Page 44 of Scars Like Wings
“Byrdie! I missed you last night!” She let go of Cole’s hand to wrap me in a hug. I immediately caught the scent of saltwater in her hair. Had she jumped into the pool? She pulled back with an excited glint in her tired eyes. “Where did you go?”
“Well, I—” I started when there was a sudden huge crash upstairs, making Simone almost Scooby-Doo jump into my arms. The commotion was soon followed by a string of curses and more bangs loud enough to stir some of the sleeping partygoers.
“I’m guessing Cooper had to wake Cody this time?” Cole asked.
“He offered. It was his turn, anyway, though,” Quinn stated, with a shrug of her broad shoulders.
There was another loud boom upstairs and then Cooper came into view on the railing, giving a shirtless Cody a noogie, like they were boys on a playground. It was strange seeing a guy who had such weird energy acting like a school bully. Cody tapped his arm in surrender, and only then did Cooper let him go. Cody pushed against him and cursed again.
“I’m awake, okay? Damn, y’all act like you can’t wake me up like I’m a normal person.”
“Bruh, waking you up is harder than trying to find a unicorn-shifter. Wealwayshave to resort to violence.” Cole laughed.
“Y’all suck ass, dude.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, go get dressed, so that we can get this shit done, asshole,” Quinn said. Cody huffed and went back toward his room. Before he reached it, Maisie damn near collided with him.
“Oh, he’s in for it now,” Simone whispered beside me, and I nodded in agreement. Maisiehatedbeing woken up by loud noises. I have seen her come close to homicide when it happens.
Of everyone so far, Maisie looked the worst, but also like she had had the best time. Her hair was a tangled mess and her makeup was smeared all over her face. She wore Cody’s shirt from the night before and nothing else. Somehow, despite all of this, she still looked gorgeous, like a celebrity caught taking a purposeful candid.Gods, what did my girls get up to last night?
She looked up at Cody, then down at us, and back to Cody. One of her eyebrows was raised as she asked, more so to him than to us. “Why thefuckwas I awoken by fucking Wrestlemania at ten a.m.?”
Cody matched her raised eyebrow and pointed his thumb at Cooper, who was coming into view downstairs, fixing his hair and clothes. “That would be my brother’s fault there, babycakes.”
She kept her eyes on Cody, narrowing them. “Do. Not. Call. Me. That.”
“Oh?” Cody invaded Maisie’s bubble. “And what are you going to do about it? That thing you did last night with?—”
“Stop it!” Nat shouted. “Flag on the play! Innocent younger sister here who does not need to hear your filth and sin!”
Cody glanced down at Nat. “Please. Little Miss Spit in My Mouth and I’ll Call You Daddy? You are as innocent as a whore in church.”
“Wow, way to kink-shame me, skidmark,” Nat said.
I nudged Quinn as they continued insulting each other. “Are they always like this?”
“You have no idea.” Quinn rolled her eyes. “Hey! Can we save this for later or do it while we are working? We have two hours, but Jason comes in one!”
“What exactly isthisthat we have to get done? It had better be good for me to be awake and dealing with this dick for brains,” Maisie said, pointing at Cody.
He looked offended, even if it was playfully. “Hey!”
“Oh, I like her a lot,” Nat said.
Cole ignored them and answered Maisie’s question instead. “It’s tradition.”
“What kind of tradition?” I asked.
“Well,” Quinn answered this time. “When Cody decides to throw ragers, they can get out of hand and wreck the house. So,we started a tradition. Before the party, we would have movers take out everything. Those same movers would bring in some furniture we bought just for this. Functional, but cheap shit that if it got wrecked, we could just throw it out and replace it. After the party ends, we try to clean the worst of it before the maids come so they have an easier time and don’t tell our parents how crazy things got. Then the movers come and bring in the actual furniture while the maids finish the rest and we hit up our favorite diner.”
“That is insanely genius,” Simone complimented. “How many parties have y’all had where you were able to come up with that?”
“Since Cody was, like, eleven, and he’s three years younger than Quinn… So, like thirteen or fourteen years?” Nat answered.
“A bad boy who really is a troubled kid with a past, huh?” I quipped.
“I heard that!” Cody said from above. “I’m a bad boy, but I have a heart of gold, sweetheart.”