He and Cole are freshly showered from practice and looking a little beat. Coach must have run them hard today. He tends to do that at Saturday practices, because he likes to try and wear them out so they won’t go out and party later that night. It usually doesn’t work though.
“Running behind. The girls here?” I ask, as I catch up to them.
“I sure as hell hope so, since they aren’t answering their phones,” Cole adds, sounding irritated.
“Ease up, jackasses, I’m sure they’re at the party. Nobody carries a damn phone with them at these things,” I explain.
I can hear the laughter and the hoots and hollers from the party. As we cross over the sand hill, I quickly spot our group standing around three lit fire pit rings. From what I’ve heard, some of these guys are out here several nights a week, just sitting around the fire. It does create a nice atmosphere, the way they’ve built the fires up as high as they can get them in the circular, concrete rings.
“There’s Quinn,” Cole says, while walking away.
“It was nice seeing you too, man,” I say to his retreating figure.
Cole shoots me the middle finger, and Jax wraps my neck in a headlock tightly.
“Aw, does my little brother need some attention?” he whines, mocking me. He knows how irritated I get when he calls me his ‘little brother.’ A two-minute difference doesn’t count in my book.
This asshole loves to pull the headlock move on me, and apparently he still hasn’t learned his lesson yet. With my head restrained next to his armpit, I reach behind his back and lock his opposite arm against his chest and hold it there firmly. My feet bounce into position behind his, and then I move toward the ground, bringing his body with me. He falls to my side and I’m instantly released from his lock, which allows me to trap his legs underneath me.
He laughs and strains to kick me off of him, but I lean forward and use my forearm to hold his neck down. Eventually, he’s able to get his legs wrapped around my waist. He kicks them out, forcing me to release my hold on his neck, and then manages to get my head into an arm triangle chokehold. We continue horsing around until we’re both out of breath and slowing down significantly.
After I almost cause him to pass out because his stubborn ass won’t tap out, we shove away from each other and lie back in the sand, laughing. This is how we’ve always been. If there’s ever any bad blood or distance between us, we fight it out.
“God, this is better than porn,” I hear a female voice say from above. Without moving my body, I turn my neck to see Tatum and Ashley, cheerleaders at our school, gazing down at us. “Can you reenact that, except this time can I lie in between you two?” Tatum asks, while giggling and nudging Ashley.
“Beat it,” Quinn snaps, and the two onlookers grumble and stomp away.
“Thanks, Quinny,” Jax says from the ground. “Have you seen my girl?”
“She’s around,” she states nonchalantly.
I stand up and pull Jax to his feet. I know by now he’s dying to get his hands on Em, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see her as well. It’s surprising how Em has wiggled her way into our family without even trying. She’s like a little sister to me now, and when she’s not swapping spit with my brother, she’s actually a ton of fun to be around.#p#分页标题#e#
She’s always sending these short, crazy videos to my phone that she randomly films throughout the day. It’s become a source of daily entertainment. Last week, she sent me a ten-second video of her and Quinn trying to rap to a song on the radio. But between the both of them, they only knew one word from the actual song, so the rest was them making up complete nonsense. Yesterday, she sent me a video of Jax singing and dancing in front of the bathroom mirror while getting ready. He obviously didn’t know she was filming. And what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t keep it for potential blackmail material?
We make a complete circle around the groups sitting by the fires without spotting Em. Jax begins walking at a faster clip and is about to make another round when I glance out at the waves and see two figures sitting side-by-side in the sand, the tide hitting their toes. When the person on the left throws her head back laughing, I recognize the familiar blonde hair.
I reach out, smack Jax on the chest with the back of my hand, and point out to the water. He glances over and releases a mega-watt smile at the sight of her. We start walking out toward the two girls and then I freeze, realizing who Em is talking and laughing with. How the hell did that happen?