered back down off my tiptoes and snapped my mouth shut. Frustrated tears pricked at my eyes.

  Cooper's eyes gleamed in triumph. I wanted to smack him. I wanted to shout out the truth, make him eat his words.

  Except...

  I’d promised.

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Two

  Cooper

  There’s nothing more satisfying than watching someone’s face as they suddenly realize they’re full of shit.

  It would have been hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic. One second she was all puffed up and trying to get in my face and the next second she just... deflated. Like sticking a pin in a balloon. She even made a little whining noise as she sank down off her tiptoes.

  Because she knew she had nothing. "Just... shut up," she finished in a much smaller voice than before.

  I snorted. "Sure thing. I don't have anything to say to you anyway."

  She glared at me again, and for a second I thought she might start crying. But she turned on her heel and walked right over to the case of beer lying in the mud by the creekside and started fumbling it open.

  “Well that was fun,” I scoffed, turning my back on her and regarding my best friend. He was so wasted he was having trouble staying upright even with a giant tree to lean up against. “She sucks, but she's right about one thing. You're shitfaced, and for some dumb reason, you chose an eight a.m. flight. Come on, let’s get you home."

  Liam mumbled something, tried to follow me and then tripped over a tree root. "Okay champ, yeah, you're cut off," I laughed as I caught him before he cracked his head on a rock. I raised my voice to the knots of people still clustered down by the water. "Hey! Liam's heading out!"

  There was a chorus of objections as our friends streamed up from the bonfire. In an instant, Liam was surrounded. I watched with a grin as he was wrestled into hugs and pummeled with back slaps. "You sure you want to move?" I needled him. "You can be sure no one in New York City is going to act like this when you leave a party."

  He looked pleased. "Ow," he mumbled as Ryan's hug made his teeth clack together.

  "All right, let the man breathe," I called.

  "You sure you're good to drive, Coop?" Ryan wanted to know.

  "I'm fine. And there's no one on the roads in Crown Creek at midnight on a Thursday. I could drive straight across Ed Cutter's farm and no one would give a shit." I shot Liam a meaningful look. "That's why it's a great place to live."

  "Fuck off," he slurred, still smiling.

  "You ready?"

  He nodded and started bobbing and weaving his way up the steep path that led to the road above us. Then stopped short. "Hey wait." His abrupt stop nearly sent him tumbling backward. "What about Willa?"

  I grimaced. "What about her?"

  But he was already heading back down again, shouting, "Will! Will, where are you?"

  "Oh for fuck's sake." I headed back down after my piss-drunk best friend. I had the sinking feeling I knew what he was doing.

  Willa jogged up from the fire, recognizable in her white hoodie that gave off a faint glow in the moonlight. It was pretty damn dark by now so I couldn’t see her face, but since Liam was giving her a shot at the last word after our argument, I was sure it was pretty smug. ”What's up, Liam?” she asked, deliberately ignoring me.

  I would never understand why Liam still trusted her. Still cared for her. The fact that he still considered her his closest female friend meant she was impossible to avoid. She was always there because he was forever doing shit just like this.

  ”Ride?" he mumbled.

  "Huh?" She sounded surprised.

  He shook his head and forced his words out around his slur. "Do you need a ride?"

  Willa's face was in a shadow so I couldn't see her expression. I didn't need to. Her sheer horror at being in a car with me was rising off of her in waves. It was so ludicrously obvious I had to laugh. “Yeah, you want a ride home, Willa? It’s totally fine, of course. Anything for you."

  Whatever effect my dripping sarcasm had was lost when Liam made a sudden retching noise. “Oh shit - " He stumbled backward and then made a mad dash into the shadows.

  "It's not a true creek party until someone pukes in the bushes," I announced loudly to cover up the sound of Liam losing the contents of his stomach. "Glad you didn't do that in my truck!" I called to him.

  Liam groaned, and I heard the heavy thud of his sitting back down on the packed dirt. "Time for bed, dude," I called, turning to go to him. "I got paper towels in the glovebox. Clean yourself off before you touch the leather seats, you hear me?”

  I felt a tug at my shirt. I stopped, thinking I was caught on a bush or something. Until I heard her sharp inhale. “No way,“ came the strangled hiss.

  I turned slowly to see that Willa was right there. With her face turned towards the moonlight, I could see her expression clearly now. She was white-faced with rage. Her shoulders were up around her ears, her fists were balled at her sides, and she was shaking so hard I could feel it through my T-shirt.

  What the fuck was wrong with her now? “Excuse me, what? And let go of my shirt, you're stretching it out."

  "No way in hell am I getting a ride with you," she hissed through her teeth. "You ruined it."

  “Excuse me?“ I repeated. "You're ruining my shirt. I didn't ruin anything."

  "All night long you made sure I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye." She let go of my shirt only to stab her finger into my chest. "You ruined the party, getting Liam drunk so quick, and you ruined any chance I had for a real goodbye with him." She took her finger off my chest to wipe furiously at her eyes. "You’re such an asshole. There’s no way in hell I’m getting a ride with you tonight.”

