When the Dead Come a Knockin' Page 11

  “And if Rory isn’t there?” He asked immediately. Damn. He’s too clever.

  “Let the guys take care of me. They know what to do.” I shrugged, I wasn’t going any more into it than that. He saw that I wasn’t willing to tell him more. He nodded, his face worried. I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand. “Hey,” I said softly. His hand covered mine, pressing it against his cheek. “I’m okay, no complications. Fit as a fiddle. Which is a strange saying if you think about it. I mean a fiddle lays around all day, how could it be fit?” Dylan chuckled, the sound made me smile. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m too stubborn.” Then I smirked. “Besides, who else is going to give Zeke shit?” He smiled down at me. “Now I have a question for you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you keep calling me Sunshine?” His face looked pained as he began rubbing his neck.

  “I’ve got to get back to work....” He began starting to back up.

  “Oh, no you don’t!” I snagged his arm and pulled him back to me. “You got a whole bunch of my stuff today, you can tell me this one other thing.” He looked down at me, his face pained.

  “It’s kind of corny.” He admitted, his cheeks turning pink. I perked up.

  “Even better.” I smiled up at him. He sighed then leaned into me till his mouth was next to my ear.

  “Because before you came around, my life wasn’t so great.” He whispered, sending hot shivers down my spine. “It was dull, dark and full of just stuff I had to do.” I bit my lip feeling my face warming. “Then you came along and lit everything back up. Like sunshine.” Those butterflies went crazy as my face burned. He pulled back a bit to look down at my face. “You are red.” He said smiling.

  “That wasn’t corny, that was romantic and sweet,” I told him, squirming. He smiled at me.

  “And now you're uncomfortable.” He observed. “That aversion to romance thing again?”

  “Yeah, it’s a bitch,” I admitted sliding off the desk to stand on the floor. He snickered. His eyes ran over my face.

  “Well, we’ll work on it.” The way he said it sent warm tingles everywhere. He leaned down again. He kissed me gently till I pressed harder against his lips. He made a small noise in the back of his throat. Sparks ran through me as he pressed back. He took my bottom lip between his, nipping at it before kissing me again. I made a small noise. My arms moved around his neck, his arm around my back. Dylan, my Dylan, was kissing me like I was the only person in his world. He felt so damn good like this. I couldn’t think as his mouth kept moving with mine. A loud knock on the door brought the world back hard, reminding me where we were. Dylan groaned deeply against my mouth. I knew exactly how he felt. I made a small growl of my own. We both eased back till our lips were barely brushing. His forehead rested against mine as we both tried to catch our breath.

  “Don’t go anywhere.” He whispered, his husky voice rough.

  “Wasn’t planning on it.” I countered. He pulled back to kiss my forehead, we let go of each other so he could answer the door.

  “What?” He bit out. I leaned against the desk and tried to remember what had just happened. All I could think was... I wanted more. I took a breath and let it out. Down body, baaad body.

  “The other guys are here to do their paperwork.” Luke shot back. “Remember, you wanted to hire them.”

  “Fuck.” Dylan cursed. “Okay, just... I’ll bring the paperwork out in a couple minutes.”

  “Uh-huh.” Luke taunted in a knowing voice. I grinned. Yeah, we were making out, I’d own it. Dylan closed the door on Luke then turned back to me.

  “You have to get back to work,” I said for him. His face looked pained as he walked back to me.

  “Yeah, it’s my friends.” He took my hands in his. “I’m hiring them to take over my shifts so I can see you more.” I grinned up at him, him working less really sounded great to me.

  “It’s okay. I need to go anyway. I need clothes that don’t fall off.” I admitted looking up to meet his eyes. “I was just worried about you.” He grinned as he pulled me into his arms. I slid my arms around his hard waist, resting my cheek on his chest. I took a deep breath of sandalwood. He held me tight, his face in my hair as he took a deep breath.

  “You’re okay, though, right?” He whispered into my hair. I nodded.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. No problems.” I assured him. I lifted my head so I could see his face. “You okay?”

  “Much better, now that I saw you and really know you’re alright.” His eyes ran over my face. “But before we head out there...” He leaned down to brush his lips against mine. Butterflies took off as he kissed me gently, his hands moving to cup my face. Warmth filled me fast, taking my breath away. He kissed me softly, sweetly, until I forgot my own name. When he pulled back, his eyes were more than warm on my face. “Just needed to do that one more time.”

