Chapter 18 #3
“I don’t think she’s seen it. And if she has, she hasn’t put two and two together. But she does know her dad had an affair.”
There was still so much that Phoenix didn’t know, and I hardly had time to fill in the blanks. I explained briefly about the PI and the box of love letters.
“Shit. This is so messed up.” Exactly why I suggested going home, but Nix wasn’t having it.
As we got to the others, the fact that Storm was nowhere to be seen was probably a good thing. Speaking out of turn was one of Phoenix’s specialties. And irrespective of his feelings about the ex-thorn in my side, she didn’t deserve to find out she had a half-brother like that.
I squeezed Phoenix’s hand, reassuring him that I was there for him.
As we threaded across the sand, a shudder went through me as I spied the parking lot. A fight had broken out there last year. It was the place where Micah had been attacked.
I slid my shoes off, enjoying the feel of the sand between my toes. It felt soothing. Phoenix kept his Stan Smith’s on, mumbling something about his hobbit feet. The fact that he could joke after what had gone down was encouraging.
“Fuck, I don’t even know where to start when I tell them.”
“Why don’t we go for a walk first? Clear your head? Either that or tell them tomorrow?” I suggested, nodding towards Molly, Hudson, and Micah. The latter raised his beer in the air and waved us over.
Molly also spotted us, frantically flapping her arms in the air. She was sitting between Hudson’s legs. Micah was standing up, looking animated. He appeared to be in the middle of telling them one of his New York stories.
“I’m good. Honestly, Harper.”
“OK. Well, just tell them, I suppose.”
His expression turned serious for a moment. “I have a feeling, Hudson already knows.”
The noise of the stadium was now a distant echo, replaced by mellow music, assorted conversations, and the sound of the sea as it licked the shore. After the excitement of the game and the Eagles' monumental win, those who had stayed for the after-party were in high spirits.
A bonfire had been lit in an old oil drum, but it wasn’t as huge as the one at the party last year.
I was glad about that; fire and I still didn’t mix so well.
A strained relationship, I would say. My scars felt stiff as I eyed the orange flames, and habit made me raise my hand and massage my shoulder blade.
Phoenix saw the motion as I stared at the amber light flickering up into the sky.
“Do you want to sit someplace else, away from the fire? I can get the others to move?”
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head. “No, I’ll be fine. Come on, let’s go join our family.” My use of the word family, made his entire face soften, and I knew then that we were in the right place; strength in numbers and all that.
As we got to the group, Micah stopped talking and bounded over, grabbing Phoenix and bumping their chests together. “About time, Brutal, you dirty dog,” he laughed, pulling away and chugging his brother under the chin with a playful punch.
Molly launched herself at me as Hudson got to his feet and fist bumped Nix. “Congrats, bro.”
“I guess you’re not congratulating me on a good game,” Nix said sheepishly.
Micah belted out a laugh, “Of course not, you played like shit. The congrats are for making an honest woman of our little sis, at last.”
I smiled, allowing both my foster brothers to hug me before they switched to ‘guy mode’ again.
The three boys then stood in a huddle as Micah handed Phoenix a cold beer from a cooler by his feet. They all clinked their bottles in a toast, and I heard Hudson ask, “So, what happened out there, man?”
“Drink?” Mols said, rolling her eyes. “Bros before hoes, remember?”
“Yes, please, anything that’s wet,” I replied as she moved over to her bag and plucked out one of those pre-made cans of rum and Coke.
A large blanket had been laid on the sand, and towels had been placed across some rocks to make them more comfortable to sit on. A deck chair that had seen better days was pushed into the sand, but was covered in brown grocery bags and a couple of sweaters.
Mols drew me down onto the blanket, demanding that I share all the details about what had gone down between Phoenix and me. She probably thought we’d been making out after the game which was of course, not the case.
From the ‘you’re shitting me’ comment that erupted from Micah’s mouth, I knew Phoenix had dropped the daddy bomb.
Nix and I exchanged a look across the slight distance as I pointed at Molly.
My silent question was clear: I wanted his permission to share the news with someone who wasn’t family, and he gave me a nod.
And that’s exactly what I did.
“Shit, for real?” she gasped.
“Damn straight.” We then spoke about the love letters Storm had found and the PI report, all of which I now knew led to Nix’s mother.