  I laughed to mask how pissed off I was getting. “Then walk. I don’t give a shit.“

  “I’d rather do that then be stuck in a car with a dick like you.“

  "Do whatever the fuck you want. As long as you're not out fucking around on my best friend, I could not possibly give less of a shit what you do.“

  She glared at me with that same open-mouthed expression. "What? You got something to say about that?" I taunted.

  "We were in high school," she managed in a strangled whisper.

  I rolled my eyes. “Which means you've had plenty of time to apologize to him, but you never did. Jesus, Willa, I don’t have time to rehash all this. You know what you did. I caught you red-handed, but you still refuse to admit you were wrong.“

  Her eyes widened. "You're the one who -"

  I held up my hand. "Save it. I got to get him home.” I turned my back on her martyred expression and started walking away, but stopped when a thought occurred to me. “Hey, see
what I’m doing here? Helping him out a jam like this? Not leaving him behind? Yeah, it’s called loyalty. Maybe you should take notes?”

  She whirled and went crashing through the bushes back down to the creek. For a moment, I wondered if I should say something, after all, Liam would be pissed if he knew I’d made her cry like that. But he hadn’t heard it. And I didn’t regret it. So I kept my mouth shut and walked away.

  I half-helped, half-hauled Liam’s sorry ass up the steep, rocky outcroppings that acted like a staircase up the creek bank. We emerged out onto the shoulder of Highway 12, which snaked along the creek like a black ribbon in the moonlight. I opened the door of my big, black pick-up for him, shoved the paper towels from the glovebox into his chest and made sure he was wiping himself down before I went around to the driver’s side.

  He collapsed into the passenger seat with a groan as I started up the engine. I froze. “You’re not going to puke again, right?”

  “Not on the leather,” he sing-songed in a high pitched whine. His trip to the bushes seemed to have revived him a little. “Be careful with my baby.” He rolled his eyes and then grinned at me.

  "Oh, is that what I sound like?" I smacked him in the back of the head. "Careful I don't leave you on the side of the road. And you're right. You be careful with my baby.” I patted the dash affectionately, then pulled out onto the road.

  "See, this is why I need to leave." He let his head fall back. "I'm not cut out for life in Crown Creek. I never could get in to fondling trucks." He turned his head towards the back of the cab. “Right?”

  “Yeah, you’re weird like that,” I agreed

  “I’m not the weird one here, right?” Again, he turned his head towards the back of the cab.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Who the hell are you talking to?”

  “She’s...“ He trailed off and his head lolled forward.

  “Jesus, how much did you have to drink anyway? This is not all me.”

  He snapped his head back up again. “I’m not that bad. Puking helped.” He turned his head again. “Don't you think?"

  I was starting to get creeped out and actually looked into the rearview. “Dude. Who are you talking to?"

  “Is she asleep?” He struggled to turn and look into the back of the cab but gave up midway through. "Oh shit," he burped. "Can't turn around."

  I slowly pieced it together. “Wait, are you talking to Willa?"

  But Liam was just staring ahead with a hazy smile on his face. We slipped into town in silence, past the darkened storefronts and headed towards the row of big, stately homes on Main Street. They'd all been carved up into apartments ages ago, and Liam lived in one of the nicest ones.

  Until tomorrow morning, that is. I glanced at the clock on my dash. And in one more hour, tomorrow would be today. It still didn’t seem real that he was leaving. Friends like Liam were hard to come by. And they deserved your unwavering loyalty. Maybe that's what was bugging me the most about his move, it felt somehow disloyal. But how the hell could I say that out loud?

  In my frustration, I yanked the wheel a little too hard. We bumped up on the curb in front of his house, jostling him out of his stupor.

  “Oh,” he mumbled.

  “You sure you don’t need a ride to the airport?” I asked for the millionth time.

  “I’m good.”

  I licked my lips. Goodbyes sucked. “Okay, man. Call me when you’re on the ground.”

  “Yeah.” He swayed and then steadied himself. I watched him half-step, half-slide out of his seat. He steadied himself with his open door and then turned back to me. “I’ll call you too, Will,” he mumbled to the backseat. “You make sure she gets home safe, Coop.”

  A wave of irritation hit me, and I gripped the steering wheel to keep myself steady. Even when she wasn’t physically present, Willa still managed to screw things up. “Sure,” I seethed, pissed at him for fucking up the last moment we had to hang out just the two of us. I had the sharp urge to just floor it out of there and leave him standing on the curb. But of course I wasn’t going to do that. “Sure I’ll do that,” I mumbled, just to shut him up. The goodbye was ruined. Fucking Willa. “Course I will.”

  “You promise?”

  I looked up sharply. He was looking right at me, his slitted eyes suddenly wide open.

  I waved, irritated. "Yeah. Sure."

