Memphis POV
Something nudges my leg, causing me to stir out of my slumber, but I'm too tired to even attempt to open my eyes and see what it is. I feel the nudge again, and this time I nudge back, hoping to push away whatever the pest is. I'm sleeping good, knowing that smoking all that weed last night would put me into a deep slumber when I finally succumbed.
Then a nice, hard, smack! hits my leg, and I shoot up from my sleeping position. When I see that it's Knox, I'm ready to ream him a new one for waking me up from such a nice sleep. Then I realize I'm outside and feel a little confused.
Memories from last night and meeting Harry out here come to the surface and I look over quickly, and find him sleeping on the park table next to me. I look back at Knox, wondering how the hell he knew to find us here. I'm hoping like hell there isn't a guilty look on my face.
"Went to wake you up for school and couldn't find you." He says, making it a point to eye the boy next to me. He hides whatever he's feeling off his face though, always keeping the blank mask in place.
I realize then that the sun is shining brightly in the sky and I know without a doubt we're late for school. It's usually barely light outside by the time we leave.
"He had questions." I tell him, sitting up the rest of the way and try to rub out the awful kink I now I have in my neck from sleeping on a godforsaken wood table.
"And did you give him answers?"
"Yes."
Knox shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet. "Do you think that was wise?" His tone is a little clipped, the only sign showing he's not happy with my decision.
"Do you really think I had any other choice?"
"You always have a choice." He says, knowing that if I don't want to do something, I don't do it.
"I trust him." I look down at a sleeping Harry and can't help the warm feeling that inflates in my chest. Last night he listened so intently to everything I said, and there was never any kind of judgement in his eyes. Our story is not a fairy tale by any means, it has a lot of messed up details, but he never treated me as if he pitied me or despised me for what I came from.
"I think I do too." Knox says, surprising him and I both. "He didn't ask any questions about what was going on. He just jumped in and helped me fight, and made sure no one else touched D."
"So what are you saying?" I ask, unable to mask the hope from my voice.
Knox won't look at me for a while, then finally relents, shaking his head and looking at us. "I'm saying, get up and get dressed. We all need to talk."
Then he walks off and continues up the road to our houses. I run my fingers through my hair, hoping to tame some of the mess before I wake Harry up and he realizes I look like a troll first thing in the mornings.
"Harry," I say softly and start shaking his shoulder. "Wake up, we fell asleep."
He opens his bloodshot eyes and looks just as confused as I did when I first woke up and wondered why the hell I was outside. He sits up quickly though, looking around. His disheveled hair makes me giggle.
"Shit, we fell asleep." He states, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.
I giggle again, unable to help it at the adorable way he's repeating what I just said. "Yeah, we did. Are you going to be in trouble?" I ask, not sure how happy the Sheriff would be if he knew his son didn't come home last night because he was out with the troublesome girl who lives across the street.
"Nah, dad doesn't check on me before he leaves. It's way too early." He sits up and runs his fingers through his hair too, and I catch a whiff of him in the soft morning breeze. He still smells like pine trees and soap.
"Well, that's good at least." I say, not knowing really how to act or what to say after everything I admitted last night. I hate that the feeling of shame is slowly creeping up into me, making me want to pull away from him.
"C'mon, let's go get ready. Looks like we're going to be late as it is." Harry says, and we both stand up off the table and start walking up the street. When we make it to where our houses stand, he looks over to me and gives me a wink before walking into his yard, making his way through the front door.
I make my way up the stairs and go to check on Dickson before I do anything else as soon as I get into my own home. Walking into his room, I see his body under the many blankets I laid over him last night. I walk quietly over to the bed, and peel the covers back as slowly as possible, trying my best not to wake him up.
The sight of his face is worse today than it was yesterday, the bruises on his face blacker and bluer. My good mood, or light feeling I was carrying around instantly dissolves when I remember the poor shape my brother is in. This never should have happened to him. I kiss his cheek, and then pull his covers back over his head.
Before showering, I grab some medicine out of the cabinet and place it on Dickson's nightstand with a glass of water next to it. My guess is Gram got home last night and didn't even check on him, assuming we were all asleep. When she finally does see him, all hell will break loose.
Showering and brushing my teeth in record time, I dress in my room before going back down the stairs. Knox is the only one down there, sitting on the couch in the livingroom by himself, scrolling on his phone.
"Where's Nash and Bristol?"I ask, looking around for my youngest brothers, not hearing them arguing or fooling around.
"I took them to school already." He says, and for the first time this morning, I glance at a clock and see I'm already 2 hours late for classes.
Principal Sanders will be thrilled with me.
"Are we not going?" I ask, stopping mid stride as i'm shouldering my backapck on.
