All the Little Secrets

CHAPTER 25. YELLOW

Chapter 25. Yellow

Becca parks the Tesla in an almost-empty parking lot where a path begins into a cascade of green, luscious trees. Becca and Cage get out of the car, but Liam remains still. He turns to say something but my door opens and Cage reaches his hand in. Liam gets out of the car in a huff, so I brush off Cage's hand and climb out myself.

Liam begins walking the path alone, silent and brooding. Becca follows him, leaving Cage and me to walk behind her. We follow the path without saying anything, and I'm mesmerized by the green around me. I miss spring on the East Coast; greener than the golden fields in California. I wonder if Marco will come visit us while we're here.

I'm not paying attention and trip over a root in the middle of the path. Cage reaches out and catches me, and we laugh over my clumsiness. That laugh quickly ends as I fall out of Cage's arms onto the ground. Liam's on Cage in a blink of an eye, and both boys are on the ground, wrestling each other.

"Seriously, again?! Grow up!" Becca screams as she puts herself in between them, pushing both of them off of one another. Cage puts his arms up as if surrendering as Becca holds onto Liam. "What is your problem?" Becca lashes out at Liam. "Why are you being such a dick?"

"I never asked for any of this!" Liam yells back at her, which causes all of us to pause. He looks at Cage and says, "I never wanted you to be the one that protects her." Becca looks right at me, still on the ground. "I was trying to keep her safe!"

"But you didn't!" Cage bites back at Liam. "You failed."

Becca reaches for him. "Cage -"

"No, this is fucked up!" Cage's yells, his eyes wild. "We've been trying to save you and you're acting like I'm out to get you?"

"You're not out to get me?" Liam questions hysterically as he points at me as I stand. "You want her, don't you?"

I'm silenced by the way Cage looks at Liam. He glances at me for a moment, then shakes his head.

"Fuck this."

He walks off further down the path with Becca running after him.

Liam stares impatiently at me. "Are we going?"

"No," I respond calmly. "Not until you apologize."

Fingers through his hair, Liam begins to walk away, then stops. He turns back to stare at me but I refuse to meet his gaze. He sighs.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being the biggest asshole right now."

I look at him as Becca drags Cage back to us.

"I'm sorry to all of you. I -" he clears his throat. "I'm really scared, and I'm even more so now that you're involved. With your dad behind all of this... fuck."

"Liam," I muster the bravery to say, "They deserve to know what happened that night."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

Liam takes a deep breath and finds a tree stump on the side of the path to sit down on. Becca sits down next to him.

"If I tell you what happened, the reason why this shit is happening to me, I'll be putting your lives in more danger."

"We want to know," Becca says quietly.

Liam looks at Cage, and Cage nods curtly. Reluctantly, Liam tells them a shortened version of what happened that night with Ellen. Then about the texts, Cage's party with Seth, the threats, how he is made to do... things.