“Come on,” I prompt, not one to pass up a secret. “Don’t play that shit with me. What’s his name?”
“No, seriously,” she laughs. “It’s literally nobody. I’m not getting any action. My vag is a ghost town, it’s practically growing cobwebs.”
“What?” I laugh, seeing the honesty in her eyes. “Then what the hell was all that bullshit this morning?”
“Because watching Rivers squirm is my kind of porn.”
I shake my head. “You two seriously need to seal the deal.”
“I know,” she grunts. “And we would have long ago if it wasn’t for you getting wasted at a party and disappearing.”
“Are you seriously still holding that against me?”
“Uhhhh, yeah,” she scoffs. “I could have been in orgasm heaven by now. The second he touched me, he wouldn’t have been able to stop. I’m estimating hundreds of ‘gasms that I’ve missed out on. All because of your skank ass.”
“Bullshit. If you really wanted it to happen, you would have just gone and jumped him by now. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it. You guys are alone all the time and both of you are too pussy to make the move.”
“I…”
“What are you waiting for?”
“He’ll push me away,” she admits. “What if that happened? If I throw myself at him and he says no? Everything will change.”
I shake my head watching with adoration at the way the boys play with my sister. “I think you’re wrong. If Rivers was any other guy, then yeah, things would change. But not with him. He loves how things are here. If he said no, that wouldn’t change him being there every day, desperately wanting you.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. He has some shit going on at home that makes him feel…unworthy, which is just bullshit, you know? But….” She lets out a broken sigh. “I just wish things were different.”
I reach out and take her hand. “He’ll come around, and when he does, it’ll be explosive.”
Tully rolls her eyes as Noah’s head whips around to us with a devilish smirk. “Oh no.”
Not a second later, Rivers murmurs something to Aria and then all three are staring at us with an evil cackle pouring out of my little sister. “We’re fucked,” Tully says. “Run.”
An hour later, the five of us start heading up the beach, dripping wet, each with an ice cream cone in our hand. “Fuck, this is good,” Tully groans, licking around the base to stop the ice cream dripping down to her hands as Rivers watches her while discreetly adjusting himself.
She looks up from her ice cream, having absolutely no idea of the intense seduction she’s just thrown upon Rivers, but then, maybe that was her plan all along. “Who’s turn is it for truth or dare?” she questions.
Noah’s brows pull down as he looks to his sister. "Isn’t it yours?”
“No… I asked Ri-”
“Nope. Never happened,” Rivers cuts her off, clearly not ready to let Noah know about the ‘Truth’ question he’d answered for her. “It’s still your turn.”
Tully’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “Alright then,” she says, looking around our small group for her next victim. Naturally, she comes back to Rivers. She always comes back to Rivers. “Truth or dare?”
His too sure of himself, cocky grin spreads wide across his face. “Dare,” he says, spreading his arms out wide as if to say ‘give me all you’ve got.’ This time not terrified of what she might ask with Noah around.
Tully nods up ahead. “See that fence?” Rivers looks back over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes suspiciously on the fence before nodding. “I dare you to jump it.”
He scoffs and looks back at her. “What? That’s fucki-”
She cuts him off, clearly not being finished with her dare. “With Noahsaurus on your shoulders.”
His face falls as the boys glance at each other. “I can’t have a dude sitting on my shoulders. His cock will be rubbing all up against my neck.”
Noah winks. “It’s alright, man. I promise you’ll like it.”
“I agree,” I grin.
“You’re not backing out, are you?” Tully teases.
Rivers lets out a groan before shoving his ice cream into her hands. “If even a bite of that is missing, you’re going down, baby.”
He cracks his neck, looks to Noah and grins. He drops down to one knee. “Climb on board, princess.”
Noah looks to me, handing over his ice cream while pretending to be a giddy teenage girl. “Oooh, Rivers is about to take me for the ride of my life.”
