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That seemed to shut him up. I counted ten seconds before I heard his footsteps go down the hall.
I had been holding a breath in without knowing, and let it out as I turned around to find Leo displaying a goofy grin.
“Just me and you, I guess,” he said, shrugging.
“Do you know what he’s talking about?” I asked, storming over to him. “What does he mean, Felix fucked up his family? How does that make any sense?”
Leo shrugged.
“I know you know more than you act like,” I muttered, turning away from him. God, I couldn’t wait to see Pierre again. He was the only one I could trust. “Whatever.”
The drama could wait. I needed to go check on my mom—make sure she wasn’t blaming herself for raising such a fuck-up of a child.
I started toward the hall, when I heard Leo mumble something under his breath. I paused, keeping my back to him.
My skin went cold as he repeated himself.
“He tried to kill him.”
I turned around to look at him, and felt like I was slipping into a dream, into a suffocating, deep, dark nightmare.
Another reality.
“Elliot,” Leo said, his fingers fiddling with the fraying threads of the sofa cushion. “He tried to kill Felix’s dad.”
“What?” was all I could muster. “Why? How?”
I didn’t believe this.
Leo shook his head, and took in a harsh breath. This was the first time I had ever seen him on edge—like his words had the power of atomic bombs, and our lives, our sanity, was the battlefield.
“I,” he began, then shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
He started to push himself up from the sofa, but I was on him in a second, forcing him back against the cushion.
“Leo,” I whispered, “tell me. Now.”
Once he collapsed under my hold, I moved back, giving him the room to breathe. He sucked in a heavy load of air, and looked me dead in the eyes.
“It didn’t start with Mr. Lancaster abusing his wife,” he started, pausing between every other word to take in a gulp of air. “It started with her. And … with Felix’s dad.”
Putting my hands to my temples, I went to sit down on the sofa beside him, my legs trembling. I couldn’t see straight, couldn’t think straight.
“Sylvia,” he continued, murmuring. “That’s her name, Elliot’s mom. Roy’s his dad. She was cheating on Elliot’s dad with Felix’s dad. It was a secret between the three of them for a while, I guess. But Sylvia didn’t know that Roy knew. He tried to keep it cool, I guess. Hoped that Sylvia would tell him. She never did.”
He paused to take in a breath.
“So, he got angry. He started … you know. So now, she’s leaving them.”
“So, Felix didn’t do anything then,” I clarified, more hoping it was a correct statement than anything. “Right? Elliot’s mom was cheating on Mr. Lancaster with Felix’s dad. And now she’s leaving. That’s not Felix’s fault.”
“Maybe not,” Leo replied. “But he knew what was going on the whole time and didn’t tell Elliot. He knew before Roy did. Must’ve walked in on them, or something.” He rubbed his eyes. He was getting exhausted just telling me all this. “You’d think a real friend would tell you something like this, ya know?”
“Maybe he had a good reason not to,” I tried.
“Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe his father’s restaurant business was failing, and they needed the money.”
I swallowed.