Page 4 of April’s Fool

I can hear laughter from each of my brothers as we head for the doors. I pick the one next to Hazard. I don’t know why, but I figured it was the best option.

I barely twist the doorknob and push the door open when I discover exactly what JC and Lo mean. Shaving cream covers my chest and head.

“What the hell?” I snarl, stepping back. Glancing down, I see the shimmering colors of glitter mixed into the shaving cream.

Glitter, for fuck’s sake.

Chapter 3

APRIL

Oh no! Oh no!

No. No. No. No.

“Did you see his face?” Mercy giggles hysterically.

“Talk about hilarious,” Kayla says, bending over, laughing her ass off. “He was totally pissed.”

“I know.” Mercy snorts, shaking her head. “Good call on picking a room in the guest hall.”

It was funny, I have to admit, but I’m not sure it was a good idea. It was him who got hit by our prank. He didn’t look like he appreciated it. His brothers seemed to have found it amusing, judging by the hysterical laughter I heard. JC and Lo, who had been leaving the hall, turned around in time to see what happened, and I heard them curse from around the corner.

“Mercy, Kayla, April, I swear to fuck I’m going to throttle the three of you one of these days,” Twister remarks, finding us sitting outside by the swing set built years ago when Kayla and Mercy were just babies. The three of us used to play out here a lot. We still come out here to hang when none of the younger kids are around. “Do you three not know how to control yourselves?”

“I’m sorry, Daddy, but you know us,” Mercy says sweetly, batting her lashes.

“What I know is that you three are in a world of trouble,” Twister says, glowering at each of us. “You don’t know them. Your prank could have caused a shitload of problems for the club. You’re damn lucky they thought it was funny and that JC and Lo were smart enough to give them a heads-up.”

“Uncle Twister, it’s not like we did anything dangerous to them. I mean, seriously, you know there are a lot of other things we could’ve done besides shaving cream and glitter,” Kayla remarks brazenly.

I simply keep my mouth shut. As funny as it’s been, the prank we played on them is nothing compared to what we could’ve done. We’ve done a lot more, for sure, and worse. Like the time we put hair removal cream in Lo’s girlfriend’s shampoo bottle two years ago. None of us cared for her. She’d been a total bitch toward the three of us, mostly to Kayla, when no one was around. It pissed Lo way the hell off, but she finally showed her true colors around him, and he ditched her.

Twister looks at me and raises a brow. “Not going to add anything to save your asses?”

I give Twister a small smile just as my phone starts ringing. “You know us,” I say, looking at my phone. “Sorry, I need to take this,” I tell them, hopping off the bench to move away while answering. “Hello?”

No one says anything at first, so I repeat my greeting.

Still, only heavy breathing could be heard on the other end.

“Look, if this is some sick game you’re playing, Samuel, then you can knock it off,” I snap quietly, not wanting anyone to hear me. I don’t need them to know what’s going on at school, or that one of them is calling me while we’re on break. They don’t need to know about Samuel or his friends. I’ve kept my tormentors a secret from all of them.

“What will you do to get us to knock it off?” the bastard has the nerve to ask. “You know all you gotta do is . . .”

I hang up before he can finish what he was about to say. I know exactly what he’d have said, and I don’t want to hear it. It’s always the same.

I take a breath to calm myself and shove my phone back into my pocket. The last thing I want is for my friends to know what’s going on back at school or that one of my tormentors is calling me. They’ll question it and want to know exactly what’s going on.

Turning back to where my friends are still sitting, I give them a bright smile and hope they don’t see through it. Twister, on the other hand, is a hell of a lot harder to hide from, especially when he’s watching so closely.

I don’t like the idea of him watching me under a microscope. If anyone could read me, it would be him or Horse. Well, my best friends could do it too, or maybe even their moms, but those men aren’t stupid by any means.

Returning to the group, I rejoin them on the bench. “Sorry about that.”

“Who was on the phone?” Kayla asks, raising a brow.

“Yeah, since when do you walk away to take a call?” Mercy adds.