  “Um… yeah… thought... smart ass comment.” I blinked up at him dazed from his kiss. He snickered as he stroked his thumb over my cheekbone before dropping his hands from my face.

  “We need to go.” He grumbled, sounding resigned before he ran his hand through his hair. He stepped back so I could move away from the desk. “Want to meet the guys?”

  “Sure.” He grinned as we headed for the door. I was stepping out into the hall when he cursed.

  “Shit, the paperwork.” He muttered. I looked back in the door to see him opening a file cabinet.

  “You forgot the paperwork?” I asked laughing. Dylan’s cheeks tinged pink.

  “Not my fault, you’re distracting.” He shot back. I snickered. “Fuck, I need copies. Hold on Sunshine.” I was leaning against the doorframe watching him make copies when the door at the end of the hallway opened.

  “Dylan! Come on, we still have shit to go over!” A guy shouted as he walked into the hallway. He was about the same height as Dylan, dark hair buzzed close to his scalp. The guy had broad shoulders and muscles to fill it out. He was almost to me when he looked up, he stopped walking as he spotted me. He wasn’t bad looking. His nice jaw and great cheekbones made him good looking, but I knew a lot of good looking guys. My bar was set pretty high. “Hey, I’m Aaron, are you coming to work here too?” His voice was a nice rough one, not like Zeke’s but enough to hint at it. His brown eyes ran over my body, a smile spread across his face. I was about to tell him who I was when he continued. “Because if you are, I would not mind one freaking bit.” That sparked my temper.

  “Why is that?” I asked sweetly. His eyes went to my face, finally. The copier stopped.

  “Because we’d be spending a few shifts a week together, we could get to know each other.” He started walking closer. This was one of Dylan’s friends? Wow. I smiled sweetly up at him.

  “Never gonna happen.” My voice was still sweet. “I like guys who aren’t dicks.” I felt eyes on me, Dylan must have heard us.

  “Oh, I’ll grow on you.” He gave me a nice bad boy smile. I could see how a girl might fall for it. Fortunately, I can smell bullshit from a mile away.

  “So, you’re what? Like a barnacle? You latch on and don’t let go?” I asked dryly. “Not real appealing in a boyfriend.” Aaron’s smile disappeared. Dylan walked into the doorway.

  “Hey, Aaron.” Dylan’s hard voice drew Aaron’s attention from looking me over again.

  “Hey, everyone’s waiting out there.” Aaron’s gaze went back to me. “What’s your name?”

  “Lexie,” I answered.

  “My girlfriend.” Dylan followed up. Aaron looked back to Dylan his brows going up. “That you’re trying to hit on.” Aaron’s mouth made an o shape. He looked back at me his cheeks turning pink.

  “Sorry, I didn’t know,” Aaron said politely.

  “Do you come on to girls like that a lot?” I asked, not willing to let him get away without a little more embarrassment. Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, his face starting to turn red.

  “Um...”

  “Cause you lost me the second you looked at my body before my face,” I told him
matter-of-factly. Dylan smirked then leaned against the door frame, content to watch the show. “You always start with the face. You’re an asshole otherwise.” Aaron was looking uncomfortable. I wasn’t done. “Second, you introduce yourself like you did. It was polite, and it would work.” Aaron was practically squirming now. “Third, you don’t immediately jump to hitting on a girl. But if you want to, try complimenting her. Like, wow, you have beautiful eyes. Or a great smile and I just had to come over and talk to you.” Aaron’s face was beet red. “And never say you grow on a girl, that’s creepy as fuck.” He was looking to Dylan for a rescue, but Dylan was quietly laughing at Aaron. “Want to start over?” Aaron looked at me like he was drowning and I was throwing him a life preserver.

  “Yes, please,” Aaron said gratefully. I smiled.

  “Hi, I’m Lexie, Dylan’s girlfriend.” I offered politely. Aaron took a deep breath and let it out.

