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This time, I sit on the couch. The hard-as-a-rock chair wasn’t all that comfy last time.

The doc cocks his head to the side and says, “Hello, Blue. Let’s pick up the story where you left off last time. After you drop Kayla off at her house, where do you go?”

I smirk. “Don’t you think we should talk about the warlock thing?”

“Not yet. I feel there’s more I need to know first.”

He doesn’t believe me. Of course, he doesn’t believe me. I could, if I weren’t in such a sunny mood today, lift him off his ass and stick him to the ceiling.

But I won’t. Mom would really get upset with me. Probably make me go back to the island. So, no, I won’t be showing off today. Sigh. Now, where was I?

OOO

I go home, park the car in the driveway and sneak quietly into the house, assured of keeping my partying a secret because Dad and Sis are always in bed by ten on work nights. I make it to the steps and I hear, “Blue, you’re home!”

Oh no, Sis is still awake. “Hey, Pink,” I say, trying not to slur my words. “I’m really tired. I think I’ll just head on upstairs.”

“Baby Blue, wait,” she calls from the living room. “I can’t sleep. Sit with me and tell me about your evening.”

I fear that if I get too close to her I’ll be betrayed by either my breath or my glassy eyes. So I pretend I’m choking and run up the stairs and into the bathroom, grab my toothbrush and begin brushing furiously, a desperate attempt to erase the damning evidence of my earlier partying. As long as she doesn’t turn on any lights, the eyes should be okay. But I’m not taking chances in that department either.

I go back downstairs to find Pink looking concerned. “Are you okay?” she asks me.

“Right as rain,” I say. “Peanut got caught in my throat.” I can’t come up with a better cover than that?

“Sit,” she says, completely overlooking the oddity of my prior statement. She pats her hand on the couch right beside her. As soon as my butt hits the cushion, she’s all over me - hugging me and telling me how much she cares about me. Women are so emotional. I can’t figure them out.

Suddenly, she backs away and gives me the once over. “It’s midnight, Blue. Why are you wearing your shades?”

“Because I’m cool,” I say with a laugh, taking them off and stashing them in my shirt pocket. Lucky for me, she hasn’t turned on any lights so the only available illumination is the full moon shining through the window. Truth is, we see rather well in the dark.

“So, how’s Kayla?” she asks.

“I think she may be getting too serious.” Oops. I shouldn’t have said that. It will give her an in. And here it comes.

“No need to be embarrassed. I completely understand, baby bro. She wants you to have sex and you’re not ready. If there’s anything you want to know, you can ask me. You know that, right?”

I cover my mouth and pretend to yawn, hoping it’s enough to cover the laugh that is working its way up from my belly and about to explode into existence. It takes great pains to maintain a serious composure. “That’s not what I meant,” I force myself to reply evenly. What exactly does she think we’re hooking up to do - homework?

“Well, if that’s not the problem then, what is it?” she says, cocking her head in that way she does when I flummox her.

And just that fast I think of an out. “It’s kind of a guy thing, Sis. I think I should talk to Dad about it.”

She nods knowingly although I have no idea what she thinks I mean. Hell, I don’t know what I mean. I’m really beat and the last thing I feel like doing is talking about Kayla or my sex life with my big sister. Don’t get me wrong, Pink and I are five by five. It’s just that sometimes she still treats me like a kid. And, technically, I suppose I am - for another three days. But I’ve been pretending to be older for so long now, that it riles me up to be treated like a tow-headed adolescent.

Finally, she looks at me in the dim light and says, “Go on to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks Sis,” I say, although I’m not sure what I’m thanking her for. I stand up too quickly and nearly lose my balance. Now, that would be a dead giveaway, wouldn’t it? I manage to catch myself before she notices and walk quietly up the stairs. Not that I care if I wake up Dad. He would, most likely, laugh and give me high fives for scoring both sex and drugs in one evening. Oh well, morning will come early and with it the need for the little grey cells to function properly.

Four-thirty comes way too soon and I’m back up and putting on fresh clothes. No time for a shower this morning at the rate I’m moving but I take a quick one anyway. I’m sure I reek. Downstairs, I find Sis drinking coffee and Dad eating a donut. For all the world they look like two ordinary people. If the world only knew.

OOO

“Hey Doc,” I say, breaking off my tale. “Everything I say here is completely confidential, right? You can’t go to the press or anything.”

Glancing up from his notebook, the doc peers at me over his reading glasses. “Of course, Blue. Why do you think I’d go to the press anyway?”

“Um, no reason.”

OOO

“Hey, Blue,” Dad says, along with throwing me a killer smile. It’s where I get mine, by the way. He’s reading the script he needs to learn by today. Quick understudies. We’re lucky that way. On the show, he plays the alpha male named Skull, while Sis plays Fluffy or some such non-wolf name or other. Frankly, I was surprised when Pink wanted to join him in the acting biz. I figured her for the stay-at-home mom type. But she always surprises me. Actually, now that I think about it, she probably went to work on the show so she could keep an eye on Dad. I would too, if I were her.

