It Happens

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  “What can I get you three to drink?”

  I looked up and smiled at Lucian.

  Lucian didn’t smile back.

  He never did.

  In fact, it was so rare that I’d only ever seen him do it once. The moment that I’d walked out of the hospital, my head held high.

  “Hi, Lucian,” I said happily. “I’ll have a Dr. Pepper.”

  Zee snorted.

  “You, kid?” Lucian turned his gaze toward Zee.

  “Water, please, Lucian,” he said. “It’s nice to see you.”

  Lucian’s eyes turned toward Liner. “You?”

  “You serve beer yet?”

  Lucian shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

  Liner grinned. “Then I’ll have a beer. Whatever dark you have.”

  “I only have light beer because it’s cheaper,” Lucian said. “Sorry.”

  Liner grinned. “Then bring me whatever you have.”

  Lucian walked away without another word.

  “Beer this early?” my mother asked. “Really, Josiah?”

  Liner shrugged.

  Where he would’ve gotten mad at anybody else for calling him Josiah, his given name, he didn’t get mad at her.

  “I’m thirsty and your daughter made me go to a haunted house,” he defended his actions.

  My mother turned her eyes toward me. “You stopped at that place that’s about an hour and a half from here?”

  I nodded. “Liner screamed like a little girl when he saw somebody.”

  “Something,” Liner corrected. “The guy had this knife that looked like swiss cheese.” He shivered. “So many fuckin’ holes.”

  “I see that your phobia is still going strong,” Carrie drawled.

  Liner shrugged. “It’s not like I can control it.”

  That was the entire point of a phobia after all. Irrational and unable to control.

  Before I could reply to Liner’s comment, Lucian started to plop down our drinks, going as far as to bring Liner two bottles of beer, and Zee two glasses of water.

  He looked at me. “You don’t need any more Dr. Pepper than that. You finish, I’ll bring you a water.”

  I rolled my eyes, not bothering to argue with him.

  “Now what do you want to eat?”

  I looked at my menu-less state and said, “I’ll have a hamburger with cheese and ketchup, extra pickles. I’ll also have a short stack of pancakes.”

  Nobody at the table commented on my order, knowing that I was an odd duck.

  “You?” he asked Zee.

  Zee placed an order for a wheat wrap with turkey and a side of baked chips.

  Liner, a man really after my own heart, ordered a short stack of pancakes and a waffle.

  Zee rolled his eyes as Lucian walked away to put our orders in.

  “A short stack of pancakes and a waffle?” I grinned. “Why have I never thought to order that?”

  “Because they’re practically the same thing,” Zee muttered. “And you’re already weird enough.”

  Liner snorted and took a swallow of his beer.

  “You’re just jealous that I find his order intriguing enough to try it sometime,” I teased, tickling Zee’s ribs.

  Zee caught my hand and pressed it flat against his hard thigh, making me grin.

  Zee always liked to act like he wasn’t ticklish, but I knew better.

  He was so ticklish that he’d throw out wild punches in an attempt to keep me away.

  “I’m excited that you decided to come,” my mother said, stealing my attention away from the contemplation of Zee’s thigh. “I was sure you’d say no.”

  “I would’ve said no,” I admitted. “But Turner and Zee convinced me that it was okay to come. Apparently, they’ve had two deaths since I’ve been gone, but both of them wanted to be cremated, so I’m not needed as of yet.”

  Zee grunted.

  “Also, there’s the fact that I made her,” Zee cut in. “Mom, are you going to eat that bacon?”

  Carrie pushed her plate toward Zee, and he snatched up the bacon and inhaled it in less than thirty seconds.

  “I really need to get a workout or two in today,” he muttered, rubbing his belly.

  I eyed his perfectly honed six-pack abs and rolled my eyes.

  “You’re annoying.” I paused. “But I agree with you. I need to go run. I was planning to do my long run on Saturday, but now that we’re here for the weekend, I can do that today if you have time.”

  He shook his head. “It’s almost dark. I’d rather go with you tomorrow if you don’t mind.”

  “Why did all of y’all order breakfast food?” Liner asked suddenly. “I felt peer pressure, so I ordered pancakes and waffles.”

  “Because Lucian’s diner is famous for breakfast food,” I answered absently. Then turned back to Zee. “I’ll run in the morning if we can go early.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t have anything to do tomorrow…or today for that matter.”

  “We’re going to buy a Christmas tree tomorrow,” Carrie suddenly said, her eyes on Zee. “You can help me get it into Daddy’s truck.”

  Zee looked at his mother.

  “Dad’s going to kill you if he comes home and finds Christmas shit up in his house before Thanksgiving,” he told her.

  Today was Halloween night, and tomorrow was normally the first day that his mom started to hound Zee’s father about putting up Christmas decorations.

  It’d been the same for forever and was something that I found highly amusing.

  My mom, on the other hand, didn’t decorate until the week before Christmas and had it all taken down the day after Christmas.

  I wasn’t sure why, really.

  Though I found it comical that two such close friends were polar opposites.

  “I’m not going to put it up just yet.” She rolled her eyes. “Give me a little bit of credit.”

