When the Dead Come a Knockin'

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Please bitches!” They both shouted. I snickered as I turned the lock and let them in. Isaac and Ethan hurried in and shut the door behind them.

  “Whoa.” Isaac started pulling his jacket off. “It was a pain in the ass just to get over here.” I was still laughing as I hopped up on the kitchen island. Isaac picked up Hades and started petting him. Ethan had just hung up his coat when he pointed at me then strode towards me.

  “You are the most awesome woman in the world!” Ethan declared as he came over and hugged me tight. I hugged him back surprised.

  “I know, but why do you think so?” I asked smirking. The guys chuckled as Ethan kept hugging me.

  “Because after you gave me that back massage last night I had the best night sleep ever,” Ethan said pulling back. “I haven’t slept that well since my massage chick left town.”

  “Glad to help.” I smiled at him. He leaned in and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Then he stepped back and gave me a sweet exaggerated smile. “You want another one, don’t you?” He nodded.

  “Yeah, kinda tweaked myself trying not to fall on the ice out there. I already want to lay down.” He admitted. I smiled at him. Ethan at least talking about his back hurting made me happy enough that I’d give him a massage anytime.

  “Sure, but you’re going to have to share me. And you have to massage my hands first.” I said. “They’re sore.”

  “Aha! Already massage cheating on me!” Ethan said with fake outrage.

  “Well, sweetie, with hands like these....” I smiled sweetly. The guys chuckled. Ethan reached out and took one of my hands, his fingers massaging hard. I hissed. He stopped. “Lots of bones and stuff Snoopy, easy.” Asher started pouring coffee. Isaac jumped to sit next to me on the kitchen island.

  “Sorry, Beautiful,” Ethan said as he winced in sympathy. Then he started to work the soft muscle tissue in my palm. It felt damn good. “So, I assume Asher was your massage mistress.”

  “No mistress, Zeke just warned me that if his shoulder gets worse, he’s going to ask.” Ethan froze, the room went silent. Ethan’s eyebrows went up.

  “Zeke.” He said slowly as if to be clear. “Is going to let you touch his back? Zeke Blackthorn?”

  “Ezekiel Blackthorn? Our surly giant of the north?” Isaac added as Hades licked his cheek.

  “If his shoulder starts hurting worse, I think so,” I answered. Ethan looked impressed.

  “Never thought Zeke would get over that one,” Ethan mumbled.

  “He didn’t,” I admitted. Ethan looked back up at me. “He said he wasn’t in enough pain to deal with those memories yet.” Ethan’s face was still impressed.

  “But he said he’d ask?” Isaac asked. I nodded. Asher handed me a cup of coffee. I thanked him and started drinking.

  “Wow. We got to get your hands in shape.” Ethan said. I wiggled my hand in his to remind him.

  “Yeah, so if you want another massage, get massaging yourself.” The guys burst out laughing, I closed my eyes and chuckled. Oh, that sounded dirty. There are just some things you can’t say in a room full of guys.

  Ethan finished massaging my hands by the time I was done with my coffee; they felt a lot better. After morning dishes, I had Ethan lay down on the couch, he yanked his shirt off and dropped happily. I took a second to enjoy the eye candy of Ethan without his shirt on. He worked out, but he didn’t go nuts about it like Asher, Zeke or even Isaac. But his body still was, well, drool worthy.

  “Ethan’s stripping,” I yelled to the guys trying to distract myself.

  “Yeah, bring lotion!” Ethan added. We both burst out laughing. Asher came in looking at us like we were big weirdos. Isaac just brought the lotion down from the bathroom upstairs. I took it and put some in my hands to warm it up.

  “So, what did you do to fuck up my work from yesterday?” I asked as I started rubbing the lotion on his back while finding the tight spots again.

  “Almost slipped on the ice on our back porch. I grabbed the rail which tweaked me funny.” He grumbled. “Should have just let myself drop, would have hurt less.” I found the tight areas.

  It was his lower back again. I started working the knots out on one side then the other. Ethan was making his little noises of happiness, which of course made me smile. Poor guy. When I got to almost his spine, I did the double thumb massage I figured out yesterday. His leg twitched.

  “What was that?” I asked while I was still focusing on what I was doing.

  “Sciatic nerve, it runs down from your back, through the butt and down your legs.” He grumbled. “It’s annoying as hell when it hurts.” I smiled.

