When To Fear The Living
The Veil Diaries Series, Volume 3
B.L. Brunnemer
Published by B.L. Brunnemer, 2017.
Also by B.L. Brunnemer
The Veil Diaries Series
When The Dead Come A Knockin'
When To Fear The Living (Coming Soon)
Copyright 2017 BL Brunnemer
All Rights Reserved.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
The Boys: Zeke
The Boys: Asher
The Boys: Ethan
Epilogue
For the latest on the Veil Diaries
Sneak Peek
Sneak Peek
First, to my husband Robert. Who suffered many days and nights of being ignored for this book.
You’re the best, and I promise I’ll make a schedule and stick to it now.
Second, my Content Editor, Melissa Leeper. You saved this book. There is no doubt in my mind, and when the editor got sick, you jumped in and helped save it again.
Third, To Vivian and Katrina, you two jumped in and help save the book when the editor got sick.
I can’t thank you enough!!
And a special thank you to
Grondin Designs for the covers and my new website!
Check them out!
www.grondindesigns.com
Chapter 1
Thursday
I was laughing when I opened my locker. At least I was, until I saw a folded piece of paper in my otherwise empty locker. I was tired of these stupid notes. I've been getting one every day since we came back from Christmas break. I picked it up, unfolded it, and read it.
You get more beautiful everyday -Your Secret Admirer.
Secret admirer my ass, one of my friends were messing with me. I turned around and looked up at Isaac, Ethan, and Miles.
“Okay, which one of you is messing with me?” All conversation stopped as they looked at me, confusion written all over their faces.
“What are you talking about, Red?” Isaac asked in his sweet, rich honey-like voice. It was hard to look at Isaac and not smile, his personality just came out through those chocolate eyes of his. Not to mention his grin when he was up to no good. Which was usually all the time. His hair was freshly buzzed on the sides, his longer hair on top trimmed a little. His vibrant blue hair with darker blue streaks was starting to look a bit less like Cookie Monster and more like ocean waves from the length. I handed him the note before turning back to put my books away.
“Red's got a secret admirer!” Isaac chanted. I shut my locker, turned back to them, and shot Isaac a glare. He just kept grinning as he handed the note to Ethan. Ethan was Isaac’s identical twin, though that only meant they were both too good looking for their own good. Ethan had a style that was vastly different than his brother. Where Isaac wore bright colors, Ethan wore all black and silver rings. His straight, jaw length black hair was tucked behind his ears showing off his right ear, and the five silver loop rings running up it. Ethan hadn’t shaved this morning, and the black scruff over his jaw had me occasionally watching him in appreciation. Yeah, he was my friend, but I was only human. Ethan grinned as he read it.
“This isn't me, Beautiful,” Ethan said in his smooth, smoky voice that could stop a girl in her tracks. “I'd write better shit than that.” He passed the note to Miles while Isaac kept chanting,
“Someone's got a crush on Red, someone's got a crush on Red.” I ignored Isaac as I looked at Miles, he frowned. With his high cheekbones and angled jaw, it had an interesting effect on my heart. Though to be fair, that might not have anything to do with his frown. His chestnut hair was shorter than last month, the curl was gone, and the wave was back. His emerald green eyes narrowed on the note behind his black-rimmed glasses. While as tall as the twins, he was leaner with broader shoulders.
“This isn't my writing, Lexie,” Miles said in his quite timber. He looked over to me from the note as he continued. “And I don't recognize it.” I looked over their faces, they weren't lying. They really hadn't sent the note, must have been Asher, or even Zeke. Since the break-up with Dylan, Zeke had been fighting with me over the stupidest shit. Maybe he was trying to make up for it? Yeah, I didn't buy it either. I took the note back and looked at it again before heading to the cafeteria.
“Is that the first note?” Ethan asked as we walked down the hall.
