Chapter 13 #2
“Oh, my fucking God!” The words tear out of me before I can stop them.
I’m frozen in place at the kitchen window, hand braced on the sink, staring out at the large fucking crowd of townspeople gathered in the snow, all pointing up into the cabin as if it’s some sort of spectacle.
A sea of puffer jackets, beanies and horrified expressions all point to me.
“Axl, Phoenix…Baby!?” I yell, and within seconds, they come running into the kitchen, their expressions a mix of confusion and dread, checking me over to see if I’m hurt.
This is not happening.
“What? Baby, what happened?” Phoenix says in a panic. My parents are staring straight at us through the window, and as if their wrath alone wasn’t enough, they decided to bring the entire fucking town along with them?
I just can’t with these people!
“Is it a bear? God, I can’t take a bear, babe,” Axl says, searching the kitchen as if said imaginary bear just materialized out of thin air.
“No, look!” I jab a finger toward the glass, and their gazes follow instantly. They crowd in at the sink, one on each side of me, all of us squished together as we stare out the window, half fogged from the cold outside.
There they are.
My parents.
Looking at the cabin like I’ve been spending the holidays in the lowest corner of Hell.
They don’t wave, they don’t smile, but I am not surprised. Phoenix peels away from the window, striding to the coat rack by the door and yanking down his coat like he’s gearing up for war.
“What are you doing?” I question nervously, my voice cracking with panic. “Are you crazy?!” I whisper yell, as if they can hear me from all the way out there.
“I think it’s time we meet the parents, don’t you agree, Bro?” Phoenix says calmly, slipping one arm into his sleeve. Axl doesn’t hesitate. Because of course he doesn’t. He grabs his own jacket and shrugs it on with way too much confidence for the shitshow they’re about to walk into.
“Yeah, why the fuck not?” My heart almost stops dead, dropping straight to my stomach.
I whirl on them, desperate at this point.
“Uhh… excuse me? NO. They will eat you alive. Let me talk to them first.” I try to reason with them, though it’s two on one here.
I plant myself between them and the door, arms out like I’m blocking a fucking prison riot.
“I am dead serious, Axl and Phoenix Stone. My parents aren’t like your mom. They bite.”
Axl raises a brow. “So do we.” With a wink, he reaches for me, gently picks me up, then sets me down a safe distance from the door. Then, without another word, they stride out of here cool as fucking cucumbers.
Oh God.
Oh God.
Wearing nothing but one of Zane’s oversized band tees, I scramble to get my coat.
My hands shake as I yank it off the hook, practically wrestling the sleeves before shoving my arms through and pulling the zipper up to my chin.
I grab my Doc Martens and shove one foot in while I hop on the other like an idiot.
The second boot finally cooperates, and I bolt for the door, flinging it open and sprinting straight into the chaos waiting for me outside.
I skid to a stop in the snow just as the cold slaps me across the face. The entire town is gathered in the driveway. What the fuck is this? Conversations hush the second I appear, dozens of eyes snapping toward me. Judgement? Curiosity? Gossip? I can’t even tell.
Axl and Phoenix stand shoulder to shoulder in front of my parents, calm as ever, and Phoenix’s right arm is casually draped over Jovi’s shoulders. My parents, however, both look like the Grinch who stole Christmas.
“Hey, Mom. Dad,” I cut in with a nervous laugh, and their heads snap to me. Jovi’s gaze whips in my direction, her face lighting up with excitement and relief. I barely get my arms up before she slams into me, wrapping me in one of her bone-crushing, full-body hugs, lifting me clean off the ground.
“I was so worried about you!” she shouts into my neck, shaking me side to side.
“The storm knocked the lines out and the whole town lost their mind with worry because nobody knew you got a police escort back here! Oh, God, you smell like… my brothers…” She pulls back mid-sentence, and her hazel-green eyes, the same color as Axl’s, lock onto mine.
Behind her, my father’s jaw tightens, and my mother visibly short circuits.
Jovi sets aside the elephant in the room, and I take a deep breath, then step forward, planting myself firmly in the space between Axl and Phoenix.
Their presence is grounding, and I realize for the first time in my life, I don’t have to always face the music alone.
I have my guys, and they look ready for anything, because you really need to be where my parents are concerned.
“Shiloh. We’re glad you’re safe,” my mom starts, her voice carrying an edge to it that tells me she’s only behaving herself because we have an audience. Any other day, she’d be cussing me the fuck out.
“We were worried when you didn’t come home on Christmas Eve. Even more so, on Christmas Day,” my father adds, only he looks genuine. Hmm.
“I’m sorry,” I reply, my words rushed because it’s cold as shit out here.
“There wasn’t much I could do about the weather.
It was a fluke that we made it here in time.
” My eyes dart between them, then look up at my guys for…
I don’t know, reassurance? My dad’s voice drops low, his eyes taking all of us in before he speaks.
“The police officer who brought you here got stuck at a small cottage further down the mountain. Nobody had any way of knowing if you… or … them … were safe.” My dad clears his throat, and the rigid tension in his stance eases a little. “Good to see you are all safe and well,”
“Thank you, Sir,” Phoenix replies, and my heart warms a little that he’s even bothering with this interaction.