Tully scoffs under her breath. “Yeah, well at least he’s taking one of us for a ride.”
I grin across at her, pleased as hell Noah didn’t hear that and get back to watching the show.
Noah’s hardly even on his shoulders before the two of them start giggling like little school girls. As Rivers pushes back up to his feet, Noah grabs hold of his head. “Fuck, man. Watch it.”
“Come on, dude. I got this,” Rivers laughs, trying his hardest not to show that the weight of Noah on his shoulders isn’t a big fucking deal. I mean, Noah’s not a little lanky kid, he’s over 6 foot 3 of pure, sexy as fuck muscle.
Rivers turns to face Tully with his cocky grin before showing her that he’s got this in the bag by squatting down. “They don’t call me fucking Quadzilla for nothing,” he roars.
“No one calls you Quadzilla,” Tully reminds him.
“Hey,” he reprimands. “Don’t you kill the vibe.”
She pretends to zip her lips before licking up the melting ice cream off Rivers cone, only to get a solid gasp out of him. “Whatcha gonna do about it?” she teases.
Rivers shakes his head and Noah flicks his foot up, kicking Rivers in the rib. “Get the fuck on with it,” he tells him. “But if you drop me, I’m going to sack you so fucking hard you won’t be walking for weeks.”
Rivers turns back to the fence that’s as high as his chest. On any other day, he’d be able to clear that in his sleep. With Noah on his shoulders, it’s going to be the best damn thing I’ve ever seen.
Rivers takes off towards the fence while Noah howls with laughter, holding on with everything he’s got. Rivers approaches the fence and I find myself clutching onto the ice cream cones so tight, I crack both of them, sending melted ice cream all down my arms.
This isn’t going to be good. No way is he going to clear that fence.
Rivers reaches the fence, grabs hold of it and launches himself over it. The weight of Noah on his shoulders has them toppling over and while they certainly cleared one side of the fence, the same can’t be said for the other.
They crash down into the sand in a heap of limbs and muscle while Aria races forward. The laughter comes tearing out of me and I have no choice but to fall to my knees while Tully crosses her legs. “Shit,” she booms. “I’m going to wet myself.”
The boys grunt and groan and start wrestling around in the sand, and I can’t help but think that this is the best damn day of my life.
Chapter 12
I lay on my couch on Sunday afternoon, feet propped up on the armrest while Aria sits on the ground in front of me, her eyes glued to the TV.
I’ve been having the best time getting to know this little girl and now that she’s here with us, I don’t think we could ever give her back. We still haven’t heard from mom, so I have no idea what the hell is going on, but something deep within my guts tells me she’s never coming back.
Hell, I still can’t get over the shock of seeing her on my doorstep in the middle of the night. It was like my childhood hitting me in the face, only for it to instantly disappear again.
Oh well, I don’t want to dwell on it. I’ve moved on and now it’s Aria’s turn to do the same.
My phone buzzes on the couch beside me and I dig it out from between the cushions.
Kaylah – What’s going on, skank?
I grin as I hash out a reply.
Henley – Watching freaking SpongeBob AGAIN!!!!!!!! How is th
Kaylah – Better than what I’m doing!
Kaylah – Download attachment.
I hit on the picture and burst out laughing when I see her family dog, standing in the middle of her living room after tearing her bean bag to shreds. Little foam balls cover every available surface in the room and I can only imagine how painful it’s going to be cleaning that shit up.
Henley – Sucks to be you!
Henley – What’s going on? Haven’t heard from you in a few days.
Kaylah - ☹
Kaylah – I think Jesse is cheating.
Henley – WHAT???????
I don’t wait for her response and hit call. “That’s ridiculous,” I tell her as she answers the phone. “I mean, I hardly know the guy but it’s clear as day he’s crazy about you.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what I thought, but…I don’t know. There are always girls hanging off him and this one girl followed him into the bathroom at a party on Friday night and when she came out, she was acting like she’d just had the best dick of her life. I mean, that’s my dick.”
