When the Dead Come a Knockin' Read online

  “Ouch.” She agreed. I pointed at her and looked at the boys.

  “See what I mean, a guy friend-zoning a girl who’s into him, shouldn’t really happen.” I knew that it wasn’t true, but I felt like complaining so I went with it. Everyone burst out laughing.

  “She’s right,” Riley said. “Unless he’s gay?” I looked at Asher fake suspicion.

  “Is he gay?” I asked, my voice serious. Asher just shook his head, looking a little stunned by the direction the conversation was going.

  “Nope, not gay.” I looked back to Riley and sighed. “I should just cash in my girl card, and go live in a cabin.” Riley grinned.

  “Actually, I know a couple guys who would absolutely love you.” She said, cheerfully. My mood perked up. I looked at Zeke. his shoulders were tense. I met his eyes.

  “Best girlfriend ever,” I told him earnestly. The boys burst out laughing. Zeke relaxed, and everyone started talking about their plans for the day. Feeling stupid, I reached into my pocket and checked my text.

  Dylan: Not bad, might get some time off soon.

  Yay, good for you. Not like you’d use it to see me anyway. Am I bitter? No, no. Of course, I’m a bit bitter.

  Alexis: Good, you need some time off.

  Alexis: I just met Zeke’s new girlfriend. She’s fucking awesome.

  “And you keep texting him back.” Asher pointed out, his voice full of disbelief. I put my phone back in my pocket and pointed at him.

  “I train with you guys now, you’ve all made me a sadist,” I told him honestly. The boys chuckled. “I mean it, with those fucking seven in the morning sessions on the weekend.” I was glaring at Isaac now. “Who does that?”

  “MMA fighters, Red.” Isaac pointed out grinning his shit eating grin. “And people with packed schedules,” He reminded me. I made a face at him. He was right, my schedule was packed lately. With rock climbing lessons, MMA training and meditation exercises, I barely had a night free anymore. I looked over at Riley and leaned on the table.

  “Talk to me about girly shit that will make them uncomfortable,” I begged. The guys groaned. Riley’s eyes lit up with mischief. She leaned on the table, mirroring me.

  “Did you see what Jessica was wearing this morning? How the hell do you wear that little clothing in this weather?” She said in an exaggerated girly voice. The guys started cursing. Oh, this was fun.

  “Did you see her shoes? They were awful.” I offered, exaggerating just as much. “Did you see Mary McNull’s hair this morning?” Riley made a fake shocked face.

  “I know! She had total bed head! I call walk of shame.” Riley countered.

  “Oh my fucking God! Zeke, what the fuck did you do?” Isaac shouted across the table. Zeke just looked pained. Riley and I started laughing, we didn’t stop for a while. The guys finally realized we were messing with them and looked so relieved that it set us off again. I was wiping tears from my face when they stopped glaring at us.

  “Oh, that was priceless,” I said between breaths. Riley was still snickering, Zeke was shaking his head. He was probably wondering if introducing me had been a good idea. It kept a smile on my face as I looked at the others.

  “So, when am I meeting the others?” I asked sweetly, then narrowed my eyes at them playfully. “Or are you all dreading that now?” Isaac groaned and held his face in his hands. Ethan was shaking his head, and Asher rolled his eyes. I loved bugging my friends.

  “Well,” Asher began, rubbing the back of his neck. “Since we were all going over to my house tonight, we thought we’d stagger the girls showing up to meet you.” I nodded, it made sense.

  “And Jessica is going to be where?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow waiting. Asher snorted.

  “She’ll be on her way to a spa in Missoula for the next couple weeks,” Asher assured me. I did a little dance on my bench.

  “Best Christmas present ever.” I declared. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I sighed and pulled my phone out while the others started talking about what movies to take over.

  Dylan: Zeke has a girlfriend? Wow.

  Alexis: That’s not all. So, does Isaac, Ethan, and Asher.

  I put my phone back down and came back to the conversation.

  “No sappy romantic movies, I don’t care if the girls like ‘em.” Isaac was adamant. I snickered and raised my hand.

  “I second that,” I said. Asher sighed.

  “If the girls want to watch a love story, we need to compromise.” Asher pointed out. I snorted.

