Bare Trees

Chapter 31

Harley Johnson

Okay, I was calm.

It was Christmas and I was with Aria and our family, getting to know their family.

Nah, it was nerve-wracking. Definitely. Of course I had met most of these people before, in passing when I was younger. They'd come by every now in then to the house and I was known as the cute, quiet kid Jim adopted.

Now, I was known as the man Aria was dating/the man helping raise Josh. Now, I was under more scrutiny. So with that being said, I was pulling uncomfortably at a polo sweater in hopes of hiding my tattoos from them all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not ashamed of my tattoos. But I wouldn't personally just want to flaunt them at them. I wanted to look as much like the little cute kid as much as possible. Yet, I wanted to stand tall, like a man.

I cared, okay? I cared about what these people thought, unlike the usual me. Usual me wouldn't give a fuck about what anyone thought, but I loved Aria, Josh, and Mr. Jim. So that extended to me actually giving a fuck about what their family thought. Cuz now, I was a part of said family.

"Uncomfortable?" Aria asked me as I pulled at the sweater for the fourth time. I shrugged.

"It's just hot, yunno?"

"Nobody told you to cover up your tattoos." She joked with me. I stared down at her, pushing her beautiful curls behind her ear.

"Well, I did it for you." She hummed.

"You didn't have to. I don't care what anyone thinks about you. You're my man." Damn, not I'm feeling giddy with her still.

"I just don't want any trouble, baby." I kissed her forehead and looked around, meeting eyes with her grandfather. "Your grandfather is staring." She groaned.

"He's a tough one, but he'll grow on you." I smiled, nodding. I expect people to not like me, that's fine.

"Aunty, come here I gotta show you something." Josh told Aria, dragging her away. I looked up, going to see what Mr. Jim was doing, but I locked eyes with his father instead. He was headed my way.

This man was Mr. Jim's father. Now, from what I heard he and Mr. Jim didn't get along well, but he loved Aria with everything in him.

He thought he was a good judge of character because he didn't like Aria's mom and obviously he feels like he was proven right.

The only thing that makes me not like this man is that he was rude to me when I was child too. I distinctly remember him asking Mr. Jim, "Why are you bothering to help lost souls? You can't even help yourself." He pretty much ignored me anytime he came around. He wouldn't even say as much as hello to me when he came in the house.

He was pretty much the male version of Aria's mother, in my opinion.

He stood in front of me, giving me a look down. I was not intimidated by him one bit, so I smiled.

"Enjoying the party, sir?" I asked him. He nodded, curtly.

"Yeah. Listen, I'll cut to the chase. I just want to know what you want from this family. We don't have any money for you." I raised my eyebrow.

"So what makes you think money is my motive? Must be damn near impossible for me to actually love them." I answered him, somewhat sarcastically. "Don't really know why you don't like me. I ain't ever do anything to you. You ain't like me when I was little. For nothing." He scowled, shaking his head.

"The problem is, son," He started, gripping my shoulder tightly. "..you don't belong in this family. Look around. Do it seem like you supposed to be here?" I shrugged, unphased.