“Your daughter is safe with us, Sir. We promise you that,” Axl adds, and tears start to well in my eyes at how sincere he is. Like he would move mountains to keep me happy.
I know that they mean it.
I know how easily people can pick us to pieces, but knowing that they have my back and that I have theirs makes the weight of all this so much easier to carry.
“Go get your things, Shiloh,” my mother says, her voice unnervingly calm. The guys stiffen beside me, a flicker of uncertainty passing over their faces, as if they’re not sure if I’ll actually go back with them or not, or maybe they just don’t want me to.
“Mom, I’m staying here… with them.” I hold her gaze, willing her to understand what I’m putting down because the last thing the band needs right now is some asshole standing over there recording this whole thing for social media.
Snow crunches behind us, breaking the tense silence, and my body stiffens.
I glance over my shoulder to see who it is and my pulse eases when I notice that it’s Zane approaching.
He moves with that calm, no fucks to give, gait that shows he is equal parts approachable and not to be crossed.
Like he could fuck someone up with a single blink, and still take your grandmother grocery shopping afterward.
His dark eyes catch mine for a fleeting second before scanning the crowd behind me.
Without warning, he slides his arms around my shoulders, pressing himself to my back in a protective hug.
The warmth of his body grounds me, and I lose all sense of unease.
My parents’ eyes burn into us, shifting from me to my guys, their lips pressed into a firm line.
I take a slow breath, letting it settle in my chest, knowing that this needs to be done.
“We’re actually together. All of us.” I don’t think I’m breathing as my only family stares back at us. I anticipate a competition between whose brain can explode the quickest. Chris and Noelle Fox, or Jovi’s. The worst part is that no one is saying anything.
My guys shift slightly closer, flanking me like sentinels.
I know if they open their mouths, they’ll unload a lifetime of shit on this moment.
They know how things were for me growing up, and they also know that mentioning it right now would only upset me, so they stay silent.
I can practically see the gears turning in my parents’ heads.
Finally, my dad exhales, stepping in closer, his eyes softening.
“Shiloh.” His voice is low, and I don’t miss the hint of vulnerability in his tone.
“I don’t always understand everything you do, or the wayward chaos you always end up surrounding yourself in, but you are my daughter.
That will never change, and I will never wish for it to.
” His words catch me off guard, and my throat feels tight as my emotions threaten to rise to the surface.
“Dad,” I choke, but then he reaches out and shakes Axl’s hand, then Nix’s, before turning back to face me. Zane extends a hand to my father, the other still wrapped around my shoulder, and I feel a sense of calm unlike anything I have ever felt before in my life.
“I'm Zane. Their boyfriend. It's nice to meet you, Sir,” he says, and now I think my brain is the one that explodes. My father shakes Zane’s hand, and my mother scoffs, spinning on her heels, then starts walking down the snow covered driveway.
My heart sinks, but I school myself because her reaction was expected.
“Don't worry about your mother. She'll come around,” my dad says, and when Zane removes his arm from around my shoulder, I step forward, wrapping my dad in a tight hug.
“Thank you. I love you.” That is all I can manage to say as he hugs me back, placing a gentle kiss on the top of my head before pulling away. I needed this. While I may not have my mother’s support, shocker, my dad’s is more than enough.
“Uh, Dad?”
“Yes?” I look up at the surrounding faces, looking back at us like we’re stars in a damn soap opera.
“Why did you bring the entire town with you?” He turns around and starts laughing, looking back at my guys.
“We didn't know if we needed a search party or not, and when they learned that Stone Cold could have possibly frozen to death, you couldn't have kept them home if you paid them.”
“Wait. You know of our band?” Axl says, his eyes widening with surprise, and my dad chuckles.
Don't say it.
“My daughter only played your songs on loop whenever she visited.” He said it. “I can't say I'm a fan, though. I've heard better sounds come out of a tool shed. But I applaud your musical enthusiasm,” my dad finishes, garnering a laugh from my guys.
After threatening the guys that if they ever hurt me, he would personally cut their beloved cocks off, he turns and heads down the drive, townspeople in tow.
Jovi, on the other hand, isn't letting us get away with anything without explaining the details to her first. As usual.
“I'm a little embarrassed to even talk about this with you. But, babe, I'm happy.” I told her about leaving Carol’s Bar, explaining in as little detail as I could because I know she doesn't want to hear about how her brothers have fucked me six ways from Sunday.
But she surprises me by smiling, looking like the cat who got the cream.
“You have no idea how hard I had to work for this to happen.”
“Wait… what do you mean?” I question, because even though the guys told me that she had tried to convince them to tell me about their identities so many times over the years, I fail to see how ‘this’, as she called it, was her doing.
“I planned this whole gig. If it wasn't for the weather fucking it all up, you would have gone backstage and they would have been so swept up by the fact that you were finally back in town at the same time as them, that they wouldn't have risked letting you get away.” I sit with that for a moment, but I'm still not getting it.
Did she play matchmaker this entire time?
“Shiloh.” Jovi places a hand on my shoulder, gazing into my eyes. “They've always been in love with you. I used to roll my eyes about it, but after a while, I was almost sad that they never got their shot with you. And I may or may not have read Axl’s diary in high school.”