When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark #2) (27 page)

Sure enough, I search for the author of the article, and the name
Stanley T. Berk
stares back at me. 

I head inside with Prue and let her off her leash, then sit down at the table so I can read the article.

Yesterday, on a beautiful July Fourth evening, it came to light that our local football hero, Cade Montgomery, has been living a secret hell. His father, a man we always assumed was a kind and supportive man, physically abuses him. On this night, his sister, Thea Montgomery, stepped in the way and got hurt, and was subsequently taken to the hospital. At this time, we do not have an update on her injury, but as I was a witness, I can attest to the fact that it was a bloody scene. After his sister was carried off, Cade Montgomery revealed to the group of us that his father has abused him since he was very young. For all of you that have wondered why Cade Montgomery didn’t go pro and follow the path we all thought was destined for him, I think we finally have our answer. I’m hoping to acquire an interview with Cade and his sister to follow up this article. 

I sigh heavily. Fucking Stan. 

If this is already in the newspaper it will soon be online everywhere and it
will
be a big deal with the star power Cade had on his college team. He only recently graduated. He still matters to so many people and they’ll be heartbroken and livid to find out their star player has been subjected to abuse his whole life. 

I push the newspaper away. I can’t think about it right now. 

I pour myself the cup of coffee I originally came down for and add enough cream and sugar to put an elephant in a coma. 

I head upstairs and back into my room.

Prue is already on the bed again and Xander is sitting up, his hair a mess. 

“I think we should stay in bed and watch TV all day,” he declares.

“Sounds good to me,” I agree, climbing in bed.

I giggle as he pulls me over and in-between his legs. “
Charmed
?” he asks. “We have one season left.”

I nod. “Let’s do it. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.” He chuckles. “Hey,” I defend, “it’s always sad ending a show we love.”

“Yeah, but we get to start a new one.”

“True,” I agree, and then laugh when Prue licks my toes. “That tickles.”

Xander grabs the remote and starts the show and soon I’m sucked into the mysterious world of the Halliwell sisters.

We’re halfway thru the second episode when Cade barges into the room. I’m not surprised to see the newspaper dangling from his fingertips.

“Did you see this?” He tosses the newspaper on the bed and Xander grabs it. “This is unbelievable.” Xander scans the article and hisses between his teeth. “An interview?” He puts his hands on his hips and paces my room. “Is he out of his mind? Like I’m going to talk to him?”

“Cade,” I say hesitantly, “I think you
should
talk. Maybe not to Stan, but to a journalist you respect. You speaking out could help a lot of kids.”

Cade winces. “Talking about it is difficult.”

“I know,” I say softly. “But think about when you were younger. If someone you had respected had come out that they were abused, maybe it would’ve helped.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters. “Fuck.”

I know I’ve finally gotten to him, so I continue. “I think you should see a therapist too.”

“Thea, I don’t need a fucking shrink. I’m not a crazy person. I’m not Dad.”

“I know that, but sometimes you need someone who’s not family or a friend to talk to. Someone with an unbiased opinion on the situation. Think about it,” I plead.

Cade sighs, his jaw clenched tight. “Yeah, I’ll think about it,” he agrees reluctantly. He claps his hands together and says, “Let’s go out for breakfast.”

I lift my head and look at Xander. “We’re having a lazy day,” I say.

Cade snorts. “Every day is a lazy day for you two. You’re couch potatoes.”

“Hey,” I defend. “I went to the gym twice this summer.”

He gives me a look. “Yeah,
twice
.”

“I go every day.” Xander raises his hand. “Plus, practice.”

I glare at him. “Yeah, well, you’re an overachiever.”

“Breakfast,” Cade says again. “Let’s go. We all have to eat and you can have your lazy day later.”

“Ugh,” I groan. “You’re so annoying. Go pester your girlfriend.”

He heads for the door and hollers, “Breakfast!” before he closes the door.

“We need to move,” I tell Xander. “Stat.”

He chuckles. “About that …”

“What?” I look over my shoulder at him. 

He brushes my hair over my shoulder. “With my paycheck I can afford for us to have our own place. I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t want to push you, but it’s a possibility. Think about it.”

I swallow thickly and push down the panic. I know what I just said, but I meant it jokingly. 

“What about when I go back to school?” I ask. 

“We can get something close to there.”

“But then you’ll have to commute,” I remind him.

He laughs. “If we get something in the city
you’ll
have to commute.”

I press my lips together. “I don’t even want to go back to school,” I admit. “I feel so lost there, like I don’t belong. I hate being this clueless on what I want to do.” I take a sip of coffee, irritated by how cold it already is. 

“You’ll figure it out,” Xander assures me. 

I sigh. “I hope so.”

It sucks not having any idea what I want to do with my life. Nothing makes me feel excited or warm and fuzzy inside. I don’t want to pick something and settle, and end up unhappy for the rest of my life. I want to do something I love and ultimately make a change in the world. 

“Breakfast!” we hear yelled again.

I laugh and slide my legs to the side and off the bed. “Man, he’s determined.”

Xander shrugs and stretches his arms above his head. I might ogle his chest shamelessly as he does that, but with the show his muscles put on how can you blame me? 

“He’s worried about you,” he says, standing and oh Lord, the way his sweatpants sit low on his hips … Mmm, it’s safe to say I’m thinking
all
the dirty thoughts.

