by Belle Harper
I was out of my car like a light, and over to him within a second.
“Wow, da fuck.” He slurred, I could smell his breath. Beer and stale cigarettes, it made me want to heave. That was the worst, I preferred to pick people who were not upstanding citizens if I could. Like this guy. But because I did, I had to smell this foul odor. Even his body odor was gag worthy. I felt myself getting dark, thirsty as my vamp senses kicked and I was ready to compel.
“You need to learn about personal hygiene, buddy. But today isn’t that day. You are going to stand there and not make a sound while I drink from you. Do you understand?”
He nodded slowly, before I took his wrist. I almost didn’t want to do this, but I knew I would be hungry later. And I didn’t want to mess with that. Didn’t want to lose myself in hunger and attack Lexi. Even though her scent had changed, it didn’t change for me. She still smelled amazing. And I just couldn’t trust myself.
My fangs descended, I brushed my tongue over them. I could feel all my senses heightened, the sound of chatter in the diner, dishes being washed and the dishwasher dropping a knife. A rat in the bin eating leftover scraps…
My lips met his wrist as I sunk my teeth in, he didn’t move; he didn’t flinch, he just stood there as I tasted the fresh, iron-filled blood. The metallic taste of it spilling into my mouth, my body screaming for more. It had been so deprived lately; I wasn’t eating as much as I should. And I wasn’t eating fresh. I was ashamed to admit it to Lexi. That I didn’t just have donated blood… I didn’t want her to find out. But I didn’t want to keep this secret from her either. I would tell her. Later…
I pulled away, trying to keep myself as clean as possible. The blood still seeping from the two puncture marks. I pricked my index finger on my fang and used my blood to heal him. When he looked the same as before, just with a little blood on his sleeve I compelled him again.
“You will forget about me, what has happened. You will become a decent human and take regular showers. Now leave.”
It was always fascinating watching them come out of being compelled. They look like a deer in headlines at times. Blinking, looking at their surroundings as if they didn’t know how they got there. I walked away and back to my car. That had killed some time, but I think it was time for me to go back and pick up Lexi.
I hoped whatever Jack and Grayson were telling her was some great news. She needed some great news to keep her mind full of happy thoughts. I had been waiting for the other shoe to drop with this happy Lexi, for it all to hit her, but it hadn’t yet. I was wondering if I was worried for no reason. She was strong, just like Eiji had said. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be affected.
That was the second time meeting the guy. Eiji, just something about him. It rubbed me the wrong way. I think it was more his lack of urgency in helping us find an angel, and then the way he looked at Lexi. I hissed under my breath. If I could avoid a third encounter with him, I would. But we needed him, Lexi really needed him. So, I would ignore his existence for as long as I can.
But the one nice thing I could say about him was he scrubbed up well.
He knew how to work the color purple.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lexi
I had the best afternoon with Josh, we watched our shows. We played twister, which I had figured out early on wasn’t exactly fair, so I made sure to lose a couple of times as Grayson spun the little arrow and laughed at us.
“Dinner is ready,” Jack called out. He was cooking tonight, I loved that. But I was worried I wouldn’t have enough room after all the muffins I ate. They were so good, and Galen helped, so I had to eat them.
“Come on you two,” Grayson said as he put the board down that told us where to stick our hands and feet. “Let’s not keep him waiting. He cooked us dinner. And we have news to share with Lexi.”
Okay, I had been nervous about what this news was, but the way Grayson said it sounded good. Not bad. I pretended to fall down, grabbing Josh on my way down and tickling him. It was a little hard as he was slipping around on the twister mat. But he got me back just as good. When Grayson made a sound that said we better hurry up or we will be in trouble I rolled off the mat and jumped up.
“Let’s go eat.” I reached my hand out to Josh, he took it in his and I pulled him to standing. I ruffled his dark silky hair, and we walked together to the table.
“Take a seat, Lexi. Next to Josh. He is holding in the big secret and we wanted you to be the first to know.”