I scoff. Freaking bitches. “Are you serious right now? What did Jesse say?”
“We haven’t talked about it. He’s got shit going on with his brother and his girlfriend. I don’t really want to make shit worse by accusing him of cheating. I’ll just…I don’t know.”
“I don’t think he’s cheating.”
“How would you know? You go to a different school.”
“I don’t know,” I defend. “My gut is telling me that he’s the real deal. Just give him a chance to explain himself. Do you seriously think he’d cheat after having to fight your brother for his approval? I mean, no guy would go through all that shit just to fuck it up at the end.”
“True,” she murmurs.
“What does your gut tell you?” I question, looking down at Aria to check she’s still alive.
Kaylah lets out a sigh. “I don’t think he would, but then shit like Friday night happens and it makes my head all foggy.”
“Do you love him?”
“So freaking much.”
“Then go and talk to him. You know how these girls are. We’ve dealt with them all our lives, just because you’re at a different school now doesn’t mean they’re any less conniving. This bitch in the bathroom could be pulling all sorts of dirty tricks to get what’s yours. If you love him then you need to learn to trust him.”
“Ok, enough of me now. What’s going on with you? Is Noah still as swoon worthy as you thought at the beginning?”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “More now that I’ve seen him with Ari. He’s like this fearless pack leader, but the second she’s around, he turns into a freaking marshmallow.”
“That’s kind of…surprising.”
“Two months ago, I would have agreed with you, but not now.”
“You sound like you’re falling for him.”
I press my lips together before letting out a sigh. “I think I already have.”
“Oh, shit,” she laughs. “Have you told him that?”
“No,” I rush out. “What if…Argh. I don’t know. What if he’s not there yet and I throw it on him like a grenade? I don’t want to freak him out.”
“I don’t think it’s possible to freak out a guy like Noah. He seems like he’s always prepared for anything.”
“Trust me, I’ve seen this guy freaked out. It’s definitely possible,” I tell her as a big ass truck pulling up in our driveway steals my attention. “Oh, shit. Dad’s home. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Oh, wait. Wait, wait. I forgot to ask. Jesse needs to see some kid from Haven Falls and apparently, the guy is throwing a party on Friday, so I was going to go. Tora wants to come too. Are you up for a party?”
“Tora?” I grunt.
“Yeah, Nate’s girlfriend,” she says. “She’s cool. I’ll introduce you guys. You’ll really like her.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I tell her, pulling myself up off the couch, getting ready to change dad’s entire world with this kid at my feet. “I think Noah has a race, but I’ll check. I wouldn’t mind partying with the Broken Hill kids, see how you guys do.”
“Oh, come on,” she laughs. “You know I’m still a Haven Falls girl at heart.”
“Uh huh,” I laugh. “We’ll see.”
With that. I end the call and look down at Aria. “Are you ready to meet your daddy?”
She looks up at me with those big blue eyes. “Do you think he’ll like me?”
“I think he’s going to love you.”
She puts her little hand in mine and together we walk to the door. I feel her nerves radiating off of her, but there’s nothing for her to worry about. Dad is a big bear. He might seem a little scary on the outside, but on the inside, he’s the most caring man she’ll ever meet.
I’ve already explained this to her, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it. She’ll just have to tear it off like a Band-Aid and get it over with. The second that’s done, they can work on getting to know one another.
We walk out the front and I watch dad reversing his truck into the drive. It’s always impressed me watching how easily he does this with such a massive truck and it makes me wonder what the hell is going through Aria’s head. Though one thing’s for sure, she’s right there with me on the whole ‘impressed’ thing. I doubt she’s ever seen a truck so big.
“What did I tell you?” I grin down at her.
“It’s big.”
“Damn straight.”