  “Okay, I got one.” I announced. Everyone looked at me. “Deadpool.” They burst out laughing. I shrugged. “What? It’s funny, there some romance. And it’s not that thick sweet shit either. Plus, a body count.” When they kept laughing, I started wondering if there really was something wrong with me. I didn’t like the sweet, sappy stuff, it made me uncomfortable. Okay, occasionally, during that time of the month, I’ll watch a romantic comedy. But it always had a happy ending. I realized that the other girls were probably going to want to watch at least one of those movies tonight. Shit. I waited till they all calmed down. “If your girls want to watch some sappy movie, it has to have a happy ending. Please? None of this tragic love story crap. I get enough of that in English.” I begged, looking at them with pleading eyes. They all agreed. My phone vibrated. I picked it up and checked it.

  Dylan: When did this happen?

  Alexis: Apparently in the last two weeks. I’m meeting the rest of them at Asher’s tonight.

  Dylan: Oh yeah, movie night. What’s the theme? Horrible monster movies?

  I snorted.

  Alexis: No, that would be awesome. I have a feeling we’re going to be watching some girly shit.

  Dylan: LMAO

  Yeah, laugh it up, buddy. You’re not the one who has to sit through it. Everyone started suggesting movies. Riley suggested binge watching Game of Thrones. I smiled. I was going to get along great with Riley. Soon enough the bell rang, and we all headed off to class.

  Before heading home, I decided to drop by my locker and leave my books here over break. I was already pissed off at myself due to my latest attempt at painting an ocean scene. I had liked it yesterday, but today I saw all the mistakes I made. The waves were wonky, the colors didn’t work, and oh, yeah, I suck. I wasn’t even going to finish the damn thing. First garbage can I saw it was going in. Otherwise, I’d end up lighting the damn thing on fire. I was berating myself over the stupid mistakes I had made while trying to juggle the large rolled up canvas as I was trying to put my non-dead people sketch book away when I turned a corner. Smack! I hit something tall and firm. I heard an oomph. My bag was knocked off my shoulder as I stumbled back a couple steps. I managed to stay on my feet. I looked up to realize I ran into some guy. His face was grimacing as he rubbed the middle of his stomach. It was probably where my shoulder hit since he was two heads taller than me. He had a tall, lean, broad-shouldered build, with shaggy dark hair and dark eyes. That was all I had noticed before I was apologizing.

  “Sorry,” I sighed, this just followed the pattern of the day. I knelt and focused on putting my books back in my bag, pushing the painting out of my mind for a minute. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The guy squatted down to help me.

  “No, it’s my fault. I wasn’t really looking either.” He mumbled as he passed me my World Civ. book.

  “Thanks.” I took it from him and stuffed it into my bag. I reached for my Algebra. “So, we’re both at fault,” I said, before looking over at him with a half a smile. “I’ll have my people call your people to settle the damages.” He gave me a tense half grin as he kept his gaze on the ground. He handed me my Chemistry book. When I finally finished putting everything away, he gave me my canvas. “Thanks.”

  “You paint?” He asked, his voice so quiet I could barely hear him. We both stood back up.

  “I try. This is a massive failure. I’m not even finishing it.” I said absently as I put the canvas under my arm, not caring if I was crushing it.
“I’m seriously thinking of having a Viking funeral for it.” I looked up at him just in time to see his gaze jump back to the ground. He was shy, worse than Miles shy. I was probably making him uncomfortable. I gave him a small smile. “Thanks for the help,” I went to step around him. “And sorry again, for the crash.” I headed down the hallway towards my locker. When I passed a trashcan, I didn’t even stop as I threw the canvas away never wanting to see it again. Stupid fucking waves and their bitchiness. Turning around another corner, I went down the hall to my locker. Still cursing myself as I opened it. There was a folded-up piece of paper inside. Weird, I usually always cleaned out my stuff. Thinking it was class notes I picked it up and opened it. It wasn’t class notes, it wasn’t even my handwriting.

  You looked beautiful today. I just had to tell you. - Your Secret Admirer.

