"Maybe," Conner said. "Guess I'll head to the guest room." He set the football onto the desk and as he turned, the rolled-up pair of socks hit his chest.
"Don't forget those," Adam said.
He snatched the socks from the floor and aimed for Adam. But then he reconsidered his need for them and clutched them in his hand. "I'll see you guys in the morning."
"Yo," Trevor said, "Don't hog the bed. I'll be in there soon."
"You're not sleeping in Adam's bed?"
"Nah. Kinda weird."
Conner understood that Trevor didn't want to sleep in a bed that had recently been used for sexual activity. Trevor had always been wary of such things. Not that he was a germophobe, but he liked a clean environment. He even routinely scrubbed his sneakers so that they retained a nice, spotless appearance.
"Okay. But if I'm asleep, don't wake me up. I'm exhausted."
Trevor saluted Conner, hand to temple. "Yes, sir."
In the guest room, Conner undressed and slipped under the comforter. He stretched, extending his toes to the foot of the bed. Then he stared at the corner Hailey had pointed at. There was nothing there.
Then he thought of Jared in the boys' restroom at school. Why are you doing this to me?
He turned onto his side and squeezed the edge of the pillow to his face. Closing his eyes, he said, "Sorry, Jared. Maybe it was all our fault. We shouldn't have let you go off with that man."
TEN
Lou sat in the hotel's dining area, filling his stomach with food from the complimentary breakfast buffet. It was his customary practice when traveling. If a hotel offered free food, he damn sure was going to take advantage of it. And if the food tasted like crap, he'd suffer through it each morning instead of paying for it at a nearby restaurant.
Dave sauntered up to Lou's small wooden table, puffy faced and heavy-lidded eyes as if he'd enjoyed too many small bottles of alcohol in his room. "Do they have an omelet bar?"
"Yeah, good too." Lou bit into an English muffin slathered with an abundant helping of wild berry jam. "The hash browns ain't nothing to write home about, though."
"I worked a bit last night, and I got a few names of Jared's friends."
"Really? How many?"
"Four." Dave opened a spiral notebook to a page full of chicken-scratch writing. "There's Conner Preston, Adam Wheeler, Levi Miller, and Trevor . . . um, I can't make out the last name."
"Damn, your writing is shit. But good work." Lou slurped his too-dark coffee and then grimaced. "You got any other leads?"
"Trevor Helms." Dave seemed genuinely pleased that he could read his own handwriting. "There's a memorial for Jared at a family member's house."
"You got an address and time?"
"Yeah. One o'clock this afternoon."
Scooting his chair back, Lou said, "We'll work on his friends, grab a bite to eat for lunch, then head on over to that memorial." He stood and stepped away from the table. "I'm going back to the buffet. You better get your ass in gear and load up your plate before all the good stuff is gone."
* * *
When Conner and Trevor entered the kitchen, Conner was relieved to see Adam seated at the breakfast nook with his father rather than in the middle of round two with his mother. Since Adam appeared relaxed and happy, Conner assumed that he and Trevor weren't interrupting a serious conversation about the previous night.
"Good morning," Conner said.
"Hey, boys," Adam's dad said. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good."
"Yeah," Trevor said. "I seriously passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow."
"Maybe it was the beer," Mr. Wheeler replied.
Reaching for a coffee mug in the cabinet, Conner tensed. It was the first time that he'd disappointed the Wheelers. And he didn't like the idea that Adam's parents might now view him differently. "I apologize again, Mr. Wheeler. Seriously."
"I know. And I'm not going to lecture you, boys." Mr. Wheeler rose to his feet and crossed the kitchen to the coffee maker. "You're still maturing young men. Last night was not appropriate behavior for any one of you."
"Dad!" Adam blurted with dismay. "You did the same kind of stuff when you were our age."
"Yes, I did," Mr. Wheeler admitted. "It was inappropriate for me at that age. And it's inappropriate for you."
Conner sat next to Adam and snatched a slice of toast from Adam's plate. "Uh. Mr. Wheeler. Did you tell my parents?"
"No, I didn't tell your parents."
Lifting his shoulders with a healthy breath of air, Conner's anxiety diminished.
"But," Mr. Wheeler said, "I think Adam's mom reached out to your parents. You'll have to ask her."
"Damn," Trevor mumbled as he sat at the nook.
"Oh, my God. Dad!" Adam whined. "That's so embarrassing."
"You know what's embarrassing?" his father asked with a steely gaze. "Your mom and I catching a bunch of booze-drinking, horny teenagers in our house last night. That was embarrassing."
"Trust me, Dad. It was embarrassing for everybody."
After Mr. Wheeler walked out of the kitchen, Conner slumped and then dropped the half-eaten toast onto Adam's plate.
If Mrs. Wheeler had informed his parents of the scene last night, he wasn't sure what kind of reception he'd receive when returning home. It was a good sign that neither of his parents had called or texted him. But he didn't want to ask Adam's mom for confirmation that she'd called his parents. Doing so might only rouse the anger that she'd hopefully already gotten out of her system. So, he decided that he'd confront whatever fate awaited him at his house.
* * *
The rain and fog of the previous night had moved on from the area. Now, the sunlight shone bright on an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning. Yet Hailey lay in Jasmine's bed, convinced that her life had taken a drastic turn from her ordinary, good-girl life. To Jasmine's credit, she'd tried to persuade Hailey that everything was fine, and that Hailey's life hadn't taken a detour to the dark side.
Still,
