Storm Summers was one of those types who had never experienced a shred of desperation. Her father was the Mayor of Newport and her family was as rich as fuck. Everyone knows that money is the key to the world.
“Doyoueven know what it means, Reed? I can explain it in layman's terms if you want.”
“You swallowed a dictionary?” Reed added through a mouth full of food. He overdid the bad manners in Storm’s company as he knew how pissed off it made her.
“That’s not all she’s swallowed this week from what I’ve heard,” Micah belted with a bark of laughter.
We all laughed. How could you not?
“Fuck you, Mehari,” Storm scolded, second-naming my brother, and pulling her signature lemon-suckingface. No pun intended.
I didn’t correct her, as legally she was right. But in our eyes and most of the student body, we were the Sawyer Brothers. Four boys from broken or non-existent homes that had been brought together at different stages in our lives to live with Bethany (Ma) Sawyer. The woman who had fostered our asses who we now called mother.
“It’s Sawyer now, actually,” Reed muttered, reading my mind.
Attempting to ignore their prattling. I glanced back around the lunchroom, wondering where my little English angel was. She probably wouldn’t eat lunch in this jungle, she was way too classy, fuck me she lifted out of this shithole by a fucking mile.
“Whatever you say, Reed,” Storm was snorting, carrying the hell on, and rolling her ridiculously long eyelashes. How she kept her eyes open with the weight of those fuckers was beyond me. I usually had no time for overindulgent bitches that were too into their looks. But Storm was one of us and as I said, I’d still been there anddonethat. If the rumours were true, most of our high school had. There was still a seed of doubt in my mind that that wasn’t the case and that Storm just played the part of school whore. Possibly to mess with her fancy parents. Most of the rich girls were attention seekers.
I found it interesting that Storm and Reed appeared to be locking horns more frequently. There has always been a love-hate type of deal between them.
A shadow fell over the table, and we all glanced up to see the tower of muscle that was Phoenix (aka brother number four). He was eating an apple and glaring at that unfortunate kid with big enough balls to take the empty place at our table. The ninth grader paled, and his mouth dropped open.
“You’re in my seat,” Phoenix barked at the boy. His Adam's apple bobbed as he ate, and the veins in his thick neck flexed.
“Err, but…” the clueless freshman began with a flustered look before moving everything back onto his lunch tray.
I watched the interaction with a wry smile. “Move!” Phoenix roared, making the smaller dude jump out of his seat.
“OK, sorry, sir,” the kid squeaked, nowsheetwhite. The chair scraped against the wooden flooring as my brotherassistedthe boy with his hasty exit.
I sucked my teeth, a habit I’d picked up from Micah, shaking my head, “You’re such a bully Phoenix.”
We all fist-bumped Nix in greeting across the table.
“What? I only told him to move,” he pointed out with an innocent expression. Something he was far from being. Phoenix aka Nix was the toughest linebacker on the team,nobodyfucked with him. Yes, smiling wasn’t his strong suit, but the guy was a legend on the field.
“You could have asked himnicely. He’s a freshman. Do youwanthim to shit his pants on the first day of school?” I commented.
Phoenix sniffed and then carelessly dropped his apple core onto the side of Micah’s tray. “Nice isn’t part of my DNA.”
“Throw it in the trash, you dirty bastard,” Micah hissed with a scowl. I cringed at that one, as that’sexactlywhat Phoenix was. A bastard. He had no idea who his father had been. His birth mother had been a crack whore who hadn’t a clue how many men she’d screwed. Phoenix Carter had an unsavoury past, but then again, we all did.
Micah was still whining, “I’ve got a test on Friday, the last thing I need is your dumbass cooties.”
We had all recently had a cold, apart from Micah, who luckily escaped it. As I said, we were tight; we sharedeverything, even bugs.
Flipping him the bird, Nix replied, “Bite me.”
Out of all my brothers, Micah and Phoenix were the ones who fought the most. And I don’t mean a little slap here and there, or a game ofnot touching, can’t get mad. We’re talking a full-on brawl and a possible trip to the ER.
“So, what’s up fuckers? What did I miss?” Nix questioned with a glance around.
Reed started to tap a beat out on the table with his hands as he explained, “Not much. Micah, talking about titties.”
“Again?Really?” Storm whined, dropping her fork.
Phoenix rolled his eyes before darting a sly look around the hall. “Nothing new then. Who’s and where?” His gaze then stopped on Storm, who shot him the stink eye. A look she had mastered over the years.