  I blinked hard and read it again. Okay, someone was fucking with me. I didn’t look great today, let alone beautiful. My hair was just pulled off my face, I was in blue jeans and a gray thermal shirt. And the secret admirer thing? Nah, I wasn’t buying it. It was one of the guys fucking with me. I stuffed the note into my jacket pocket and began unloading my books. I put it out of my head as I shut my locker and headed back out to the parking lot. I drove home and picked up several movies I liked. All with a body count. I also brought Rory’s Lord of The Rings trilogy, maybe that would be enough romance to keep the girlfriends happy. I was in a somewhat better mood as I drove over to Asher's, which was right next door to the twins’ house. I didn’t have training tonight, no climbing lessons and I didn’t have to try any of my meditation exercises. I had the night off. It only usually happened once a week, and I was going to enjoy it. I pulled up to the curb. Asher’s house was an old farmhouse, with a wraparound porch. It was a nice house.

  I parked and grabbed my bag of stuff for movie night. I hurried up to the door and tried the knob. It was locked, so I rang the bell not wanting to deal with my keys. It was freaking freezing out here. I was bouncing on my toes when the door opened. It wasn’t Asher. It was a girl with long curly brown hair and hazel eyes. She had a beautiful face. A small sharp chin and angled jaw gave her cute smooth cheeks. Her eyebrows had been plucked, and her makeup was flawless. Her slender body was clad in designer jeans and what looked like a cashmere sweater. Surprised, I looked at the address thinking I just went to the wrong house. No this was it. I looked back at her and smiled.

  “Either, Asher moved and forgot to mention it, or you are Trisha.” I held my hand out to her. “I’m Lexie.” Her eyes ran down my body then back to my face. She gave me a tense smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She shook my hand with her fingers like she was trying to touch my hand the least she could. A knot formed in my gut. I took my hand back and waited for her to let me in.

  “Nice to meet you, but movie night isn’t until, like, six tonight.” She said. Trisha’s voice was soft but held a sharpness underneath. Okay. This is Asher’s girlfriend Lexie, play nice.

  “Yeah,” I pointed into the house. “Asher threatened me with no snack privileges if I didn’t help make them this time.” She ran her eyes over me again like she was deciding something. I tried again. “Seriously, have you had those chips? They’re so addicting.” When she didn’t open the door further, I was about done trying to be polite and getting no response. I kept my smile friendly as I looked past her. “Is Asher here?” She seemed to decide something. She smiled again, it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “Yeah, of course. Come on in.” She stepped back and opened the door further. I walked into Asher’s house and dropped my bag by the stairway in the foyer as usual.

  “Ash! Where you at?” I shouted out like I always did when I walked into his house. I started taking off my jacket.

  “You really don’t need to shout,” Trisha said, frowning at me. By the horrified look on her face, I must have done something she considered terribly rude. I was about to explain when Asher shouted back.

  “Kitchen, where else woman?” I chuckled at that. Trisha’s eyes widened a bit before going back to pleasant. I started to explain as I pulled my cell from my jacket.

  “The first time I showed up here I went looking for him. Almost walked in on him changing.” I grimaced and shook my head. “No, thank you. Since then I just shout for him.” I tucked my phone into my pocket.

  “Oh.” She said, quietly. Her face was pleasant, and her voice was friendly. But her eyes were still cold. I decided to ignore it for now and play nice.

  “Come on, let’s go make some chips.” I turned and headed straight down the hall to the kitchen rubbing my hands together. “Chips, chips, chips,” I said in my happy kid voice trying to make her laugh. It didn’t work. Trisha was acting like I had interrupted some special alone time they were having. But if that were true Asher wouldn’t have told me to come over and make my share of the snacks. I pushed it out of my mind as I stepped through the doorway to find Asher surrounded by food. He was adorable as hell in his blue and white striped apron. “She’s so cute,” I whispered. Asher chuckled as he cut the ends off the potato and reached for another one.

  “I think so.” He grinned then chopped the ends off another potato. Trisha walked into the kitchen as I was washing my hands.

  “So, how did you two meet?” I asked, hoping to get her talking. Maybe if we talked more then she might like me a little.