Walking over to the identical set of baby swings on the other side of the room, I bend over and tickle each of the little urchins. They squeal with great zeal. Are they my half-brother and half-sister or my niece and nephew? Or both? Like I said, it’s complicated.

“Good morning Dad, Sis,” I say, on my way to the counter to grab a cup of Dad’s steamy and extremely potent energy booster. Dad makes the coffee the way he likes it - strong and thick. It’s nearly a coffee milkshake. Pink hates the stuff. In a thinly veiled attempt to sway him to the lighter side of coffee, I ask “Why don’t we get one of those high-end coffee makers like Tyler has at his place?”

Dad laughs. “You want one, you buy it then. What am I, the golden goose?”

“Honk, Honk,” I say, making Dad laugh as Sis rolls her eyes upward.

“You look tired,” says Sis, turning her laser focus on me. No shit, Sherlock. I was up talking to you in the wee hours!

Suddenly, Dad perks up and says, “Don’t worry, Blue. I can help you with that.” he says. He doesn’t elaborate but Pink shoots him a dark glance. Hmm, that was odd. I’ll have to ask him what he meant when I get him alone.

Settling in on a stool, I shove a donut in my mouth and pull out my own script. I’m doing a scene with Kayla, AKA Wetpaw, today and I want to get it right. Don’t want her to think less of me, do I?

At five a.m. sharp, we hop in my car and head for the studio. For once, I wish Dad was driving. I can barely keep focused on what I’m doing. But we make it with minutes to spare and no one makes mention of my driving, which is almost certainly less than stellar this morning.

We walk into the studio and I notice that Kayla’s already there. She runs over and gives me a passionate kiss. “I missed you last night,” she whispers. “I wish you could have stayed with me.”

“Me, too,” I whisper, prying her off so I can get to makeup. Dad and Sis are already in their chairs, people fussing over them like they’re famous or something. Today’s a wolf day for everyone. It’s going to be a long one. When Sis is fully made up, she spies someone she wants to talk to, leaving me alone with Dad. Now’s my chance, I think as I give him a slight nudge.

“I’m still really wiped, Dad. Did you say you had something that could help me?”

He looks around and, seeing no one paying attention to us at the moment, retrieves a tiny white pill from his shirt pocket.

“What is it?” I ask, popping it into my mouth.

“Ibuprofen,” he says, winking in a slow, exaggerated manner.

“Oh,” I say. I have no clue what he’s trying to tell me. I just hope it helps because I feel like a crap that’s been stomped on by a herd of goats.

I love my Dad! In no time at all, I have the sense that I could run rings around the whole damn lot of them. I’m completely awake and alert. Whatever he gave me, I’ve got to get my hands on some more.

“Feel better now?” he asks me between takes.

“Do I ever!” I reply.

I ace all my lines and even the director is looking at me strangely, impressed no doubt by my professionalism and talent. In fact, he keeps telling me to slow down. If he can’t keep up, well, that’s his problem.

I’m humbled. Well, not really. I know I’m good. But people tend to dislike a braggart so I smile shyly when he marvels at the delivery of my lines. Damn. Now I definitely need to get my hands on some more of Daddy’s little helpers.

Twelve hours later, we pile into the car to return home and Aubrey immediately notices the change in my energy level. “I can tell you feel better,” she says, smiling at me, as I glance at her in the rear view mirror. Does she know?

“Yeah, Sis,” I reply, confidently taking the highway at high speed. The top is down and it feels good to be out on the open road again. I hate confined spaces, especially when I’m covered in a thick, hairy costume and forced to wait for what seems like an eternity to do my scenes.

The rush of air as it hits my face is embracing. I’m happy and wide awake. I wonder how long these things last. I can’t ask Dad with Sis in the back seat. If it got back to Mom and my stodgy step, that Dad gave me an upper of some kind, there’d be hell to pay. Knowing Josh, he’d probably have me hog-tied and shipped back to the island first thing.

It’s not like I hated life on the island. Quite the contrary. It’s a great place. But getting to star in a television show rules in ways that running a fishing and boat touring business doesn’t. And besides, Josh would never have let Pink nor I out of his clutches until we were fifty, if then, if we hadn’t plotted our escapes. Some kind of weird, parental, overprotective gene there.

I glance at the text that’s just come through on my cell. Kayla wants to hook up tonight. I’ll be ready for her this time. Her roommate is going out on a hot date, so we’ll have the pad all to ourselves. I wish I could show her my real talents, say, like levitating. Dad taught me the incantation when I was younger but I can only practice around the fam. Besides, it would probably scare Kayla and I don’t want to do that. As long as we work together, I have to be careful. But I bet having sex in midair is a kickass high.

“Excuse me,” the doc interrupts. “Did you say you can levitate?”

“Yeah. It’s easy, you just need to know the incantation.”

“Right. Just want to make a note of that. Continue.”

Part 1 | Part 2