I tug on her hand and together we walk out to meet dad. He catches us out of the corner of his eyes and he looks across, stopping when his eyes land on the little girl beside him. He looks damn shocked despite the few video calls they’ve had together. I momentarily fear for the safety of our driveway and the house, but dad quickly pulls himself together and gets back to concentrating on what he’s doing.
We wait a few moments for dad to cut the engine of the truck and grab his things before climbing down. The second he turns to face us, we walk forward and instead of throwing myself at him like I usually would, I proceed with caution as to not freak Aria out.
“Dad,” I say, trying to be the calming middle man. “This is Aria, a.k.a Squirt.”
A smile plays on his lips as he drops down to one knee but looks up at me. “You’re saying I have a Squish and a Squirt?”
“Yeah,” I laugh.
Dad looks down at Aria, his eyes roaming over her body from head to toe, taking her all in, checking her over while instantly falling in love with this little girl. “Aria,” he repeats softly, his eyes filling with emotion and unshed tears. “I’m your daddy.”
His arms open wide and Aria dives into them, snuggling her face into his chest as though he’s her missing link, the thing that’s been missing from her life all these years. “Welcome home, baby girl,” Dad soothes, making my eyes water.
I’ve never known my dad to ever break, but here, as he looks into the eyes of the daughter that he’s never known, his world is shattered and restored all at once. There’s so much he’s missed out on in her life. Both of us have missed, but now she’s here, where she belongs, and I bet my ass that dad is going to do anything he can to make it right.
The two spend the afternoon together and I head into the kitchen to start on dinner and to give them some time to discover one another. The booming laughter and cute giggles coming from the next room are telling me that there’s nothing to worry about. It seems they’re getting along just fine.
“Well,” Dad says as we sit down at the table together. “There’s no doubt about it, she’s my kid.”
“That’s what I thought,” I tell him. “She’s got your eyes.”
“Damn straight, she does,” he chuffs proudly as he helps dish up her dinner.
“So, what now?” I ask. “Did you try and get in contact with mom? Do you know what’s happening?”
Dad presses his lips into a thin line. “Not now, Squish,” he murmurs. “We’ll talk later.”
I get the hint and get back to eating dinner, but the question grates on my nerves. Dad’s never been one to hold back and it’s clear that whatever the answer is, I’m not going to like it. He’s never gone out of his way to protect me from the truth before so this is clearly about sparing Aria’s feelings and not letting her know exactly what’s going on with her mom. After all, she’s only five.
It’s not until after ten when Dad’s put Aria to bed and sat on the couch in silence for nearly two hours when I finally get the nerve to ask again. “Dad?” I say, moving in beside him on the couch, clearly seeing he has more questions than answers floating around in that head of his. “What’s going on?”
He lets out a heavy, pained sigh and leans back into the couch before turning his attention on me. “Honestly, Squish. I have no fucking idea.”
“But…she gets to stay, right? She’s not coming to take her away?”
“That’s what I don’t know. I’ve been trying to get in contact with her, but the old number I had for her is disconnected and none of her old friends know where she is. Apparently, she’s fallen in with the wrong crowd and has been hitting drugs pretty hard,” he tells me with a tight smile, not wanting to be the one to break the news that the woman who was my mom for so long is now a drug addict. But on the other hand, it’s cleared up a few of my questions about why she looked the way she did.
“I did get a curious call though,” Dad continues, making my brows practically dip down to my chin. “She still has me listed as her emergency contact in all her records. I’d received a call from some lawyer or, hell, I don’t know who the fuck he was, but it was court ordered that your mom be put into a rehabilitation center. The next morning after she showed up here was when she was due to sign in.”
“She’s running?” I murmur.
“I’m not surprised,” dad tells me. “It’s her pattern. When things get hard, she disappears. She doesn’t like facing hard facts.”
“What do we do now?”
“We sit back and hope for the best while giving that kid all the love in the world. We need to hope your mom can somehow see that she’s safer here with us.”
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