KINGSMAN

XVIII

ARCHER WAS A NERVOUS TALKER.

Despite the unraveling he'd begun in Sylvi's logic, he talked the whole way back. Even April was aware something was off, her left eye twitched in that way it did when she was trying not to make too much of an expression, but she obliged him. She chatted enough for the both of them, flipped her hair, smiled so big she flashed her gums.

April got out first and chatted some more with Archer as they leaned on the car. Sylvi couldn't find the energy to move. Her mind was stuck replaying that moment.

"Of course it doesn't make sense because Benny didn't drink!"

Everyone had said it was a drunken accident. Samuel himself had given a speech and told everyone that Benny had been intoxicated then tripped and fell. But that couldn't have been possible because Benjamin- like Roman was- "clean as a saint."

Sienna was right.

Cold numbness spread from Sylvi's head to the tips of her fingers. Every breath she took racked her chest. There was a knock at the window that startled her out of herself.

April poked her head in, leaning close so she wouldn't be heard. "If this was your apology, I still don't forgive you, but it's a start."

"Can't wait to see what you do for me," she deadpanned. This got a slight laugh out of April, which prompted Sylvi to smile. "I'll see you later, I need to talk to Archer for a bit."

Behind April, he froze, his face flushed red, his eyes pained. April nodded and grinned at him one last time, tucking a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "Today was great."

Yeah." he rubbed the back of his neck. "See you around."

"See you," she all but giggled. April practically skipped her way back.

"So," Archer drawled, "can I get a redo?"

"No."

He noticed she was still in the car and clambered back in himself. He turned the car off but the intense heat remained. He kept running his hands through his hair and rubbing his neck and clearing his throat. His fingers were twitching.

"It's true, right? Benjamin couldn't have fallen because he wasn't drunk?"

Archer slumped a little farther down in the seat. "Yes," he whispered.

"You're not supposed to be telling me this, are you?"

He shook his head. "No." She hated the way the smallness of his voice made her want to feel sorry for him. He could be a murderer. He probably was.

"You said it wasn't Roman's fault. Did you do it?"

He groaned and sat up again, turning to her. "It isn't like that. It was an accident."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's a yes or no question."

"No, I didn't push him."

"Then how did he fall?" she grit.

Archer's face reddened again. He looked ready for another outburst. The answer sat on his tongue but he swallowed it down again and his expression darkened. He turned the key again and messed around with it. The car was stick-shift, it was all foreign to her.

"I think you should go," he whispered.

She opened the door and stormed away. The house was dark and unnaturally still when she came back. Even the buzz couldn't calm her nerves.

"Of course it doesn't make sense because Benny didn't drink!"

She wanted to scream. She got takeout from the fridge and ate it cold in the dark instead. Archer Collins was likely a murderer, or at least involved.

It boggled her. These were the Kingsmen, the top of every possible class structure of Edgewood. And as far as she knew, they'd killed a boy for what was likely a petty disagreement.

She couldn't wrap her head around it.

Sylvi stabbed plastic fork into the takeout box of noodles and lazily wound them up. Focus, that was what she needed. Archer hadn't been completely useless, after all, she felt more grounded in her distrust of him now. She slumped into a chair, couch creaking underneath her weight, and struggled to play it all back. At some point, she got up for a paper and pencil, scribbling mindlessly. 

He'd gotten so jumpy just at the mention of Anthony's name.

 "I swear it's not what you think. I didn't want to but Samuel- I didn't know it was going to get so out of hand. I didn't know I was framing him!"

Framed. It always somehow came back to Samuel, didn't it?

Sylvi took her takeout with her to her room and locked the door. She brought out two more cards, writing in all-caps, marker red as blood. She removed Archer's card from the center of her board to make more room.

In the end, it formed a triangle: Benjamin, Archer, and Anthony- with Samuel right in the middle.