He clenched his jaw.
“No calls, no talking. Nothing. You see her in the hall, you go the other direction. We’re talking fully out of her life. Understand?” My voice was calm and icy.
“I’m not afraid of a beating,” he croaked.
I leaned closer. “If not, I have enough proof from hacking your computer that you’ve been paying your trainer for steroids the last three years. It’d be a shame if that came to light. Get it?”
His eyes practically popped out of his head. He nodded.
I let him go and stepped back. For the first time in my life, I knew I could keep the people that mattered to me safe. It wasn’t through violence or brawn. It was through connections, information, and blackmail. I could handle blackmail. I headed back toward my house. It was getting close to my time to meet Lucy.
Lexie
I was almost asleep when I noticed it. Zeke was clenching and unclenching his fist. Well, one of them. His other was wrapped around my foot, rubbing the arch absently. His eyes were unfocused as we watched the news. Apparently, the DA for our county was found dead at the bottom of his stairs with a broken neck.
I eyed Zeke. His breathing was controlled, his face blank. That wasn’t good. He needed a distraction.
Grinning, I moved my foot and snagged his fingers with my toes.
He looked down at me surprised.
“This is boring,” I stated. “I know Sylvie has a Mel Brooks movie stash somewhere.”
His lips twitched. “I’ll go get it.”
I pulled my phone out and brought up the delivery app. “I’m ordering junk food.”
“So, this is a junk food and movie night?”
I smiled a big smile. “Oh yeah. We’re talking stuffed crust.”
He chuckled a little before moving my feet off him and getting up.
He had no clue what he was in for.
He’d regret that.
Three and a half hours later, we were sprawled over the couch, both groaning and holding our stomachs.
“Why’d you order so much?” he muttered as his head fell back to the top of the couch.
“’Cause for once you were on board for junk food.” I groaned before shifting and instantly wanting to puke. Ugh.
“I never want to eat again.” He sighed in relief as he unbuttoned his jeans. “Fuck…”
“You would have just sat there and thought about it.” I turned my head to him. “I figured this would distract you.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Most girls would have tried to distract me with sex. You went for junk food.”
I eyed him, noticing the light in the corner of his eye. There he was. My Zeke. That little spark of humor. “I know you pretty well.”
He chuckled, which made me laugh, which of course made us both groan from full bellies.
“Tell me we have tums,” he muttered.
Chapter 12
Thursday Morning
I woke up slowly, wrapped around a hard body. Something was buzzing. I took a deep breath of guy and engine grease. It made me smile. Zeke… I drew my knee up higher and snuggled even more, drawn to the heat that radiated from him. My fingers played with the hairs over his tattoo on his pec. Eventually the buzzing stopped.
He shifted even closer, his hips moving against me, bringing me to the very top of his leg.
Something hard pressed against the front of me. And huge. I stayed relaxed as I thought about the position we were in, that couldn’t be what I thought… right? His lips kissed my neck before he settled again. Holy shit… I let out a slow breath as I tucked that piece of info into the back of my mind for later.
It wasn’t long before my bladder’s demands made themselves known. Sighing, I carefully untangled myself from him and scooted to the bottom of the bed. As I got to my feet, I realized Hades was sleeping on the other side of Zeke, pressed against his back. Good dog.
I quickly went across the hall and used the bathroom. When I came back out, Zeke was sitting on the side of his bed, his elbows braced on his legs, face buried in his hands.
I moved to him and ran my fingers through his hair.
He dropped his hands and looked up at me, his face hard, his eyes still full of shadows. Heart aching, I ran my thumb over his jaw.
“Go take a shower.” I kept my voice soft and quiet. “I’ll feed the dogs and start breakfast.”
His hand covered mine, pressing against his skin. “I’m not hungry.”
“Please?”
He met my eyes then eventually nodded.
Leaving him to shower, I headed to the kitchen and set the dogs’ dishes up. Wolf hybrids were high energy dogs, which meant lots of food. Each dog dish got two heaping scoops of dry food and one can of wet food.
I didn’t bother with my shoes as I opened the back door and slipped outside. The yard was enormous and surrounded by an eight-foot-high fence. Zeke once told me that there was three feet of concrete under the fence line to prevent the wolves from digging out. The grass was left to grow throughout the spring and summer, which created a rather interesting view from the back door.
“Tank! Kita! Food!” I shouted. Staying put, I waited. A black wolf bounded through the grass like a happy puppy. It made me smile as he came toward me.
Kita popped up out of nowhere to sit at her designated food spot. Damn… she was a quiet little thing. Tank went to his spot and sat. I set down Tank’s food first. He waited until I was standing straight again to start chowing down.
“Good, Tank.”
With Kita, I hesitated. Last time I fed her, she bit me, but she wasn’t growling this time. I slowly set the food down and just as slowly straightened to my full height. Just like Tank, Kita began chowing down. She really had come so far.
“Good, Kita.” I grinned before going back toward the house. That’s when I spotted it.
