When To Fear The Living Read online

  “Give him a head start at least,” I managed, still cracking up as Asher set me down.

  “That was only if he let you go,” Asher pointed out as Zeke let go of Isaac. Isaac took off and Asher was hot on his heels. I was still chuckling as we headed inside. We found Miles and Ethan in the kitchen.

  “Morning guys,” I said cheerfully as I leaned onto the breakfast bar. Ethan leaned over and kissed my cheek.

  “Morning, Beautiful,” Ethan said, making me smile.

  “Morning, Lexie,” Miles called from by the coffee maker. “So, Isaac was using you as a human shield?” I smiled.

  “Yeah, it worked for a bit,” I admitted as I grabbed a plate and started dishing up my breakfast. Then I caught Zeke adding pancakes to his plate. “Hey, I’m not eating pancakes, you’re not eating pancakes,” I scolded. Zeke glared at me; I smiled. Zeke had been hounding me about my diet since October and I ended up losing more weight than it was healthy for me. In an attempt to gain some back, I made a deal with Zeke in December that if he eats badly, I get to eat badly. It has mostly tapered off now since I wasn’t trying to gain anymore. But it was still a deal we had going and quite frankly, I liked to give him a hard time by using it.

  “I need more carbs than you do just to maintain muscle, Lexie. Besides, Asher made them with that whole-wheat flour,” Zeke pointed out. I eyed him.

  “Fine, but you have to have turkey bacon or turkey sausage. No pork,” I countered.

  “Deal.” Zeke added pancakes to his plate and I didn’t say a word this time. There was shouting out back. I moved to a window with Ethan while Miles and Zeke looked out another. Asher was catching up to Isaac. They were running around the pool when Asher made a flying tackle on Isaac. They both hit the water, I cursed, it was freezing outside and the guys were soaked now.

  “Don’t worry, Lexie, it’s a heated pool,” Miles said. “They’ll be fine until they get out.”

  “Let’s get the towels,” Ethan said sighing. Ethan and I went and grabbed several large towels for both guys from the bathrooms. We walked outside to find the boys in the shallow end, neck deep in the water. Miles and Zeke were there laughing at them. I held up a couple towels.

  “Alright boys, make a run for it,” I said, smirking. Asher climbed the stairs first and almost immediately started shivering. I threw a towel over his shoulders and handed him the other as he ran into the house. I was laughing as Isaac did the same. We headed back into the house.

  “Are they going to be okay?” I asked while I walked back to the breakfast bar.

  “Yeah, they weren’t out in the cold as long as you were. They should be able to get into the showers,” Miles reassured me. I sent him a smile before getting my coffee then headed into the living room.

  We were almost done with breakfast by the time Asher and Isaac came downstairs. Asher was in Bugs Bunny pajama bottoms, a white t-shirt, and a blue blanket wrapped around him. With his wet hair, he was adorable. He sat on the couch to my right.

  “Shit, remind me never to do that again,” Asher grumbled.

  “At least we didn’t have to strip you down in the kitchen,” I pointed out. He huffed in agreement. Isaac shuffled in wearing green sweats and an orange long sleeve shirt. He had a lime green comforter wrapped around him. He grumbled as he walked around the couches to sit on my left. He immediately laid his head in my lap.

  “I’m freezing, Red,” Isaac whined. I rubbed my hand up and down his arm and ran my fingers through his hair.

  “I have no sympathy for you,” I told him bluntly. “You soaked me outside remember?” Isaac kept his eyes closed and nodded.

  “Really, really sorry about that,” Isaac mumbled as he rolled to his side and buried his forehead against my stomach. The poor guy was curled up in a ball. The others chuckled, Miles shook his head and got to his feet to walk into the kitchen.

  “I don’t think cuddling with me is going to make you warmer,” I told Isaac. Isaac made a humph noise.

  “It can’t hurt,” Isaac countered. I rubbed my hand up and down his back while he snuggled into me.

  “Is it working?” Asher asked. I looked at him to see if he’s serious. He was.

  “Kinda,” Isaac answered.

  “I’ll take kinda,” Asher mumbled as he lay down. Surprised, I went still as he put his head on my other leg. I rolled my eyes as I stopped playing with Isaac’s hair and rubbed Asher’s arm. I tried to rub some warmth back in their arms. “Yeah, it’s working,” Asher announced. I smiled to myself. I was shaking my head when Miles walked in with two steaming mugs. He noticed the guys’ heads in my lap.

