Wicked Winters: A Collection of Winter Tales

by Lucy Smoke

  Unfortunately, just as I exited my door to head down to my Jeep, Tobi called my name from where he and the other two leaned against the railing of the porch. I felt so angry; I didn’t even notice they stood there.

  I groaned, not wanting to deal with this right now. I just wanted coffee and food before I had any kind of altercation with them. There was no telling what would come out of my mouth if I faced them now.

  "There's our girl! What's up?" I heard Jasper say before he slung an arm around my shoulder and began walking down the steps with me. Tobi and Ezra followed close behind.

  "What's up? Ha!" I let out a humorless laugh and shrugged his arm off my shoulder, turning to face them all. "You three have been nothing but trouble since you got here! First, you blast your music so loud that I'm positive the neighbors two miles away could hear it. Second, I had to rinse my hair in my sink after being blasted with cold water, because you took all the hot water! Third, because two of you barged in on me naked. And fourth … " Shit. I couldn't think of a fourth.

  "And?" Tobi asked expectantly. I didn’t like the amused tone behind his question.

  "And ... and you don't recycle! I mean what's up with that?" It was totally lame, but it was all I came up with. I was just so angry! Okay, I wasn’t angry so much as I was embarrassed.

  "Listen,” Ezra said coming down past Tobi and Jasper to stand on the step above mine. "We're sorry. We haven't been very good neighbors. We promise we’re not that bad."

  I sighed. “Maybe I was a little bit of an asshole, but in my defense, no girl would be in a good mood wrapped up in translucent plastic after busting her ass and the floor.”

  “Completely understandable,” Ezra supplied. “We probably shouldn’t have just barged in. How about you let us buy you some breakfast to make it up to you and let you get to know us?”

  I raised my brow in disbelief. "You want to buy me breakfast?" My interest was a little piqued. I hadn’t worked the last couple of weeks, so my wallet was a bit on the light side at the moment. Plus, who in their right mind would say no to free food?

  "Yes! Let us buy you breakfast!" Jasper added excitedly.

  "It's the least we could do," Tobi added.

  I didn't want to say yes, but all three of them were giving me the most pitiful looks. I was a bit jealous of men who could execute that look flawlessly without it looking childish. It was like a biological cheat code to lure women into immediately falling for their bullshit. And damn it, I fell for those stupid faces. Well, I fell for their pleas. Not them. I didn't fall for people.

  I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Fine! But I want the biggest fucking stack of pancakes, enough bacon to clog my arteries for a year, and a massive cup of coffee. Deal?" I looked at each of them, their faces all lit up with victorious smiles.

  Jasper threw his arm back around my shoulder and guided me the rest of the way down the stairs. "Anything you want, beautiful! We got you!"

  I didn't like how my stomach practically flipped when he called me beautiful. As annoying as they were, I'd be lying if I said I wasn’t again fantasizing about their gloriously naked bodies covering mine. All at once.

  Fuck, I really did need some food and coffee....

  3

  “It Won’t Be Pretty”

  I decided I was going to do the driving. I didn’t feel like being a back-seat driver and frankly didn’t want to have to worry about yelling at one of them if any of them drove like idiots.

  This just seemed like a safer route.

  We pulled up to Tammy Sue's Diner, the one place in town where you could get some seriously amazing pancakes and not have to worry about breaking your bank to get them. Though in all honesty, I should’ve picked a more, high end diner for them to take me. But Tammy Sue’s food couldn’t be outmatched by even the most expensive steak. That was my opinion, at least.

  Tammy Sue was an older woman in her later fifties. She owned this diner with her late husband Henry, who passed away some six years ago in a car accident. She loved this diner as much as he did, especially because he named it after her. Everyone in town knew and loved Tammy Sue. If you walked in here and complimented her cooking once, you were family.