A dead squirrel under Zeke’s window. My heart dropped. It was just bones this time at least. Dreading my new plans for the day, I headed inside.
I turned on the tv for some noise while I started breakfast as I thought about Zeke and what he told me the other day. That aching pit in my chest was back as I pulled a knife out of the cabinet and set it down. A lot of little things made sense now. The conversation I overheard with Rory, the way he woke up swinging, how he knew I wasn’t really okay after the cabin, how patient he was with me when he triggered me.
I vaguely remembered my phone ringing this morning. I dried my hands and went to my phone. Yep, Rory called. I hit my voicemail button.
“Hey, kid.” Rory’s voice was strained. “I was hoping to tell you last night, but… your mother’s trial was yesterday.”
My heart dropped.
“The judge decided that since you were eighteen and living away from her, to grant her time served.”
I closed my eyes and hung my head. Of course they did.
“I’m sorry, kid. I already called the school and said you wouldn’t be in till your meeting on Monday. I claimed family emergency. Call me if you want to talk.” The message ended.
I tossed my phone back onto the counter. Time served. For getting caught with belt in hand, beating the shit out of me. I shook my head as I went back to making breakfast.
I picked up the potatoes and moved to the cutting board. First Clay, now my mother… what the hell were the court systems doing? Sitting around with their thumbs up their asses? I cut the potato a lot harder than I needed to. I put it out of my head and concentrated on making breakfast.
I was just getting the eggs out when Hades came in the kitchen and whined. I didn’t even hesitate. I set down the egg carton and followed Hades to the closed bathroom door.
I knocked. “Zeke? You okay?”
“…No.” His voice was lower than I’d heard in a while.
“Can I come in?”
There was a long minute where I thought he’d say no.
“Might as well.”
I opened the door to find a freshly showered Zeke in nothing bu
t a white towel. He was leaning on the counter with both hands. The lower half of his face covered in shaving cream. The mirror was still fogged over as he glared at it.
“Tough Guy?” I kept my voice soft.
“I… I fucking can’t…” He shook his head. Tension came off him in waves. “Every year I think this is the year.”
I glanced at the mirror and realized what he was saying. He couldn’t look in the mirror. Heart aching, I crossed the room then lifted myself to sit on the high counter beside the sink. I carefully took the razor from his clenched fist. The room was quiet as I turned on the water in the sink and met his eyes. “I can’t reach you if you’re standing over there.”
His eyes were warm as he moved to stand between my legs, my knees spreading for his hips so he could get as close as I needed. Before I did anything, I met his eyes. “You know I have no clue how to shave a face. Or how to use a safety razor.”
“I don’t care.” His gravelly voice rolled over me as he leaned his hands on the counter on either side of my hips to bring him further into my reach.
“Well, I do.” I reached up and carefully ran the razor down his jaw. We fell silent. The trickle of water filled the room as I cleaned the razor and continued working. With the steamy bathroom, it was almost as if we were in our own bubble. The clean scent of soap lingered in the air.
I was only a couple of passes through when I nicked him. Blood seeped to the surface. I hissed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He swiped his thumb over it, wiping off the blood. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
“Are you sure you want me to keep doing this?” I looked up at him hopefully. “I mean, I’ve only just figured out the angle to hold the damn thing at.”
His lips twitched. “You’re the one who has to look at me.”
“Partially shaved wouldn’t look awful. You could start a new trend.” I tried again carefully. When I nicked him again, this time near his nose, I cursed.
He wiped the blood away.
I pulled my hands away and up in surrender. “I need some instruction here.”
The shadows in his eyes grew less. “You shave all the time, how is this any different?”
“Well, if you need to shave your pits or your legs, I’m your gal.” I smirked up at him. “But since I kinda like your face the way it is, give me some pointers.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You like my face?”
“Well, yeah. You’re kinda cute.” My face grew warm. “So, give me tips.”
Zeke truly grinned for the first time since our movie marathon last night. The next ten minutes turned into a shaving lesson. Apparently, the trick was to pull his skin taut in certain directions while shaving.
When I was done, my wicked side came out to play. “Hold on, I missed a spot.” I picked up the shaving cream and put some on my finger. Before he could guess what I was doing, I booped him on the nose with the foam. “There. All better.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before wiping the foam off his nose. I started giggling at the look on his face. He swiped the foam down my cheek. I continued to giggle as I reached for the towel on the counter. Gently, I wiped the shaving foam off his face.
When I was done, he pressed his forehead against mine and squeezed the back of my neck. “Thank you, Baby. It was starting to drive me crazy.”
“Anything for you, Tough Guy.”
Zeke straightened to his full height; his eyes were lighter than when I came in. “I’ll get dressed and be out in a minute.”
I couldn’t help but eye the line of his shoulders as he walked across the hall and closed the door. Scars or no, that man’s back… I grinned as I hopped down off the counter and headed for the kitchen.
It wasn’t long before I had the pan and oil warm enough to add the potatoes to start to fry. Zeke’s big footsteps sounded behind me.
“You didn’t have to make breakfast,” he rasped on his way to the coffee maker.