I sat on the bench seat, the one I remember so well from when I first met Josh… who told me I smelled… like a shifter. Not shit. Josh sidled up beside me and I held onto his little warm hand.
“Okay, I’m ready.” I didn’t know if I was or not, just that I didn’t want to wait any longer. Grayson smiled and turned to Jack. He did that often. It was sweet, and Jack had a way with words like no other. He could make you feel better with one of his speeches. I watched as they both held hands and then faced us.
“As you know, Harry and Jaxon have returned to live with their mom. But our little boy here, Joshua. We finally received the papers, we are adopting Josh. We wanted you to be the first one to know. Apart from us, Josh and Alaric. But it is official.”
My mouth dropped open. Holy shit. This was the news, this was huge. My heart was exploding. Josh, he really wasn’t going anywhere. He would be here forever, with me. I wrapped my arms around him and sniffled.
“This is the best news I have heard in so long, I’m so excited for you all. This is amazing.” Josh started to cry, then Grayson was wiping tears, even Jack. Fuck, I was crying. They stood up and came over. We all ending up in a huge group hug of happy tears and giggles. I felt Grayson brush a tear from my cheek.
“We love you Lexi, you will be our girl no matter what. Paper or not. You are ours.” And that got the waterworks on heavy, I tried to stop but it was just too perfect.
“If we could have adopted you, Lexi. We would have. You are our girl, okay. Nothing will ever change that. You might be Lexi Turner, but in our hearts you’re a Rawson. We wouldn’t have changed your name, that is who you are. Your identity. We love you, Josh adores you. We are all so lucky to be a part of your world.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Would I want to be adopted now? So close to me being eighteen? Maybe… yes. But paper or not, these three guys were my family.
“I… I don’t even know who I am anymore. I love you all so much, I’m not sure if I ever told you that. But it’s true. I am so happy. Paper or not, I am glad was sent here. I gained a little brother… but more than that, I gained two dads.”
That set Grayson off badly, full body sobs. As Josh turned his little red splotchy face to mine.
“It’s next week on Friday. Will you come?” I nodded, wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“Um… I, will… can you.” He looked so nervous. Oh, my little bubba. “I call Jack, Papa. And Grayson, I call him dad. Did you, like… Maybe. Like. Wanna call them that too?”
Oh, those eyes peering up at me. He was so nervous to ask me.
“You don’t have to Lexi,” Grayson squeezed my hand. Jack quickly spoke up. “We weren’t expecting it or anything. Like we weren’t going to ask, but Josh wanted to. And we said he could but—”
“Be quiet, dad and papa.”
The smile on Josh’s face lit up his eyes. I didn’t do it for him though. I did it for me. It might take me a while, but I was sure one day. Hopefully not too far in the future I wouldn’t even have to think about it, and they would just be dad and papa. Tobias… well, that was a hurdle I would prefer to jump another day.
“Okay, enough crying for now. Let’s eat some dinner. It’s probably all cold now. But I can reheat it,” Grayson said. We laughed at that. It cleared the air, and I felt lighter. This had truly made my day.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lexi
I was all smiles; I was going back to school today. I had texted Ada, and she was going to wait for me at the fro
nt so we could walk in together.
“I will drive, everyone eat up,” I heard Galen call out. Huh? I walked out of his room, the one that I slept in last night with Raff and Maverick. I could see the sofa still had a lumpy blanket where Ranger was still stilling. He groaned.
“The couch is so uncomfortable. Please, let’s get a bigger bed. I don’t wanna sleep alone here… again.”
Oh man, I felt bad. When I got home last night I just collapsed. I didn’t want him to feel left out, so I ran and dove onto him.
“Ugh.” He flipped me over, I didn’t get a chance to think before I was under him, his body pinning me to the sofa. The gleam in his eye told me he planned this, I quirked my brow and eyed him.
“You tricked me, didn’t you?” Galen was the one who laughed.
“He got you, he didn’t sleep alone. He had me. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t sneak in halfway through the night only to be kicked out a few hours later.”
