SWNOVELS Pucking Around: Chapter 87
“Harrison!” I cry, slapping him in the chest. God, he’s such a little instigator. Between him and Caleb, I don’t know who is worse. At least we’re alone, which is why I dragged Harrison in here in the first place. The next closest person to us is the figure skating coach standing down at the far end of the rink messing with the Bluetooth speakers.
My idiot twin cracks himself up, laughing at Caleb’s expense. Mars stands behind Cay, one hand on his shoulder, as if he needs physical restraining. Before I can choose between going to soothe Caleb or pushing Harrison from the top of the bleachers, a new voice enters the fray.
“Oh, hoooooly shit! Is it twin o’clock up in here?”
All four of us turn to see Jake walking down the rink from the opposite direction, a huge smile on his face. He climbs up the bleachers, holding out a hand to my brother. “Harrison, right? So great to meet you, man.”
Taken slightly aback, Harrison holds out his hand and lets Jake shake it.
“How did you know we were here?” says Caleb.
“Mars texted me,” Jake replies. “Not a moment too soon. Novy and Morrow were being super weird tryna get me to buy them breakfast.”
Caleb goes still, his expression carefully veiled.
Jake turns all his attention back to my brother. “God, you know, I bet you get this a lot, but you look just like your dad,” he says, glancing between us. “You’re right, Seattle. You make a very handsome dude,” he adds at Harrison with a wink.
“I’m happily married,” Harrison replies, extracting his hand from Jake’s grip.
“You’re her twin,” Caleb mutters.
Recovering his snark, Harrison smirks at him. “Yeah. And you must be the Tweedle Dumbass of the group.”
Jake snorts as he plops down on the bleachers a row down from us. “Tweedle Dumbass…” He glances over at Caleb. “I think I might like that more than Snuffy—”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Caleb mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.
“And you must be the Swede,” says Harrison, his eyes now on Ilmari.
“Finn,” Mars and I say at the same time.
“What did I say?” Harrison says, glancing at me.
“You said Swede,” I reply. “That’s a whole other country, H.”
“Right,” he laughs. “Well…these are the guys, right? What are you calling them—your boyfriends? Your squad? Your pussy posse?”
Jake snorts, his mouth open like he’s about to speak.
“Don’t,” I snap. “The first of you to refer to our relationship as the ‘pussy posse’ will be the first voted off the island. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Jake replies quickly.
Caleb nods.
Ilmari does nothing. But hell will literally freeze over before he says the words ‘pussy’ and ‘posse’ in the same sentence.
“So…you’re the one-night stand in Seattle,” Harrison says, pointing at Jake.
Jake laughs. “Guilty. But I had nothing to do with her leaving your fancy brunch—oh, and hey—happy wedding,” he says, tapping Harrison’s leg with his fist.
“And you’re the dildo at the airport guy,” Harrison adds, pointing at Caleb.
Jake chokes on another laugh as Ilmari glances down at Caleb. “You’re what guy?”
“It’s a long story,” I say at the same time that Caleb looks right back at him and says, “Hurricane has a foot long squid tentacle dildo. Ask nicely, and she’ll put it in your ass.”
Ilmari’s eyes go wide as the other three laugh.
“And we’ve already established you’re the Swede,” Harrison says.
“Finn,” Ilmari, Jake, and I say at once.
“Harrison, stop teasing them, or I’ll call Som right now and tell him to rescue three more cats,” I threaten, giving him my best hard stare.
“Fine,” he mutters.
I hadn’t gotten very far into my story before the guys walked up, so Harrison is still flying a bit blind. He knows the basics, which is that we all sort of stumbled our way into this twisty pretzel of a relationship.
“How long are you in town?” Jake asks him.
“That remains to be seen,” Harrison replies. “The jet is on standby.”
Jake snorts. “The jet? What, like your family has a private jet you keep fueled?”
Harrison and I just look at him.
“Well…fuck,” he mutters. “Your family has a private jet.”
“Kinda,” I reply with a shrug. “H was worried about me. I’ve been flying solo since I moved down here, which is breaking major rules.”
“You haven’t been solo, babe,” Jake replies, sitting forward on the bench to take my hand. “I know you’ve missed your brother, but I hope you haven’t felt alone—”
“Jake, no,” I soothe. “It’s just…Price Family rules, you know? For so long now, we’ve only had each other. They sensed trouble brewing with me and Harrison knew it was time to regroup. The Prices stick together. Always.”
“Are we the trouble brewing?” says Caleb, still glancing warily at my twin.
I know trusting people is tough for him. He’ll do his best because Harrison is my brother, but for as much as H talks a big game about hating cats, he practically is one himself. And so is Caleb. I have a feeling they’ll get along like oil and water…like cats in a bag. At least for the first little while.
But I can just imagine them a few Christmases from now, thick as thieves as they plot out a devious plan to make all the coffee mint flavored. Harrison will tolerate Jake. He’ll be clinically polite to Ilmari. But he’ll love Caleb. They’ll text incessantly, even as they pretend they barely know each other. Harrison will help Caleb put together a grilling cookbook for Jake for Christmas. He’ll pretend like it’s no big deal and Caleb will shrug when Jake thanks him for it. Meanwhile, I’ll be a blubbering mess.
My breath catches as that beautiful vision of our shared future pops like a soap bubble, leaving my heart pounding. God, I want to stay in the vision longer. I want to see the boys up at my family’s ranch in Montana. I want to know that my parents love and accept them, accept us. I want to see them laughing as we open presents, Somchai and my mom busy in the kitchen making French toast for breakfast. Jake will finally wear daddy down and convince him to give him guitar lessons. He’ll learn four chords and give up. Then the guys will all drag me out ice skating on the frozen lake.
“Rakas?” Ilmari is looking at me, his blue eyes soft.
I blink, swallowing the ball of emotion in my throat, and glance around at all of them. I missed something. They’re all looking to me. “What?”
“Your brother asked what time you finish with work today,” Ilmari replies.
I clear my throat. “Um, I’m finished now. I was just waiting to get a ride home.”
Harrison snorts. “Still a little chicken shit behind the wheel?”
“I’m finished,” says Ilmari. “I will take you.”
I glance to Jake and Cay.
“I’ve got hours yet,” Caleb mutters. “Longer the longer I stand here.”
“I’ll give you my keys before we go,” Jake says. “I’ll ride back with Mars and Rach.”
Caleb looks to me, giving me a nod before he walks off.
I turn to Harrison. “Will you stay the night?”
“Of course, he will,” says Jake, getting to his feet. “He’s coming out to the house. I was already texting a grocery delivery order as we’ve been sitting here. You like seafood, Harrison?”
“Yeah,” Harrison says, his tone hesitant.
“Great, I’m making a low country seafood boil tonight—shrimp and andouille sausage, corn, onion, potatoes—the works. It’ll be delicious.”
“Jake is a great cook,” I add.
“Oh, shit—that’s right,” Jake says with a laugh. “You’re a chef. Well, I don’t have a Michelin star, but I do okay.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Harrison replies.
I stand up, taking a deep breath. This is fine. My twin is unexpectedly here and he’s coming out to the beach house where I live with two and a half men and a dog. The internet is speculating wildly about the status of my relationships, I have an NHL public relations manager in ‘manage it’ mode, and the fate of four people’s careers now hang in the balance.
This is totally fine. That’s what the cartoon animals always say right before the anvil falls from the sky, right? This is all going to be just fine.