  “Sit up, this will work better,” Miles said as he set the mugs on the coffee table.

  “What is it?” Asher asked.

  “Hot chocolate,” Miles answered. Asher mumbled something but didn’t move.

  “You go first, this is working fine for me,” Isaac said absently. I sighed.

  “Boys, drink your hot chocolate,” I ordered. Isaac groaned as he sat up. Asher got up without complaint. They drank as conversation went back to normal. Soon the boys got warm and were eating breakfast.

  We were talking about what to do next weekend when my phone rang. It was Dylan. I cursed as I got to my feet and walked out into the long hall that ran the length of the house.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey,” Dylan’s husky voice ran down my spine. Only it didn’t make me shiver anymore.

  “Why are you calling?” I asked, politely. I was tired of the calls, the emails, and the texts. I was just tired of him.

  “I wanted to finish our conversation from last night,” Dylan said, his voice growing hard. “Ethan should have stayed out of it.” That was it.

  “There was no conversation last night, Dylan,” I said bluntly. “You talked and when I tried to say something, you talked over me. That was a monologue.”

  “You never let me finish what I’m saying. I only ever get halfway,” Dylan shot back.

  “Because you’ve said it all before,” I countered, rubbing my temples with one hand. “You’ve said it over and over. How many times am I supposed to listen to the same fucking speech before you’re done saying it?”

  “You’re being unreasonable. No one’s perfect, Lexie. I made a mistake, I know. But we had something pretty great.” His voice was sharp now. Good, I was ready for this fight.

  “Yeah, I thought so too. Then you said that I had too many problems for you to take care of all the time,” I shot back my throat tightening. “You knew that would hurt and you said it anyway.”

  “Sunshine-” I hung up the phone. I managed to not throw the phone against the wall. Ten points for restraint! My phone rang again, it was Dylan, this time I sent it to voicemail. Still angry, I walked back into the living room. All eyes moved to me. I sighed as I made my way back to my spot.

  “So, besides Asher, how much did you hear?” I asked.

  “You weren’t exactly quiet, Beautiful,” Ethan pointed out. I snorted as I put my phone on the coffee table.

  “Sorry,” I said. My phone vibrated. I didn’t bother to check, I knew it was Dylan. I rested my elbows on my knees and hid my face in my hands. Someone rubbed their hand up and down my back. It was comforting right now.

  “What did Dylan say?” Miles asked his voice soothing. I sighed.

  “The same old I’m sorry, I made a mistake,” I explained. “This time he said I’m being unreasonable.” The guys all cursed, well, except Miles. He never cursed. My phone vibrated again, I ignored it.

  “You’re not being unreasonable, Lexie,” Miles told me, his voice sincere. I lifted my head and gave him a small smile.

  “I know I’m not. I just need to send him a message in a big way,” I said before looking over to Ethan. “We’re playing next weekend at Vegabond. Do you know any great fuck-off songs?” Everyone chuckled as Ethan grinned. Over the next two hours, we scoured YouTube for ‘I'm not taking you back’ songs. I found the perfect one to drive it home to Dylan that we were ove
r. Suddenly, I was looking forward to singing next week.

  A few hours later and a fresh set of clothes for Isaac, we left the others behind. Isaac had been saying he wanted to kidnap me for a couple weeks now. Isaac and I unsupervised? Hell yeah! I drove and followed Isaac’s instructions. When he told me to go off the main road and onto snow-covered gravel one I thought he was nuts, but he knew the area and I had four-wheel drive if we needed it. We ended up parked off the road across from a large, treeless hill. Several other people were here riding sleds and inner tubes down the hill. I hopped out and walked around the truck in time to watch Isaac pull out a plastic sled big enough for both of us.

  “We’re really going sledding?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah,” He said, grinning at me. I smiled as I closed the back of the Blazer then followed him. It took a bit but we reached the top of the hill. Isaac set the sled down and held on to the back. “Get on, Red.” I shook my head and sat down in the front. Isaac dropped behind me but kept his feet in the snow at the sides of the sled. “Okay Red, do you know how to steer?” He asked. I snorted.

