Page 31 of On the Rocks
I had jumped on his back for the photo, giving him a noogie as the picture was shot. He was full-on laughing, looking up at me, and when I looked at that picture, all I felt was happiness. All I felt was indescribable joy for a family that didn’t know what hardship lay ahead, that had everything they ever wanted or needed.
If I could go back in time, I’d go back to that exact moment and live there forever.
“Two beers, Buck. Whatever you got that’s cold and wet,” someone said from beside me, knocking their knuckles on the bar. I was fine to ignore them, just like I’d ignored everyone else that night, but then I felt eyes on me, and I turned, meeting the gaze of Patrick’s youngest son.
Malcolm was a scrawny kid, just a few years older than Mikey. His older sister was Logan’s age, and she was about the only Scooter that I didn’t hate — maybe because she was sort of the black sheep in their family, acting out in every way possible, down to getting her septum pierced her senior year of high school.
I liked a girl who ruffled feathers.
Malcolm, on the other hand, was long-faced just like his dad, with skin that somehow always looked dirty. He was scrawny, liked to wear his ball caps a little to the left like it was still the 90s, and had a knack for getting under my skin, too.
“Well, if it isn’t the oldest Becker boy,” he spat — literally,spat, the words coming out of his mouth just as a thick wad of chewing tobacco did. He spit it into an empty Mountain Dew bottle, grinning at me with pieces still in his gums, and already, he was trying to push my buttons by calling me the oldest.
It was Malcolm’s way of saying that he didn’t recognize Jordan as a proper part of our family, because his skin wasn’t the same color as ours and some bullshit paperwork said he wasn’t blood.
My pulse kicked up a notch.
“Rough day at the office?” Malcolm asked when he didn’t get a rise out of me.
I blinked. “Fuck off, Malcolm.”
“Ohhh,” he said, raising both hands in a mock surrender as he elbowed his buddy next to him. I didn’t know his name, but recognized him from around town. “Someone’s on their rag.”
His eyes dropped to the photo still in my hand as he rested his elbows back on the bar.
“Ah,” he mused. “I see. You’re crying into your whiskey over your daddy, huh?” He framed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Was it today’s date that that fire happened?” He shrugged, smiling at his buddy. “Guess I forgot.”
Buck slid Malcom the beers he asked for, eyeing me with a warning and a slight shake of his head. “Here are your drinks. Now go play pool or sit at a table far away from here, understand?”
“Aw, come on, Buck,” Malcolm said. “We’re just kidding around. Noah and I go way back. We’re buds.” He clapped me on the shoulder, and every nerve came to life at his touch. “Ain’t that right, Becker?”
“Get your hand off me.”
“Or what?” he seethed.
And I should have let it go. I should have slammed back my whiskey and walked out that damn door. But instead, I slammed my hand into his chest, gripping his shirt and yanking hard until his back hit the bar. He yelped a little as I stood, lowering my nose to his, steam rolling off me as I poked a finger in his face.
“I told you to fuck off, Malcolm. You should have listened to me.”
I reared back, ready to plow my fist into his smug smile, when Buck intervened, jumping over the bar and grabbing me from behind. He yanked me away, my fist still twisted in Malcolm’s shirt until his buddy tore it away from me, ushering Malcolm to the other side of the bar.
He was laughing.
I charged after him again, which only made him laugh harder as Buck caught me around the chest, spinning me around to face him.
“Hey!” he said, voice loud and firm.
I had no idea if he’d said anything to me before that moment. I couldn’t hear anything but that asshole’s laughter.
“Listen to me,” he warned. “You know that pussy will call the cops and have charges pressed against you. You don’t need to spend any more nights in jail. Okay? So finish your whiskey and get the hell out of here.”
I tried twisting out of his grip, but he held me more firmly, and my breath singed my nose with every exhale. Finally, I growled, shaking him off and reaching for my whiskey. I tilted the glass back, finishing what was left, and then plowed through the bar door just as I had the one leaving the warehouse earlier that day.
My vision was half red, half black as I barreled through town, walking the short distance to my house that was a few blocks behind the main drug store. I stayed on Main Street until I hit that street, and as soon as I turned, I nearly ran over Ruby Grace Barnett.
“Oof.”She gasped as I plowed over her, both of us spinning and her nearly toppling over before I caught her by the upper arms, righting her again. The paper bag she’d been carrying out of the drug store fell in the process, toilet paper and toothpaste and other miscellaneous girly shit that I didn’t recognize spilling out onto the concrete.
“Shit,” I murmured, bending to help her retrieve it all.