  “Hi Lexie, I’m Aaron one of Dylan’s friends.” He replied politely.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” I looked over at Dylan whose face was red. “Do any more of your friends hit on girls like that? Cause we can just send ‘em back here one by one and I’ll teach them on how to hit on a girl.” This time even Aaron chuckled. Dylan managed to get control of himself.

  “Can we?” He begged, sliding his arm around me, his hand settling on my hip. I gave him a big smile then checked the time on my phone. I sighed.

  “Not today, I still need to buy clothes then get back before Rory realizes I came here and not to Northridge,” I grumbled. Dylan gave me a squeeze and kissed my forehead.

  “That works, I think I’d rather have Aaron let the others know about you a bit before you really hang out with us.” Dylan smiled down at me.

  “Oh, yeah, I’ll warn them,” Aaron said adamantly.

  “Or don’t. Think of the fun.” I snickered. Aaron laughed as he headed back down the small hallway, Dylan held my hand as we followed. We walked down an aisle toward a group of guys who were talking at the counter. Aaron moved a bit further away from me as we walked out of the aisle. I sent him a ‘really’ look. He smirked at me.

  “Everyone this is Lexie,” Dylan announced. Everyone looked at me. “My girlfriend.”

  “Hey.” I kept it simple. There was a chorus of heys, and hi. I felt several pairs of eyes running over me.

  “Don’t hit on her,” Aaron warned. “It won’t go well.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Well, if you were good at flirting I wouldn’t have given you so much shit.” I pointed out grinning. Dylan burst out laughing, the others chuckled. One of the guys tilted his head. He was a head taller than me, short styled blond hair streaked with lighter blond highlights. His green eyes were smiling as he eyed me with a smile on his cute face. He was wearing a green button-down untucked over dark blue jeans and sneakers. His wool pea coat did nothing to hide his muscular frame.

  “She gave Aaron shit, I like her.” Green eyed boy declared with a big smile. Dylan snorted as he put his hand on my lower back.

  “Lexie, this is Jake, he’s Asher’s rival for the best Quarterback rating in the area.” Dylan smiled down at me. I eyed Jake.

  “Really?” I sounded doubtful. “His QB rating is at one hundred, what’s yours?”

  “A hundred,” Jake said grinning.

  “Impressive.” He bowed his head slightly.

  “You know football?” One of the guys asked. He was a head taller than me, his dark hair was streaked with purple and spiked. He had an average face, with a nose ring, eyebrow stud, and lip ring. He was wearing all black.

  “Sunshine, this is Derrick.” Dylan pointed to emo boy. “He’s a grumpy shit.” I looked up at Dylan.

  “Zeke bad?” I asked seriously. Dylan smirked down at me.

  “No.” I snorted and waved a hand dismissively. Dylan chuckled as he looked at Derrick. “Yeah, she knows football. Stats, plays, all of it.” I winked at Derrick. He smirked.

  “Wait, Zeke? Blackthorn?” I looked up at the tallest guy. He was a head and half taller than me, his black hair was short on top and shorter on the sides. Even though it was winter he had a tan, or it was his natural skin color, I didn’t know. But he had lovely green eyes that he ran over me suspiciously.

  “Lexie, this is Thomas.” Dylan introduced me. Thomas’s eyes narrowed on me.

  “Yep, big, tall and grumpy Zeke,” I confirmed wondering why he had that look on his face.

  “You’re friends with Blackthorn?” Thomas asked again. His question got on my nerves.

  “Yeah, and your friends with Dylan.” I pointed out. I had no clue what that look was about. Luke snapped his fingers.

  “That’s why you're so familiar,” Luke announced from behind the counter. Everyone turned to look at him. He pointed at me while looking at Thomas. “She was there the night Blackthorn beat the shit out of Markus.” Eyes moved back to me. I grinned.

  “How is Markus by the way?” I asked sweetly. Dylan burst out laughing. “Is he eating solid foods yet?” Everyone but Dylan looked horrified. I guess I needed to explain. “Markus grabbed my ass, pinned me to the bar and wouldn’t back off. So, I pushed him away from me.” The guys all reacted slightly. Some blinked, a couple frowned. “He pushed me back, I hit the bar and the floor. Then Zeke hit him. A lot.” Dylan was getting his laughing under control, his friends were frowning.

  “The guys are a bit protective of Lexie,” Dylan explained smiling down at me. I rolled my eyes.