  “I’ve never been on a sled in my entire life,” I pointed out. He chuckled as his arm wrapped around my waist.

  “Okay, scoot closer to me.” I scooted until my butt was against him. He bent his knees and put them on the sled next to my legs. “To steer, we’re going to lean the way we want to go,” He said in my ear. “Hold on to the rope.” I grabbed the rope.

  “What does it do?” I asked.

  “Not a damn thing,” Isaac announced, laughing as he pushed us off. We started slow but picked up speed fast. Soon enough the wind was rushing by and we started to skid to the left. Isaac’s arms around me made me lean to the right effectively taking us out of the skid, it was amazing. I was laughing as we slowed to a stop some distance from the bottom. I leaned back against Isaac and looked up at him.

  “That was awesome,” I stated. He chuckled.

  “You’ve never gone sledding before? How is that even possible?” He asked.

  “I’ve never lived anywhere with snow,” I pointed out.

  He snorted. “Want to go again?”

  “Yes, please.” I sat up, got off the sled, and to my feet. Isaac grabbed the rope of the sled in one hand and took my hand in his other as we headed back up the hill.

  We were on our tenth trip down when we hit a bump and crashed. I hit my side and rolled a couple times. I laid in the snow on my back laughing as I tried to catch my breath, Isaac hurried over to check on me.

  “You good, Red?” He asked, smiling down at me. I nodded. Laughing, he helped me to my feet.

  “Hey Isaac!” A boy’s voice shouted. We both turned to see a guy hurry over with a blonde mohawk and a nose ring. He was followed by two others pulling four inner tubes up the slope.

  “Josh,” Isaac greeted the guy. “How’s it going man?” The blonde, Josh, grabbed Isaac’s hand and pulled him into a bro hug, it was very macho. As Isaac stepped back from Josh, Josh was looking me over. It irked me.

  “Same old,” Josh said, a grin spreading across his face. “Who is this?” Before I could even respond Isaac punched him in the chest, making Josh look at him.

  “Don’t even fucking think about it,” Isaac warned. “Try to touch her and you’ll get your head ripped off.”

  “By who?” Josh scoffed.

  “Me for starters,” I pointed out.

  “Then me,” Isaac said. “Then my brother, Asher, and then for dessert, Zeke.”

  Josh’s eyes grew wide as he looked back to me. “Damn, you’ve got a lot of bodyguards.”

  “That’s just assuming you live past me,” I said sweetly with a smile. Josh chuckled.

  “Alright,” Josh looked to Isaac. “I like her, she’ll fit right in.” He pointed over his shoulder at the other two as they pulled the tubes up the hill. “Come on, we saw you were here and brought you a tube.” Josh headed back towards his friends. Isaac stopped me from following.

  “Don’t stand next to Josh, he has boundary issues,” He warned. I raised an eyebrow.

  “How so?” I asked. He sighed.

  “You know how Ethan and I are with you now?” He asked. I nodded. “Like that, but he’ll know you for less than an hour,” Both my eyebrows went up. Damn, that is boundary issues.

  “Gotcha,” I said. He nodded then led me over to his friends. We reached them, Isaac took one of the tube the rest of the way up. When we reached the top, Isaac introduced me to the other two.

  “Lexie, this is Eve,” Isaac said as he pointed to the cute pixie faced girl with long bubble gum pink hair. Her eyes were darkly lined and her lip ring glinted at me.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said.

  “You too,” Eve said as she looked between Isaac and me. “Are you two dating?”

  “Nah, she’s one of my best friends,” Isaac said instantly. I looked at him with fake hurt.

  “What? I thought this was a date,” I said dramatically. “You bastard!” Isaac burst out laughing. I smiled as he calmed down. He then gestured to the other guy, who towered over the others. His hair was green and his brown eyes were friendly.

  “Lexie, that’s Wyatt,” Isaac said.

  Wyatt tilted his chin toward me. “Hey.”

  “Hi,” I replied.

  “Okay, everyone load up!” Josh ordered. Eve and Wyatt snickered as they took their tubes. Eve laid down head first and Josh pushed her off. She spun down the hill at high speed. I wondered if she was going to be sick. When she was half way down Wyatt grabbed his tube, ran, and landed on it. He flew off down the hill heading straight for Eve. By now Eve had slowed enough that Wyatt hit her. They both bounced off into different directions. I could hear them laughing from up here. Isaac set the tube down and climbed on. Then he gestured for me to sit next to him. I climbed on and settled in. He wrapped his arm around me and looked up at Josh.

