Rafe (9 page)

“Hey, Reeve. Hey, Ryder and hi to the guy I don’t know.” She laughs to herself. “Wow, I have managed to silence all three Phoenix boys today?” Snowflakes stands over me and puts her flip flips back on. I’m kind of glad they she is wearing jeans and not a skirt after the position we were just in. She holds a hand out for me. I take it and climb to my feet. I pull her in front of me and wrap my arms around her waist, placing my hands on her perfectly flat stomach. I can feel the warmth spreading throughout my body. I have only ever had this feeling when around Lucy.

“Boys, meet my girlfriend, Lucy Cooper. Be nice because you know she can kick your ass.” I wink at them. Lucy turns in my arms and I rest my hands on her soft, perfect ass. She stretches up to kiss me. She licks my bottom lip and her tongue meets with mine. She pulls back and speaks in my ear.

“Nice to know I agreed to be your girlfriend, Phoenix,” she raises an eyebrow at me. Shit, should I have asked her first? Will she even agree now?

“Lucy ‘Snowflake’ Cooper, will you please be my girlfriend after years of wanting you, with my brothers and that fucknut as my witnesses,” I wink at her again.

She finally answers, after looking at my brothers and they nod their heads in agreement.

“Well, since you asked so nicely, Mr Phoenix. I could think of worse things to be.” She winks at me but not yet actually giving me an answer. “Yes, Rafe I will be your girlfriend, it was getting harder to be around you and not being able to touch whenever I wanted. Happy now, baby?” She kisses me.

Thank fuck.

Chapter 9

Lucy

After my afternoon with Rafe and us becoming an official couple, I head home to have some family time with my parents and sister. I text Maisey to let her know that Rafe took me to lunch with Ryder, Reeve and Skeet. Who by the way is pretty cool. He is shorter than the Phoenix boys but with the same sized character. He has jet black hair that sticks up in all directions. His left arm is covered in a tattooed sleeve that he told me continues onto his chest. He fits in well with the boys. The boys told me that I need to meet Beck, Ryder’s best friend. He will be travelling with us to Club V this weekend. Thankfully, my manager Ginger has let me have a long weekend, which means I’m not due back in work until Tuesday afternoon.

I pull into my parent’s driveway and park my car, turning off the music. I climb out and walk toward the side gate, where I can smell my dad’s BBQ. Yummo. Opening the gate and rounding the side of the house I see my dad at the BBQ grill and my little sister Tru floating in the swimming pool on a pink inflatable chair with her ear buds in. I wonder who she is listening to today. I skip over to my dad and kiss his cheek.

“Hey, Daddy. That smells sooooo good. Where’s Mom?” I ask while I try to sneak a juicy looks shrimp from the grill, but Dad swats my hand away.

“Not ready yet, baby girl. Your mom is in the kitchen finishing up the salad and the dips.” He flips over a few chicken breasts which look freaking amazing. “So, how’s work? How are my other girls doing in school?” I smile at my amazing dad Sam Cooper, who looks a lot like Kyle Chandler from ‘Friday Night Lights.’ Tall, dark and still handsome. I know which girls my dad is talking about.

“They are fine, Dad. They are handling school just fine. Kenzie has a new boyfriend but don’t tell her I told you, okay? She wants to tell you herself.” Kenzie’s dad left shortly after her mom died. Her Grandmother took her in but she always looked up to my dad as a father figure. “Trin just started a new job at a record store. Maisey and Gunner are awesome as usual.” I shrug my shoulders. My dad narrows his eyes at me with a ghost of a smile on his face.

“What are you not telling me, baby girl?” Damn it, he always knows when I’m lying or keeping something from him. It’s his racer instinct he keeps telling me. You have to know everything about every person you trust with your life, when they work on your car.

“I’m not keeping anything from you, Daddy. Nothing, nada. I’m gonna go and see if Mom wants help with anything.” I make my get away from the all-knowing-Sam-Cooper. As I enter the large kitchen I see my mom slicing up tomatoes at the marble covered worktop. Today she is dressed in a very pretty but simple baby blue summer dress with spaghetti straps and wedge sandals. Both Tru and I follow Mom with our hair color, all of us are blonde. Poor Dad didn’t get a look in with us, as my Grandma Ruby always says. I reach my mom and wrap my arms around her waist. “Hey mama, do you need any help with anything?” My mom turns and hugs me back and kisses my head.

“Hey honey. You could take the plates and cutlery outside to the table for me. Thank you, sweetie.” I go over to the cupboards and start pulling plates out and then over to the drawer to collect the cutlery. “So, what’s new with you, honey? Work okay? A new boy on the scene maybe?” She winks at me and I blush right on queue as my dad walks into the kitchen. I look between my parents and try to look for an easy exit so that I don’t have to answer her question. But no such luck as my dad catches the end of her question.