  “So, your butt hurt?” I snickered. Ethan burst out laughing.

  “That’s not wrong.” He admitted. I sighed as I kept working on a particularly stubborn knot.

  “Ethan, what’s wrong with your back?” I asked gently. “I mean, why are you hurting all the time?” He sighed into the couch cushion.

  “There was a car wreck about five years ago, it caused a couple vertebrae to slip in my lower back. Which pushes on the nerves going to my legs, which causes pain.” His voice told me he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Ouch.” My voice was full of sympathy. He snorted.

  “Pretty much.” I didn’t ask anymore, but I smirked.

  “I’m still not rubbing your ass,” I said in my serious voice. He burst out laughing.

  “I wasn’t gonna ask.” He shot back as he kept laughing.

  “Just wanted to be clear.” I smiled as I felt that knot finally go. He groaned deeply, his back relaxing now.

  “Thank you so much, Beautiful.”

  “No problem Snoopy.” Someone’s cell vibrated, I didn’t feel it, but I heard it. Ethan pulled his phone out and checked it.

  “Hey! Party at the Henderson's tonight!” He rolled over, I had to force myself not to look at his chest. I grabbed his shirt and threw it at him. “You going with? Should be fun.” I smiled at his mischievous grin.

  “I’m in, if I can come home at a decent time for Veil work.” He smiled.

  “Any time you want, Beautiful.” He reassured me.

  “Sounds good to me, I could use some fun.” I got off the edge of the couch and headed for the foyer. “Ash, I’m going to use your room for Veil work!” I shouted into the kitchen. I heard the oven close.

  “Damn,” Asher cursed. “I just put cookies in the oven.”

  “I’ll take Veil shift!” Ethan volunteered from the couch. I turned to see him finish pulling on his shirt.

  “Works for me.” I turned back to shout at the kitchen. “Don’t let Isaac eat all the cookies!” Asher and Isaac were laughing as I headed upstairs with Ethan following. I dropped onto Asher’s bed and stretched out. Ethan took the other side and did the same. I looked over at him and smiled a small smile. I hated that they had to do this. He winked at me instantly making me feel better. How did the guys always do that? I put it out of my head, closed my eyes and went to work.

  I opened my eye and immediately wished I didn’t. The world was spinning, my head killing me and my stomach rolling. I thought for a second I’d be fine, but then my stomach gave a lurch. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. I was already weaving when I hit the tile in front of the toilet. I was immediately sick over and over. Hands held my hair while I was wanted to die. A cold cloth went to my neck, it felt really fucking good. I stayed on my knees with my eyes closed hoping the world would stop spinning.

  “Okay Beautiful, take this.” Ethan’s smoky voice was soothing as he slipped the nausea tablet into my hand. I popped it into my mouth and chewed. I felt like I had a bad stomach flu, in short, like shit. When I could, I held tissue to my nose. I got to my feet then I wobbled. Ethan steadied me as the world kept tilting.

  “Tell the room to stop moving, Snoopy,” I mumbled, my voice nasally as I made my way along the wall back into the hallway. Ethan didn’t laugh, his grip on my arm tightened as I stumbled against the wall.

  “Lexie,
what the hell? Why did you push it?” He snapped at me as he wrapped an arm around my waist and helped me step away from the wall. The floor kept tilting.

  “Cause I’m the broken bitch that always needs a babysitter,” I grumbled as I climbed back into Asher’s bed.

  “What?” I couldn’t answer I was already slipping under. A hand brushed the hair out of my face just before everything went black.

  Chapter 19

  Saturday Afternoon

  I woke up still feeling lousy, not like shit, but lousy. I got up and used the bathroom. I made a point to wash the blood off my face. My hair was all over the place, and I was paler than usual. Oh well, the guys had seen worse. I zombie walked downstairs to find all the guys in the family room. Isaac was lying on the floor with a sleeping Hades on his chest; it was adorable.

  “Lexie, you look like shit.” Zeke’s gravelly voice had me looking at him.

  “Thanks, Zeke,” I grumbled as I stepped around Isaac and sat down between Asher and Ethan on the big couch. Asher’s eyes ran over me.

  “Let me get you some lunch, Ally. You slept straight through.” Asher volunteered.

