In the Pines by Laura Lascarso

Author:Laura Lascarso [Lascarso, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64080-740-2
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

THE RECEPTION at Dare’s house lasted for a few hours, and then some of Mason and Dare’s friends hung out by the pool and reminisced. I was on the outside of their shared experiences, which allowed me to listen for any clues that might be nested in their conversation, but most of the stories I’d heard already, and none of them hinted at any undiscovered scandal. Dare seemed to delight in their stories, though all were tinged with a pallor of melancholy. I kept thinking about what Dare had said about looking backward and never forward. Like that pendant Ms. Sparrow wore, a life forever trapped in resin.

While waiting for the bathroom, I heard a snuffling noise coming from inside. It sounded like someone was crying. I drew back into the shadows of the hallway and waited for the mourner to emerge. I was shocked to see Peter Orr with a splotchy, tear-stained face, and instead of rejoining the group of friends out back, he skirted around the remaining members of the Chalmerses’s party and headed for the front door. I felt as though this was my chance, if ever there was one, to get Peter to open up.

“Hey, Peter, wait up.” He swiveled around with a savage expression, upset that I’d caught him emoting, as if it weren’t a natural and healthy expression to be sad over a friend’s death.

“What do you want?” he growled. His eyes were red and his freckles stood out more prominently on his brick-like face.

“I just wanted to thank you and the team for coming out. I’m sure Dare appreciated it.”

Peter shook his head, a rueful twist to his lips. “It’s all about Dare, isn’t it? Even now. Mason is dead and Dare’s still on stage getting all the applause.”

That seemed like a pretty harsh assessment, but I was curious to follow that trail to see where we might end up.

“You don’t like Dare,” I said.

“It’s not that.” Peter plugged his eyes with his fists. “They just… they get whatever they want, you know? Everything’s been handed to them, their whole lives. They don’t even have to work for it. Makes me mad, is all.”

I could argue that none of it mattered now because Mason was dead and Dare was missing his other half desperately, but I decided to take a more sympathetic route. “Like in wrestling? It just came easy to Mason.”

“Yeah, it did. God, they’re so stupid, the both of them. I just wish….”

I waited for him to finish the thought.

And waited.

“What do you wish, Peter?”

Peter looked at me as though trying to determine whether or not I could be trusted. “I wish Mason had more common sense, is all. Maybe if the two of them weren’t always trying to one-up each other, this might have never happened.”

He shook his head again and stalked out the front door. A moment later I heard tires squealing as I puzzled over how a competitive streak between the brothers and a penchant for pranks could lead to Mason’s murder.

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