Page 4 of Intolerable Bishop

“I’m not helpless,” I said, but they ignored me as Ivy agreed. “And I’m right here.” They laughed and hugged again.

“Boo, you need to face facts. You’re an adorable hot ass of a mess,” Lizzy said, making the three of us laugh.

“Okay, that I can’t deny.” I cleared my throat, and the heat began to spread as I turned my attention to the three guys. They stood out in the airport, and I wasn’t sure why I was so anxious to introduce them to Lizzy. “Lizzy, this is Myles, Blake, and Theo,” I said, laughing as she turned. The Kings would make anyone stop and stare, and Lizzy’s eyes roamed over them with her mouth hanging open.

“Well, hello. Jesus bitch, you didn’t say you added a third. Twins…damn. Now that is hot. You kinky slut, I love it!” I covered my face as heads turned in our direction. Lizzy was not quiet. She was never quiet about anything, ever.

“Theo is not…no, it’s not like that,” I said as he and Blake glanced at one another.

Lizzy completely ignored me as she stepped past me and held out her hand to Myles. “Hello, hottie number one. I recognize you from the photos of you and my girl here in your car. Took you long enough, but you finally wore her down. Good on you. No one else has ever been able to do that. You deserve an award.”

“Lizzy…,” I growled.

“Naw, let her continue. I want to hear all the stories of my Snowflake,” Myles said, wrapping his arm around my waist.

“Snowflake…that’s adorable,” Lizzy said, her bottom lip pushing out as she clutched her hands together over her heart. “And an accent…damn…I need to go to this school. How do I enlist?”

I was going to tell her to behave, but there was really no point. Lizzy was going to do whatever she wanted. I couldn’t get any redder as her eyes bounced from Blake to Theo and back again. “You know, girl, I heard what you said, but I think that would be a hot-ass sandwich. Just saying, and you always have three holes.” Theo’s eyebrows rose as Blake laughed.

“Lizzy,” I growled again, but she waved her hand at me like I was a pesky insect.

“Hello, sexy number two and three.” Lizzy held out her hand to shake theirs, and I prayed that was the end of the embarrassing moments, but apparently, she was just getting warmed up. “How many more are in the group that you could add? Damn, the images in my head right now would be enough to make a prostitute blush.”

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around. “I think we need to get going. I’m starving.”

“That’s fine, but we are not done with this conversation because I have questions, lots and lots of questions.”

“I bet you do,” I said, and I could hear the guys chuckling, but when I glared at them, they smirked. Ugh…Myles was never going to let this go. The worst part was that she wasn’t wrong. Blake times two wasn’t exactly hard to picture.

As soon as we stepped outside, the guys stopped and looked around. “Where’s the snow and igloos,” Myles asked.

I glanced up at him. “Please tell me you’re joking?”

He burst out laughing. “I was tryin’ so hard to keep a straight face, but ya look so horrified.”

I swatted his arm. “Jerk,” I said half-heartedly, but everyone smiled.

We marched through the maze of cars. Lizzy stopped in front of her mum’s minivan, and I would’ve paid money to go back and photograph the look on their faces when the guys realized they had to get inside a fifteen-year-old minivan without air conditioning.

“This is inhumane,” Theo grumbled as he wedged himself into the very back.

“You could walk,” I offered, and he rolled his eyes at me. I rode up front with Lizzy, the music playing and windows down as we pulled out of the airport.

It wasn’t so much that Portland wasn’t beautiful because it was. And it wasn’t that the people weren’t nice, because they were, except for a few individuals. But this was where I’d spent my entire life. The smell of the air and the feel of the breeze all seemed different, as if nature was calling and welcoming me home. I couldn’t have explained it to anyone if asked, but there wasn’t a single place on the way to my home that didn’t hold a memory. From eating ice cream with Lizzy, borrowing books at the library, watching movies at the theater, and going back to school shopping with my mum. Everywhere I looked was a ghostly image of me at another time.

I couldn’t even say that it was a happier time. It was familiar, where Wayward and even the guys were still like a shiny new penny to me. Theo was still complaining that we ate in the vehicle and that he got sesame seeds from his hamburger bun on the seat, while Blake and Myles pointed them out as they laughed at his efforts to find them all. Knowing them, they were pointing out seeds that didn’t even exist, but their voices became background noise as we turned onto my road.

We lived on a ten-acre parcel, and my heart sank as we drove up. Tree branches were lying on the ground, and the grass looked like it hadn’t been touched since we left. Someone had smashed our mailbox off the post at the end of the road, and as we pulled into the driveway, all my memories came flooding back and tried to carry me away.

“I’m sorry, Boo. I should’ve warned you,” Lizzy said.

“It’s okay. I…I just thought my dad would’ve cared a little more, you know? But nothing he does or doesn’t do surprises me now.”

Pushing open my door, I stepped out and leaned back into Myles, who wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Don’t worry. Ya got three guys stayin’ with ya for extra hands. Between the four of us…oh and Ivy….”

“Thanks,” Ivy chimed in, making me smile.