“No, I've gotten one every day since we got back from vacation,” I grumbled. It must be Asher. He probably wanted me to feel pretty or something. Ever since I came home from spending that week at Asher's, he'd been acting sweeter than usual. It was just in little ways, but I noticed it. It didn't help that each time he smiled at me, it made my stomach flutter. The stupid butterflies had gone nuts and taken an interest in Asher. Okay, yeah, it was me, I needed to get over this crush. The notes were probably Asher trying to cheer me up. I was just going to have to ask.
“Doesn't Dylan have friends here?” Miles asked, his voice neutral. I sighed.
“Yeah,” I said wearily. Two days after my ex Dylan dumped me, he called, he apologized and said he was just really tired and depressed. I might have bought it if he didn't hurt me on purpose on his way out the door. “I don't think he'd bother,” I added.
“I’m not so sure about that, Red,” Isaac smirked down at me. “He did ask you to forgive him.”
I snorted. “Fuck that.” The guys chuckled as we reached the cafeteria. It was a single-story building but long. The food wasn't bad, we even had healthy options, but it was just a cafeteria. Isaac and Ethan walked in ahead of us. Miles held the door open for me to walk ahead of him, I gave him a small smile, Miles was always a gentleman. He grinned back as I passed to follow the twins. Everyone made their way through the crowded cafeteria to the square table we'd been using since it got too cold to sit outside. Asher was already there going through his history book. Asher was handsome, in your wholesome, boy next door way, if the boy next door was an international model. High cheekbones and a sharp chin gave him that movie star quality, his sandy blonde hair was shorter than a month ago. He was leaning his temple on his hand with his eyes on his book. Those eyes, by the way, amazing, with dark blue, light blue, and white flecks, looked like ocean waves crashing. His dark blue sweater hugged the muscles of his chest and arms. I dropped the note onto the page he was reading.
“Is this you?” I asked as I set my bag down and started pulling off my jacket. By the time I was sitting next to him, Asher was looking at me, frowning.
“No Ally, this wasn’t me,” Asher held the note up between two fingers. “What's going on?”
“Someone has been leaving Lexie love notes,” Ethan told him gleefully. I rolled my eyes as I pulled out my lunch.
“How long?” Asher asked as he looked back to me.
“Since we got back from vacation, I figured it was one of you messing with me.” I pulled my sandwich out.
“Who's messing with you?” A gravelly, deep voice demanded. I looked up to watch Zeke start to take off his jacket. Zeke was huge, there was no getting around it, or him. He was two heads taller than me with wide shoulders and more muscle than you’d believe. If his size didn’t scare you, his
wide, strong jaw, broad cheekbones, and angry glares would do it. It’s not that he wasn’t good looking. He was, just in... a scary, rough kind of good looking. It didn’t help that the only thing he wore was black jeans, shirt, motorcycle boots and a new gunmetal wallet chain. The wallet chain had been a gift to him from my Uncle Rory this Christmas. He finished pulling off his black snow jacket and sat down across from me.
“I thought it was one of you guys, but they’re all saying no,” I pointed at the note. “Unless this is you?” Zeke was frowning as he took the note from Asher and read it. His ice blue eyes met mine.
“Not me.” He tossed the note back over to me.
“Zeke,” I grinned.
“What?”
“Someone is messing with me,” I grinned as he shook his head at me. Yeah, I liked giving Zeke shit a bit, or all the time, depending on my mood. But this probation thing was actually starting to irk me. Last month Asher, Ethan, and Isaac’s girlfriends were trying to get rid of me by being bitches. I figured the guys liked them, so, I just dealt with it. Until I went after Asher’s girlfriend. When they found out what had been going on, they hadn’t been very happy with me. The others had let it go, but Zeke had put me on probation. I still didn’t have a clue what it was, only that I had to tell Zeke whenever someone messed with me. I had about a week left, and I was trying not to let it bother me.
“Thanks,” He said dryly before he pulled his own lunch out of his bag.
“I still say it's Dylan,” Ethan announced, his mouth full of sandwich. I shook my head as Ethan pointed at Asher. “He has friends here, right?”
