17. Phoenix

CHAPTER 17

Phoenix

T he bus was already parked in our driveway. Well, not really in the driveway as much as it was taking up the entire front lawn. Squished between two mountains, Creekside wasn't really known for having sprawling estates. In fact, most of the houses in town were positioned on barely more than a tenth of an acre. Between the house, the garage, and the backyard, that meant the only place the bus could go was the front lawn.

Ted probably wasn't going to be happy about that.

He and my mother were already standing in the driveway talking with Tony. We'd worked it out that the driver would stay at a hotel in the next town over. Meanwhile, Tony and I would stay with the bus at my parents' house. Tony had agreed to stay on the bus even though my parents had a guest room. Or so I thought.

"Hey!" Tony called out as I pulled into the drive and clicked off the bike engine. "Your mom said I can stay in the guest room!"

My mother furrowed her brows at me, clearly confused by this hooligan on a motorcycle in her driveway. But once I stepped off the bike and pulled my helmet off, her eyes went wide in horror.

"Phoenix Gregory McKean! What the hell is that?!"

Ted, on the other hand, stared with his jaw hanging open. "Nice ride!" he said before my mother elbowed him in the stomach. "Uh... I mean. What?"

I couldn't help but laugh. Ted did always have a tendency to take my side on these things. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much. Talk about the best second dad a guy could ask for.

"It's a motorcycle, Mom," I replied, flashing her a smile. "And it goes from zero to sixty in about two seconds."

"Hot damn!" Ted cut in, forgetting himself. "Can I take it out for a spin?"

I tossed my helmet to him. "Be my guest, hotshot."

"Theodore!" my mother spat. "Don't you dare!"

"Laura," he replied, kissing her on the cheek. "I'm fifty-seven years old. If I don't do it now, I never will. Besides, if I eat pavement, you'll be a rich woman."

"That's not funny!"

"Nope," he grinned. "But I'm gonna do it, anyway."

He gave me a high five as he pulled on the helmet and threw his leg over the bike. I showed him where all the buttons and knobs were. Then, he started it up.

"Oooh," he grinned, his visor flipped up. "She definitely purrs."

"Just be careful. The throttle is a bit touchy."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

He turned the bike around and immediately popped a wheelie for a few feet. He cried out and slammed on the brakes, the bike's front tire hitting the pavement once more. I heard my mother's soul leave her body behind me, but Ted just laughed. He gave me the thumbs up, flipped his visor down, and with a gentler touch, he took off down the road like a bat out of hell.

"You've done it now," Tony grinned, stepping up next to me.

"Eh. He needs some fun now and then." I lowered my voice, leaning into his ear. "You're gonna learn real quick how overbearing my mother can be. You would've been better off on the bus."

"I'll charm her. Don't worry."

"I'm more worried now."

Tony gave me a nudge. "Gregory? Really? That's your middle name?"

"Yeah. See why I don't use it?"

He nodded. "Yep."

"Well," I said, turning back to my mother and holding my arms wide. "How are you?"

She glared at me furiously, her gaze powerful enough to bore a hole right through me. But a moment later she broke with a sigh, stepping forward and pulling me into a hug.

"You haven't been here for over a year and you're already causing trouble," she muttered.

"That's what I do." I squeezed her tight. "Ted seems to like it."

"Ted still thinks he's twenty-four and invincible."

"Maybe he is. "

She pulled back, lifting an eyebrow at me. "If you had to listen to his knees crackle and his groans when he gets up every morning, you wouldn't think that."

I laughed along with her. "I see you already met Tony," I added, pointing at my agent and friend. "Hopefully he didn't charm you into doing something you didn't want to do. You gotta be careful with him. One moment he's paying you a compliment and the next he's got your wallet and he's buying everyone drinks on your dime."

"I only did that once," Tony scoffed. "And it was your idea."

"I was drunk."

"I fail to see how that's my problem."

"I can see why you two get along," my mother interrupted, laughing at the pair of us. "You're both sassy and stubborn." She turned to Tony. "You wouldn't believe what it was like trying to keep this child out of jail as a kid. I swear."

