Extended Family Pt. 02

"I'm going to bed. You should be good to head home when the storm quits. Good night, Jonah. Thank you."

He heard the door shut and nothing more.

_________________________________

"Where the fuck have you been?"

It was after 4 am when Jonah fell in the door. He'd tried to wait out the storm, but after a while he almost fell asleep on Laci's couch, so he staggered his way home, all the night's events pilling up on him.

"It's after fucking 4 am, Jonah Andrew Leckner. I'm so pissed and happy that you're home and fuck you! Do you understand? Fuck you!" She hit him on the shoulder and hugged him, then kissed him and cried and then hit him on the arm.

"Ouch mom. I'm sorry."

"How drunk are you, Jonah? And why do you smell like cigarettes and perfume?"

"I only had a few." He tripped over the rug and fell into the couch, going face first over the arm.

"Can I sleep here, mom?"

"No, you fucking can't."

"Can I sleep with you?"

"No, I found Lindsay, and she is drunk in my bed, and I hate you, so fuck no. Get up and give me a hug. I almost called the goddamned Coast Guard." She kicked him, but he didn't feel it much. "John said you left the bar hours ago, and I went looking for you in the rain. I'm so mad at you. I love you. Get up!"

"So tired."

"You're going to bed. Come on." He had a vague memory of her helping him up the stairs. It was such a long fucking walk though. He swore he traveled for hours to make it up those stairs with Brooke talking through her teeth every time she directed him up the next step. No reason to be mad. It was a long walk so he should be tired but, no, all she did was yell at him and hit his arm. Meenie.

He made it to his room when the floor turned sideways on him. That sucked. He heard Brooke and felt a kick on his butt and a blanket covering him then, nothing.

__________________________________

"I'm sorry."

"Again."

"I'm sorry." Jonah walked to the couch where she was laying and sat on the cushion near her feet. She lifted them up along with her eyebrows. Her point was obvious, so Jonah started rubbing the ball of her foot.

"Will a foot rub get me out of this?"

"No, it only allows you to continue to tell me how sorry you are for scaring me to death. So, again."

"Sorry."

"And?"

"And I'll never do it again."

"What happened? Keep rubbing."

"I just got drunk. I had a lot on my mind, and I had too much to drink."

"So, this is the part where you say you don't remember what happened and that wasn't you, blah, blah, blah, right? Rub a little lower on my arch."

"No, this is where I say I shouldn't try to hide things that bother me by drinking, and I feel guilty for acting that way."

Brooke ate another piece of popcorn and looked at him. She wore her workout clothes and didn't have on any makeup, but she was still amazing, even with that stern look in her eye.

"That wasn't bad. Other foot, now." She looked at her phone and crossed her arms, looking at him.

"I'm taking responsibility for this. I brought you here and gave you a full party atmosphere and then dropped the envelope about your dad on you. Add that up with our relationship, Ainsley, you learning that I'm your mom and I'm surprised things have gone this well. I'm a pretty shitty parent, but I'm going to do better."

"Does that mean no more sex?" He made a small smile, and she kicked him.

"I'm serious Jonah."

"Sorry, again."

"And no, we'll still have sex, but we're being pretty fucking reckless."

"It's hard to stay away from you, mom. You turn me on, and I love you, so it isn't like I can turn that off."

"I get it Jonah, but, c'mon. We have to chill out some. What if Ainsley would have caught us?"

"What if I want her to know?"

"Fine, call her. We can risk all of it and start making out in front of her."

"So, what do we do?"

"We play it cool. She's a little more adventurous that I thought, but you and me together? That is way down the rabbit hole. We start by telling her I'm your mother and we see how she reacts."

"How are you two doing? You and Ainsley."

"Good, don't ask about a threesome. I'm still pissed at you."

"Fine. How is Lindsay?"

"I'm fine Jonah." He jumped when Lindsay walked in with her red hair in a messy ponytail and part of last night's makeup on her face.

"I can come to terms with you two messing around. I mean it. As fucked up as sounds, that isn't what bothers me the most. It's that we've known each other since college. I stood by you for your whole life, and you never told me you were a mom."

"You left for Europe right after, you know, that happened, and I called you all the time to stay close, but telling you was scary after the way my sister treated me. We talked about this last night, Lindsay."

"Well, I was really fucking drunk last night and don't dismiss me, Brooke!" A tear mixed with her mascara making a black line over the freckles on her cheek.

"I think I'll go upstairs." Jonah moved his mom's feet.

