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Chapter Twenty-Two
BRIGGS
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The only thing I manageto keep in my mind is to watch for Pris when we return to the party. She’s gone and a tiny bit of the tension I carried into the woods is left there. Xan walks beside me, his hands in his pockets and his gaze cast to the ground. He’s clean shaven, handsome, and put together on the outside.
I regret telling Millie that we’d never be in love again, but I need to manage her hopes. Temper her expectations. The last thing we need right now is her thinking we’re going to be a real family. She has me, and she has him.
Xan and I don’t have each other.
We can’t.
“You okay?” Jet asks, approaching us as Millie is dragged off by her friends for more chocolate strawberries.
“Yeah. Pris decided today was a great day to tell Briggs how she feels.” Xan shrugs and tilts his head in annoyance.
“She is such a fucking bitch sometimes,” Del slides into the conversation.
“Where’s Zeke?” Xan scans for a moment.
“He went after Pris,” Tabby is there as if magically drawn into the orbit of her siblings.
I notice in that moment something I’ve never noticed before. Not to this depth.
The Rykers are more than looking out for each other. They are in tune in a way that I’ve never known to possible. They notice everything. They pick up on everything. They move as one. Like a school of fish, or the engine of a car, or gears of a clock. Like a military strike team, everyone knowing exactly what to do and when to do it to neutralize the threat. Xan as the leader.
Not one single person glanced our way as Pris ripped me a new one. Not a flicker of a glance as Millie took off in tears. Except for the Rykers.
“Thank you,” I say and once it’s out I’m not entirely sure what it the gratitude is for. Thank you for accepting her, thank you for protecting her, thank you for the kindness, the support, the party, the help.
Xan slips his arm across my shoulders and tucks me to his side laying a short kiss to the top of my head. It’s an absent-minded gesture and the kiss says you’re welcome more than anything else. Del takes my hand, gives it a quick squeeze and Tabby smiles at us with big glazed eyes as if she were watching us say I do.
“Now that that’s out of the way,” Xan glances down at me, shaking my shoulders slightly. “Let’s go have some bouncy house fun.”
Xan starts to the giant inflatable castle and I shoot Del a mocking glare. I gave her a budget. It’s my fault I didn’t put strings on the money.
Tabby shrieks and jumps on Xan’s back, getting a piggyback, and points forward, kicking at Xan’s legs like he’s a horse. Del winks at me completely unapologetic about her flamboyant use of my money.
“You coming?” Jet asks and I shake my head.
He frowns and steps up to me. “Fuck them, Briggs. Who gives a shit what they think? Do you want to look perfect or do you want to be happy? You can’t have both.”
The words dig deeper than he could possibly know. I glance around at the other parents. Sipping drinks and small talking. All I see is my mother. Her control. Her perfection.
She wasn’t happy.
The messy passionate flawed girl from the notes, turned into a calculated, cold, upstanding woman. And it made her miserable.
Jet grabs me around the waist and heaves me over his shoulder and I screech, half laughing half embarrassed. Millie notices me from the snack table and her wide eyes switch to excitement in a flash.
“Millie,” I yell. “Save me!”
She sprints toward us her energy buzzing.
“Throw her in, Uncle Jet,” Millie jumps around us.
“You traitor,” I say. “I’m your mother!”
