Under the Lights
Page 36

I texted Gunner once I realized he wasn’t here, but he’d yet to respond to me. If he had just been absent, I wouldn’t be worried. But him and Willa missing was something else altogether. It had to be a Lawton thing. Had they been caught together? Shit. Were his parents making Willa leave? Or was it something worse? Was Willa consoling him over more crap from his father?
Regardless, I had to get there and check on them. Willa wasn’t the kind of girl to skip school because she was hooking up. Something was definitely wrong with one or both of them. They might need me.
I ran to my truck, cranked it up, and headed for the Lawton property as fast as I could get away without attracting attention. Last thing I needed was for the cops to get me the week of homecoming. Not that they’d keep me from playing. Even the local police wanted a win.
If Coach found out me and Gunner were missing a day though, he would be pissed. I was going to have to get back before practice and so was Gunner. Whatever was happening couldn’t be that severe. My temper started to rise as I imagined him and Willa messing around and getting caught.
He knew she was here because she had nowhere else to be. We didn’t know why, but her mother was a bitch, so that was enough of an excuse for me. Willa hadn’t opened up to me much, or really at all. Had she told Gunner things? The idea that he knew more about her past than me didn’t sit well. Why would Willa trust Gunner over me? I was the trustworthy good guy. The one girls gravitated to when they needed a shoulder to cry on. Not Gunner. Never Gunner.
Turning into the Lawton drive that was lined on either side by oak trees, I grew more and more anxious. Surely there was a reasonable excuse, and we’d all be back in school before next period. Or at the latest, lunch.
Gunner’s truck was parked in Ms. Ames’s drive, so I pulled in beside him and cut the engine. They were together. But Ms. Ames was apparently allowing it, so it couldn’t be too bad. I threw my truck door open and hurried up the walk toward the back door.
Several knocks later and no response. There wasn’t even movement in the house. What the fuck? I reached for the knob to turn it, and, as suspected, it opened. There was no need to lock the doors here. To get on the property you had to know the code for the gate. It wasn’t easy to get into the place.
“Willa?” I called out, stepping into the kitchen. It was silent.
“Gunner?” I tried, and waited. Nothing. The place was empty.
I walked through the house, checking for any sign of life, but it wasn’t there. The sofa had a folded blanket at the end of it with a pillow as if someone had slept there. That wouldn’t have been Gunner. Surely.
I exited out the front door and started down the steps and into the yard, searching for some sign of them when my eyes landed on the tree house. I hadn’t been there in years. None of us had. It was our secret hiding place that wasn’t so secret, seeing as Gunner’s parents had had it built for Rhett when he was younger. But we liked the privacy we thought we had there.
I began walking that way without thinking about it. Something in me knew they were in there. Why they were in there I wasn’t sure, but I knew they were. It was where we had always found each other when we were younger.
When I stopped at the bottom of the tree, I heard Willa’s voice first. Taking the steps one at a time, I climbed up to join them.
Gunner’s eyes were the first to make contact with me. “Hey” was all he said. Something in his eyes was empty. More so than normal. That worried me.
“You okay?” I asked, walking inside without having to bend over. I’d forgotten how elaborate this tree house was.
He shrugged, then his gaze swung to Willa’s. “Am I ever?” was his response.
I turned to look at Willa, and she was studying her hands that she was fidgeting with in her lap. This was going to take a while. I sat down on the wooden bench that lined the wall across from them.
“So, I take it this has something to do with you, since Willa looks unsure and nervous,” I said, glancing at Gunner. “It wasn’t at all suspicious that you both weren’t at school. And it’s homecoming week at that.”
Willa finally glanced up and looked at Gunner with compassion. Okay, so something was really bad here. “Gunner, what is wrong?” I asked.
Gunner met Willa’s gaze for a moment, then turned to me. “Family shit. My father wants to give Rhett everything. My mother is furious. Lots of yelling and fighting. Rhett left and hasn’t returned my calls.”
Well hell. That sucked. Life for Gunner had mostly always sucked at home. He had never had it good there. That was something I never envied of Gunner. I hadn’t asked about his home life in years. Somewhere along the way our friendship had changed. We talked football and girls but nothing deeper. Willa coming back had given him something he and I had lost. A real friendship. The jealous bite that caused made me feel guilty. He had needed someone, and she’d been there. I hadn’t.
This was typical of his sorry excuse for a dad, but I hated he was dealing with it. “You stay at Ms. Ames’s last night?” I asked, remembering the blanket and pillow on the sofa.
He nodded. “Yeah. Couldn’t go home.”
Willa remained quiet as she sat there. I was torn about her being who he had run to. Being jealous of Gunner telling her instead of me. But was it because I wanted Willa or she was stepping in on my friendship? I wasn’t really sure.
When she’d come into our lives as kids, I hadn’t liked her right away. Gunner had liked her too much, and I didn’t want her taking my friend away. Over time we’d all become close, and I’d wanted Willa around just as much as Gunner. But we weren’t kids anymore.