  “Give us a shove, man,” Isaac said. Josh shook his head. He had a disappointed look on his face as he pushed. We flew down the hill, spinning as we went. I was laughing when we hit a bump and caught air. I barely had time to realize I was in the air before I hit the snow and was rolling down the hill. When I stopped, I was out of breath and dizzy. I sat up carefully. Isaac was a few feet from me still on his back, he lifted his arms.

  “Yeah! Ramp time!” Isaac shouted. The others agreed. Soon we were up and building a ramp to tube off of. With all of us working, it didn’t take long. Isaac went down first on his back. He caught major air and was off the tube before he even landed. He hit the snow hard, I groaned in sympathy.

  “Don’t worry, he’s fine,” Josh said. I watched as Isaac got up, grabbed the tube, and came back up the hill with a big smile on his face. My stomach unknotted. Eve and Josh went by the time Isaac reached me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. He smirked.

  “Hell, yeah. Your turn, Red,” Isaac announced as he handed me the tube. I climbed on as Isaac held onto the tube. I looked up at him. He was upside down to me.

  “Don’t spin me,” I said. He looked down at me and smirked. Oh shit. “Please?” He sighed.

  “Fine,” He grumbled before shoving me off. The wind rushed by my ears. My heart raced as the ramp came up. Then I was flying, I hit the snow with a grunt and rolled, I groaned. Okay, that one hurt. I got to my feet and grabbed the tube in time to see Isaac shoot off the ramp face first. My heart clenched as he flipped completely over and landed back on his stomach again. Ouch, I left my tube and hurried to him.

  “Isaac?” I called, my voice worried. When I reached him he coughed deeply. “You okay?” Groaning, he rolled onto his back. A big smile spread across his face.

  “How many times did I flip?” He asked. I smacked his shoulder.

  “Once, don’t try for more,” I told him. He just snickered as he got up. We walked back up the hill together. Over the next couple hours, I watched as Isaac’s stunts got crazier while his friends said nothing about it. In fact, Josh encouraged him. I had stopped going down t
he hill a half hour ago, because my body was already aching. Isaac grabbed the tube and headed for the start spot.

  “Let’s try some surf tubing,” Isaac said as he put the tube down. What? The others chuckled as Josh and Wyatt held the tube. Isaac stood on the tube and posed. Before I could stop him, the others shoved him. My chest was tight as he raced down the hill. Tell me he wasn’t... Shit. Isaac hit the ramp and he went flying, spun several times, then landed in a snow bank. My heart clenched as I waited to see him move, he didn’t.

  “He’s fine,” Josh said dismissively. I barely stopped myself from decking him. I grabbed Isaac’s sled, got on, and shoved off. My heart was racing. When I got close, I dropped off the side of the sled and slid to a stop. I was up and running to Isaac just as he started to move.

  “Isaac!” I reached him as he sat up. He shook his head and blinked hard. I dropped to my knees in front of him. I held his jaw and forced him to look at me, he blinked at me with clear eyes.

  “How much air did I get?” He asked. I wanted to hit him.

  “How much air?” I all but shouted, “Are you fucking kidding me?” He chuckled with a big smile on his face.

  “Did I scare you?” He teased. I really wanted to hit him. I dropped my hands from his face.

  “Yeah, you fucking did,” I snapped before moving to my feet. He started laughing but I didn’t find it so funny. He groaned as he got to his feet. The others came down the hill, laughing. Josh was off his tube and smiling as he came over.

  “Told ya he was fine,” Josh taunted. I shot him a look. His smile dimmed a bit. “You caught major air, man.” Isaac sighed.

  “Yeah, that would have really hurt if I hadn’t landed in the snow bank,” Isaac admitted. The others chuckled.

  “Come on. Let’s do one more thing,” Josh announced. I grabbed the sled while Isaac got the tube. We followed the others to Josh’s brown truck. Isaac threw the tube into the back along with Eve’s. Josh reached in and pulled out some rope. He began tying it to the bumper.

  “What are you doing?” Eve asked. Josh snickered.