  I giggled. “You mean you’re not going to put it up while Zee’s around to stop you.”

  She shrugged. “I was planning on doing it after y’all left.”

  “What’s so wrong with putting up Christmas shit?” Liner asked. “My parents put it up in October. Right around the time that it starts coming out in the stores.”

  There was silence at the table, and we all turned to survey the man.

  “Mom,” Zee said. “Liner’s dad does a drive through park starting in November. There’s like ten acres of Christmas decorations to drive through.”

  Carrie’s eyes lit up wide.

  “That’s…marvelous.”

  A plate plopped down in front of me, and I smiled at Lucian. “Thank you.”

  He winked.

  The rest of the plates soon followed, and the next five minutes were filled with moaning and groaning as Liner, Zee, and I ate our breakfast foods—well them. I had a hamburger, too.

  “I did miss this,” Zee muttered almost to himself. “So fuckin’ good.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Imagine if you’d gotten something actually good instead of that mess.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t have a runner’s metabolism to burn all that shit” —he waved toward my half-demolished plate— “off. Plus, I like my abs.”

  And before I could stop myself, I agreed.

  “Yeah, I kind of like them, too,” I admitted.

  My mother snickered, and I couldn’t stop myself from turning my gaze toward her.

  “What?” I asked, only then realizing what I’d said.

  “It’s just nice to see you both happy—with each other,” she admitted. “I’ve always wondered if there was something there…even before Eitan and Annmarie.”

  There was silence at the table as we tried to navigate around the large elephant now sitting in the middle of all of us.

  Nobody quite knew what to say, so my overly large mouth said, “I love him!”

  I swallowed hard, eyes wide and panicked.

  Before I co
uld so much as hide my face behind my hands, Zee’s large, rough palm smoothed over mine.

  “We’re not sure the protocol here,” he admitted. “But we’re going to give this a try.”

  Carrie’s eyes filled with tears. “They wouldn’t have wanted you to live the way y’all have been living.”

  I hadn’t been aware that I was living poorly…at least not until I’d finally taken that last step with Zee.

  Now I realized that I was living half a life, trying not to feel guilty for killing two people that should’ve been living right alongside us.

  I felt moroseness start to leach into my bones, my earlier happy mood dissipating just as fast as it’d arrived.

  “I don’t know what they would’ve wanted,” I admitted. “But I highly doubt they would’ve been happy that we were with each other and not them.”

  At least Annmarie would have been pissed.

  Even if they’d broken up, which they hadn’t, that was still a line I would’ve never crossed.

  Zee hauled me close, his mouth going to my ear.

  “I don’t like the direction of your thoughts,” he said gruffly.

  “I don’t particularly like them either,” I admitted just as softly.

  He squeezed my neck lightly.

  “Don’t think about what they would’ve done. They’re not here.” He paused. “And I’m happy. Baby, I’m fucking happy.”

  I felt something inside my chest start to swell at his words.

  He was right.

  They weren’t here.

  My parents weren’t upset.

  His parents weren’t upset.

  And he was happy.

  I was fucking happy, too.

  “Well,” Liner said, interrupting our moment. “I’m fucking full. My beer’s empty, and I could use a nap or something. Where am I staying?”

  “I guess that would be with me,” Carrie said, then turned to us. “Are you staying at our house, y’all, or are you staying with her?”

  Carrie pointed at my mom with her thumb and wiggled her hand.

  “We’re not staying with either of you,” Zee said before I could answer. “We’re staying at the hunting lodge. Dad said it was ready for use, and I was thinking about taking Jubilee hunting in the morning before her run…if I can talk her into it.”

  My brows lifted. “You want to take me what?”

  Chapter 15

  Sex in a deer stand isn’t advisable.

  -Things Zee never thought he’d have to say

  Zee

  I poked Jubilee in the side again, knowing that I’d get the attitude when she finally woke up but doing it anyway.

  She blinked open her eyes and glared at the lights that were spilling out of the bathroom and into the main room of the one-room cabin we were staying in for the next few days.

  “What?” she muttered. “Did someone die?”

  I grinned. “No. We’re going hunting, remember?”

  She frowned. “No.”

  Little liar.

  “We’re going hunting. Then once we’re done with that, we’ll go run your little heart out,” I told her. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  “Why are we going hunting?” she asked. “Seriously. I’ve never wanted to go hunting.”

  “Because I want you to be able to survive if the apocalypse ever comes,” I told her, knowing that she’d get up just for that.

  She had this weird sense of doom about her always.

  I imagined that she got it due to working in her mother’s funeral parlor. I mean, what five-year-old was around a deceased motorcycle victim while they pumped his body full of chemicals to preserve him, and then went out of their way to fix him up at least semi-good so they could do a viewing?

  There was no way not to get jaded and a little bit twisted.

  To have a morbid sense of humor and ultimately be an odd duck.

  She frowned at my words, thinking about them.

  “If it’s an apocalypse, I’m probably going to need to learn how to shoot them with a spear or a bow,” she pointed out.

  I grinned.

  “Maybe,” I admitted. “But this first time, let’s learn how to do it with a rifle.”