  The diner was modeled after one of those you’d find in the fifties. It had the infamous checkered flooring, chrome bar stools with red leather cushions, and bright, white booths with solid black tables. There was a jukebox in the corner that only played the best of the fifties and sixties music like Buddy Holly, Connie Francis, Elvis Presley, and even some Little Richard. Thankfully, the waitresses didn’t wear poodle skirts and roll around on skates. Most of them were too old for that anyways.

  We walked in and I got a booth at the back. It wasn't my usual spot, unfortunately, but the one I usually sat at only seated two. So, I'd had to settle for a different one.

  The guys slid into the booth with me. Tobi and Jasper took the seat across from me, while Ezra slipped in next to me, blocking me in between him and the wall. They all picked up their menus and began perusing, each of them occasionally looked up over their menus at me. I didn't need a menu since I always got the same thing. Except this time, extra bacon was going to be added. And, what the hell? Let’s go crazy and throw in a fourth pancake. I deserved it.

  Donna, one of the usual servers here, had seen us sit at the table and gaped when she spotted the three hotties surrounding me. It made me wonder if that was the face I made when I saw them all shirtless.

  Donna was about six years older than me, putting her at around thirty-three-years old. She was obsessed with infomercials and a mother of five. I gave that woman serious props for that. Kids freaked me out. I loved Sara's baby, Jackson, but only because I could give him back to his mom. Otherwise, kids were just a Trojan horse to me; so much evil shoved into tiny, cute packages. You never knew if they were upset or in need of an exorcism. I wasn't chancing it by having any.

  "Shit on a cracker! You’re them!" Donna said with excitement when she made it to the table.

  "This is Tobi, Ezra and Jasper,” I pointed each of them out to her, not really understanding what she meant by that. “They rented out Stanley’s half of the cabin and are renovating it during the holiday."

  They each gave a little wave or a smile. The lustful look on her face at the sight of their smiles almost made me laugh. I felt sorry for her, really. Who in their right mind could deny the bastards anything when they threw out their charm like that?

  “Oh, trust me! I know who they are!” Donna said, patting my shoulder like it was completely stupid of me to introduce them. “They run that sexy holiday strip show every year in the city! I missed last year’s event, but I may have to make an exception this year,” she purred, eyeing the guys like she just discovered a juicy steak.

  “Strip show? What strip show?” I looked back and forth between them. “Why do I not know about this?” I questioned them mercilessly. Why had I lived in this place my whole damn life and never heard of a sexy holiday strip show? This definitely explained the dancing I walked in on.

  "Well, I'll have to let Miss Tammy Sue know that she has new customers. She likes introducing her cooking to newbies. What will you three have?" Donna said, completely ignoring my last question.

  "Ladies first," Ezra said with a smile to her.

  Was nobody going to answer me?

  Donna let out a loud boisterous laugh. "She's been coming in here since she was a kid. Everyone here knows what she orders, so they’ve stopped asking her what she wants, because it will always be the same. I only came over here to actually take an order because of you gentleman."

  “Actually,” I held up a finger to get her attention. “I’m getting one extra pancake and a shit ton of bacon. And these guys are paying so don’t hold back. Like seriously, just throw a whole pig’s worth of it onto a plate”

  Donna gave me a look like I’d lost my mind, but wrote down what I wanted anyways.

  Ezra nudged me while Tobi and Jasper gave Donna their orders. I looked over and he gave me a s
oft smile.

  "I think it's cute that they know you so well,” he said to me softly. “And, we like the fact you have no idea who we are. It gets annoying being fawned over like we’re celebrities when were just some average guys doing what we love to do."

  "Don’t think I give two shits about you guys being celebrities. I’m more concerned about this strip show I had no clue about, so you guys better fill me in. Oh, and one thing I'm definitely not in this world, is cute. You will agree with me when you see how fast I put away these pancakes and bacon. It won't be pretty."

  Ezra laughed then gave his order to Donna. She excused herself to get our drinks and the guys immediately set all their attention on me.