"Stay here, Jonah. You don't dismiss me either. I may be a slut, but I did what I did with you because I like you. Let's get all this out."

Brooke put her feet back on Jonah's lap.

"Lindsay, I'm sorry. I didn't tell anyone but my first husband and a private investigator. That's it. I should have trusted you."

"We could have taken care of him, Brooke. We were smart and -"

"And what? Two women raising a son together in South Carolina? That would have gone over well. Remember when your roommate found us tangled up in bed naked after one of our three week benders? Her landlord brought his goddamned church there and kicked us out of town. We were homeless for a fucking week."

"I remember, Brooke."

"Then stop with the kumbaya shit. We were lucky we didn't end up dead."

"Let's relax."

"Shut up, Jonah!" they said in unison.

"Good talk." He lowered his head and rubbed Brooke's feet.

"What do we do, Lindsay? I'm sorry and I want you in my life. So does Jonah. I fucked up and it won't be the last time, but please, I can't lose you."

Lindsay held her head down and rubbed her hands together. Her pajamas were too big, so she looked pitiful setting there with an occasional tear on her cheek.

"If I don't leave, then y'all respect me. I love both of you and I want to be treated better. I can have fun, but I have feelings too."

"Understood." Brooke said.

"Yea, I care about you too. Sorry, Lindsay."

"No more of your secrets. I will not be the odd person out anymore. I take care of this house and the bills. Y'all are the only family I have. My family abandoned me a long time ago, and I chose you, Brooke, so you don't forget that."

"I should have known better, Lindsay. Yes, you did."

"Does Ainsley know anything?"

"No," Brooke replied.

"I saw you kissing her, Brooke. Was that friendly or more?" Lindsay asked.

"More."

"Fine. That's out and done."

"I think I need to butt in here. There's something else." The girls looked at Jonah as he squeezed Brooke's foot.

"Why not! Go ahead Jonah. I mean, what can you shock me with?" Lindsay said as she threw her arms up in the air.

"I didn't find my dad, but I have a sister."

His words dropped the room's temperature, and the cold crept up around him.

"Jonah, we will talk about this later." Brooke sat up.

"Wrong. We will discuss this together. No more secrets here." Lindsay stood and looked at him. "Go on."

"She's only about a month younger than me."

Brooke stood and turned away from them.

"Who's her mother, Jonah?" Brooke turned, eyes watering. "Who? If she is your age, then I may have known her."

"I don't know. She just responded to me this morning, and she said that she never knew her mother."

"What's your sister's name, Jonah?"

"This is going to be tough, so-."

"What's her name, Jonah?" Brooke asked more firmly.

"Mom, I didn't think she was going to contact me again, but I got a message this morning, asking if your name was really Brooke." Lindsay flinched when he said mom. "She shared this picture she found in her dad's house." He held his phone out to her. "It's you mom. You and dad. She asked if you were her mother too. I told her no, but your name was on the back."

"Her name is Reagan Brooke Almont. They named her after you."

Brooke fell on the floor, and Lindsay ran to grab her.

____________________________

Jonah laid on the couch and listened to the rain. Ainsley had canceled their plans. He understood her mom was sick, but he wanted her, and he still hadn't come to terms with what happened last night. He didn't deserve Ainsley, but that is what he wanted. Lindsay came down the hall and his lost thoughts took a step aside. She had showered and was in her pajamas still. When she wore pants, they were white and red flannel and always with a tank top that couldn't contain her tits. She had her hair down, drying, when she sat on the other couch and smiled at him.

"Hell of a day, huh?" She looked at her phone, avoiding eye contact with him.

"I'm sorry you saw me and mom like that. I'm trying to figure out what to say."

"Say? You and your mother are having sex. I'll accept it or not, but I don't think you'll be able to say much to help. It's a lot, Jonah; I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to leave y'all, but I feel lied to."

"Are you leaving?"

"After you told Brooke that the man who abandoned her took care of a baby born right after you? I can't leave her after that. I'll have to figure out how to move past this."

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Yea, I just don't know when that will be. A day? A year? You never know with her. She could bury it or be fine. It depends on which of her characters is in charge. Either way, she'll be my first concern."

"Wait, so you're just going to forget about it? And you know about her characters?"

"I've known her our entire adult lives, yes, I know about her characters, and I'll make this work for her, and I'll lie and say I'm okay even when I'm not, for her."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay enough, and she won't know the difference. You won't tell her, and we'll not tell her we had this talk. When she wakes up, we say that everything is fine with us, and we talked and we're ready to move on."