I smacked my hand on his chest that was practically on mine. “You cheek.” He tickled my sides, and I started to giggle and squirm. “Stop. It. Ah.” I needed to pee so bad. I heard the sound of a door closing. I tilted my head back and saw the bathroom door was closed. Raff’s hair was all dishevelled as he rubbed his eyes. His lips twitched into a smirk.
“I don’t know how you did it, Lexi, but Mav snored like a freight train.” Everyone laughed, I didn’t even hear it, but I was pretty worn out from the day. Ranger moved up my body a little more, and it was impossible to miss his hard cock between my legs. He planted a kiss on my lips and wiggled his hips. Showing me how he woke up happy… everywhere.
“Have some nice dreams, did we?” He grinded his erection into me again, waking my body up with little fireworks going off in my core. He murmured, “yes,” as he kissed me. I was a little nervous sometimes—to kiss them all in front of each other, but when I looked back over to where Raff was his eyes were watching us, and he readjusted himself in his boxers. Holy crap, how was I ever going to leave this house if they all looked at me like that? Even more so when I was with another and it affected like that. I was still amazed by this whole sharing thing. I had been waiting for a fight, someone to say it wasn’t fair. But nothing.
Ranger kissed me again, and I grabbed his ass and wrapped my legs round his waist.
“Come on, Ranger. Lexi is going to school today and you’re distracting her. You’re all gonna be late if you don’t start getting ready.”
Ranger just chuckled and sat back on his knees to look over the couch at Galen. I sat up too and saw Raff was now on the stool eating bacon. My stomach growled, and he smiled at me as he took a big bite. Tease.
“Okay, dad. Galen, you’re showing your true colors, old man.”
I smacked Ranger harder this time. “Hey,” he grabbed his chest and rubbed the spot, if that didn’t hurt him it did hurt me. I shook out my hand, then pointed at him.
“Don’t hey me,” but before I got a chance to get up, he grabbed me again and tickled, but with the strange angle we were on, the fact I was trying to get away, especially from his tickles, it made my knee go up involuntarily and—
“Ah, fuck. You kneed me in the nuts.” He groaned as he rolled off me onto the floor, clutching his junk. At first I felt a little bad, but then I didn’t. I laughed.
“Well, that will teach you for being an ass. Young man,” I snapped back. Maverick had come out of the bathroom just in time to witness what had happened. He was wearing only a towel, his hair dark and damp. I watched as a water droplet rolled down his arm… dang, his muscles so tight. He looked to me, then his brother, and winced. Then I could see the amusement on his face at the pain of his brother. I snorted. Maverick crouched slightly, then ran at me, I giggled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and swung me on the spot, kissing my cheek, I felt his hot damp skin against my own as he dropped my feet to the ground but not letting go. As he dipped my back and his lips touched mine gently before turning back to Ranger.
“I can see why Saint ran to me now instead of coming here like you asked. That looks nasty, brother. Stop upsetting our girl and go put some ice on it.” I looked over my shoulder down to where Ranger was still laying on the floor. He had tears in his eyes. He flipped his brother the bird, then looked to me and growled low. I felt that deep in my core.
God, I think Galen was right, we would all be late if I kept getting distracted and I didn’t want to be late. Ada would be waiting for me. I just shook my head and peeled myself from Maverick. He made a sound protesting, I felt the same way. I loved the way he felt against me… Maybe I should stop looking.
I quickly ran to the bathroom before anyone else decided they needed to go and closed the door behind me.
I couldn’t believe this was my life now. This was happiness.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lexi
I was so excited I almost forgot my backpack. Galen had packed it for me. I couldn’t help to think. Yeah… maybe Ranger’s teasing had a little truth to it. Not that I would ever tell either of them. Plus, it was why I loved them both, for who they were. Age didn’t play into it at all.
We all jumped into Galen’s sexy black car. The four-door one. I heard Raff talking about cars with him earlier, he really knew a lot about it. And the way he almost hugged Galen, he said he could drive his cars around anytime. Which Raff and Maverick both whistled low at as they smiled.
