Miles’ father chuckled. “She was always a smart one.”
“Yes, she is.” Miles’ shoulders pushed back making him stand straighter. “Now, leave before I call the police and have you arrested for breaking and entering.”
His father eyed him. “You haven’t been answering your phone.”
“I haven’t answered my phone in over a year. Why does it suddenly matter now?” An edge slid into Miles’ voice. I stepped into the room, drawing their notice for the first time.
“We need to talk about your future.” His dad turned back to Miles. “And not wasting it with the psychotic.”
Psychotic? Huh. Guess that was a step up from last time. Trailer trash had been thrown around.
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say. Not now, not ever.” Miles dropped his arms to his sides. “Now, get out.”
“Miles-”
“Don’t.” Miles’ lips flattened together. “Just leave.”
Tense silence fell as he walked toward the door. He paused. “About this girl-”
“If you mention her again, I’ll be getting a shovel.” Miles’s voice was emotionless, chilling. A cold chill ran down my spine. How the fuck did he know about Lexie?
His father gave an amused chuckle. “You really are my son.”
“I’m nothing like you.” Miles’ eyes were hard as he glared at his father.
“Maybe, maybe not.” He grinned as he strode by me and out the door.
Neither one of us moved until the sound of an engine faded away completely.
“What the fuck happened?” I growled as I walked further into the living room.
Miles closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I came downstairs and he was here.”
“What did he want?” I started pacing. Whenever Miles’ dad showed up, bullshit usually followed. Along with blackmail attempts and us scrambling to cover our asses.
Miles sighed. “He wanted to talk about my future.”
I cursed as I ran my hand through my hair.
“I’ll have the locks changed while we’re camping.” Miles shook his head. “And make sure the supernaturals have a key.”
“You okay?” I eyed him. The shadow of bags hung under his eyes. They weren’t dark but they never were for him.
“Yes.” He turned and headed for the kitchen. I followed. It wasn’t like I could get Miles to talk about it if something was bothering him. No one ever could. But that wasn’t the only thing.
“He knows about Lexie?”
Miles nodded as he filled a mug with coffee then slid it over the counter to me.
“What did he say about her?” I took it and leaned against the counter. If we could get ahead of him…
“He knew basic information.” Miles finished making his coffee then leaned against the other counter beside the sink. “Her name, where she’s lived…”
“You think he has a tail on her?” It wouldn’t be unheard of. Arthur liked to keep tabs on Miles and had him followed before.
“It’d have to be someone new.” His eyes unfocused, the gears already working. “I’ve got his usual on retainer.”
“Miles?”
Miles’ gaze met mine over his glasses.
“This isn’t good.”
His eyes flashed with ice. “Really? Are you sure? My abusive father knows who she is and where she lives. I thought that was a good thing.” Miles turned and slammed his mug into the sink shattering it. Coffee splattered over the tiled back splash and sink. Miles braced his hands on the counter and took several deep breaths.
I waited until he had control again. It wasn’t often that Miles lost his temper like this. In fact, I don’t think anyone else had ever seen it.
When Miles straightened and turned back to me, he was stone faced. “I’ll put his usual guy on him. Find out if he has a tail on her. If so, convince them it’s not worth their time.”
“That should work.” I took a drink of my coffee.
“We can’t tell her she might have a tail, it’ll raise too many issues.” He grabbed a dish towel and wiped off his hands and shirt. “But if we don’t, she’ll be upset we kept it from her.”
The look on her face as I yelled at her last night hit me. My throat seemed to grow thicker as I swallowed. I eyed Miles. His jaw was clenched, his fingers were tapping the corner of the sink. No… I couldn’t talk to Miles about this. I fucked up, I’d have to fix it on my own.
Lexie
Cursing, I crumpled up the picture I had been working on and tore it out of my sketch book. Muttering under my breath, I threw it to join the others on the coffee table in the living room. Absently tapping my charcoal pencil on my sketchbook, I tried to get my shit together.
I eventually got myself to bed sometime early this morning. But sleep seemed to have its own grudge against me and stayed away. I huffed. Just like I was going to have to. I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against the back couch cushion.
I needed to stay away. How the hell was I going to do that? During the rest of the summer was easy but once school started… My throat tightened. Seeing them in the hallway? No. No I couldn’t do it. Home school? I could go on independent study for the last year of school. Maybe work full time to save enough money to get out of town as soon as I graduate? Hell, if I busted my ass, I probably could graduate early…
I watched as my phone vibrated on the table. Again. The guys had been texting me on and off all morning. At least the twins had. My chest seemed hollow as I stared at my phone. What the hell had I been expecting? That we’d work it out and everything would be okay? This was the real world and reality didn’t work that way.
A mistake. Kissing me was a mistake. Everything I was seemed to sink into the darkness inside me. It just didn’t matter anymore. It was a mistake, moving here was a mistake. Everything was just…. I was a mistake. Mom had been right all along…
Miserable, I picked my phone up off the table.
Nemo: Are you coming over early tonight?