"Is that healthy, Lindsay?"

"Healthy? Did you really ask that? You're 18 and having sex with three women, one of which is your mother. You don't get to talk about healthy."

"Four."

"Four? You know what? I don't want to know. We pretend this is right until it is right, got it?"

"Got it. Sorry I screwed up so bad."

"You didn't screw up, Jonah. It isn't like you could have told her no, right? Hell, I can't keep my hands off her. Just relax and we wait for her.

_______________________________________

Reagan: So, you'll find out who my mom is?

Jonah: Yea, I will help. You're my sister, after all.

Reagan: That still sounds strange and I'm not 100% on this. You could still be an internet creep.

Jonah: I've never been called an internet creep. Once I felt like a real-life creep, but I was in the 4^th grade.

Reagan: 4^th graders can't be creeps.

Jonah: I asked my teacher out on a date.

Reagan: That's sweet. Not creepy.

Jonah: I invited her to "da club" and asked if she wanted to chill at my place.

Reagan: You actually said, 'da club'?

Jonah: Oh yea

Reagan: Creep

Jonah: Facts

Reagan: Look, I have to go, but I can try to trust you more. Just give me time. Maybe we can FaceTime soon. Thank you for not pressing me about dad. I don't want to talk about him now.

Jonah: I understand. You still work in the restaurant? I saw your pictures.

Reagan: Work is work. Thanks for helping me. I need to go.

He signed out and sat looking at the screen. His sister. Hopefully, she would trust him more. She needed time, but the thought of a sibling his own age excited him. A best friend. Voices from the living room grabbed his attention, so he walked to his door.

"No, I want to go. I'm fine."

"Are you sure, Brooke? This is a lot."

"I'm fine if you're fine. Kiss me and tell me you're not leaving."

"I'm not leaving and I'm okay with you and Jonah."

"I'm good with you and Jonah too, Lindsay. Now, kiss me."

"Stop being needy. We can make out later."

Jonah walked loudly so they could hear him come down the steps. They both turned to him and smiled.

"Jonah, baby, we're going to watch the game. We will not spend our time feeling sad and distant. We planned on football, so football it is." Brooke had on her Georgia Bulldogs shirt, and he couldn't see anything that led him to believe she was acting. He looked over at Lindsay, who cut her eyes at him. He got the hint.

"Go Dawgs. Let's get out of here." He ran back to his room to grab his jersey.

________________________________________

The Tiki Bar was full for the game. Buckets of beer and wings were the special and despite his hangover he enjoyed his drinks with Lindsay and his mom. They seemed okay, though he was sure it was on the surface. Deep friendships took time to mend; he just hoped Lindsay's plan would work.

After a few beers, Brooke leaned over.

"You came home smelling like cigarettes and expensive perfume, and John said 'man code' kept him from telling me who you left with, so I take it Laci 'helped' you home last night?"

Jonah took a swig of beer and nodded. She leaned in over the noise.

"I can't get the best read on her, but don't ignore a girl after she took care of you."

"Even if she is the raven-haired, man-eating goddess?" he asked.

"Yes, even deities need affirmation; there is some deep hurt there. As for how you handle it with Ainsley, that's on you and her. I can help, but this one is risky, I think."

"Thanks Aunt Brooke."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Are her tits amazing?"

"Yea, tan lines too."

"Hot. Love you, baby."

She turned back to TV and Jonah turned to the bar. Laci was there, in her spot. Shot in hand. Despite the crowd, he made eye contact with her. He realized as he got up, she must have been staring at him for her to notice him through the crowded bar. Despite the crowd, there weren't many people in the bathroom hallway, so he waited, hoping she got the hint and followed.

"Are you trying to pick up girls as they walk to the ladies' room? Old tactic, but effective, I guess."

"I'm an old-fashioned guy, I guess. How are you?"

"You mean since about 12 hours ago? Good. You?"

"Yea, I'm good. Listen, about that."

"Stop. I'm not new to this. I get it. You were drunk and I am way older than you. Don't act weird and your girl won't catch you. I need to go to the bathroom." She pushed past him.

"Hey what the fuck? Stop."

"Excuse me?"

"I said stop. Look, I just, I mean, it was sudden and I don't know you and you are older than me, and I'm dating a girl, and-"

"Spit it out. I have to pee."

"Do you want to sit with us? At our table? Watch the game and have wings? I won't try to hold your hand."

