“You decided something this big, separate from me?” I asked, my voice tinny with panic. My stomach hurt. Fear made me feel small and insignificant, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since Storm had become my friend.
“I’m telling you now. First, before I tell anyone else. I haven’t even told my brothers.”
“Oh.” My eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t cry,” he said, stopping and turning toward me in front of the gate to his backyard. “I can’t bear it if you cry.”
“Okay.”
I sucked the fear and hurt back inside. But doing so made my chest burn like I had an overinflated balloon wrapped in barbed wire trapped inside of it.
“Whatever you feel like you have to do, I support you.” I straightened my shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. “I just wish you would have told me sooner what you were thinking.”
He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Nothing is going to happen right away. I just want you to be prepared.”
He opened the gate, propping it open with his body for me to step through. I entered the backyard. The door slammed behind him as he followed me. Side by side, we walked around the pool on the way to the outdoor shower. Resting our boards against the side of the garage, he flipped on the water. We didn’t talk, just exchanged weighted glances.
Did he feel as sad as I did? Like I had to savor each remaining moment together, knowing it might be our last?
“I’m scared,” I whispered as my wet hair dripped in my eyes like tears after I showered. “About you leaving.” It seemed like a dark cloud suddenly hung over us.
“Storm Peter Hardy!”
His father’s shout was a thunderclap that made both of us jump. With his black hair and sharply etched features, Graham Hardy looked nothing at all like Storm, who favored his mother.
My eyes wide, I watched Storm’s father step through the sliding glass door from the house out into the backyard. His strides stiff, he marched around the pool deck straight toward us.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, waving an official-looking piece of paper in Storm’s face.
“I’m not sure what it is, sir,” Storm said, but given his sudden stillness, something told me he did.
“It’s a truancy notice. From your school.” Graham shoved the paper at his son’s chest.
“So it is,” Storm said, wobbling from the force of the push.
“You been screwing your little friend when you should’ve been in school.” Graham’s dark gaze flicked to me, his accusation making me feel ill.
“No.” I shook my head.
“Of course that’s not true!” Storm shouted, his face turning red. “Lotus is only thirteen! Jeez, old man, get a grip.”
“That’s old enough to get into trouble.”
“She’s my friend.” Storm clenched his hands into fists. “And just a kid, a good one.”
“What makes you think you’re qualified to make a determination about anyone’s character?” Graham’s hands curled into tight fists like his son’s.
“You only have to talk to Lotus to know the type of person she is.” Storm’s brown eyes flashed with fire. “But then talking’s not your problem. Listening to anyone else speak but yourself is.”
“That’s quite enough.” Graham’s raven brows drew together. “I’ve had quite enough of your insolence. You’ll go with me to school tomorrow. I’ll have to take a day off from work because of you, but you will fix this.”
Storm lifted his chin. “Nothing to fix.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Graham’s fingers flexed so tightly, the veins stood out on the back of his hands. “Of course there is.”
I was scared, but shifted closer to Storm as his father leaned in.
“I have a job,” Storm said firmly, holding his ground and widening his stance. “I start next week. I’m not doing school anymore.”
His mom stepped out through the sliding glass door. Taking in the scene with brown eyes like Storm’s, she moved quickly toward us, holding a dishtowel.
“You absolutely will go to school. It’s not up for debate.” Graham no longer shouted, but somehow his quieter tone was more intimidating. “You will graduate, son. Afterward, if you want to torpedo your life, that will be on you. Your choice, not mine.”
Storm’s brow furrowed. “It’s my choice now.”
“Not while you live in my house. In my house, you obey my rules.” Graham drew himself up to his full height. Even though Storm had grown a lot over the past year, his father was still taller. “Go to your room. I’m going to take Lotus home. I need to talk to her father. Then I’ll talk to you.”
“I’ll go to my room.” Storm tipped his head back to maintain his father’s gaze. “But only to pack my things. I was planning to move out next week, but I might as well do it right now.”
“You put him up to this?” Graham shifted his narrowed gaze to me.
“No, sir.” Wide-eyed and trembling, I shook my head.
“You pregnant?” he asked.
“What? No.” My cheeks flaming, I stared at my feet.
“Thank God for that,” Graham said. “But I don’t want you coming around anymore. It’s not right, a fifteen-year-old boy being friends with a thirteen-year-old girl.”
“Graham, no,” his mother said. “They’re just friends. There’s nothing inappropriate going on. Let’s calm down, go inside, sit down, and talk this through.”
“No, Ivy. This is my house,” Graham said evenly. “I make the decisions. Storm knows that. You should know that.”
“We all know how it is, old man.” Storm’s eyes flared. “You tell us often enough.”
“Then you know you’re going back to school.” Graham’s jaw firmed. “If you don’t agree, you can turn back around and walk out the gate you just came through.”
Saber and Shield had appeared. Silent and unmoving, Storm’s brothers stood side by side, just inside the sliding glass door. Though Graham had named his sons after active military operations, Storm’s brothers were merely passive bystanders.
“I guess I’m leaving then.” Storm took my arm. His grip wasn’t as gentle as usual, but I didn’t let on. I knew he didn’t mean to hurt or scare me.
“Storm,” Ivy said, sounding and looking panicked. “Don’t go. Not like this. Please.”
“Gone, Mom,” Storm bit out through his clenched teeth. “I’m gone. I can’t stay here with him any longer.” He jerked his chin at his father. “I’ll call you when I’m settled.”
“Ivy, I forbid you to talk to him again,” Graham said to her, then turned to Storm. “If you walk away right now, you don’t exist. You’re dead to me. Dead to everyone in this family. Do you understand me?”
“I hear you,” Storm said, his voice deep. “I’ve always heard you. I’m leaving. I know that’s what you’ve always wanted.”
His fingers digging into my skin, Storm escorted me from the backyard. Once the gate closed behind us, he released me and let out a shaky exhale.