Jellyfish

12. What He Did

You know what he did to Diego.

It wouldn't leave me alone. I could hardly remember anything but that, floating mockingly through my head until it drove me crazy. Even waking up tangled with Miles on the floor was not enough to distract me from the discovery. Neither was Frankie's death grip on my waist. We'd stayed the night as Isaac wanted, all somehow managing to safely reach Miles's room in our intoxicated state. I was levelheaded enough to not freak out when I woke up between them because I knew that we'd done nothing but sleep, but that was the extent of my calm that morning. Vaguely, I recalled a kiss as the clock went off, but not quite who I'd been kissing. I remembered us dancing and me talking, and that stupid phrase that destroyed everything. Did it really mean what I thought it meant? It had to, right? Cain had somehow gotten Diego put away, but how? Diego was the one who stole the money, it was clear on the tapes and as far as I knew Cain didn't have any power there, so what the hell did that conversation mean?

My head was a wreck. I wanted to understand it all so bad, but there were still so many pieces missing. Turning to my right, I registered that Miles knew what I didn't. As I watched him sleep, something turned in my stomach and a sick feeling took over. He was beautiful, no matter what he was doing, and he was bright, cheerful, and kind, but above all those things, Miles was a liar. More importantly, he was lying to me. Whatever Cain had done, Miles knew about it and probably Frankie too, I conceded looking to my left at the boy who wouldn't let me go. A strange flush ran through me at the sight of him, something I immediately pushed away at the reminder of our situation. Both of these boys knew someone who'd hurt me and my family, and they were likely never going to tell me. It hurt to think that, but not as much as it hurt when I realized I was probably a part of the plan in the first place.

When Miles had texted me, our first messages had been a lot to do with the house I lived in. I didn't give him the address or anything, but I had told him about our neighborhood, and I told him about the people inside. I told him about Diego and Blair; how close they were and how much he meant to the younger. I'd told him that Blair was the most dependent independent person ever and that Diego kept him, well us, stable and together. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now I was thinking. I was thinking that maybe Miles hadn't actually wanted to befriend me, instead using me for whatever information Cain needed. I was thinking that Frankie and Miles's intentions with me were not as pure as they seemed and that they couldn't be trusted. I was thinking that it really was all my fault. That Blair had every right to hate me and I wouldn't mind if Eddy had hit me. It was my fault.

You know what he did to Diego.

I needed to find Cain, I decided in a moment of despair. He had to be here; my gut told me he was. I had to know what went down and he was the only person who really knew. With a deep breath, I detached Frankie's arms from my waist and did my best not to wake either of them as I slipped away. It must've been the alcohol that had neither of them stirring even a bit when I slipped out the door and down the stairs. It was certainly the alcohol making it hard for me to remember where I was going. Isaac's house in the light was not much different, but it was dirtier and possibly more disorienting. Discarded confetti and cups littered the floor, torn down streamers hung haphazardly from the ceiling. It was truly the look of a past party, and I pitied the person he'd pay to clean it all. I walked through the mess on a mission, around the halls and right down the stairs to where voices drifted from. One, I knew would be Isaac Moon, obviously not stopped by the alcohol he'd consumed the night before. The other would hopefully be the man I was looking for, that vile son of a bitch.

They paused when I opened the kitchen door, Cain with his fork raised and Isaac with a spatula frozen in gesticulation. For a second, both faltered as if I'd thrown off the balance of everything, but Isaac was quick to resume his cooking in an effort to not burn whatever it was. My eyes stayed locked on Cain though, who stared back just as hostile as I felt. I didn't even know how to start, how to ask what I wanted to know and get a straight answer out of this man. He just kept eating and staring with that level gaze, regardless of the fact that I hadn't moved from the doorway. Maybe I would've never made up the courage to move, just stood there all day looking at him, had two familiar figures not pushed into the kitchen with a concerning amount of joy for a morning hangover. The bright smile on Mae's face dropped when he saw me, stopping in front of Owen and causing him too to eye me in alarm. Between the fearful looking pair and Cain's stupid smile, I knew I didn't need to ask anymore.