  “You are my favorite,” I told him in all honesty, well, right now he was. He was bringing me food. The guys chuckled as Asher headed out to the kitchen. I stole his spot and curled up in the corner of the couch.

  “Asher says you’re staying here for a few days.” Ethan reached over and started playing with my toes. “The ghosts at home that bad?” My mind went blank. I didn’t know what to tell them. I settled for a half lie.

  “Yeah, they’re camped out. I just needed a break from all the bitching.” I rubbed my eyes with one hand then started watching the movie. It wasn’t long before Asher brought me a big bowl of soup. It smelled familiar. “Is this Maria’s soup?”

  “Yeah, made at lunch for everyone,” Asher said, smiling.

  “Ooh, yum.” I suddenly had an appetite. I enjoyed that soup, it settled my stomach and gave me warm soup belly. “So, fucking good.” I put the bowl on the end table to take in when I got up.

  “Rory stopped by and dropped off a bag of clothes, and stuff for Hades,” Ethan announced.

  “I must have been out cold. I expected a lecture.” I admitted relieved. The guys snorted.

  “No, we got the lecture.” Isaac’s voice was still half asleep as he stretched. Hades lifted his head and looked around. When he saw me, he jumped off Isaac and hurried over to me. It was so fucking cute. I picked up my big ball of love and settled him in my lap.

  “Why did you guys get the lecture?” I started petting Hades who settled down on my legs.

  “For letting you make yourself sick again,” Zeke grumbled as he looked over to me. “You need to knock that shit off, Lexie.” I sighed and just kept petting Hades.

  “I’ll try.” I lied. I was going to do it again tonight; I was getting very close to the Veil, and I needed that link up. Sophia needed that link up. My answer seemed to satisfy Zeke, me looking like shit probably helped too. My cell phone in my bra rang. I pulled it out and checked the caller id. It was Dylan.

  “Should I even answer Dylan’s call?” I asked only half kidding.

  “What? He didn’t call last night?” Ethan asked from his side of the couch.

  “Nope.” Ethan frowned.

  “Ask him to the party tonight,” Isaac suggested. “We’ll see if he’s still freaked.” I sighed. I was hoping they would say don’t answer it.

  “Hello.”

  “Sunshine, I’m sorry I didn’t call last night.” Dylan’s husky voice filled my ear. Ethan tried to lean across Asher, but Asher slammed his shoulder into Ethan’s forcing him back. I wasn’t going to bother moving unless I was getting dumped.

  “Yeah, what happened?” I asked trying not to be pissed. I noticed the TV had gotten quieter and the guys were trying to look like they weren’t eavesdropping. Except for Ethan, Ethan had no problems letting me know he’s listening. Today, I didn’t care.

  “I got caught up in what I was doing, and then I passed out.” He explained. Though it wasn’t much of an explanation. Then again, I’ve given him those myself. I decided to let it go.

  “It’s okay. I get it.” I sighed. “I’m not going to hold it against you.” He chuckled.

  “How’d you do in the storm last night?” He asked.

  “Lightning and snow, freaky as fuck,” I grumbled. He burst out laughing. “What? They should not go together, and when it does... damn.”

  “Yeah, it makes a kind of cool light show.” He admitted.

  “No, scary ass light show.” I corrected playfully. He snorted. “So, what are your plans for tonight?” He took a breath and let it out.

  “I was kind of hoping to see you.” His voice didn’t have its usual warmth to it. I decided to ignore it for now.

  “There’s a party out at the Henderson's tonight, wanna go?” I asked my stomach knotting.

  “Yeah, Sunshine, I can take you.” His voice sounded weird.

  “Are you okay? You sound... off.” I had to ask, it was starting to nag at me. He snorted, it didn’t sound like a laugh.

  “Yeah, I'm okay. Just drained.” He began. “I woke up and was half asleep when I remembered I didn’t call you last night.”

  “Thank you for calling, but go back to sleep,” I said not even kidding.

  “Half way there, babe, I’ll pick you up around eight?”

  “Sounds good. I’m staying at Asher’s for a few days.” I decided to lie. “Tara and I have been tearing into each other, so I’m crashing on his couch till we both cool off.”

  “Okay, I’ll pick you up there. Bye.”

