Page 54 of Aftertaste

“Lauren?” the guy asked, his voice deep and throaty. “What are you doing here?” He didn’t look down at me as he spoke to my mom even though I was stood right between them. There was an air of confidence to him, but he also dripped of wealth.

“Patrick?” Mom’s voice was breathy, like she couldn’t quite form the single word. “I…I had no idea you’d be—”

“Dad?” My stomach rolled at the sound of Storm’s voice. “Who are you talking—” Storm’s gaze landed on mine, an instant smile appearing on his face. “Sage?” He boosted his bag up on his shoulder and came right to me. His arms wrapped around me and I pulled in a calming breath, feeling like I was finally home once again. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.” He planted a kiss on the top of my head then looked down at me. “Did you see the game?”

“I did.” I lifted up onto my tiptoes, about to ask how his shoulder felt, but Mom’s hand grabbing my bicep and pulling me away from Storm had me smacking my lips together.

“Sage.” Her voice was like whiplash, a tone I’d never heard from her before. “What are you doing?” Her chest heaved as if she’d just ran a marathon and I frowned up at her. “Tell me this isn’t the boyfriend you were talking about.”

“It is…”

I heard Storm and his dad murmuring something, but I wasn’t sure what to focus on, not until his dad’s eyes met mine. “You promised this would never happen, Lauren,” he warned, his attention still on me. If looks could have killed, I would have been bleeding out on the floor in that moment.

“I didn’t know you were still in the area,” Mom gritted out. “A call would have been nice.”

“A call?” He snorted. “We had a fuckin’ deal.”

“I know we did.”

“Dad,” Storm interrupted. “What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing.” He spun to face Storm. “End the relationship with her, right now.”

“What?” Storm laughed at his dad and stood to his full height. “You may be my father, but you haven’t been my dad for a long fuckin’ time.” He took a step toward him, matching him in height. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. Not anymore.”

“You can’t date her.”

“Why?” Storm growled.

“Because.” His dad turned slowly, his gaze meeting my mom’s, then mine, and finally back to Storm. “She’s your sister.”

She’s My What?

Storm

“What?” My entire body felt like it was floating. Like I wasn’t on this earth anymore, but instead heading up into the skies without an ounce of control.

“You heard me,” Dad spat, not giving a flying fuck that anyone could hear. I glanced around, real goddamn glad that we were the only people left in the gym. “She’s your sister.”

“No, she’s not.” I turned to face Sage, but she looked like she wasn’t paying attention, as if she’d gone into a place in her mind where nobody could get to her and I wanted nothing more than to be right there with her.

“She is,” Sage’s mom whispered, her hand coming up to her neck, a clear signal that she was distressed.

I stumbled back a few steps, realizing that they were both telling the truth. Dad and Sage’s mom exchanged a series of looks, both raging from concerned to pissed off.

Good. I was glad they were feeling the same as I was.

“You’re lying.”

“We’re not, son.” Dad moved toward me, but I held my hand out to stop him coming any closer. None of this made sense. Not a single word of it. “She’s your sister.” He paused then pointed at Sage’s mom. “And she’s your mom.”

My chest caved; the breath being knocked out of me. “No,” I whispered. “No.” My heart begged me to look back at Sage, but my brain told me not to. I was in crisis mode. But it only took seconds for my shock to turn into red hot anger. “Fuck. You,” I gritted out, looking at both my dad and Sage’s mom. “Fuck the both of you.” I didn’t waste another second. I spun on my heels and got the fuck out of there before my brain imploded.

Getting Some Answers

Sage

Each moment that passed by seemed to go by at a snail’s pace. It had been four days since I saw Storm standing in the gym, his dad and my mom gathered around us, confessing something I still didn’t understand.

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