Page 140 of Unexpected Prejudice

“Fuck, Shay-Lee, I can’t lie in court.” He bit on the tip of his nail while blinking too much.

“But you could lie to the police?” I smiled and looked at his beaten face. His nose was broken, and he had two black eyes that must have hurt like a bitch.

“Because you told me to,” he snapped before taking a deep breath to calm himself down. “You told me to tell the police the twins beat me for being gay.”

“And?”

“And it’s not true,” he hissed like a scared cat. “They beat me because someone spread the rumor I was fucking Tiff, which isn’t true.”

Of course, it isn’t true.

Ty was gay. He was also a stalker who’d been stalking Jordy for the past three years. I mean, since I was pretty much both, I couldn’t fault him. Since entering high school, Ty developed an unhealthy obsession toward Jordan and had taken hundreds of photos of him without his knowledge. I knew about it because I knew everyone’s secrets. People often shared their secrets with me, thinking it would make us closer, only it didn’t. Except for Jordan.

Ty’s stalking was how the twins found out about Jordy’s family going broke and that he was working at that shitty store. The idiot told them everything out of panic when they confronted him about the damn locker room picture.

I was the one who pushed Ty in Jordan’s way, telling him he might have a slight chance. But only because I thought it would make Jordan leave me for good. The last thing I thought would happen was for some random asshole to take a picture and send it to the whole fucking school. When Don showed it at the party, I was just as shocked and couldn’t even bring myself to look at Jordan. And even though it seemed like that, I would never out him, and most definitely never use him as bait.

So, after Jordan ruined my original plan, which was to get the admission out of the twins with him staying far away, I had to devise a new plan on the fly. That was why I spread that lie about Ty fucking Tiff, and made sure Lin believed it. While the Kingston twins didn’t give a shit about people and common decency, such as not raping others, they definitely cared about their stupid-ass dignity. I knew that if Lin heard Ty, one of his closest friends, was messing with a girl he considered his, he’d beat the shit out of him, and I needed it. I needed it because beating one gay guy was a coincidence. Beating two?

That was consistency.

All I needed to do was spread more evidence to make it look like what they did to Jordan and Ty was a hate crime, and voilà. The rapists were now facing two criminal charges and would spend several years behind bars. As they fucking should. It also helped to find out that the two had wrecked the surf shop run by Chief, who also happened to be gay himself. Even though they did it to mess with the new guys, it didn’t matter, at the end of the day, it was all about appearance.

So, perhaps I didn’t tell Jordan the whole truth, but what good would it do if he knew he had a stalker? Or that I knew about it for almost three years? I wasn’t proud that I lied to him. I hated it, but I couldn’t help it. Besides, keeping part of the truth away was for his own good. Being kept in the dark often made life… easier.

I looked at Ty with disinterest. “So, what if it isn’t the truth? Who gives a shit about that?”

“Lying in court is perjury,” he almost yelled, obviously panicked. “I can go to prison for that, and I can’t go to prison. Have you seen me? I’d die there, or become someone’s bitch, and then die.”

Considering his pretty face, he had a point.

“Well, Ty…” Grabbing his shoulder, I leaned closer and gave him my sweetest smile. “Selling coke will also get you to prison.”

“W-what?” he choked.

“I’m pretty sure being a drug dealer will get you more years behind bars than bending the truth. And let’s stop using the term false testimony because if we’re honest, we both know those jerks are homophobic assholes on top of being rapists.”

Ty’s mouth opened and closed several times before he managed to speak. “I-I only sold it a couple of times. I already stopped!”

“You think the cops will give a shit?”

I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed and shook his head.

“That’s right, sweetheart. One time, twenty times, they won’t care.” As my words sank in behind his scared eyes, I continued. “So, when they put you on the stand and ask you why the twins beat the shit out of you, you’re going to blink those pretty eyes of yours, shed some tears, and say they did it because you like to suck cock.” A smile spread on my lips, and I patted his cheek. “Just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with sucking cocks, so do it with pride, darling.”

Stunned by my words, Ty remained silent before slowly nodding. Letting go of his shoulder, I stepped back.

Of course, Ty’s role in this story was relatively innocent, and he didn’t deserve to be dragged into this mess, but I was a piece of shit, and he was just a small sacrifice to get justice. And as long as he played along, nothing would happen to him. Were my methods morally wrong and on the verge of being illegal? Why yes, they were, and that brought me to what I’d said before about me being a piece of shit. Besides, Ty’s stalking ended up causing a problem, so in a way, he was helping to fix the mess he unknowingly helped create.

“They hurt Jordan.” Saying those words out loud only brought back the terror and rage that came over me when I first heard what had happened.

Taking a deep breath, I continued. “After partying with us that day, Don and Lin got into their car and drove to his work, where they waited for him until he finished his shift. They lurked in the dark like cowards and waited for him to step out; when he did, they sneaked behind him and, without a drop of mercy, pounded his head until it busted open. But that wasn’t enough, so they dragged his unconscious body to the old pier, where they continued to beat and break almost every bone in his body.” I had learned all this from the police report. “And do you know why they did it?”

Even though I asked him a question, Ty couldn’t bring himself to answer and continued looking at me with his eyes wide open and his lips pressed tight.

“It’s because he told the truth, Ty. What Jordan accused them of, they did it. They raped that poor girl and got away with it, and if it weren’t for us, they would get away with what they did to Jordan, too.”

The thought of Jordan bleeding on the cold sand, all alone, while slowly waiting for his death, turned my stomach upside down. Clenching my fists, I forced myself to smile.