No, sweetie, I wasn’t coming over at all… Zeke wanted me out of his life. That meant out of his friends’ lives too. My eye lids were heavy from crying last night as I tried to figure out how to tell him.
I picked up my sketch book but instead of drawing, I started writing.
Guys, I love you all but I can’t come around anymore… No. If I use can’t they’ll ask why. Maybe if I just made it sound like my decision? I scratched it out and tried again. I’m sorry, but I won’t do more damage to your relationships with each other. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened. I’ve decided to stay away for a while. A while… more like forever… That hollow, numb feeling grew as I tried to figure out the best way to say this. Several more tries, several more slashed out lines that didn’t work.
Someone knocked. I dropped my sketchbook down onto the coffee table and shuffled over toward the door. Maybe I was never going to find the right words to tell them… maybe it should be a fast and clean break… Just get it done and go. Yeah, that was probably the best for them. I opened the front door and looked up.
Zeke’s wide shoulders filled the doorway. His bloodshot eyes met mine, the bags under them were heavy. When he didn’t say anything, I figured out why he was here.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my set of keys. I slid the ring with all the guys’ house keys off and held it out to him without a word. I expected to feel something. Sadness, anger… something. But it was like I had nothing left to give. I was empty.
“Your door wasn’t locked.” His voice was a rough rasp.
“So?” My voice was as hollow as the rest of me. “Take your keys and go.”
He looked down at the keys in my hand, his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself. His hands balled into fists at his sides.
I made it easy for him. I let go of the keys. He automatically snagged them before they fell too far. I started to close the door.
“That’
s not what I’m here for.”
I stopped and looked up at him around the half-closed door. “What else do I have? Your shirt?” When he only clenched his jaw, I shook my head. “All that stuff burned in New Orleans.”
Shadow and light fought it out in his eyes as he looked at me again and shook his head.
I racked my brain trying to think of what he’d want. Only one thing came to mind. “If you’re worried about what I’m going to tell the guys, you can relax. I wasn’t even going to mention you.”
His face grew slightly paler as he shook his head.
“I’m done trying to guess what’s going on in your head. You’re going to have to actually say words.” When he didn’t say anything I started to close the door again.
The door was almost shut when he smacked the palm of his hand against the door stopping it. The sound of flesh hitting metal was loud in the silence. When the door opened again, his eyes met mine. “I hate these fucking talks.”
“Then walk away.” I held his gaze without flinching. “There’s nothing keeping you here.”
He pressed his lips together. “You… I…” He swallowed hard. “You’re here. That’s enough.”
I wanted to feel something, warmth, irritation, anything. But there was nothing but the emptiness. “I’m backing out of your lives. Out of school. Out of town really. You guys can go back to normal.”
His eyes narrowed on mine. “And what would you do?”
I gave him an empty smile. “What I always do. Figure it out. Alone.”
His eyes ran over me. When they met mine again, worry seeped in with the shadows.
I pushed the door shut and headed to the kitchen. I was pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge when the door slammed open.
I shut the fridge and turned as Zeke stepped into the living room and slammed the door shut behind him. He didn’t want me around but he was just going to walk into my house? A spark struck in the darkness. Just a tiny glow.
He strode toward me. “Kissing you wasn’t a fucking mistake.”
That spark surged into a small flame in my chest. Pretty, but too small to feel.
He stopped a couple of feet away from me. “I had thought about it, you, a million times. The only thing I’d change about it was that I walked away from you.”
That flame spread sluggishly as if finding wet kindling.
He shook his head. “You’re in my head, Lexie. Everyday. Now, when I’m exhausted, hurting or out of it... I don’t go somewhere to deal with it. I go looking for you. I’ve never... needed someone before.” He stepped closer. “And it scares the shit out of me.”
That one flame spread into many.
Zeke’s gaze ran over me, his jaw set. “I said that because it would have been easier if it was my fault when…” His voice was thick and gravelly as he continued. “When you chose someone else.”
It was like throwing gasoline on a fire. “You. Fucking. Prick.”
Relief filled his eyes as he took a step back.
I slammed the closed bottle onto the counter. “Do you have any fucking idea the kind of shit you put all of us through? Put me through?”
He went to answer but I didn’t let him.
“You said it was a mistake, Zeke!” The nails of my right hand bit into my palm as the heat built in my chest. “Do you have any fucking idea how many times I’ve been told I’m a mistake?”
His eyes snapped to mine as his lips parted.
“No, you fucking don’t. Because that would be a conversation you’d avoid like the plague!” I strode past him toward the door.
He watched me as I walked past him. “There’s my girl.”
I stopped dead and turned on him. “Your girl? I’m not your girl, Zeke. Being your girl would mean we had that conversation about us. Remember? The one you kept fucking dodging. So, why wouldn’t I run to you the second someone else kisses me? Probably because you didn’t seem to give a shit! You’re a fucking master at it. You could give lessons on not giving a shit!”
His temper flared to life in his eyes as he opened his mouth to fire back. Somehow, he managed to close his mouth without saying a word. A first.