“When was the last time you ate something hot?” I shook the pan to make the potato lay flat. When I turned, he was frowning at the coffee maker.
“A couple of days ago?”
I went to the one clean empty counter left and hopped up. “Something that wasn’t microwaved?”
He went back to filling two mugs with coffee. “I don’t remember.”
“That’s why I’m cooking breakfast.” I remembered the sunrise lighting up the driveway this morning. “Where is Sylvie anyway?”
He opened a cabinet and pulled out the cream and sugar. “I told her to stay in Bridgeport for a while.”
“What, why?” Zeke was living alone?
He put my usual amount of sugar and cream into one of the mugs before mixing it and handing it to me. “Because Jadis is in town and I want her out of firing range.”
“Thanks.” My heart dropped. “She knows?”
He nodded.
“How much?”
“Everything.” He took a sip of coffee.
I sat there stunned. “And does she believe it?”
He looked at me over the top of his mug. “She’s got a room in Bridgeport, what do you think?”
Relief left me weak in the knees. “That’s good at least.”
He picked up his mug and leaned against the counter. “So, are you finally going to tell me what happened to make you so pale?”
I finished my sip of coffee first. “I was searching a trail for setups with Asher and Hades. We were on our way back when we ran into three shifters.”
Zeke pushed away from the counter and moved in front of me. His hand moved to cup the back of my neck, the weight comforting. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Asher ended up needing to shift. He told me to run, so I ran with Hades.” I hesitated. He really wasn’t going to like this part.
“Lexie, please?” he asked, his voice the low, soft one that did things to my insides.
“One of them got around Asher. It caught up to us. Hades took the wolf on. He protected me. Until he couldn’t anymore.”
He put down his coffee mug next to me and lifted the hem of his too-big mesh shorts he lent me to sleep in so he could look at the scrapes on my knee. “Did the wolf do this?”
“No, I did that by tripping over my own feet.” Heat dancing up my thigh had me pushing the hem back down. “It was coming at us and I felt that pressure in my chest again. Just like last time. And I let it loose somehow.” I shook my head, seeing it all again. Goosebumps ran down my neck as I remembered how scared I was. The werewolf was huge. “If it weren’t for Hades, I would have been screwed.”
He hugged me to him. I rested my head on his chest, his heartbeat under my ear. I took a deep breath of his engine grease scent that always managed to stay with him.
I slipped my arms around his waist and hugged him back. “This time, it knocked me out. I woke up at Miles’.”
“We need to call Uma.” He pulled back and lifted my chin so he could meet my eyes. “You look like you did when you had a two.”
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist. “I already did. She’ll be here sometime today.”
One of his hands went to the back of my neck and squeezed. “Next time you go on a trail, you’re taking Hades, Tank and Kita.”
I smiled. “Okay.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “No argument?”
I shook my head. “I thought we were going to die.”
He bent down to kiss my forehead before pulling me against him. By the time I stopped shaking, the potatoes were almost burnt.
We ate breakfast in the living room, watching the news coverage of another body being found, this one male. It was already ruled as a homicide.
We spent most of the morning close to each other, sometimes talking, sometimes not. Once in while I’d get a grin out of him, but we were always within arms-reach of each other. Occasionally, I’d curl up to him. Sometimes he’d reach for me. We ended up with Zeke stretched out on the couch napping with his head in my lap as I watched a movie. It was
sometime in the afternoon when I was running my fingers through his hair that the door opened.
Every one of my boyfriends came into the house, and Asher’s gaze immediately found me and Zeke. Everyone hesitated in the pass-through to the living room.
Miles pushed up his glasses and mouthed. “Is he asleep?”
I nodded, expecting them to get upset that we were touching and starting to bicker like they had been all week.
Isaac stuck his head around Miles and grinned.
Even Asher relaxed enough to have a half grin. He turned to the others and gestured for them to go in the kitchen.
Asher followed them closely as Zeke snored lightly in my lap.
I smiled to myself. Maybe this was going to work after all.
Chapter 13
Thursday Afternoon
We were all over at Miles’ house when Uma arrived. Well, most of us. Zeke was at his appointment with his shrink and was planning to meet us here after.
Uma walked into the house with a regal confidence. Her nutmeg skin was flawless as she stepped into the foyer with a satchel in her hand. Uma was, well, stunning as ever.
Those dark eyes found me. “Lexie.”
“Uma.” I grinned. “How’s the family?”
She sighed. “Adjusting well.” Her eyes left me to settle on Ethan. “And our mystery boy.”
Ethan bowed gallantly. “At your service, my lady.”
I snorted as he straightened.
Uma shook her head with a patient look on her face that screamed she had a teenage boy at home.
Before she could say anything, my phone rang. It was a blocked number.
“Hello.”
“Miss Delaney.” Jadis’ voice sent ice through my veins. “I was disappointed you weren’t in your classes.”
“So sorry to cause you any worry,” I said in a deadpan voice, catching the attention of everyone. “What do you want?”
When the Dead Come Home Page 18