"He didn't pay me a thing. I lost my best friend when he decided to take out his own problems on him." He held up a hand. "Back off. I took that girl to the doctor's when she collapsed. And that other brat offered to do me a favor for two pounds but just lied so he wouldn't have to hold up his end of the deal. Don't act justified when you're the one who is wrong.'

Ben looked at a loss. At last he turned back to his children. "What is this about?"

Will looked terrified.

"I fainted on t' beach. This man took me to the doctor, which I was thankful for, but he tried to make me name my child after his friend."

Darius shook his head. "It wasn't much. But forget it. I don't want his memory soured by such a wretched family. He deserved better." He really didn't. Chris was just awful, but he was the only one who liked hanging out with Darius. So with his passing, he only clung to the happy memories and it made him think far better than he truly was. Somewhere he still remembered he was terrible, but he wasn't about to consider it. He couldn't do that to his friend.

"None of us condones of what Simon did." Ben said.

Others might...

Darius shook his head. "But you are still allowing your kids to grow up doing bad things. It could happen again. And I can't help but hate your family for having him be a part of it. No one could ever bring Chris back and ..' He frowned more as tears appeared in his eyes. "I miss him all the time.'

Ben remained quiet. Simply because this was so awkward and yet intense that he had no idea how to react. "Might we offer ye a cup of tea?"

The children grasped.

Darius shook his head and put a hand to his face. This was embarrassing but he didn't know what to do with himself. He was feeling a lot of things at once. "I want nothing from you. I'm just going to go. Just make sure they stop lying to people." He slumped, at least he got to yell at the family of that Simon guy. But he didn't feel much better.

Ben closed the door and turned to his children, who all looked terrified.