Tony gave her a wink. "I want to hear all about that while we're here." Then he jabbed a finger in my chest. "But first, where the hell have you been? You said you were gonna meet me here! I nearly scared your poor mother half to death when we drove up in this monstrosity." He gestured to the bus. "She had no idea who I was!"

"I told her my agent was coming with me."

"Yes, you did," she said. "But you failed to inform me you'd be arriving separately."

"Well, I wanted to ride my bike, and it was such a nice day… I guess I took a bit of a detour through the mountains." I glanced over at Tony. "And it was nice to have some time to myself for a change. We've been stuck in that bus for days."

"We've literally stopped at a nice hotel every single night so far. "

"Eh. I needed to stretch my legs."

Tony rolled his eyes, wrapped his arm around my mother's shoulders, and led her back toward the house. "Your son is a royal pain in my ass, Mrs. McKean."

"Then you and I have a lot in common."

I just shook my head as the pair of them disappeared into the house. They were going to be quite the pair, I could tell already. Nobody loved to complain about me more than Tony. But my mother was a close second. And Tony, from the looks of it, was actually willing to listen. Usually, Ted and I would tune her out or sneak away so we could just exist in peace. But for all her complaining, it didn't bother me. She had a right. I knew I wasn't the easiest kid to grow up with and she'd had her hands full for quite a long time. However, now that I was successful and fairly well off, I could hopefully make it up to her. I figured buying them a house on the east coast was a good way to start. Not that I'd told them about it yet. I planned to soon though.

I stood at the end of the driveway, waiting for Ted to return with my motorcycle. I wasn't worried about it really, but I didn't mind getting a little more time to myself. For the next three days I definitely wasn't gonna get any peace, so I might as well enjoy it while I could.

Even though it was only late March, the sky was perfectly clear and the sun was hot. And I was standing on pavement wearing leather from head to toe, sweating more than seemed humanly possible. Thankfully I had street clothes on under my leather riding suit. So, without a care in the world, I kicked off my boots and began to unzip the suit. It took a minute to work my arms out, the sweat already sticking me to every surface where the leather made contact with bare skin. Eventually I worked it down to my waist and stopped for a moment, throwing my arms wide to catch the cool breeze .

Heat rolled off me in waves and now that the leather was gone, I could feel the sweat pooling and dripping down my back. Reaching up, I ran my fingers through my auburn hair, shaking myself out like I was one of Charlie's Angels in a slow-motion shot. Then, hooking my thumbs into my suit, I yanked it down to the ground and stepped out of it. Of course, it wasn't until I stood back up that I realized my shorts were nearly down around my knees, my underwear bulge flopped out on full display for everyone to see.

I quickly pulled them back up as my face flushed with heat. Glancing around, I wanted to make sure no one had seen me. There were no cars on the road and most of the houses looked quiet. It was the middle of a weekday, so most everyone was at work, anyway. However, there was one house that caught my attention.

My head swiveled and stopped on Charlie's house at the end of the street. It seemed closer than I remembered. Then again, I wasn't a middle schooler anymore. There was an SUV parked in the grass that was terribly dirty considering the entire town had paved roads. But everything else was the same. The house was still dark blue, and the shutters were still white, but more weathered than I remembered. There was still a fence around the backyard, and it looked like it was in great shape. In fact, I could see someone moving back there, although that was probably due to the landscaping truck sitting in the driveway.

But that wasn't what made me stop. All the curtains in the house were drawn except for one that was pulled aside near the bottom. It would've been unnoticeable except that when I turned toward the house, I watched it swing back into place, like someone had been watching.

For one brief moment I wanted to run down the road and pound on that door, demanding that Charlie speak to me. But I didn't know if he even lived there anymore. Maybe he'd left. Maybe he'd moved on. Maybe he really didn't need me after all .

Irritated with myself for even thinking about him, I gathered up my suit with a scoff and headed for the bus. There I threw it haphazardly on the bed, stuffed on a pair of shoes, and stomped back out. With one last glance toward his old house, I went into mine, determined to never look his way again.