Asher nodded slowly. “Yeah,” Asher’s eyes unfocused as he looked at the table. “I'll ask around.” I rolled my eyes, it was probably a waste of time. I pulled out a pen and my note book.
“I have a better idea,” I announced as I tore out part of a page. “Let’s just ask.” I wrote a message asking who it was and if they were a friend of Dylan's. I was putting my notebook away when the guys read the note.
“That works,” Isaac observed as he opened his bag of chips.
“I'll stick it to my locker. Whoever it is might come by and see it,” I shrugged as I picked up my sandwich. A tall, willowy, lilac haired girl sat down next to Zeke. Riley, Zeke's girlfriend, was pretty awesome. She had good cheekbones and lovely almond eyes, and she was also the only survivor of the Great Girlfriend Purge of December. At least that’s what I was calling it, Isaac called it The Bitch Fest.
“What are you sticking to your locker?” Riley asked, setting her lunch down on the table.
“Red's got a secret admirer,” Isaac answered before I could. I rolled my eyes.
“Really?” She asked. Isaac snatched the note from in front of me to pass it to Riley. Riley read it and smiled. “Interesting, any idea who?” Riley asked as she grinned.
“Not a fucking clue,” I admitted before I took a bite out of my sandwich.
“She wrote a note back, asking who it is. That's what she's sticking on her locker,” Ethan supplied since I was eating.
“Any interest there, Lexie?” Riley asked excitedly. I groaned while I rolled my eyes, the guys chuckled as I finished my bite.
“God no, I'm still trying to get rid of the last one,” I said, emphatically. Riley chuckled.
“Dylan’s still calling you?” She asked as she opened her salad container.
“Calling, texting, sending emails,” I grumbled.
“That's got to be satisfying.” Riley offered before taking a bite of her salad.
“The first three times yeah, the rest, no,” I said dryly. Talking about Dylan made my stomach knot, I put my sandwich back in my lunch bag half eaten. I had just started to love the guy and he... I pushed it out of my head and tried to focus on something else. I looked at Isaac who was happily eating his sandwich. “Do you have tuna again?” I asked as I grinned at him. Isaac loved tuna fish. He said it was low in fat but high in protein. I didn’t understand the low in fat, considering there was lots of mayo on the stuff. He swallowed his food and smiled at me.
“Yes, I do,” Isaac said. “You should try my tuna salad, Red. It’s pretty good.” I eyed him.
“Didn’t your Mom make that?” I asked pointedly. He shook his head.
“She’s refusing to make our lunches anymore,” Isaac grumbled. I snickered.
“Aw, the poor twins have to make their own lunch,” I taunted them. “It’s almost like you’re 17-years-old.” Everyone, but the twins, burst out laughing. The twins’ cheeks tinged pink, as Ethan glared at me.
“You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you Beautiful?” Ethan asked.
I gave him my fake outraged look, “Never!” I gasped dramatically. Ethan glared at me.
“What did you do, Red?” Isaac demanded.
“I... only pointed out that you guys would be going to college soon and you should probably learn to cook for yourselves a bit,” I said innocently. The twins glared at me as everyone else laughed. Isaac dropped his sandwich and reached for me, I dodged his hands by surging to my feet and moving behind a chuckling Asher. Ethan was already up and heading toward me. Shit. I calculated my chances of getting back to my bag and jacket, they weren’t good. Instead, I turned and ran for the other door of the cafeteria.
“You’re dead, Red!” Isaac shouted.
“Lexie!” Ethan yelled. I snickered as I hit the door and ran out into the cold turning towards the library. The cafeteria door slammed shut again. I ran down an empty hallway, footsteps echoed from behind me. Shit! I turned down another hallway and spotted someone I knew.
“Ryan!” I shouted. Ryan, the drummer for Ethan’s band, looked up from his group of friends. Ethan’s drummer was big and burly, his buzzed brown hair was covered by a black beanie. The horseshoe shaped ring through the septum of his nose was surprising, but it was his eyebrow stud that drew your attention to his gray eyes. When he saw me running his eyes went wide, “A little help!” I called. Ryan got to his feet as one of the twins rounded the corner behind me.