  “Bye.” I hung up the phone. He was just tired; he got into something he was working on. He’s okay. But that knot didn’t go away. “He didn’t ask about me staying here,” I told the guys quietly. I looked up to see them sending each other looks. “Not good. Right?” Zeke nodded.

  “If you were my girlfriend, there would be a lot of questions,” Zeke admitted gently, well, gently for him. I nodded.

  “Then again he and Asher have been friends for years.” Ethan pointed out. “He knows Asher wouldn’t cross that line.”

  “Good point,” I admitted. The knot wasn’t going away. The doorbell rang. Asher got up to answer it. My mind went to more important things. Cookies. “Are there still cookies in the kitchen?”

  “Yep. Asher about took Isaac’s hand off when he went after yours.” Ethan snickered. I smiled, gave Ethan a sleeping Hades, grabbed my bowl and headed into the kitchen. I was in the foyer when I heard a voice that made me stop dead.

  “-I didn’t think it was that serious, she told me she was fine.” Trisha’s voice had my temper boiling instantly. That bitch was here? After what she…? I turned around and saw her outside the door.

  “No. There’s your answer, now please leave.” Asher’s voice was firm and growing harder. I barely noticed it; I only had eyes for Trisha. I put the bowl down and was moving before I knew it. She was the fucking reason it had gotten that bad. She was the fucking reason I thought I had... I was past Asher before he knew I was there. I swung. I caught that bitch in the eye, and she went down. Vaguely I felt the pain in my knuckles but then adrenaline was flowing, and I was on her again.

  “You fucking bitch!” I hit her again. “You left me to die!” I screamed as I went to kill her. When I pulled back again, arms wrapped around me, yanking me off her and took me off my feet. I smelled vanilla and cinnamon. “You fucking piece of shit! Do you have any idea what you did!” I tried to reach for her, but Asher pulled me further away from her. “You have any fucking idea what you put me through?” I couldn’t seem to stop screaming at her. I wanted more blood. “You fucking spoiled princess! Did you even think about anyone but yourself?” Trisha was getting off the porch clutching her face.

  “Fuck you, Lexie!” Trisha shouted back, tears falling down her face. “You fucking ruin everything around you! You destroy everything!” I didn’t want to feel the hit
s, but I did. I fought to break Asher’s hold, but I had no opening, no leverage.

  “Get the hell out of here!” Asher shouted over my shoulder, I tried to jerk against him and got nowhere. “Don’t call, and don’t come back!” She glared at me holding her bleeding nose.

  “Be happy with your whore!” Trisha snapped before hurrying down the porch stairs.

  “Can’t be, the whore’s leaving!” I shouted at her. I was raging mad. The guys laughed as she all but ran to her car. I was still shaking. Asher waited until Trisha had driven off before putting me down. I pushed my hair out of my face with a shaking hand. I turned and moved through the still laughing guys to my bag Rory brought at the foot of the stairs. I grabbed it and headed upstairs. “I’m taking a shower.” I shot down at them. The guys were still laughing as I shut the bathroom door behind me.

  I focused on getting the water just right and flipped the shower on. I held it together as I stripped down and stepped into the tub. I stood under the spray letting it soak me and my hair, then I cried. Trisha’s a bitch yeah. But she wasn’t wrong. I fucked up the guy's lives, and I’ve screwed up Rory's. I required so much fucking help that the guys always ended up taking care of me. I hated it. Asher was going to have to take care of me for the next fucking week and why? Because I can’t fucking nut up and deal with this shit. I had to stop asking them for help. I had to stop counting on them to take care of me. What did it get them? Nothing! I stood in the shower and had a small pity party. It didn’t take long before I sounded pathetic even to me. Okay, Lexie, remember what Riley said. If they didn’t think you were worth it, then they would have bailed already. But you lost control out there, you wailed on her. I broke one of the rules, and it made my gut knot. I needed to do better than this. I sniffed and took my shower. I used Jessica’s shampoo and conditioner. The conditioner surprised me. I checked the bottle and committed the name to memory. It was fucking great. Yeah, I was focusing on something besides the knot in my gut. I finished my shower, dried off and got dressed. I pulled on my black jeans, a loose black boyfriend shirt. I tried to towel dry my hair, but it wasn’t working. I wondered if Jessica left a hairdryer here. There was a knock on the door. I was still trying to dry my hair, so I just said.