“Did I just hear half a conversation about boys? You dating someone, baby girl?” Dang it. Do I tell them about Rafe? They know that I haven’t dated since Dallas but I’m not sure how they will react to me being with Rafe. I don’t keep anything from them anymore not telling them about the pregnancy was bad enough. Oh well only one way to find.

“Ummm I am actually seeing someone well he’s my boyfriend as of this morning. It’s a new thing” I shrug again “I’m just gonna take these out to the garden and set the table and say hi to, Tru” I exit the kitchen rather quickly and head over to the patio when the patio set it. I place the dishes and cutlery out and make my over to the pool. Trying to signal Tru and but she has her eyes closed and her feet are tapping the water to whatever music she is listening to.

Tru is three years younger than me but we are often mistaken for twins, even though Tru is a few inches taller than me. I remove my flip flop and dip my right foot into the water and flick water at my sister.

She shrieks and pulls her ear buds out and turns to face me. “For fuck sake, Juicy you scared the shit out of me.” I stand there laughing while she paddles her way over to the side and I help her out of the pool. She starts wrapping the ear bud wire around her iPod.

“What are you listening to?” I nod my head towards her iPod. We have pretty much the same taste in music, well everything really.

“Um, it’s a new local band the girls at school are going crazy over. We are going to see them down at Max Point, which is a club close to you. Do you know it?” She asks, while getting into a summer dress. I frown at the thought of my baby sister going to a club. Okay, Max Point is pretty tame but she is still too young.

“Yeah, I know it. I have been a few times with the girls and Gunner. So this new band, they don’t happen to be called Inside Noise, do they?” Before she can answer our parents join us outside on the patio and we sit while Dad collects everything from the grill.

Yummy glazed chicken breasts, BBQ ribs, shrim
p and Dad cooked me corn, which I love and some grilled fish that Tru loves so much. We tuck into our food and have a casual family conversation while enjoying some Cooper family time. My dad wipes his mouth with a napkin and looks at me. “Okay, baby girl, back to the little mother-daughter chat in the kitchen earlier. What boyfriend? You never said you were dating anyone?” I look at my sister, who is smirking at me.

“It’s new, like really new. We went out a few times but being a couple was never discussed until this morning when he asked me to be his girlfriend. I haven’t seen him since I left to go travelling, but I have spend some time with him over the past few weeks. It’s not like he is a stranger, I know that you respect his family and him. So I’m hoping that you will be ok with me being with him. Just remember if it wasn’t for him, I might have bled to death the night I lost Shane.”
I hear my mom gasp. I look towards to Tru and see her eyes are wide as saucers. I look at my dad while fighting to hold the tears back. I have no clue why I’m tearing up.

“Rafe Phoenix is your new boyfriend?” My dad asks. I nod and wipe the lone tear that has escaped. My dad reaches across the table and places his hand over mine. “Well, whe
n do we get to see Rafe again? I have not seen that boy in a long time. Last I heard he was touring the coast with his brothers, promoting their band.” I look up at my father, surprised by his questions. I thought he was going to tell me to stay away, but Sam Cooper shocks me again. I smile at my dad and look over to my mom, who is also smiling at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Tru is looking confused, as usual. I laugh to myself.

“Yeah, Dad, the Phoenix boys did go promoting their band up the coast. They are amazing. I have seen them a few times now with Gunner and Maisey down at Max Point, which isn’t too far from my place. Hayley won’t let them sign to the label until they get
their college degrees.” My dad nods his head in agreement. I think he likes the way Hayley Phoenix thinks. “All three boys are doing well in school. I think they all have part-time jobs also, besides school and the band. I know that Rafe works down at ‘Raider’s Repair’ because he still loves his bikes and cars and fixing them up. If you want to see him again I can set something up, maybe bring to family dinner next week if you would like?”

My dad nods “OH. MY. GOD Rafe, Ryder and Reeve are Inside Noise?” This comes from Tru and I nod proudly. “WOW! The girls are going to freak the hell out. Ok, I have to let them know that I know these boys like on a very close personal level.” I shake my head at my baby sister. She is going to take full advantage of this.

“Are you sure it’s a good thing being with Rafe, honey? It might bring back a lot of painful memories about Shane and Dallas. I’m not sure this is right for you.” I snap my head around to face my mom. I never thought she would feel like this towards Rafe, she was so grateful when he brought me to the hospital that night.