“Yeah, well he can just unworry,” I counter.

Xander snorts. “I don’t think
unworry
is a word, but nice try.”

“I like it,” I defend. “It makes it sound like there’s a switch you can flip on and off. Worry and unworry.”

He shakes his head at my antics. “I’m going to shower. Why don’t you head downstairs before your brother loses his mind?”

I sigh. “Sure thing, Captain.” He chuckles and closes the bathroom door behind him. “Come on, Prue.” I pat my hip, and she obediently jumps off the bed and follows me out of the room. 

I find Cade in the family room, watching TV.

Before I can say anything, he yells, “Breakfast!” again.

I slap my hands over my ears. “Dude, chill out,” I groan. “I’m here and Xander will be down in a minute.”

Cade glances behind him, over the back of the couch, and grins sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come down.”

“Obviously.” I rub my ear to try to stop the ringing. “Why is this
breakfast
so important?” I mimic his tone.

He shrugs and I take a seat beside him, drawing my legs up criss-cross. 

“I don’t know,” he answers. “After yesterday, I think we should all be together.”

“That was insane,” I agree.

“Has Xander heard from his mom or dad?” he asks.

“Huh?” My brows furrow in confusion. 

“You know, since his mom was so pissed.” He looks at me like I’ve completely lost my mind for not remembering, and I guess I have. In the aftermath, it slipped my mind.

“Shit,” I mutter, shoving my fingers through my hair roughly. “I forgot.” 

The look on his mom’s face, that had hurt. I completely understand where she’s coming from, but that doesn’t make it suck any less. Especially for Xander.

“Maybe we should send her a gift basket of wines and cheese. Everyone loves wine, right?” I reason.

“Yeah, and maybe while you’re at it you could send her a singing telegram.”

“Oooh!” I snap my fingers. “A stripper. We’ll send her a stripper.” Sobering, I say, “I don’t know what we can do beyond talking to them and hoping for the best.”

He shakes his head. “That’s one conversation I wouldn’t want to make.”

I glare at my brother. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Just being honest,” he defends. 

Rae comes in the front door, her body drenched with sweat from her morning run. Her earbuds dangle from her iPhone as she winds them up. 

“Hey,” she says rather breathlessly.

“We’re going to breakfast,” Cade tells her.

She nods and starts for the stairs. “I’ll take a quick shower. Promise.”

An hour later, we all pile into Cade’s Jeep and head down the road to a local place. 

The floors are always sticky and the air smells like syrup, but the food is the best so I don’t complain. 

I slide across the plastic booth and Xander sits beside me, resting his elbows on the table.

Cade slides in across from me and his legs bump mine in the narrow space. 

 Menus are already on the table and we each pick it up, scanning it even though that’s really unnecessary. 

Our usual waitress comes over and flashes a smile before sitting our drinks on the table. We didn’t order them yet, but she knew what we’d get regardless. 

“The usual?” she asks, tucking her tray under her arm. We all nod and shuffle the menus to the end of the table. “I’ll have that right out for you.” She smiles again and heads off to another table. 

Cade’s phone starts going off and he looks at the screen before clicking ignore. Before I can ask who it is, it goes off again. He answers this time.

“Stan, I don’t know who the fuck gave you this number, but if you call one more time—” He rolls his eyes and taps his fingers against the table impatiently. “I’m not doing an interview for you. Why not? Because you’re a dick.” He laughs but there’s no humor in the tone and I can hear Stan grow irritated on the other end. “Mhm,” he hums. “Fuck you too.” He hangs up and drops his phone on the table before covering his face with his hands. “I’m going to strangle Stan,” he mutters from between his fingers. His phone starts ringing again and he groans, “Going to have to change my number.” He looks at it anyway and his eyes widen in surprise. “Mom?” he answers. He listens for a few beats, nodding his head. “Yeah, of course that’s fine. Head on over whenever.”

He hangs up and looks across the table at me. “Looks like Mom’s had enough of his bullshit and she wants to leave him.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief—one I think I’ve been holding for years. 

“It’s about damn time.” 

“We need to talk to your mom,” Thea announces from the bathroom. 

I sigh heavily. “I know.”

“We can’t keep putting it off,” she continues.

“I know,” I say again.

It’s been three days since the Fourth of July party, and I’m still puzzling out what to say. Nothing I come up with sounds any good, but I guess I just have to be honest. 

Right now, though, I have to head to practice, and I’ve managed to get my coach to agree to let Thea and Cade come watch. I think the only reason he agreed was because of Cade. They really wanted him for their team and were saddened when he didn’t opt to go pro. I think my coach is hoping if Cade sees a practice that he can sway him and pull some strings to get him on the team. 

But I know Cade doesn’t want that. His dad pushed football onto him, and instead of being something he loved, it became something he hated. 

“We should get her flowers,” Thea says, peeking around the bathroom doorway. “Do you know her favorite?” I shake my head and she curses. “Okay, I’ll guess then. Where’s her favorite restaurant? We could ask her to meet us there.”

“That place in the city.” I snap my fingers together, thinking. 

“Xander, think,” she says, exasperated. “There are a million places in the city.”

“Gregory’s? Does that sound right?”

“Sure.” She waves her hand dismissively. “You let her know, and after you’re done with practice I’ll make reservations and grab some flowers.”

I nod. “Okay. Sounds like a plan.” I try to sound optimistic but my voice falls flat.