  "Okay, spill. We wanna know more about the girl next door," Jasper demanded playfully.

  "Uh, why?" I asked in confusion. "Wasn't this supposed to be about me getting to know all of you so I won't try to murder you in your sleep one of these nights because you snored too loud? Oh, and the strip show. Seriously, someone better spill."

  They all chuckled.

  "We’ll get to that, but first we want to know more about you. Like your last name, what you do for a living, and any family nearby?" Tobi explained.

  I simmered a little beneath the surface that they were going to set aside the strip show explanation. If it took answering a few questions about myself though, I guess I could wait a little longer.

  "Westmon is my last name and I'm an interior designer. Though, work has been on the downside lately. And as far as family, it’s just my best friend Sarah. I lost my dad last year and I’d rather not talk about it."

  Donna came back and set down coffee in front of all of us and a large bowl with creamer packages inside. I immediately fixed my coffee, knowing I was going to need to suck this down if this became an interrogation. I'd discuss anything with them except the intricate details of my family.

  "Well, what do ya know? Her last name is Westmon." Jasper said with rapt interest as he looked back and forth between the guys.

  My eyebrows shot up in confusion. "What? What’s wrong with my last name?"

  "Nothing. It’s just, coincidently enough, our last names all have a directional point of a compass in it," Tobi responded. "My last name is North, Jasper's is Southwick, and Ezra's is Eastmon. You have West in yours, which is the direction we’ve been missing in our little group. And, you are an interior designer, which just makes this even more interesting."

  I stared in shock at them for a second then picked up and sipped my coffee, averting my eyes to look anywhere but them. While it wasn't really a big deal, it was a one in a million chance that this type of thing would happen. How could my life be so damn ironic?

  "We became friends because of it,” Ezra said after a moment of silence. “All of us kind of gravitated towards each other naturally when we met in foster care. Then as we got older, we realized we were all interested in the same type of things."

  "Like construction?" I asked. I left the foster care thing alone. I’d heard stories from a friend who’d been in foster care. Most of the reasons behind kids ending up there weren’t good.

  Did they have pasts as bad or worse than mine?

  "We own the construction company. It’s called Compass Construction and Renovation," Jasper said proudly. "I’m the architect that draws up the designs for the house, or business, or whatever project were working on. Ezra makes sure all the wiring, insulation and structure of the buildings are up to code with the best materials when we bring the subcontractors in. And then Tobi is the one that actually builds the building. We all take part a little in the building, but that’s definitely Tobi’s expertise."

  I was completely blown away. My last name matched theirs and my job was like the icing on the cake. They built the buildings, I decorated the inside. Houses were my specialty, but I'd done a few offices and restaurants around town. The only reason the cabin had no flair whatsoever, was because my dad always thought it had enough character and didn't want to add anything more. I never had the heart to touch it after he died. It was all I really had left of him and the thought of changing that terrified me.

  "I'm officially weirded out," I replied, putting my head in my hands.

  "I think it's pretty damn cool, actually. What are the chances?" Tobi responded.

  “What made you decided on interior design?” Ezra asked me.

  I tried to think of the best way to respond without sounding pathetic. “Well, I never really had a nice house growing up. I knew there was no way I’d be building houses, but I could decorate them in a way that made the people who owned them feel proud about where they lived or worked. Just was an easy passion for me to fall into.”

  Donna finally arrived with food as I finished my brief explanation. I quickly started stuffing my face to avoid any more involvement in this conversation.

  "You were right," I heard Ezra say next to me.

  "I'm usually right about a lot of things, so you're going to have to be specific," I mumbled, half my mouth filled with delicious, sugary pancakes.

  He chuckled and reached for a napkin, bringing it up and wiping the corner of my mouth. I tried not to gape at him doing that. It was oddly affectionate how gentle he was about it and I didn't like the warm and fuzzies it gave me.

  "You absolutely are not cute when you eat."

  I scrunched my brows at him in offense, only to burst into laughter not a second later.

