Page 55 of Aftertaste

How could he be my brother? How could my father have been so close all of this time and I never knew? Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t Storm know? There were a barrage of questions slamming through me, and I hated that I didn’t have an answer to any of them. But I also didn’t want to face it. I didn’t want to confront the reality.

Several times Mom had tried to talk to me since then, but I’d resulted in constantly wearing noise canceling headphones and blasting my music as I barricaded myself in my bedroom.

I didn’t want to hear what she had to say. She was a liar, whether that was now or in the past. She’d kept something from me. Something fucking huge. And now…fuck…now I had no idea where I stood. Storm was my brother. Myfullbrother. We had the same Mom and Dad.

How did we move on from that? How were we meant to get past what we’d done?

My stomach rolled, only this time it wasn’t from seeing Storm, but from the prospect of sitting opposite him later today. Mom had finally had enough of me ignoring her and instructed me to have a shower and to get dressed then I’d be given some answers. Answers I wasn’t sure I wanted if I was honest.

I worked on automatic as I did what she’d said, and before I knew it, I was in her car, a baggy T-shirt and a pair of jeans covering my body, my wet hair causing a damp patch on my shoulder. I didn’t care though. I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, not after the words they’d spoken and the bomb they’d dropped.

“You’re going to be okay, Sage, I promise,” Mom said, using her comforting tone, but it did nothing to settle the way the nerves were exploding throughout my body as we pulled into the lot of the café near the bridge that separated the two sides of town.

I spotted Storm’s car right away and my hands started to shake. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t sit across a table from him, knowing we’d done what we’d done all while he was my brother.My brother.

My breath caught in my throat so I grabbed my neck, trying to let it free, but all I could think about were the nights I’d spent at Storm’s, our body’s pressed against each other’s, our lips fused together as one.

Fuck.

What had we done?

“Sage,” Mom’s voice broke through and I whipped my head around, seeing her face next to me in the open passenger door. “Come on, sweetie. It’ll be okay.”

I opened my mouth, about to confess to everything me and Storm had done, but I couldn’t find the words. Maybe we should keep it secret. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt, right? After all, that was what they’d done to us.

My legs felt like they were going to give way any second as we entered the café. My skin crawled with uneasiness as Mom pulled me toward the back, but as soon as I saw Storm’s face, it all washed away.

He was there. Waiting for us.

But he wouldn’t look at me, not even when I sat opposite him, our body’s so close yet so far apart.

“Lauren,” Storm’s dad greeted. “Sage.”

I didn’t turn to face him because the only attention I wanted was from Storm.

“Patrick,” Mom replied. “Storm.” At the sound of his name, his head snapped up, but still he wouldn’t look at me. He didn’t say a single word to my mom, and after a couple of minutes silence, Mom continued, “I think you both deserve some answers.”

Storm snorted. “You think?” He leaned back, acting like none of this was bothering him, but I saw the tension in his shoulders and the tensing of his jaw. He was pissed.

“Watch your mouth, son,” Patrick warned, but his tone was softer, as if he was tired of this conversation already. “We did what was best for both of you.” Patrick’s gaze met mine. “When Lauren and I split, I wanted to take both of you.” My brows raised as he spoke directly to me. “She knew she couldn’t afford the both of you, not with that little hospital job she had.” His gaze veered over to my mom. “I’m guessing you still work there.”

“She does,” I answered for my mom, feeling my hackles rise.

“Right.” Patrick nodded and took a sip of his black coffee. “Anyway. When she refused me taking both of you, we came up with an agreement.” Patrick glanced at Storm, and although my brain screamed at me to look at him too, I couldn’t, not while I was trying to sort through what he was saying. “I took Storm, and Lauren took Sage.”

I blinked, trying to come to terms with the way he was talking. He was acting as if this was a business deal that had gone bad, and I wondered if he acted like this with Storm too? Was that what Storm meant about him not being a dad to him for a long time?

Storm and I had been seeing each other for nearly two months, and not once had I seen his dad at their house when I was there. In fact, he barely spoke about him.

“So, you thought the best idea was to take a parent away from each of us?” Storm asked, his voice carefully calm, but I knew it was all a front.

“Yes,” Mom answered. “We thought it would be the best thing for you both, and—”

“It wasn’t,” I cut her off, standing and causing the table to wobble at my movement. My eyes welled up, my throat closing. “I had an entire family out there and had no idea.”

“Sage.” Mom’s hand wrapped around my wrist. “Please understand—”

“No.” I ground my teeth together, trying to get myself under control, but I couldn’t. Something had snapped. Maybe it was because Storm was sitting opposite me, or the way Patrick spoke so matter of fact, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sit here and listen to what else they said to justify it. “You fucked up.” I narrowed my eyes at Mom and Patrick. “You both fucked up really bad.”

---