It Happens

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Though granted, technically if Brittany decided to drop me off or pick me up, she’d likely see that the cottage was roughly the same size.

  But I was counting on Zee to pick up my drift, which he did without missing a beat a few moments later.

  “I can wait,” he said, sounding bored.

  I patted the seat that was next to me.

  “Sit then, loser.”

  Cabe choked on his drink.

  Zee narrowed his eyes at me.

  “I don’t understand why you open your mouth,” he said, eyes pointing in my direction. “You’re acting like a child.”

  “I’m not a child.” I licked mayo off one finger. “Eat your food.”

  He narrowed his eyes even more, this time focused solely on my tongue.

  “Zee as in Ezekiel McGrew, Gordon McGrew’s son, and the boy Annmarie was dating?” Cabe asked suddenly.

  My eyes were practically ripped away from Zee as my uncle said those words.

  I instantly felt cold as I lost his heated gaze. I knew the moment he looked away.

  “Yes,” Zee didn’t lie. He was never good at it, either. “I am.”

  “I heard you were in the same town as this one.” He gestured to me, but his eyes were all on Zee. “I didn’t realize y’all were on speaking terms, however. Gordon always makes it sound like y’all hate each other.” He paused. “I guess I can see that now.”

  I snorted. “We don’t hate each other…per se.”

  Channing muttered something to Brittany, who then laughed, and my eyes went from my uncle to my aunt.

  “What?”

  Brittany widened her eyes. “Oh, nothing.” Her gaze went from me to Zee. “What did you bring to eat?”

  “No,” I snapped. “What did you say?”

  “I said that you didn’t seem like y’all hated each other all that much and that from what I could tell, there was a lot more fucking than hating going on.” Channing blushed. “Looks to me like y’all are in a relationship just like the rest of us.”

  “That would be because we are in a relationship just like everyone else. We’re together. We still fight. We enjoy making up.” Zee’s eyes went to her. “Brought a burger and fries.” He looked at what we were eating. “Though I didn’t get gourmet or anything. I didn’t know they had a Whataburger here. When did that happen?”

  I looked down at my Whataburger that Zee had just referred to as ‘gourmet’ and grinned.

  Then I took another bite.

  “Eat, eat,” Brittany ordered. “That place is good, too. Ethel’s has great burgers and shitty fries. They get shittier the longer that you leave them to sit.”

  Zee grunted. “That’s why I got two hamburgers and a salad.”

  Salad? Gross.

  Not that I had any room to talk. I ate salads, too. I just had to force them down instead of eating them willingly like I was sure Zee was doing.

  Then again, you had to have some balance, I supposed, when you were eating poorly.

  “No protein shake and grilled chicken with a side of broccoli?” I teased. “I bet you got the ‘good for you’ burger, didn’t you?”

  He pulled out his salad, followed shortly by a…not hamburger.

  “That’s a lettuce wrap, not a hamburger,” I felt it prudent to point out.

  He also pulled out one lonely hamburger that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, wasn’t for him.

  He’d gotten it specifically for me.

  It also had everything on it that I would get.

  “You know,” Zee said, ignoring the other people in the room. “Your runs would probably go a whole lot better if you ate better and fueled your body with good fats and carbs instead of that shit that you stuff into it.”

  Cabe made an agreeing sound. “I found that out the hard way, too. This shit is going to go right through me.”

  He said this just before he took a massive bite of his hamburger.

  The hamburger was so big that I wondered if he was going to be able to finish it, honestly.

  I looked away and eyed the hamburger that Zee had gotten me, pointing to it.

  “Can I eat that?”

  He looked at the food that I had left in front of me.

  “You already have food,” he said but handed it over anyway.

  I shrugged. “I’ll eat this, too. I’m starving.”

  I wasn’t starving. I was just happy that he’d thought of me as he was getting his own food.

  I also liked how he knew that I wasn’t a big fan of cold fries. They had to be piping hot, or I wouldn’t eat them.

  What was the point? Most fries turned to shit the moment that they started to lose their original warmth—i.e., fries that were fresh out of the oil, and not fries that were fresh out from under the heat lamp.

  I just wondered how, exactly, Zee knew that I hated it.

  Or how he knew how I took my burgers.

  Though, I guess saying that, I had to think about the fact that I also knew that Zee didn’t do useless carbs.

  Such as buns on his burgers.

  “How do you get any enjoyment out of that at all?” I asked as he picked up his pointless burger.

  He took a bite. “Learned to like it. Eating like shit makes me feel like shit. Though, saying that, I’d rather drink my calories in beer than eat bread…”

  Now that I could understand.

  “I read an article today on an American Military News website about US Marines and Navy Sailors being at some NATO exercise and drinking every single ounce of beer that the Icelandic town had to offer,” I supplied helpfully. “Though, they say it was over a four day period.”

  Zee snorted. “Took Marines and Sailors four days what would have taken the Army one.”

  Cabe scoffed, having been one of those ‘Marines and Sailors.’ Cabe had been in the Navy for ten years before he’d retired and come to work in Benton. Needless to say, he was proud.

