Page 98 of Hard Rock Desires

I frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“In high school, your sister was a straight-A student,” my mom said. “You remember that? Honor roll, class vice-president?”

“I remember.”

“But then she graduated and started college,” my mom continued. “And things changed. The schoolwork was harder. The classes were more difficult. The exams were tougher. We put so much pressure on her, we asked so much of her. And she tried her best, she really did. But she couldn’t handle it.” My mother’s voice broke. “She couldn’t handle the pressure we put on her. She fell in with the wrong crowd.”

“I know,” I said. “Peter got her into all the parties and the drinking.”

“It was before she started dating Peter,” my mother said. “She had been getting into trouble for months before they even met.”

“What?” I stammered. “I don’t remember that.”

“They did go to a party that night,” my mom said. “And they did get into a car accident. But Peter wasn’t driving drunk.”

“Yes, he was!” I insisted. “The police said alcohol had been involved. I remember that.”

“Your sister had been drinking,” my mother said. “Peter put her in that car because she had passed out. He was driving her home, but he wasn’t driving drunk. She woke up halfway home and started getting sick in the backseat. Peter was worried about her. It sounded like she was choking. He took his eyes off the road for a second too long. He started drifting into the other lane. Another car was coming in the other direction, so he swerved. But he swerved too hard, and he crashed into that guardrail.”

I felt faint. I sat down on the sofa as the world swirled around me.

“He hadn’t been driving drunk,” my mother said. “He had been trying to get her home safely.”

My stomach dropped to my knees. I felt ill.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” I whispered.

“You were only thirteen,” my mother said. “We didn’t know how much to tell you. Everything that happened had been horrible enough. We didn’t want to upset you with too many details.”

It was true. All I’d ever had were the bits and pieces I heard from other people. I’d had to put the whole thing together myself.

And I had put it together wrong.

“I’m sorry I never told you sooner,” my mom said. “I never realized how you must have seen everything all those years ago. But now you know the truth.”

Peter hadn’t been driving drunk. His parents hadn’t paid to sweep it all under the rug. He hadn’t been acting reckless that evening. He’d just been trying to bring Meg back home.

I’d been so upset for so many years over something that had just been an accident. It hadn’t been Peter’s fault after all. I’d screamed at him in public, all over something he hadn’t actually done.

The anger bled out of me.

And now I knew the truth.

It had all just been a terrible accident.

Thirty-Two

Zain

There was a loud knocking at the back door. The tension in the kitchen spiked. The group of us had already gathered, waiting for the rep from the label to get here.

Micah opened the door and waved in a guy wearing a suit. He nodded at us in greeting, put his briefcase on the island countertop and got started with no time wasted.

“As I’m sure you know,” he began, “your antics a few days ago have caused some trouble for the label.”

“I told the guy I’d buy him a new car!” Finn interjected.

“Your neighbor intends to sue on grounds of emotional distress,” the suit replied. “It’s a baseless claim, but the backlash from media perception alone is a risk we can’t take. Our lawyers and the PR team are working together to try and contain this mess.”