After around ten minutes, we all regrouped and formed a half-circle around our backpacks, shoes, the cooler, and a few bags of chips.
The fire was still crackling away in the distance, and a few girls were dancing around it like human sacrifices.
I recognized some of the cheerleaders and boys from the team.
As we all settled, Nix lowered himself onto the blanket where I had been sitting with Molly. Molly was now back with Hudson.
“Come here, baby girl,” he whispered, crooking his finger to the space between his legs.
Crawling between Nix’s strong thighs, I turned and placed my back against his chest, I tugged at his jersey to stop it riding up my legs. “Don’t do that. I was enjoying the view,” he drawled in my ear as Micah passed us both a beer from the cooler by his side.
I smiled, turning my head against his upper torso to look up at his chiseled face. Shadows danced across his jaw from the fire light. “I’m saving myself for later,” I explained with a wink.
He peered down his nose at me. “Since when did you become so forward?”
I nudged him with my elbow. “Since you asked me out, I suppose.”
“Do you feel any different?”
“In what way?”
“I don’t know. Weird that we’re now officially together.”
I traced my fingers down one of his thighs. “No. Not at all. This is the most normal I’ve felt all year.”
“Me too.” We shared a silence. “I wonder how Ma will react?”
Before I could answer, Phoenix leaned down and rubbed his nose across my cheek, which caused the others to break off from their discussion about the news. “You smell so sweet.”
“Alright, lovebirds. Get a room,” Micah chuckled, kicking his foot in the sand towards us. He was smoking a joint, and I could smell the weed in the air. It mixed with the salt from the sea spray and burning firewood.
“After what happened last year, I thought you switched to vapes,” Nix coughed, eyeing the cigarette his brother was waving around.
“Vapes are for pussies.”
“If the cap fits,” Phoenix smirked as he grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. He chuckled as his brother flipped him off.
The background atmosphere still screamed after-game party, but it wasn’t as loud as the one from the previous year.
As I looked around the other groups, I could see only a handful of people I recognized, and there was no one from my high school.
There were just college kids, and the majority were jocks.
I then spotted Cash with his arm around some girl. That didn’t take him long.
“So, what are you two up to after the party?” Micah asked.
Nix grunted from behind me. “None of your business dickwad.”
Micha took a draw on his blunt and then handed it to Hudson. “I suppose I shouldn’t ask. The image of my brother doing my sister is not a good one,” he snickered.
“Micah,” Hudson said with a scowl.
“I meant, are you coming back to the house, or…” His voice trailed off as Molly and I exchanged a look.
“Or what, you nosy fucker?” Nix huffed.
Micah seemed to struggle to string his sentence. “I don’t know. Going to a motel or something?”
“Nice, Micah. Romantic,” Molly added with a laugh. Luckily, Nix broke through the awkwardness.
“You’re such a dick, Micah. We’ll be going home. You know, that place where we all live?”
“Don’t get your pantyhose in a twist. I was just wondering how it’s going to work. You guys being together now.” Micah made the quotation marks with his fingers on ‘together,’ and Hudson punched him on the leg.
“Ouch? A man can ask, can’t he? I just want to make sure it isn’t weird for anyone.”
“You’re the one making it weird,” Hudson replied, rolling his eyes and blowing out a plume of smoke. Molly went to take the joint from his hand, but he held it up over her head. She had playfully gone to take it from him, but her BF shook his head. “Smoking is bad for you.”
“You’re a big fat hypocrite, Hudson Gage,” she said with a pout.
I watched, smiling as he tugged her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. “I know, English. It’s one of the many reasons you love me.”
Phoenix then stated. “Look. You don’t have to feel weird around us at all. Just be yourselves. Harper and I will decide how we’re going to play it in respect of Ma.”
“Will you tell her?”
“We haven’t discussed it yet. Give us a chance. We literally just got together, dufus,” Nix said with exasperation.
“I was only asking a question,” Micah grunted moodily, rolling himself another blunt.
There was an awkward pause as we all necked our respective drinks before Micah filled the moment with a reflective comment. “So, you’ve inherited a father and a girlfriend in the same fricking night, major head fuck.”
“Tell me about it,” Nix sighed.
“What about Storm?”
The conversation then switched to Storm.