Page 39 of The Way We Are

I glide my hand down my clothes hanging limp on my wet frame. “The last time I checked, I was a man.”

“Exactly! You’re a man, Ryan.” Her smile grows right alongside Brax’s tormented expression. “Axel is still a boy.”

“And me?” Brax asks, stepping up to the plate to receive his praise, not the least bit deterred by the evil glare Justine’s brothers are giving him over her shoulder. “Am I a boy or a man?”

Justine’s eyes stray from me to Brax. She conceals her blush, but nothing can remove the interest from her eyes. “I don’t know,” she answers with a shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe I’ll find out tonight?”

She tries to impede her eldest brother’s steps with a playful laugh, but he's on Brax’s heels before he is even halfway out the parking lot of our school.

16

Ryan

“Everything good?”

I slide into the driver’s seat of my truck, ignoring the suggestive smirk of a blonde sucking down cigarettes as fast as my dad is guzzling beers in a strip club on the outskirts of town.

“Yeah, he’ll be occupied for a few hours, if not more. Dani said she’d call if he leaves before they shut up shop.”

Brax nods, understanding my dad’s love of strippers is the only reason I can keep my end of the bargain I made with Justine earlier today.

When I arrived home from the carwash this afternoon, I was anticipating bypassing my dad on his way to work. Unfortunately, there was a change in his schedule I failed to notice.Yes, keeping informed of his whereabouts is a fulltime job.

I had intended to message Justine to tell her my change in plans, but just before I hit the send button, a brilliant idea popped into my head. It was as unoriginal as it was corny, but my dad accepted his early Father’s Day present without qualm. He nearly fell out of his chair when he spotted the five hundred dollars I stuffed into an old envelope I found lying around the house.

I was only planning to give him a hundred dollars, but I realized that would only keep him out of my mom’s hair for an hour at most. By increasing my generosity, I tripled the likelihood he’d be gone longer. It killed me to give him any of the money I earned fighting three weeks ago, but I wasn’t lying when I said I’d do everything in my power to stop Savannah from following my mother’s footsteps. I’ll even encourage my father’s cheating ways.

I didn’t even make it to the base of the stairs when I overheard my father telling my mother he was called in for an emergency shift. He kissed her cheek before racing out of our house like his backside was on fire. Since I knew where he was going, I didn’t follow him.

With another one hundred dollars removed from my kitty, I was guaranteed a night of freedom. Dani may be a stripper, but she still has morals. She’ll contact me if my father’s budges an inch from the front row seat he’s currently occupying.

A few miles away, I pull my truck to the curb of the park I engraved mine and Savannah’s name at years ago. Considering it's only a little after 9 PM on a Saturday night, I’m shocked to discover the block deserted.

“Did you text Chris to say we were on our way?”

Brax nods before lowering his brown eyes to the screen of his phone. “He’s coming. He’s just got to fly under the witch’s radar.”

“Things still not right with his mom?”

Brax huffs. “Are they ever? Have you met his mother? I thought my grandma was strict. She’s got nothing on that lady.”

I sit in silence, shocked. I’ve known Chris for years, but I’ve never met his family. Usually when we go out, he meets us in the park where we’re waiting for him. Even when I tried to surprise him on his birthday, he came over before the sun had risen. I grew so accustomed to his excuses, I stopped asking for an invite to his house years ago. I figured if he wanted me to meet his family, he’d invite me. Obviously with Savannah sidetracking my thoughts the past three weeks, I missed out on an invitation.

“When did you meet Chris’s family?” I try to keep jealousy out of my voice. My attempts are borderline. Brax, Chris and I do everything together, so I’m a little peeved I’ve been left out.

Brax laughs, seemingly amused. “Are you jealous, Ry-Ry?” He noogies my head, frustrating me even more. “You’ve got no reason to be. I didn’t meet her by choice; she’s the receptionist at the practice Ryder made me visit last week.”

“You went to see a doctor? Are you dying?” I ask, laughing. Brax loathes doctors as much as I loathe cops.

Brax punches me in the arm, holding nothing back. “You wish. Ryder makes all employees get a full blood work-up. You can’t have any nasties in your blood if you want to work at a tattoo parlor.”

The excitement in his voice shocks me. Brax never wants to do anything, much less work.

“You’re liking your punishment? I always knew there was a bit of submissiveness in you.”

He whacks me for a second time. “Says the guy pining over a taken woman.”

His snide remark winds me more than his fists. “She doesn’t love him,” I snap, feeding Brax’s arrogance with the same denial I’ve given him time and time again the past three weeks.

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