  She sighed and closed her eyes again.

  A text message came through my phone, and I picked it up and glanced at it, immediately feeling my stomach tightening.

  Raine: Heard you were in town. Also heard that you’re fucking your brother’s girl. Congratulations for stooping to a new low.

  I threw the phone down on the bed in disgust, not realizing until too late that I threw it in such a way that all Jubilee had to do was glance up and look at it to read what it said.

  She sat up so abruptly that I blinked in surprise.

  “What?” I asked, my anger receding at the look of pure venom on Jubilee’s face.

  “I hate that woman,” she snarled, ripping the covers off of her body. The same ones that I’d been trying to tug off earlier with no luck. “And why the fuck is she texting you so goddamn early in the morning?”

  “Because she knows that I’m up,” I muttered, hating that the woman knew me even a little bit.

  How had I made such a mistake? Not fucking once, but twice?

  First, there was Raine, then there was Zuri.

  “Well, I don’t fuckin’ care if she thinks you’re up or not. You could’ve been still asleep—would have if you hadn’t had this ridiculous idea to take me hunting instead of staying in bed with me. She doesn’t know you anymore.” She paused. “You should block her ass.”

  “She’d just change her number and keep calling and texting,” I admitted. “She’s petty.”

  She scowled. “I’ve literally always hated her.”

  My lips twitched. “I know.”

  She’d made it no secret that she disliked her, not then, and certainly not now.

  I remember the first time that Raine and Jubilee met like it was yesterday.

  ***

  “Hello.” Raine held out her hand to Jubilee.

  Jubilee looked at it like it was a snake, and I tensed, waiting for the inevitable words to fall out of Jubilee’s mouth.

  It didn’t take long.

  “Hi,” Jubilee said, not reaching out to take Raine’s hand. “I’m sorry, but I don’t touch people. I’m a germaphobe.”

  Little liar.

  I shot Jubilee a look that she ignored.

  “Oh.” Raine frowned. “I didn’t realize.”

  Jubilee shrugged like it was a normal everyday thing for her when it wasn’t.

  “It’s okay,” Jubilee shrugged. “How could you know? Zee never talks about me because he sees my dead sister when he talks to me. I also never talk to him because he reminds me of his dead brother. We used to date before they died.”

  Silence.

  “I’ve heard about your sister and his brother,” Raine tried to steer her way around the minefield that Jubilee had just set. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too,” Jubilee said, then turned her glare on me. “I heard that you decided that you were too good for our Christmas celebration.”

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

  It hadn’t been my idea that we not go to Christmas. It’d been Raine’s. She’d wanted to attend her family’s Christmas and have our own at home before we went.

  I’d said yes because this was our first Christmas together, but I was bummed not to get to spend it with my family.

  “We’re spending it at Raine’s parents,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Yeah?” she said, then turned to Raine. “Did you know that every year we have a huge to-do with the entire club? It’s a big deal that he’s not going to be there. And since it’s done later on Christmas, most everyone can always make it.”

  Raine paled. “We’re spending it at my parents’ place.”

  “What time are you getting there?” Jubilee pushed.

  “Umm, arou
nd two,” she answered.

  “So, technically, if you stayed there until five, you could get to the clubhouse at six,” Jubilee said. “That way you get to go to both places, and wouldn’t have to disappoint your new family.”

  Raine paled even further.

  “Plus, with y’all going away soon, it’d be a good way to say goodbye all at once,” Jubilee continued.

  Raine looked away. “I guess you’re right.”

  Jubilee snorted. “Oh, I know I’m right. It’s just that you’re being a selfish bitch and everyone knows it. The only way Zee would miss it would be if he was dead or halfway around the world and unable to hop a plane to make it home.”

  ***

  The memory swirled in my mind, and I found myself smiling.

  “I hate her. I really do,” Jubilee muttered as she walked to the bathroom.

  My eyes lit on her bare ass that was covered by my t-shirt alone, and I had the urge to pull her back around to the bed and bend her over it.

  I didn’t, though.

  Couldn’t, really.

  If I wanted to get to the deer stand in time, we’d have to leave in like ten minutes max. And I still had to get her dressed.

  Dick hard in my hunting pants, I walked over to the closet and pulled down a t-shirt and sweats that belonged to my mother.

  They’d be large on Jubilee, but they’d work for now.

  “Are we sitting in a deer blind?” Jubilee asked from directly behind me.

  I turned around with the clothes in my fist and offered them to her.

  When she fumbled them with sleepy fingers, I grinned and bent down, one knee going to the rustic hardwood floor beneath us.

  “Here.” I held them out for her to step into, which she did.

  Not able to help it, I bent forward and bit her on the thigh.

  She yelped. “Hey! What was that for?”

  When she stuck her other foot in, I didn’t stop myself from groping her ass as I pulled them up over her hips.

  “I wanted to fuck you, but I can’t because I really want you to go hunting,” I told her honestly. “Shuck that shirt and let’s get this one on.”

  She did, and I realized my mistake.

  She wasn’t wearing a bra.

  “Well, fuck it,” I muttered.

  Then I hauled her up to me and pulled her nipple into my mouth.