My hopes are officially up, and it’s my own fault.
Chase is being playful, pushing the boundaries a little, and I might as well be a damn bulldozer. I need to let him call the plays, and even if I’m frustrated in this moment, something tells me he will.
All I know is I’m ready when he’s ready.
No matter when. No matter what.
Chapter 9
Arianna
* * *
“Hole in one, baby!” Cam lifts her hands over her head in victory.
“That’s three in a row!” Brady shouts, crossing his arms in a pout. “You’re cheatin’.”
The rest of us laugh and Mason slaps the big guy’s shoulders.
“It’s the same shit every time, my man. Why do you think mini golf is always her idea?” He grins bowing when Cameron lifts her chin with a smile.
“It’s okay, Brady baby,” she teases. “We all know you’re the best athlete out of all of us.”
I chuckle, and warm breath meets my ear.
“Does that laugh mean you agree?”
I shift to look at Chase, but he’s already slipping away, his lips curved around his water bottle, and my nerves fire off.
He knows I’m still staring his way and—
“Payton,” Parker speaks slow, as slow as his body lifts off the bench beside me, as if he’s approaching a wounded animal and fears for them to run. “What’s wrong?”
All our heads jerk in her direction, the clubs falling from our boys’ hands as they quickly follow behind Parker.
She makes not a sound, but as her head lifts from the screen of her phone, tears fall like a waterfall, rapid and non-stop.
She doesn’t blink, and while she’s looking at her brother, I’m not so sure she sees him.
“Payton.” Lolli tries this time, stepping beside her, and gently curves Payton’s wrist, so she can see the screen. Her eyes scan over it a moment, and she glares, her head snapping toward Parker, anger bringing heat to her skin.
“He’s gone,” Payton says, voice scarily void of emotion.
“Who’s gone?” Mason says gently as he slowly approaches.
Payton brings her eyes to his, tension framing her features. She shakes her head, hands him her phone and takes off toward the exit.
“Fuck me.” Lolli tosses Nate her drink and chases after her, while Mason reaches down to pick up the phone.
He leans his body toward Parker, the two reading over the screen at the same time.
Mason shoves it into Parker’s hand, turning to stare in the direction Payton disappeared. “Lolli said it right.” He shakes his head. “Fuck me.”
“Talk, man.” Nate glares at Parker.
Parker’s shoulders fall in defeat, and he glances at the phone once more. “The funeral. They held it. They couldn’t be decent for one minute and allow the girl carrying his baby to be there.”
Oh my god.
“How do you know for sure?” Cameron chews on her fingernails.
“Mase…”
“His bitch of a mother sent her a picture from a funeral.” Mason turns to face us. “Casket is in the background and all.”
I gasp, my hand flying up to cover my mouth.
“Holy shit,” Cameron whispers, turning to me and wrapping her arms through mine.
“What do we do?” I ask Parker.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what we can do. Lolli hired someone to look into it, but he was a minor, and his family must have paid a fuck lot to keep it all under wraps.”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ bet.” Nate frowns. “I’d want to keep as much of that shit under wraps to if my oldest son was the reason for my youngest son’s death. How she continues to blame Payton and not him, I can’t understand it.” He tosses Lolli’s soda in the garbage and pulls the keys to his Hummer from his pocket. “Come on. Let’s get her home.”
Nodding, we follow after them, quietly slipping into Mason’s Tahoe, and not ten minutes later, we’re pulling up in front of Lolli’s place.
Payton’s face is stoic as she steps out.
She looks at no one, her hands stiff at her sides as she follows her brother into the house, going straight for her room.
The bedroom door is closed with cautious movements, but the second the door clicks, every one of us freezes as Payton’s piercing screams echo from the hallway, bouncing off the walls around us.
We stand there, helplessly staring at one another, and not much changes over the next hour. Lolli makes a fresh pot of coffee and we pace the house, jolting every time her sudden outbursts reach our ears.
“This isn’t good for her.” Chase shakes his head, worry etched along his face.
I reach over, squeezing his hand, and Mason scrubs his hands down his chin.
Lolli excuses herself, stepping out onto the deck—she doesn’t do well with emotion, but she’s learning, and the man who taught her how to love follows after her.
Chewing on my inner lip, my leg bounces in place.
If it were me, I’d be begging for my mom, but Payton doesn’t have one who cares, but I imagine she could use the soft touch of one right now, and my mom is the best woman I know. So, I don’t hesitate to call her, but I don’t get past the first sentence before I learn my brother beat me to it.