  He nodded and shut the door. It echoed in the silence left behind a silence as hollow as my careless promise. Willa wasn’t even in the fucking truck with us, how the hell could he expect me to make sure she got home safe? She wasn’t my responsibility. She didn’t want to be my responsibility.

  Furious, I floored it away from the curb, pulling a U-turn in the middle of Main Street to screech back out of town towards my parents' house. I drove too fast, whipping around the curves. But no matter how fast I went, the same nagging thought kept catching up with me.

  You promised.

  My tires screamed as I skidded around the turn from Highway 12 to my road. I hadn’t even noticed it had started raining until the back of my truck nearly fishtailed on the slick road. I let my foot up off the gas, just a little.

  Then some more.

  I was nearly home when slowed almost to a halt.

  "Fuck," I exhaled.

  And rolled right past my driveway.

  You promised.

  "Fuck."

  I whipped the wheel around in another U-turn and headed back out into the night.

  Chapter Three

  Cooper

  My wipers screeched across the dry windshield, jarring my already jangling nerves. I swore and viciously twisted the knob to turn them back off again. Another thing that was clearly Willa's fault. Along with the fact that my buzz had worn off and the steady thump of a headache was forming between my eyebrows. It was her fault my night was ruined, her fault my gas tank was almost empty.

  She had to still be at the party. All I needed to do was show up and throw her body into my truck. The broken down trailer where she lived with her mom and little brother was right on my ride home. I could grab her, dump her off at her door and be done with it. "Yeah, she was fine," I imagined telling Liam when he called tomorrow. "Annoying and full of shit, but safe." For a second, I resented the hell out of my friend for putting this on me, but really, wasn't it her fault? She should have taken the damn ride when Liam offered it to her. Hell, I never said 'no,' right?

  The second I picked her up, I planned on saying this all right to her face. With Liam not here to police me, I would finally be free to let her know exactly how I felt about her.

  I was kind of looking forward to it.

  The curve past Cutter's farm was where we always parked for creek parties. A light drizzle was falling now, steady, but not enough to disperse the party yet. A few cars were still scattered across the shoulder. I peered out and saw Ryan's old Ford and Ethan's antique Honda. But there was no sign of Livvy's shitty little hatchback or Claire's white Jeep.

  Well there was my answer, right? She clearly went home with one of her girlfriends.

  I sat there tapping a frantic beat on the steering wheel as I tried to convince myself this was enough. She was gone. She got a ride. I was free and clear, right?

  You promised.

  "Goddammit." I threw my truck into park and grabbed the flashlight from the glovebox. It was full dark now, and the gathering clouds had almost completely hidden the moon. The beam jostled wildly over dark rocks and formless bushes as I leaped down the boulder staircase to the creek bank. "Yo!" I called out. "Who's down here?"

  There was a rustle, then a whispered giggle. In the glow of the dying fire, one dark shape split into two. "Sorry," I grumbled, shutting the beam off to give them privacy.

  "Coop?" Ryan's voice floated up to me, sounding even more wasted than Liam had. "That you, man?"

  The headache settled even more firmly between my eyes. "No, it's God, the Father thundering down from the heavens, telling you to stop jerking off so much. Of course it's
me." I turned my light back on again and emerged down at the creek bank to shine it on Ryan, who was all snuggled up with Naomi Chadwell. That was... odd... but I filed that information away to be dealt with later. "Willa here?"

  Ryan blinked up woozily and squinted when I shone my flashlight in his face. "Ow, what the hell?" He batted at the light like he could dislodge it. "What? You're looking for Willa?"

  "I know. I know. It's weird." I clicked the light back off again. "Just tell me who took her home."

  He paused for so long I shone the flashlight in his face again. He recoiled with a whimper. "Ow! No one!"

  "What?" I turned in a full circle, shining my light on the trees. "Is she with Ethan? Willa, where the fuck are you hiding?"

  "He means she didn't get a ride," Naomi corrected tiredly. She sounded sober - much too sober for the way she was letting Ryan paw at her. "She walked home."

  "What?" I shouted. The dull pain in my head sharpened to a knifepoint. "She walked?"

  "Yeah. Said something about needing to cool off. Livvy tried to get her to come with them, but she refused."

  "She walked home. Along the road. In the dark."

  "She was wearing a white hoodie at least?"

  Naomi's voice shrugged right along with her. "I don't know, you know how she gets."

  I knew exactly how she gets. “Oh my God.” I was already scaling the rocks back up to the road, cursing with every leaping step. "She walked? She fucking walked?" Sprinting across the road, I yanked open my door and slammed it behind me as hard as I could, but I still wanted to hit something. "What the hell is wrong with you, Willa?"

  I peeled out in my third U-turn of the night and floored it out of there. Willa’s hissy fit was not my responsibility. If she wanted to be a fucking martyr about everything, that was her call, not my problem. Except - and I pushed the gas harder - I’d made it my fucking problem when I promised Liam I’d get her home safe.