But I wasn’t done. “You bark orders and expect everyone to fall in line. And the worst part about that is that the people around you go along with it!” My heart raced in my chest. My body shook as I took a deep breath. “We all do it your way because we care. Because we want you to know it and it’s the only damn way you let us show you!”
He looked over my head at the stairs behind me, his jaw clenching and unclenching.
“But if someone screws up, do we get forgiven? No! We get grounded and have to earn your trust back.” My voice cracked as his eyes shot to mine. “When was the last fucking time someone made you earn their trust back after you fucked up, Zeke?”
His silence and blazing eyes were more than enough of an answer.
“Because you do. All the time.” My eyes burned as they filled. “You fuck up just as much as the rest of us and we’re just supposed to forgive you.” Tears I didn’t know I still had in me burned a path down my face. “Well. Fuck you. This time it fucking hurt!”
Silence rang in my ears as I wiped my face and sniffed. I shook as I tried to pull my shit together again.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was a rough whisper as he stepped closer.
I grew still. I could count the number of times Zeke apologized to anyone on one hand.
He eyes ran over my face then back to meet mine. “You’re right. About everything. I do all of that. It’s just… it’s not easy having someone walk around with a piece of you.”
“That’s what family is.” My voice was rough in the quiet of the house.
“I really didn’t mean to hurt you.” He looked down at the floor between our feet. “I… panicked and made a giant mistake.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. He needed to understand something. “I can deal with panic. I can deal with mistakes.”
He lifted his head, his shining eyes met mine.
“I won’t deal with cruel. If you ever go that far again…” I shook my head. I didn’t know exactly what I’d do. But it wouldn’t be around him, that I was sure of.
He reached out to hold the back of my neck.
I backed up out of his reach. “Don’t touch me right now.”
He curled his fist and dropped his hand, understanding in his eyes. An awkward silence fell.
It was several minutes before Zeke shifted on his feet. “If I’m going to go to the family meeting tonight, I need to go to work.” His eyes met mine. “Are you going to Miles’ tonight?”
I nodded.
He let out a long breath he’d been holding and headed for the door. Before walking out he paused. “Happy birthday, Baby.” He slipped outside and closed the door behind him.
I sat down in the armchair and tried to get through the mess in my chest. He didn’t want me to leave… that was good… wasn’t it? Thoughts of tonight slammed to the front of my mind. This whole thing might not matter by the end of tonight. My stomach churned. I was so lost in my head I didn’t even notice Tara until she sat down on the arm of the couch closest to me. My cousin Tara was pretty. There was no denying it. She had her mom’s blue eyes, light blonde hair and pert nose.
“That was some fight.” For once her voice wasn’t arrogant or shrill. “Are you okay?”
I lifted my eyes to look at her. Tara…caring? “As well as could be expected.”
She gave me a strained smile. “You have plans for your birthday?”
I guess I did but now… I just wanted to go to bed and hide there with Hades. “I have some stops to make first.”
“It’s kinda obvious you’ve been crying all night.” Her honesty caught my attention. “Your eyes are swollen.”
I shrugged with one shoulder. “I’ll live.”
She gave me a timid smile. “I could show you how to get the swelling to go down. No one would know when you’re done.”
Tara was being helpful? I wasn’t even going to start poking at this. “I’d appreciate it.”
Her smile grew more confident. “I’ll get the ice.”
Chapter 4
Tara’s ice pack worked. A half an hour later, my eyes were back to normal. Which meant I had to go see everyone else. I sighed as I parked between the twins’ house and Asher’s. My grip on the steering wheel tightened as I took several deep breaths. Okay, shit hasn’t been great. But we were talking. That was a start. Yeah, the morning didn’t start great but it’s a new hour. I can do this.
It wasn’t long before I was up the stairs and going through the twins’ front door. Something delicious hit my nose. My stomach growled, reminding me that I had skipped breakfast. I ignored it as I looked in the living room for the guys. Nope. Empty. I followed my nose into the kitchen. Maria, the twins’ mom, was at the scraped-up dining table reading a newspaper. Maria was a beautiful woman. Thick black hair, the same chocolate eyes as the twins. It wasn’t hard to see where they got their looks.
Ethan was at the stove singing a song to himself. “Sopes, sopes, you’re so delicious, I love you more than all the other dishes.”
I bit back a smile as Maria looked up from the paper. “Where have you been, young lady?”
I immediately stood up straighter. “I… um…. was busy?”
Maria frowned at me as she folded her paper and set it down. “Too busy to come over?”
“Everyone had a fight, Ma.” Ethan shot over his shoulder before going back to what he was doing.
Maria sighed and shook her head. “Good thing it’s over now, you were gone too long.”
I relaxed and walked around the table to hug her.
“I’ve been stuck with these boys and they’ve been worse than normal.” She squeezed me tight.
“I know, I’m sorry.” I chuckled as I pulled back. “Where’s Isaac?”
“Still asleep, as usual.” Maria shook her head as she picked the paper up again.
“Beautiful, Ma made sopes last night. Want some?”
I turned and moved to his side. Sure enough there was a pile of plain sopes in a plastic bag. “Have I ever turned down food in this house?”
When the Dead Have It Easy Page 4