  “Only because y’all aren’t better at anything else but drinking and fucking,” Cabe drawled. “Sometimes it’s nice to actually be able to do something more complicated than screw in a bolt or pull a trigger.”

  Zee grinned. “Yeah?” he asked. “I was planning to be an engineer. Though, saying that, I now fly a helicopter and pull a trigger for the sheriff’s department part-time.”

  “He also draws exceptionally well.” I took a bite of the burger Zee got me and felt it melt in my mouth. It was blasphemy to say, but it was way better than the Whataburger that I’d been eating moments before. “He also tattoos.”

  “You do?” Cabe asked, eyeing Zee’s ink-free arms. “I always wanted to get more ink, but the ones that I trusted to permanently mark my skin are too far away for me to go to any longer.”

  Zee shrugged. “It’s just a side hobby. I only ever tattoo club brothers and their wives.”

  Really? I’d heard he was picky about who he inked, but I hadn’t realized how picky.

  “You don’t even ink any of the officers that you work with?” I asked curiously.

  He shook his head. “Once in a blue moon, maybe. But most of them don’t know that I can tattoo.”

  That made more sense.

  “He’s really good,” I informed my uncle before taking another bite of my burger.

  Zee shook his head. “I’m not that good. Average I would say. I’m just better at drawing, which I think separates me from other artists who can only follow lines. Artists that draw their own shit are rare to find.”

  That was true, or so I’d heard.

  The last tattoo I’d seen someone get, the woman had printed the picture out from the internet and then had copied it onto paper that transferred the temporary to the skin for them to follow the lines with their tattoo gun.

  Was that normal?

  For some reason, I highly doubted that Zee had ever had to do that when it came to his artistry.

  Zee popped one last bite of his lettuce wrap thing into
his mouth and then popped open his salad. It had vinaigrette dressing instead of ranch—the good shit that actually made salads worth eating.

  Gross.

  “If you’d ever like to venture out and do someone else’s tattoo, I’d like to get one done. I still have one more kid and a grandkid on the way that I need to get put into my family tree.” Cabe pulled his shirt up and showed off the tree.

  Zee’s eyes went to it in a calculating way. “That’s a nice job. Who did you have that done by?”

  Zee and Cabe continued to talk about tattoo artists, and I finished off the burger before sitting back, sighing contentedly, in my chair.

  I looked up long moments later, after staring at Zee entirely way too long, to find both Brittany and Channing staring at me knowingly.

  “What?” I mouthed at them.

  Brittany’s smile grew, and she looked from me to Zee and back.

  I won’t blush. I won’t blush.

  At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

  Unfortunately, due to my milky white skin, it was very easy to see the rush of hotness that rose to the surface at the reference of me and Zee being ‘a thing.’ Or at least that was what I got from Brittany’s look.

  Meaning, seconds later when I felt my face get hot, I knew that I’d failed.

  I’d also given myself away.

  Brittany’s smile grew wide as she said, “So what happened to the other man? Your mom told me that you’d been seeing some man from the limo company that you use during services.”

  I felt my face go white.

  “Redmond?” Zee asked.

  Alex Redmond, to be more specific, was the man I’d gone out on a date with once.

  One single time.

  That was it.

  And it was all it took to get his attention focused solely on me.

  Honestly, the man was freakin’ creepy, and the one and only time I’d gone out on a date with him was our last.

  I’d also had to find a different limo company.

  Which was hard seeing as there were only two in the area, and one wasn’t always willing to come all the way to Bear Bottom some days.

  I rubbed my face. “Did you know that he offered to buy the house next to me? We saw that guy that got killed outside when he was dropping me off from our date. Redmond laughingly told him he’d buy the house from the guy, and the weirdo was his usual self and told him to go fuck a duck—or maybe a pig. I don’t know. Pissed Redmond off fast.”

  “You sure do know how to attract them,” Zee muttered.

  I looked over at him. “You’re really not one to talk.”

  His lips twitched, then he shoved the rest of his salad into his mouth and chewed.

  “Anyway, long story short, after that first and only date of ours, I never went out with him again.” I grimaced. “I did have to change limo companies.”

  “What did he do that was so wrong?” Cabe asked.

  “Other than offering to buy my neighbor’s house? Which he was serious about?” I confirmed with Cabe.

  He nodded once.

  “Little things. Just creepy things that I didn’t like,” I admitted. “We watched a movie, and his fingers kept dragging along my skin. I had my arms crossed over my chest, held tightly to me. He rubbed the exact same spot so long that it started to hurt.” I shook my head. “He took me out to eat afterward, and when I went to sit on one side of the booth, he followed me to the same side and pretty much blocked me in. When I came back from the bathroom, I waved him off from standing and sat across from him, and I could tell that I’d pissed him off.”

  “Not really punishable offenses,” Cabe observed.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just a feeling that I had. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, really. I just didn’t like him. The house buying thing was the last straw. I told him to have a nice night and went inside, and I swear to God, he stayed out there for another twenty minutes just staring at my house. I was scared to leave the living room where I was watching him to go take a shower.”