“What’s going on?” Ryan asked as I ran past.
“Buy me time!” I shouted back, laughing as I ran. Ryan chuckled as I kept running. I was about to turn down another hallway when I was grabbed around the waist. The smell of limes filled my nose as I was lifted off my feet.
“Gotcha,” Isaac declared triumphantly. Laughing and out of breath, I didn’t even fight him as he lifted me to dangle over his shoulder. “Bad Red.” Isaac smacked me on the butt hard. I yelped at the sting and then kept laughing my ass off. Isaac walked over to Ethan and Ryan, still carrying me.
“What’s going on?” Ryan asked as Isaac turned a bit so the others could see me.
“Lexie convinced our Mom not to make lunches for us anymore,” Ethan informed him. I sniggered and looked at them from my upside-down position.
“It’s just lunch,” I pointed out. Ryan chuckled.
“Just lunch?” Isaac scoffed. “You forget morning snack, second lunch, afternoon snack, and after school snack!” Isaac started to tilt backwards threatening to drop me, my sweater began to slide down.
“Shirt, shirt, shirt!” I yelled. Ethan reached out and pulled my sweater back up. He even tucked the back into my jeans so it wouldn’t happen again. I was laughing again as they started walking by a chuckling Ryan. “See ya at practice, Ryan,” Ethan said as he followed behind Isaac. I pushed off of Isaac’s lower back to wave.
“Bye Ryan!” I called before dropping back down and giggling. “How did you get around me?” Isaac snorted.
“Ethan couldn’t take you down, but he could run you out,” Isaac explained.
“So, I ran parallel to him through the side hall.”
“Damn,” I said, still laughing. “I’ll have to zig zag more next time.” The guys chuckled, then they began talking about what to do with me.
“Trash can?” Ethan offered. I cringed.
“Nah, too old school, what about the water fountain near the library?” Isaac c
ountered. I burst out laughing.
“Sure, what do you think Miles will do to you two this time?” I asked, sweetly. They grumbled and moved on. In December, the twins thought it would be funny to soak me outside in the snow. They accidently overdid it, by the time I got into Asher’s house, I had been hypothermic. Asher and Zeke had to strip me down and get me wrapped up, so I didn’t die. I later heard that Miles’ lecture was scathing.
“Locker?” Ethan countered. Isaac hemmed and hawed.
“She’d fit,” Isaac agreed.
“Don’t you think that stuffing me in a locker is a bit out of proportion?” I asked, dryly.
“Nope, Ma made empanadas on Sunday,” Ethan explained. “She said we couldn’t take any in our lunches, or have them for snacks.” I looked back at him.
“The chorizo and cheese ones?” I asked, suddenly interested. They sighed.
“Yeah,” Isaac answered.
“I’m screwed,” I announced. They chuckled. They kept going on until they carried me into the cafeteria like that. We got a lot of looks, including ones from teachers, though they didn’t seem to care too much.
“Put her down now,” Zeke growled.
“No,” Isaac stated stubbornly. “She’s my Red. I caught her fair and square.” I snorted.
“I wasn’t asking,” Zeke’s voice grew firmer. Isaac grumbled wordlessly then put me down. Ethan held my shoulders until the dizziness passed. When I was good, I gave him a smile.
"You still owe us snacks, Red," Isaac threatened. I stuck my tongue out at him before I sat back down and looked at Riley.
“I still need to find a dress for winter formal,” I announced. The guys all groaned as if they were in agony. Riley and I smiled at each other, torturing the guys with girl stuff had become our favorite lunch time activity.
“Are we going with Jake this time?” She asked, spearing a tomato.
“Shit.” I reached into my coat pocket to pull out my phone. “I forgot to ask him.” I quickly called Jake, Dylan's gay friend, who I now had joint custody of since the breakup.
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