“You trust this guy?” Ranger jumped onto Raff’s back playfully. It was funny to see because Ranger was bigger than Raff, and it really showed when I saw them like this. “You have never let me drive.” Maverick laughed and shook his head. What was I missing?
“Oh Lexi, I see your face wondering why Galen refuses to let Ranger drive his cars. There is a very good reason behind that… Ranger?” Maverick turned to the guys, and I laughed when Ranger did the mock “who me.”
“Ranger stole my car a couple of years ago… I miss her.” My mouth dropped open. What, Ranger stole Galen’s car? And—“miss as in, gone?”
Ranger jumped off Raff and held his hands up. “To be fair, I didn’t know how fast a Shelby Cobra was. Plus was harder to handle than the Jeep. I told you I was sorry, Galen. Shouldn’t you be happy I didn’t die? I’m a great driver now… like could I please play a little with your Mustang?”
Galen just rolled his eyes. I am pretty sure Ranger would have just healed fast, so he wouldn’t have died.
“I will think about it, Ranger. Can you run in and hit the button on the wall? My garage door opener batteries have died and I haven’t had a chance to replace them?”
Ranger saluted Galen as we all jumped into his four-door car, me in the front with Galen, I rolled the window down like Galen had. It was a nice spring morning. Was this a Chevy? Cars were not my strong point. But it wasn’t as loud as the other one, but still black and sleek. And from the sounds of it, Galen liked to collect cars… ones that were irreplaceable from the sounds of it.
We backed out of the garage and I watched as Ranger hit the button and the door started to come down. He started to strut towards us, then as the door was close to closing he rolled out underneath and jumped and fist punched the air. The door started to go back up.
“Ah, fuck. I really thought I had that. Hold on.” Ranger ran back to the wall and did it again. This time he did a stupid dance, then at last second rolled out under, but the door went up again.
“I really thought he didn’t touch it that time,” I said, more to myself than anything. Must be a sensitive door.
“Come on asshole, stop fucking around Ranger,” Maverick called out. Which just set Ranger onto more funny dance moves. This time he hit the button and did a catwalk strut like a model would. I laughed, which was probably encouraging him more. This time he dove down and rolled under, and instantly the door was going back up.
“We are going to be late, come on. Just hit the button and come.” This was a little funny, but frustrating at the same time. Ada was waiting for me.
“
Come on,” I screamed out. He hit it again and ran straight for us. The door went up again. I looked over to Galen, a goofy grin on his face. “Galen?” He turned to me as Ranger started to cuss and head back for the button when I saw in Galen’s hand a small dark controller.
“Oh my god, give me that.” I reached over, but he was too fast.
“What the hell?” Raff called out to me as I snatched the controller out of Galen’s hand and he cracked up laughing. Have the tables been turned? Was Galen becoming Ranger?
I shook my finger at Galen. “I cannot believe you did that.” I wasn’t angry, if anything I was smiling. Ranger jumped in the car and laughed.
“Man, that door is over sensitive.” I held up the controller and pointed to Galen. The look on Ranger’s face was priceless.
“Oh, you asshole. You were fucking with me the whole time. I knew I made it the first time… was this about the old man thing or the cobra?”
Galen put the car in drive and laughed before adding. “Both.”
I smiled the whole way to school, while the guys all chatted away about cars.
I jumped out the car and ran straight to Ada, her arms open wide for a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and smiled. This was going to be so good.
“What took you so long?” she hissed under her breath. We pulled apart, and I was about to explain about Galen and how he just messed with Ranger, but I felt a tall shadow move to the side of me.
“Hey, Ada, Lexi. I heard about the… you know. And it worked. You don’t smell anymore… oh wait, I mean like you don’t smell like a—” Noah’s eyes went wide. And his hands were doing a lot of gestures. I looked to Ada and held my tongue. Noah was so cute and I had a feeling the guys were telling him off.
“I’m sorry, Lexi. I’m gonna go now.” He pointed his thumb to the school doors and ran up the stairs as fast as he could away from us.