Still the One (Book 2 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

7 | Lies Become the Truth

Oh, dear, you look so lost
Your eyes are red when tears are shed
The world you must have crossed, you said...

Augustana - "Boston"

Rachel

It was 5:00 pm on Sunday and Miles had been ready to drive back to Tallahassee since noon, but I didn't want to leave without seeing Brooke. I had told her to come talk to me when she was ready to listen, but it was becoming clearer with every passing second that she wasn't ready to listen yet.

"Baby? We really need to go. Classes start tomorrow and we need to get home," Miles said gently, running his hand through my hair.

I sighed, leaning against his hand, looking up at him. "She's not coming, is she?"

His blue eyes softened. "No... I don't think so, baby."

I scoffed, closing my eyes as tears slid down my cheeks. "How could she do this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know... But you've done everything you can for now. She'll come around."

"What if she doesn't, though? This isn't just an ordinary argument... she's using heroin. Every time she sticks that needle in her arm, she takes a chance on that being the last thing she does."

"I know... did you tell Katherine?" he asked.

I nodded. That conversation was difficult, but I think in her heart, she already knew. She promised to try to get through to her. I hoped she'd do better than I had.

"Well, that's all you can do." He stood up and held his hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me up and against his chest. "I know how much this hurts you, Rach. Your heart is so big."

I sniffled. "Sometimes I think I'm foolish for even trying. And why should I have a big heart if this shit is going to happen – and just hurt me further?"

He put his hands on my cheeks and lifted my face so our eyes met. "Rachel Mae, I don't ever want to hear you say that again. Do you realize that if it weren't for your heart, we wouldn't be standing here together right now? Luke and I sure as hell wouldn't have ended up finding out we were brothers, and my dad would probably still be kicking my ass every chance he got. You changed my life with that big heart, Rachel, and I don't want you to ever, ever regret that."

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him gently. Those were the words I needed to hear – he always knew what to say to make me feel better.

"Let's go home," I murmured against his lips.

"All right," he answered, and we were on our way.

***

When we pulled up in front of our apartment building, Miles looked at me sideways. "What are we going to tell Luke?"

I sighed. "I don't know... I honestly don't. What do you think?"

"I think we owe him the truth, Rach."

"I knew you were going to say that," I sighed.

"You know it's the right thing to do."

"Let's go do it then... get it over with."

We grabbed our bags and went upstairs, and I was hoping against hope that he wasn't there.

Of course he was, though. He was on the couch waiting for us, and his face brightened when we came through the door.

But instead of smiling back, I found myself crying.

Luke

"My God, Rachel, what's wrong?" I asked, jumping up and running over to her. She was leaning against Miles, who had his arm wrapped all the way around the front of her shoulders.

Miles spoke instead, as Rachel was sobbing almost to the point of hysteria. "Luke, bro, we have to talk."

"Okay," I said, backing up to sit on the couch. Rachel sank down next to me and Miles sat on the coffee table facing us. I swallowed hard. "What is it? You're really freaking me out."

Rachel looked pleadingly at Miles, tears streaming down her face. He put his hand on her knee and squeezed. "It's okay, babe. I'll tell him."

She nodded, and her hand found mine. I looked down at it and back at Miles. "What is it?" I repeated.

"It's about Brooke."

"Is she okay?" I asked frantically.

"See, that's a complicated answer. She's alive... but Luke, she's using," Miles said, not meeting my eyes.

"Using? Are you talking about..." I trailed off, not wanting to say it.

"She's on heroin," he said, looking down at the carpet.

I shook my head. "No. No. There has to be some kind of mistake – some kind of misunderstanding. There's no way Brooke would shoot up. No way," I repeated, looking over at Rachel, who had stopped crying, but her grey eyes were dull and full of shadow.

"It's not a mistake, Luke," she whispered. "We saw her using... and she admitted it to me later."

I shook my head again, faster this time. I took my hand from hers and stood up, pacing around the room. "You're lying," I said, and Rachel's jaw dropped.

"Luke, why would we lie about this?" Miles asked, standing up in front of me.

I stepped up to him, feeling unexplainable anger rise in my chest. "I'm sure I don't know, but there is no way any of this could be true. Brooke would never use drugs."

"I am so sorry, Luke, but you have to believe us. We wouldn't lie to you," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I shook it off and glared at him, shoving his shoulder backward. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to this. You're talking about the love of my life."

Rachel stepped between us. "Luke, stop." She put her hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at her. "Do you really think I enjoy saying this about my best friend? Of course I don't. I wouldn't put you through this if it weren't true. Don't you trust me?"

I searched her eyes, but I took her wrists and pulled her hands off, dropping them to her sides. "I'm outta here," I mumbled. "I found a place this weekend, so I'll just go." Rachel stepped toward me, but I held up my hands. "Don't."

And I left. I didn't look back, but I heard Rachel whimper, and I knew Miles was holding her.

At least they had each other.

Miles

"Well," I said, flinging myself onto the bed face down. "That couldn't have gone worse."

"What?" Rachel asked, dropping down beside me, putting her hand on the small of my back.

I turned my head so my face was no longer buried in the pillow. "I said, 'that couldn't have gone worse.'"

"Ugh," she groaned in agreement, lying down next to me. "I don't know how I expected him to react, but I didn't expect him to think we were lying."

I propped myself on my elbow to look at her. "He'll come around... eventually he'll realize we were telling the truth."

I sounded way more certain than I felt.