“He’s still driving that bag of crap?”
Phoenix’s smile was now meaty. “Yep.”
“I’m surprised it still fucking moves.” Hudson had bought his first car himself with the cash he earned at the docks. It was one of those facts he’d wind me up about as Ma had helped me to buy my Jeep.
Hud now worked at our old college, Epic Heights, as a football coach there. He was successful from what I’d heard, but still earned fuck all.
I watched as Hudson, Molly, and Harper all climbed out of his death trap and made their way into the building. The girls were waving excitedly at me through the window, and I gave them a fond smile.
“Looking good, brother,” Hudson belted as he came into the bar like a fucking hurricane.
Pushing up from our seats, we greeted each other. “Thanks, man, you’re not looking so bad yourself. Put on a few pounds since I last saw you. Suits you, though,” I chuckled, tapping Hudson on the stomach. We both knew my words were bullshit as my palm was met with his rock-hard abs.
“Funny fucker, aren’t you? I see you’ve started without us,” he said, drawing back. He stole a glance at Molly, who was grinning at me but clearly didn’t hear my jibe.
“Yep. I was starving. We can’t all live off the blood of humans,” I retorted with a lip curl. Everyone knew Hudson Gage wasn’t wired right.
Hudson was a similar height and build to me, as was our other foster brother, Micah. All three of us were well-matched strength-wise and so could hold our own on the rare occasion we came to blows. Nix was another level at six three and built like a tank. One punch from him and it was game over.
The girls held back slightly while we carried out our bro shit. As Hudson went to the bar, they moved around him. I called out and told him to get a tab before turning towards his girl. “Molly, looking fine as always, and Baby S, get over here, both of you.”
As I hugged Harper, she muttered into my ear. “You do realize there’s a group of girls taking selfies in front of your car.”
Drawing back, I shrugged without looking. “It happens.”
As Harper slid in next to Nix and sucked face, I turned to Molly. “So, you ever gonna leave that jerk-off and come and live with me?”
“I heard that,” Hudson barked over his shoulder from the bar.
“I said it loud,” I volleyed back.
Pulling Mols in for a quick hug, she squeezed me and sang in that sweet voice of hers. “He’s so glad you’re coming home, Reed. We all are.” Molly worked as a florist in a flower shop. When Hudson had told me, I hadn’t been surprised that his girl would work surrounded by beauty. She was saving money to open her own shop one day. Again, I wanted to help with that, but both Hud and Mols had rejected my offer. What was the point in having so much money if no one would allow me to spend it on them?
Hud came back from the bar, and the banter changed to where I might settle. My gut clenched. Was I home? Yes. Due to the trade, I had the opportunity to come back for good. I just needed to make the Patriots proud.
I should feel happy and complete. But I didn’t, there was still that gap: a massive fucking hole in my life that only one person could fill. And the jury was out. What the fuck was I going to do about that?
I spent the next couple of hours attempting to steer the subject away from Storm, discussing what my family and friends had been up to.
Ma was seeing someone, a man called Jonathan Smart. That gave me another reason not to stay at the house. I didn’t want to cramp her style now that she had finally met a guy. It must have been quite new as she hadn’t said a thing on the video call I had with her the previous week.
Molly and Hudson were indeed looking to rent their own place. He spent most of the time at her father’s house anyway. Richard Miller had been our high school principal, and he and Hud hadn’t always seen eye to eye. They’d buried the hatchet and got along well now, but Hudson and Molly still needed their own space.
Hud and Harper still lived with Ma, and of course, Phoenix had moved into his biological father’s pool house on the Summer’s estate. Nix’s mom, Luna, still lived upstate with his other half-brother, Alex. He was now eighteen and a bit of a tearaway from what I’d heard. Phoenix explained that they saw each other most weeks as Alex caught the bus to school. The little punk was now in his final year at Harbor Heights, our old high school. It was also the place where Storm volunteered one day a week to assist the school’s Matron, so Nix had told me.
As we were getting ready to leave, I heard Hudson talking to Nix about a doubles golf game the following weekend. Hud said he was coaching and couldn’t make it.
After paying the tab, even though everyone attempted to stop me, Phoenix appeared by my side and explained that he and Hudson were due to play golf together against his father and Storm’s fiancé the following weekend.
I could see the cogs whirring on his face as the unspoken invitation shone from his eyes.
“So, you want me to join your team to play a round of golf against Dominic Summers and Jasper the prick?”
“Yeah, although that’s not his name, you know,” Nix chuckled as we followed the others out of the bar.
“It is to me.”
Hudson snorted. “I can just see how that’s going to go.”