  He winked at me and nudged me to keep eating, the others smiled as they ate.

  I hated to admit it, but they were slowly growing on me; even with all the weird coincidences and annoying tendencies.

  “Hey! You didn’t answer my question about the strip show!” I remembered halfway through finishing my food.

  “We’ll tell you later. Finish your food that you demanded,” Tobi insisted, pointing his butter knife at my pile of bacon.

  I sunk back in my seat and grumpily ate my bacon, reminding myself not to let them off easy if they try to deny answering that question for me later.

  It took a good bit of time for us to leave. Donna had to get a little more flirting out of her system. There was no telling when or if they’d ever come back here, so I didn’t bother breaking up her fun. Then again, I was oddly irritated by her flirting with them and had no idea why.

  After I finally managed to pry them away from Donna, I drove us all to the local market to get all my snack cravings. I was one of those abnormal females that craved some sort of food all the time – whether I was PMSing or not. If I didn’t get the craving, I turned into a bit of a raving bitch that even I couldn’t tolerate to be around.

  I grabbed a shopping cart and quickly made my way through the aisles, letting the guys go off to find whatever they wanted to get. It gave me a minute to collect myself from the strangeness of the morning. I just needed to get home, have a small glass of wine or some shots of Jack, and take a hot bath. At least, I hoped it’d be a hot one. I’d figure out everything else after that.

  As I was going down the aisle with all the chips and cookies, one of my favorite Christmas songs played over the intercoms. Baby It’s Cold Outside was always mine and Dad’s favorite to dance around like idiots too; especially the one sung by Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé. Something about a sultry male singing voice just did seriously dangerous things to my body.

  I wasn’t a terrible singer or dancer, but I usually kept that stuff to myself. Now, however, the song felt like a soothing balm on my chaotic mind. I began to softly sing the song as I perused the snacks, moving my body in my own little world. I swayed my shopping cart back and forth, picking up a can of Pringles to sing into.

  An elderly man walked by me as I put on a shameless little show, waving my finger at him playfully and winking as I sang, “I really can’t stay…”

  He smiled and shook his head at me, continuing away from the crazy chick singing into a can of chips. I couldn’t help it. I really loved this song and it was do easy to get lost in the uplifting spirit of it.
>
  Unfortunately for me, he wasn’t the only one on this aisle.

  I was just getting to a part where the song picks up, when I turned to grab a package of chocolate chip cookies. I stopped immediately, the can/microphone falling from my hand into my basket. All three of the guys were watching me from the other end of the aisle with matching smirks. They started to slowly clap as the words died from my lips.

  My cheeks burned with embarrassment and I shoved the cookies into the cart, then quickly exited the aisle in the opposite direction. I couldn’t believe I’d just done that. I hadn’t even been thinking when I started doing it. With strangers, I had absolutely no shame in being a little ridiculous and letting loose. But with it being them and all their hot glory, just added that extra layer of humiliation on top.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up there, Low,” Ezra used the nickname my friends used as he came up behind me, snagging me around the waist with his arm and hauling me to a stop.

  “Dude!” I yelped in shock, not prepared for him to grab me like that.

  “You need to calm down,” he said with a chuckle and let me go, turning me by my shoulders to face him as the other two caught up with us.

  “I am calm. You just surprised me,” I argued with a huff.

  By the look he leveled me with, I knew he figured I was lying.

  “Damn girl! Where’d you learn to dance like that?” Jasper asked excitedly as he and Tobi approached.

  “Uh, I can’t dance. That was just like … wiggling …” It was the best explanation I could come up with, but saying the word ‘wiggling’ didn’t exactly make it sound appealing.

  “That was pretty hot,” Tobi added, the other two nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

  “Would you be able to repeat that?” Jasper asked curiously.

  I bit my lip, not sure if I liked where this was going. “Um. Well, I guess I could. Why?” I squinted my eyes at him with suspicion.