I know that finding out I was pregnant was hard on them, but I was the one dealing with it both physically and emotionally. It’s the simple fact the Rafe Phoenix saved me that night, we have no clue as to how long I would have been bleeding out on the ground before someone found me. I keep my eyes on my mom and try to
see what she is really thinking her face is filled with so many emotions. She takes a quick glance at my dad, who is also staring at her. Tru is now looking down at her hands in her lap. I think that there is more to my mom’s feelings against me and Rafe than she is letting on. I try to wrack my brain thinking of any reason that my mom wouldn’t want me to be with Rafe, but I can’t find anything. The Phoenix family was very well liked in our area and further afield, they don’t disrespect anyone. They helped out in the community constantly. Hayley often did collection drives to help certain causes out, whether it was more books and toys for the local community day care center, or food drives for the homeless.

Once a year Phoenix Records always does a huge car wash day which was always a huge success, and why wouldn’t it be, with the whole Phoenix family coming to help out. Seeing Rafe, Ryder and Reeve removing their shirts and getting wet is always beyond any girl’s wet dream
, even as teenagers. Even Nix and Braxton came out and you can totally see where the boys got their extremely hot DNA from. Everyone loves the Phoenix boys. Darryl Phoenix doesn’t like his given name so we all grew up calling him Nix. He is Johnny’s baby brother and reminded us all of Jason Behr. Now Braxton Preston is Hayley’s baby brother and he was simply stunning and looks a lot like David Paetkau. Hey, we live in LA so we tend to use actors as a visual effect. Don't judge me. Knowing all of this about the Phoenix family, I am quite puzzled by my mother's reaction to me being with Rafe. It is obvious they are an upstanding family, Rafe included.

I look at my mom and my heart skips a beat, she is really concerned for me. I nod my head “Yeah, Mom. I’m sure. Rafe has been amazing. He knows everything about Shane,
he even asked me the other day if he could come and see his memorial.” I nod my head in the direction of my son’s stone.  We had a white granite stone made with baby angel wings and the letter ‘S’ in-between the wings. My dad nods his head, which tells me he thinks it’s a good idea. He knows how much Shane meant to all of us before he died.

“Well maybe this weekend you could bring Rafe over and we can have some lunch. Does that sound good to you, baby girl?” I go to agree but then our plans remind me we can’t this weekend. Damn it. We are going away this weekend.

“We can’t this weekend, Dad. Inside Noise have a gig down in Vista again and Rafe has asked me to tag along with them. A few of us are going down for the weekend, leaving Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday evening” I see my mom shift in her seat and I look at her. “You ok, Mom?”

She shifts again and starts clearing the table away. I look at my dad and sister, who are just as confused as me. My mom put the plates back down and leans her hands on the table and takes a deep breath. “Will you be in the car with Rafe? I don’t like the idea of you being in that car with him, I have seen him drive it around. He has opened that car up a few times, Lucy, and I don’t think it’s safe for you. He drives too fast for my liking.” Wow, this coming from a racer’s wife.

Ding,Ding,Ding and there it is, ladies and gentlemen.

“Emily, you can’t be serious. I have seen Rafe handle that car and he is a fine driver. He wouldn’t put Lucy in any danger...”

“But we don’t know that, Sam. He could lose control and crash.” She shakes her head, as if trying to shake an image from her own thoughts. My dad’s NASCAR crash that ended his career pops into my head. That was one of the worst days of my life.

“Mom, Rafe wouldn’t do that. He has been crushing on Juicy for years, most of high school in fact.” I gawk at my sister and she shrugs her shoulders. “What? We all knew it but you were too blind to see it
, Juicy.” I’m still shocked that Tru knew that Rafe liked me in school. Was I the only one who didn’t know? Why didn’t he just ask me out? I know he said that the timing was a factor but he didn’t even show an interest in me, did he?

“To answer your question Mom, Rafe won’t be driving me in his car. Hayley is letting us take a Phoenix Records tour bus down as there are a few of us going. Maisey and Gunner will be there as well as the Phoenix boys and a few of their friends. I will be safe. I believe that Nix and Braxton are driving us down and staying with us.” I see her visibly relax and nod her head slightly.

My dad smiles at me and stands. He collects the dirty plates from my mom and kisses me on the head and heads for the kitchen. Tru and I help to clear the table, and once that’s done we head up to my bedroom. It’s still the same as I left it before my travels. I didn’t stay here long when I finally came home. My big white four poster bed is the focal point of the room. I have a bay window with a window seat where I used to sit and read. Some of my books still line the white book shelf, yes I love white. Some band posters are on the side wall next to my walk in closet. Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Switchfoot. I have a mixture of musical tastes. Maybe I should get myself an Inside Noise poster. Rafe would love that.