  “Over protective, nosey, gossipy, naggy….” I grumbled. Dylan chuckled.

  “The guys?” Aaron asked eyebrow raised.

  “Yeah.” I sighed, here come the questions. “All my friends are guys.” All Dylan’s friends exchanged looks. I rolled my eyes and looked up at Dylan. “I’m going to leave you with those questions because I get them enough as it is.” Dylan snorted. I was about to say goodbye when my phone rang. I pulled it out and checked the id. It was Isaac. I grumbled. I looked up at Dylan wincing. “It’s Isaac.” He grinned.

  “Answer on speaker.” Dylan insisted. I looked at him like he was nuts, his friends were right there. “It’ll make my day.” I sighed and sent an apologetic look to his friends before answering.

  “Hey.”

  “Are you done yet? We need food.” Isaac’s honey-like voice flowed through the speaker on my phone.

  “Then get it yourselves. I haven’t even gone shopping yet.” I said bluntly.

  “Zeke says skip it. We’re hungry.” Isaac countered.

  “I’m not skipping shopping, it’s Zeke’s fucking fault I need to, so you bitches can just starve.” I snapped at him. “Order a pizza.” Jake looked over at Dylan.

  “Why’s it Zeke’s fault she needs to go shopping?” Jake asked Dylan quietly.

  “Hold on, I love listening to this,” Dylan said waving him off.

  “We’re at Miles’ he doesn’t do delivery.” Isaac reminded me.

  “Neither do I, get off your heavy ass and go get food.” I countered rolling my eyes. Dylan burst out laughing.

  “Am I on speaker?” Isaac asked carefully.

  “Yep.” I snickered.

  “Red.” He shot at me.

  “Cookie Monster.” I shot back. A couple of the others were chuckling now too.

  “Dylan there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here Isaac,” Dylan said cheerfully. “Sorry, I love hearing her give you guys shit.”

  “Glad to amuse,” Isaac said cheerfully. “Dylan, did you know your girlfriend sings in the shower? Off key, and loudly.” Everyone else on this side burst out laughing.

  “You fucker,” I growled, I wanted to rip his head off. I motioned at Dylan to give me his phone. Dylan was snickering as we switched phones. Isaac was laughing his ass off. I quickly sent a text to get even with Isaac.

  “Yeah, laugh it up asshole,” I said sweetly as he was calming down. I got a text back and smiled. “You might want to be aware of where Zeke is right now, though.” Dylan was snickering again.

/>   “What are you talk-fuck!” There was the sound of yelling and running. “Lexie that’s fucking mean!”

  “Run, Isaac run.” I taunted.

  “Shit!” I laughed my ass off as there was yelling in the background. “Call him off!”

  “No, you need the fucking cardio.”

  “Red! Call him off!” Isaac was breathing heavy.

  “No, you fucking embarrassed me in front of Dylan and his friends, now you’re going to pay for it,” I told him smugly as I traded phones with Dylan again.

  “I’m sorry! You weren’t even off key! I swear!” Isaac was running out of breath, I wondered why.

  “Are the others helping Zeke?” I asked sweetly, sure I was right.

  “Yeah!” I burst out laughing along with everyone on this side. “Red… come on…” There was the sound of bodies hitting, then a big thud hitting the floor. I winced as I heard Isaac grunt under someone’s weight, cursing followed along with my guys laughing. Someone picked up the phone.

  “Still there, Ally?” Asher’s rich voice made me smile.

  “Yep. Who got him?” I asked with a big smile on my face. Asher chuckled.

  “We ran him out, Zeke took him down.” I burst out laughing. “Zeke is currently sitting on him as he lectures Isaac about embarrassing you.”

  “Can I get a photo?” Asher chuckled.

  “Of course, Ally girl, give me a sec.” I looked up to see Dylan’s face red, and a couple of the others still chuckling. Thomas just kept staring at me like he was trying to figure me out. I ignored it. I got the photo Asher sent. Isaac was stretched out on the floor, his face red. Zeke was leaning on his upper back, his hip on the floor. It didn’t take much of Zeke’s body weight to hold you down, the guy was a giant. I burst out laughing as I showed Dylan and the others. Everyone chuckled.