Page 38 of Whirlwind

Oh for fuck’s sake.

I knew her.

Her back straightened. “Hey, Beck!” she shouted out.

It was Astra Picket.

Astra was an R&B artist who had opened for Freefall on a tour of the West Coast that we’d done a couple of years ago. A few months ago Dad had told me he was on the production team of her new album. I guess that was going really well since he had his dick inside her and his face buried in her tits.

Yep, back in L.A.

I lifted my chin at them and dove into the pool. The cool water was soothing, and I did a few laps. I did a few more. My lungs burned, my muscles throbbed.

More laps.

I broke through the surface of the water, sucking in air. Dad stood over me at the edge of the pool, naked, hair ruffled. “Hey.”

“Hey. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast of champions.”

He smashed his lips together. “She’s inside taking a shower, getting dressed.”

“I’m guessing Pam and Poppy aren’t home?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he dove into the pool and came up next to me. “Good to see you, son. Missed you. Missed you a hell of a lot.”

“Missed you too, Dad.” I swept my wet hair back from my face. “What the hell’s going on?”

“We’re just messing around.”

“Dad, Astra is younger than me.”

“I know. So what?” His voice was curt, his fingers slid down his short beard.

“If Pam finds out, I’m sure it’ll be a hell of a lot more thanso what.”

“Pam knows. She took Poppy and a couple girlfriends to Mexico for a getaway vacay for a couple weeks.”

You leave town for a year and the world you once knew blows upside down.

Dad and Pam had the picture perfect marriage, everyone in L.A. said so. Devoted, always affectionate, always doing everything together, always making the magazines and online gossip sites, invited to all the right parties.

“Ah,” was all I could muster.

Now my mother was the parent living her committed monogamous relationship life after being the self-contained loner and cold serial dater for decades? Now Mom was giggly and affectionate with her man, and dad was growly and hooking up with girls.

What the hell was going on?

“Is this how it was with you and my mother? Did you fool around on her when things got tough?” He only scowled at me. “We’ve never talked about it. Not really. I want to know.”

He averted his gaze, staring at that damned cactus grove that Pam had insisted on. Dad hated cactus, so did I. “That doesn’t count.”

“It doesn’t count?”

“Your mom and I were over by that time. Still living together but barely talking, let alone…” He wiped the water from his face. “Pam had always been a good friend, someone I trusted, could lean on.”

“So Astra is your good friend now?”

His lips tilted up into a lazy grin. “We’re just having a good time.”

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