Laci stopped and crossed her arms under her tits, which brought them more into his mind. She was spectacular. Her makeup accented her eyes and her styled, jet black hair was almost shiny in the barroom lights. Was that for him? Maybe? He remembered Brooke telling him that women could dress up for themselves so not to read too much into things like that, but it was nice to think about.

"I need to go to the bathroom." She turned and walked into the restroom. He let out a long breath and leaned back against the wall. It was worth a shot. He walked back to his table and fell into his seat, disappointed. Brooke just smiled and patted his leg.

"Still too hung over for a shot?"

"I guess I could-"

"Hey, um, got an extra chair?"

Jonah saw Laci standing by them with her cigarettes in one hand and a beer in the other.

"Yea, here. I'll steal one from Paul's table. No one else is going to sit with them," Lindsay replied.

"You could sit with us, Red," came a response from the other table.

"If I wanted to have 70-year-old men falling all over me, I'd work in a nursing home, you old fuck. Now, give me the chair."

He was sure he saw Laci smile as she sat down in the chair Lindsay brought over.

"I'm Laci. Jonah invited me over. Can I smoke here?"

Brooke tried to hide her smirk as she side eyed Jonah.

"No problem, Laci. I'm Brooke and this is Lindsay."

"Make that 4 shots, John." She turned back to Laci, "mild, medium, hot, very hot, or stupid is as stupid does hot?"

"Very hot."

"We're going to get along just fine, Laci."

Jonah looked at her and took another drink and leaned in.

"Thanks for hanging out with us, Laci," he whispered.

"Well, next time you can just text me instead of creeping on me in the bathroom."

"I don't have your number."

"Yea, you do. I put it in your phone last night."

He felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled out his phone. The message was from Laci:

You can hold my hand if you want but be discrete.

He laughed and tried to forget how close he came to having his entire world upended less than 24 hours ago.

________________________________

"See ya, Laci! I'll come by one day and show you how to get that firepit started. We used to have one just like it." Lindsay yelled as Laci left them to walk up the path to her condo. They stayed late to celebrate a close victory, and the girls were feeling their drinks. He went light since he was still reeling from yesterday.

"Ok, sounds good. Bye. Bye Jonah."

He waved. A few minutes after, Lindsay started in on him.

"Bye Jonah. I want your gigantic cock. I'm the Raven Goddess, mememememe," she mocked.

"Jealousy looks bad on you, Lindsay," Brooke said.

"Whatever. She wants me more, so you would know jealousy."

"No, I think Jonah beat us, sweetie."

Lindsay stopped walking and looked at him in shock.

"Wait, she is the fourth? Are you serious? How? I want details. There is no way you hooked up with her."

"I don't kiss and tell," Jonah replied.

"You think that applies here?"

Brooke laughed as she bumped into Lindsay.

"True, girl. True, but I want some details too."

"Spill the tea, Jonah."

"Well, she has this enormous portrait of Edgar Allan Poe over her mantle and at least three gargoyle sconces in her living room."

The girls stopped and turned to him.

"Are you serious?"

"No, I'm bullshitting. I'll tell you nothing."

Brooke snorted out a laugh and Lindsay pursed her lips.

"We'll get it from you, lover boy. Let's go do another shot and leave this party pooper out here." They made a drunken attempt at running and he couldn't help but look at their bouncing asses as they ran to the door. Maybe things would be okay. Maybe.

He turned on the tv to watch the late game and the girls broke out the Jägermeister. They giggled at each other while he checked the scores and sent Ainsley a text to check on her mom. After thinking they snuck an extra shot in, they spilled into the living room and on to the couch. He couldn't help but laugh at them as Brooke jumped up and sat next to him.

"C'mon Jonah, tell us about her," Lindsay asked between sips of her wine.

Brooke looked over at her and threw a pillow.

"Let my son keep his secrets, harlot." She turned back to Jonah and said in a drunkenly loud whisper, "Tell mommy what happened."

Lindsay threw the pillow back at her. "Cheater!"

She laughed and sat her wine down before leaning in and kissing Jonah on his lips.

"You can tell us, baby." She moved his arms and straddled him.

"Tell mommy about the Raven Goddess."

The room got quiet. Lindsay watched them with a smirk on her face. Brooke pushed against his hardening dick. Her sun dress was at the top of her thighs as she grinded on him and braced her hands on his shoulders.

"Did you fuck her?" She continued her lap dance, putting her tits in his face.