"No, I told you we needed to talk." Knox stands up from the couch, and walks past me and out the door without saying anything else.
I follow behind him obviously, confused as hell. Seeing him knock on Harry's front door has me hurrying up across the street to figure just what the hell my brother is doing. He was just refusing to step foot on this properties days ago, and now he's walking over here on his own accord?
Something's up.
"What are you doing?" I hiss at him, starting to feel the worry creep up my chest at how quiet he's being. Knox is a locked box, never letting you see what he's feeling or thinking. He can make you second guess yourself a thousand times over, and all by just a single look.
Before he can answer me, Harry's opening the door, dressed for school with his keys in one hand and his bookbag hanging off his shoulders. He looks between us questioningly. "'Sup?" He asks, looking at Knox, clearly he has his guard up as well.
"We need to talk." Knox says.
"Is this about me sleeping with your sister?" He asks, a smirk on his face.
"We did not sleep together! We just slept." I say, feeling my face heat up in embarrassment at his wording choice.
"That's what I said." Harry says, still with the smirk on his face, and a slight smile.
I open my mouth to snap at him, but Knox gets there first. "I have other things to talk about first, and then we can discuss you spending the night with my sister. You can ride with us or drive yourself." Then he turns around and walks by us again, crossing the street and starting up his car.
"Wanna ride on the bike with me?" Harry asks, pulling my attention back to him.
"Absolutely not." I say, still mad at him for his little joke. He knows how psycho my brother is, egging him on will only make this situation harder than I've already made it on myself alone.
"Chicken?" He asks, still smiling. He walks out on the porch and pulls the door closed behind him.
"No, i'm not scared of anything." Lie. I'm scared of almost everything, but I do a good job hiding it from everyone.
"Then ride on my bike with me."
"I don't even know if you're a qulified driver for that thing." I cross my arms over my chest. Clearly, i'm not being serious, but i'm also not going to pass up the chance to give him a hard time.
Harry wastes no time reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet to show me his motorcycle license. "You really think my dad would let me drive that if I didn't have my license?"
"I know plenty of people who have their license who are awful drivers, that still doesn't tell me you are a safe driver."
He rolls his eyes but once again has a playful smile on his face. He steps towards me, and if I thought he smelled good earlier, its nothing compared to him fresh out of the shower, with the morning breeze helping to carry his scent over. "I dare you." He says.
I consider saying no again, but I can't deny that I want to. That the thrill of sitting on the back of his bike with him pushed between my legs doesn't excite me. "Fine, but I get the helmet."
He just smiles at me before taking my hand and leading me into the garage where his bike is parked. He places the helmet on my head and snaps the clasp under my chin. "Need help getting on?"
"I can do it." I say, knowing the second he puts his hands on me, my badass facade will wash away and he'll be able to clearly see how excited I am to do this.
I throw my leg over the seat and scoot myself to the back, praying that I don't fall over and make it obvious that this is my first time climbing on the back of some guys bike. I'm thankful for the privacy of the garage so Knox can't see what I'm about to do. Harry swings his legs over gracefully, and pushes the kick stand up. He uses his legs to back the bike out of the garage after opening the doors before cranking it, the shaking and loud roar making my heart start to race.
"You're gonna wanna hold on to me." He says, grabbing my wrists and wrapping my arms around his torso, causing me to slide closer to him on the seat.
I chance a peek at my brother who is still sitting in his car, and if looks could kill, Harry and I would laying like roadkill in the middle of the road. His jaw is clenched tight, and he rolls down the window as we ride by.
"That's your ass Memphis!" He yells out the window, knowing he just told me the other morning I would never ride on the back of this bike. He revs the engine of his car before gunning the gas and shooting around us on the road, taking the lead.
Harry chuckles, clearly not discouraged in the least. He pats my thigh affectionately. "Don't worry, I'll protect your ass."
My arms tighten around him involuntarily. "You may be too busy saving your own ass to be able to protect mine too."
"Nonsense. Any idea where we're supposed to be meeting him, though?"
"Corner of Park and 3rd street, there's a little diner there. He's obsessed with their omelets." I know my brothers better than I know myself sometimes.
"What should I expect from this little chat we're about to have?" Harry asks, slowly letting us roll to the end of the street.
"Your guess is as good as mine. He said he trusts you though, and that's not something he says often about people."
Harry seems to let my words sink in, not expecting such acceptance from Knox after the hard time he's given us. "Hold on tight." He says, choosing to ignore my admissions.
We take off down the road, feeling like we go from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. My stomach drops and my arms are clinging to Harry for dear life. It's thrilling, feeling the wind against your face and that vibration between your legs. For the first time since I can remember, there's a foreign feeling stirring inside of me.
Freedom.