  “Redmond is a creep.” Zee sat back in his chair and rubbed his taut stomach with both hands. “I saw him a few weeks ago when I was riding my bike. Did you know he drives his hearses around like they’re personal vehicles?”

  That was directed at me.

  “No,” I admitted. “I guess I should count myself lucky that he picked me up for our date in a regular car.”

  Well, as regular as they could get when you were richer than God. Alex Redmond was a self-made millionaire. He owned a chain of limousine rentals in and around our area—and even extended all the way out into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area where he now nearly dominated the ‘travel in style’ thing he’d started over here. Now if you needed a ride from the airport, you would most likely call Alex’s company because it was so well known.

  “I don’t know.” Zee shrugged. “It might’ve been fun to be picked up for a date in a hearse. Memorable, at least.”

  I felt my lips twitch. He was right, of course.

  It would’ve definitely been memorable.

  Though, there was a distinct difference.

  If Zee had shown up in a hearse, it would’ve been a joke and we would’ve still had a great night.

  If Alex Redmond had, I would’ve turned right around and gone back inside my house, not looking back.

  I visibly shivered and set what was left of my burger down on the stack of napkins I was using for a makeshift plate. “Let’s not talk about him anymore. He gives me the creeps.”

  “You and me both,” Channing said. “I’ve always had this feeling when it comes to people—whether they’re good or bad. I don’t know why or how, but I can tell with just one look whether I’ll like them or not. And this Redmond guy? I don’t even have to see him in person to know that I wouldn’t like him.”

  I felt my lips twitch. “Don’t worry. I think he got the message. He hasn’t said a word to me since I told him over the phone that I didn’t want to go on any more dates with him.”

  “You actually said that?” Zee asked, looking relaxed and confident. But I could tell something was bothering him.

  Something that I knew I wouldn’t get out of him with all of these people around, watching him and me together.

  “No—yes. I’m not really sure. He called, I answered, and then when he asked if I’d like to go out on a second date, I told him no. Politely. Then I told him to have a good night.” I paused. “He called back, thinking I only meant ‘no for that night’ which I learned through the voicemail. I ignored it and him ever since.”

  Cabe sighed. “You did the right thing. If you weren’t feeling it, then that’s how it should be. He’ll get the picture eventually.”

  “In the meantime,” Zee said. “If he calls or harasses you anymore, feel free to let me know.”

  I felt my lips turn up at the corner. “I’ll do that.”

  Chapter 12

  Beards make me hungry…and horny.

  -Text from Jubilee to Zee

  Zee

  She came home with me.

  She was also sleeping on the bed right next to me.

  I’d never slept with a woman that wasn’t my ex-wife before, and it was…good.

  I liked it.

  I hadn’t really liked sleeping with my ex-wife because she forced us to have eight million pillows on the bed, as well as use an uncomfortable down comforter that weighed too much and made me feel suffocated.

  Not to mention the fact that sleeping with her was akin to sleeping next to a tree—all stiff and unyielding. She had her side, and I had mine, and that was just the way it was to be.

  I hadn’t known what to expect when I’d told Jubilee to crawl into the bed—it was a king size, and more than capable of housing the two of us.

  What I hadn’t expected was to fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

  Nor had I expected to like it when she started to slowly inch
herself in my direction, waking me up with her heat pressed up against my body.

  Currently, I had my arm lifted up over my head, curled around the back of the pillow, and my back resting against the bed. Jubilee was snuggled up to my side, her nose and lips pressed up against the skin right underneath my armpit.

  Her legs were curled up high, knees pressing up against my lower belly. She had one arm between her legs while the other was draped as far over my belly as she could get without it feeling awkward on her end.

  Her hair was also draped across my chest, and I could feel pieces of it sliding down between our bodies.

  I was also hard as a steel pipe, and counting to a hundred, backward, in my head. Telling myself that I did not, under any circumstance, need to fuck her.

  This was getting bad.

  In the beginning, I only wanted her.

  Now? Now I fucking craved her. Craved her touch. Her laugh. Her smile. Her insults.

  Hell, everything I wanted felt like something I shouldn’t, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

  Though, I suppose if I was an honest man, this wasn’t completely surprising.

  Jubilee was a great woman. I’d always liked her—even though I never missed a chance to give her shit.

  I’d also always known that she was a pain in the ass, and would swallow me alive if I let her.

  Jubilee was the type of girl that always made me feel. Made me want things like marriage and babies and things that a man like me shouldn’t want.

  The thing Jubilee and I had had always felt more real than any of my past relationships—even the one with her sister.

  I should feel wrong about having her in this capacity.

  But I didn’t.

  It felt right.

  “What are you thinking about?” Jubilee murmured against my skin. “You’re making my head hurt.”

  I felt a grin play at the corners of my lips. “What makes you think that I’m thinking anything at all? What if I was sleeping?”

  She scoffed and pushed her knees down, then pressed herself more fully against me.

  “You’re huffing and puffing,” she muttered, settling her head against my chest. “And you’re moving and twitching, shaking the bed. Let’s not forget.” She moved until her left thigh was firmly planted over my still shaking leg. “I know you really well. Just like you know me.”