“Sorry, Storm collared me at the bar.”
I raised an eyebrow, “I’ll just bet she did.” Fuck knew what he saw in her; a golden pussy?
Rolling his eyes, Reed handed me the beer, and we clinked the necks of the bottles together in a toast. Although what we were toasting, I hadn’t a clue at that point; certainlynotwhat was going on behind my back. And I meant that figurativelyandliterally.
After taking a long pull on my drink, my eyes wandered over Reed’s shoulders and torso. Had he changed his clothes? I was certain he came to the party in a Nirvana T-shirt. I had clearly missed the button-up monstrosity he was now wearing.
“What the fuck have you come as? Isn’t that awoman’stop?”
The offending item was also made of wool. Dude must have been boiling.
He glanced down and rearranged one sleeve with the same hand he held his beer in. “It’s a cardigan. It’s called fashion, Phoenix.”
“Yeah, for bitches.” I scanned his pretty boy face, taking in his scowl with a satisfied smile.
“It was a gift, so shut your mouth,” Reed said under his breath, glancing over his shoulder, and a minute later, I realized why.
My head snapped up at the unwelcome noise. Annoyance exploded inside of me. I wasn’t in the mood for meaningless banter with our hostess. “You made it, Phoenix. I wasn’t sure you’d come.” I looked to the sky and closed my eyes at that nasal voice. I wasn’t sure I would either, I almost said out loud.
Only the heavens knew what my brother saw in this woman. She must have had a magic snatch or something.
As usual, when Reed was around, Storm wasn't far behind. As she appeared beside us, I lowered my jaw and leveled her a look. I could tell from her sour expression that she wasn't pleased to see me, despite her cheery greeting.
“Free booze and hot chicks. What’s not to like?” I smirked, instantly morphing into dick mode.
“Quite,” she replied with a smarmy look. Reed just chugged his beer.
Storm was like an open book to me. I had always been able to read her real mood through that layer of bullshit she hid beneath. I called her out on that, too, and she despised me for it. Reed did the same, but from him, she took it. No shock there then. Bumping uglies had been on both their agendas for years. Fuck knew why they didn’t just get on with it.
As far as the world was concerned, Storm Summers had it all, but I knew differently. She was just as screwed up as the rest of us. And we were similar in so many ways, not that I would ever admit that to anyone on the planet.
We got drunk together one night at a beach party, and her guard dropped. The real Storm was so much more interesting as a person than the fabricated version. Since then, she hadn't been able to look me in the eye for long, like she regretted the burst of humanity; that baring of her soul. It wasn't like I would tell anyone what she'd divulged. If someone told me something in confidence, I'd take that fucker to the grave. Being trustworthy was an important quality that I expected in both my family and my friends. There was also the fact that I was wasted that night and could only remember half of what she had told me.Marrying wellwas in there somewhere.
“Well, what do you think?” Storm said with a sweep of her arm.
“Stop fishing, Teacup,” Reed replied dryly.
“I gave you a peace offering, remember? So, you need to be nice,” she pouted, pointing toward his fucking ‘cardy’ with one long painted finger nail.
“This is me, being nice. The house looks awesome as usual,” he added with an amused expression. Peace offering indeed. It seemed Storm was trying to transform my brother into someone her father might approve of.
Never going to happen. Reed would be considered foster scum in the mayor’s eyes. He would have to Jedi mind-trick the motherfucker to make Storm’s father see him as anything else.
“Thanks. I’ll give you a tour if you like.” Yeah, like he didn’t already know the way to her bedroom like the back of his hand.
“Yeah. That’d be cool.”
I snorted, not feeling it. I couldn’t be bothered with their lying bullshit. I didn’t get why they thought they had to put on an act for my sake.
"What's the matter with you, Brutal?" Storm sneered, narrowing her eyes at me.
I shrugged, "Nothing."
"Yeah, you might want to tell your face that then, Nix. You look like you want to rip someone's arms off." She wasn’t wrong. I was about five seconds away from kicking Cash Ryan’s ass.
"He always looks like that. That’s why we call him Brutal," Reed pointed out.
"Has someone upset you?" she questioned. Storm was wearing a floral number and a hat big enough to shelter the poor. “If they have, I’d rather you tell me so we can nip any drama in the bud. Daddy has security here and won’t settle for anyone fighting.”
