Broken Silence (Silence, #2)(64)

“You’ll have to ask her.”

Leona leant across as if she wasn’t suspended in the air, only being held by my arms. Kids had so much trust. “Of course, I’ll watch it with you,” Oakley said, taking her from me. “You’ll have to tell me everyone’s names though.”

Leona’s face lit up. “Well there’s Fifi and–” I stopped listening to her. One, because I already knew them all. And two, because the programme drove me nuts.

I ushered Sarah into the kitchen where my mum had already started getting the fresh pizzas out of the fridge. Mia was getting the full report from Oakley’s grandparents and my dad. They didn’t waste any time. Sarah’s looked at me questioningly.

“She’s doing as well as can be expected, I guess,” I said, knowing what was going through Sarah’s mind. “She just wants to move on. She’s been under their control for most of her life, then had four years waiting around and preparing for the trials… I think she wants to be the one in control of her life now.”

“I have no idea how she does it. I feel like a mess most of the time. She’s so positive and always looking forwards.” Sarah said the words but it didn’t look like she believed them. Oakley was mostly always positive on the outside because she worried about the affect falling apart would have on everyone else. We all knew the truth though.

“She deserves the future she wants. And so do you.”

“Thank you, Cole. I’m so glad you two found each other again. You’re perfect together.” I grinned like an idiot, like an eleven-year-old girl that had just seen One Direction. It meant that much to hear her say it. “Well,” she said, exhaling deeply, “let’s do what Oakley wants and move on. I think we all deserve a bit of happiness now.”

If Oakley had heard her mum say that she would probably burst, she wanted her mum to be happy so much.

“Okay, so we’ve got about a hundred pizzas, garlic dough balls and crispy chicken strips. Anyone want salad too?” Mia offered, looking in the fridge for something.

“Who the hell wants rabbit food when we have pizza and meat!” Jasper said, rejecting with a look of horror the lettuce in Mia’s hand.

I nodded. “He’s got a point.”

Mia chucked the lettuce back in the fridge and closed the door. “Good, because I can’t be bothered to make it. But I can be bothered with this,” she said, holding out two bottles of champagne to Dad.

“Celebrating again?” Oakley asked from the doorway. She chewed on her lip.

“We’re celebrating new beginnings,” Sarah said.

I waited for Oakley’s reaction. She had been less than enthusiastic to celebrate before, and I understood why. Her lips pulled up into the faintest smile. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Can I have some too?” Leona asked, pointing to the glasses on the counter.

Mia smiled. “Of course you can.” She handed Leona a champagne glass that was clearly filled with lemonade, but from the goofy grin on Leona’s face, she thought she was drinking champagne too.

“To new beginnings,” Miles said, raising his glass.

The celebration was going well. At last we were all together and having a laugh rather than the serious talks and tension. People were laughing, at Jasper mostly, but still laughing.

“Come on, Oakley! You must remember those hot twins! They were at the Christmas beach party!”

Oakley sighed. “No, Jasper. You made them up.”

“I did not make them up. They were hot and all over me.”

“Yeah, that definitely sounds like a lie,” I said.

“Dude, why would I make that up?”

“To prove how big your balls are?”

He huffed. “I don’t need to prove anything. You all know.”

Oakley put down her drink. “Okay, we need to change the subject before I’m sick.”

“I’m so glad Leona dragged Dad and Miles outside,” Mia added.

“You don’t need to make up stuff like that, Jasper. We all like you, ya know,” Lizzie said.

Jasper stared at her blankly. “Well thanks for that, peroxide, but it happened. Believe me, that’s not something you forget. But anyway, I don’t care what you lot think.”

The doorbell rang, thankfully! I think Lizzie was seconds away from reacting to the peroxide comment.

It fell on me to open the door since Mia laid back and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “Don’t move, yeah. I’ll get it,” I said sarcastically. I pulled the front door open, and my face fell as I saw two police officers.

One of them frowned. “Cole Benson?”

“Yeah.”

“Can we come in?” I stepped aside, and they walked in. The room fell silent.

My dad, who had come back inside asked, “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry to do this,” the taller officer said, turning to me. “Mr Benson, I’m arresting you–”

That was all I heard because Oakley shouted, “No!” She stared at me in horror. Her face was as white as a ghost. Shit, was she going to be okay? I turned around as one of them held out handcuffs.

“Is that really necessary?” Dad shouted.

Oakley wasn’t moving. The only thing that made her still look alive was the tears rolling down her face. I looked at Jasper for help.