  “We met at school a couple weeks ago,” Trisha began, her voice warming. Yay! “I had a fashion club meeting and came out to find I had a flat tire.” I turned, leaned against the counter and looked at her. Her eyes had become soft as she looked at Asher. “Asher was leaving from practice and saw the flat. He fixed it, asked for my number, and we clicked.” Her cheeks had gone rosy. She really was beautiful. Way to go Ash.

  “That is so romantic, I might barf,” I admitted honestly. Her eyes flashed sharply at me. Asher chuckled.

  “Trish, just so you know.” Asher began not looking up from the cutting board. “That’s Lexie speak for ‘aww.'” I snickered and looked at Trisha again. She didn’t look like she believed him. I tried to explain.

  “Romance makes me uncomfortable. It’s something I need to work on.” I admitted honestly before looking back at Asher. “So, what am I supposed to be doing?” He gestured toward the cut potatoes with the knife.

  “Get the mandolin out, start slicing and lay them out on the paper towels. We want as much water out of them as possible.” Asher said as he continued cutting. I went to the cabinet with the mandolin and set it up the way Asher had shown me last time we used it. “And don’t cut yourself or I’ll never hear the end of it.” He added. I snorted. Zeke’s lectures could go on, and on, and on. I lined a couple layers of paper towels on a baking sheet. Then I started slicing. “So, is that what happened with Dylan? He got romantic, and you became a smart ass?” He asked. Trisha made a small noise. Asher winced. “Mouth, smart mouth.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Um, what was that?” I asked.

  “Trisha doesn’t like swearing.” He said, pulling another potato from the pile.

  “So, we can’t swear?” I asked horrified. Did he not know me at all? I swear in just about every fucking conversation I had. He finished cutting the potato before answering.

  “She can stand some swearing, but she has a limit,” Asher explained, looking over at me. “And with you, Zeke, and Riley in the same room tonight....”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s a lot of swearing.” I admitted, wincing. I went back to slicing. “We’re going to need a swear jar or something.” Asher nodded as he put another potato on the to slice pile. “Then we’ll need more jobs to pay the swear jar.” Asher chuckled.

  “I just don’t appreciate swearing, it makes me uncomfortable,” Trisha said, defensively from across the kitchen. I waved my hand dismissively.

  “To each their own honey, we want you to feel comfortable around the rest of us,” I assured her. Then I had a thought and snickered. “What till Zeke hears he can’t swear.” We both started laug
hing. “Oh, it’ll be so funny!” When I finally stopped laughing, I started slicing again.

  “You still didn’t answer the question.” Asher pointed out. I shook my head.

  “No, you guys don’t get to keep your girlfriends a secret and then get to go snooping in my love life,” I told him firmly. “Or lack thereof. Not happening.”

  “Fine, I’ll stop asking.” He muttered. I started setting the slices onto the paper towels, then adding more paper towels, then more slices. We were making a ton of chips tonight.

  “So, Trisha, tell me about yourself. Have any siblings? What movies do you like?” I asked hoping to get the ball rolling.

  “I have one sister. And I like all kinds of movies.” Trisha said. “The Fault in Our Stars is one of my favorites.” I winced. Sad girly movie, damn it.

  “I’ve never seen it, what’s it about?” I asked as I started slicing again. She began telling me about the book and then the movie. When I stopped slicing to grab another potato Asher nudged my arm with his elbow. I looked up at him. He mouthed thank you. I winked at him. When Trisha started talking about the scenes they left out of the movie, the front door open.

  “Hey!” Isaac shouted. A girl's voice started speaking softly in the hall.

  “Kitchen!” Asher and I shouted at the same time. The footsteps on the hardwood floor came towards the kitchen. That knot tightened in my stomach. I don’t think Trisha liked me, was Cece going to be the same way? I turned around and leaned against the counter as they came in. Isaac came in first, his arm behind him. He stepped further into the room pulling Cece with him. Cece had a sweet, heart-shaped face. A cute chin and arched brows. Her nose was just slightly too big for her face, but it made her look unique to me. Her skin was pale, not redhead pale but the kind of pale light blondes get. She had long, straight, white-blonde hair, she was wearing a loose blue beanie that hung off the back of her head. She was dressed simply. Jeans, a shirt, a scarf, and her jacket. Her big dark green eyes ran around the kitchen nervously. She had a death grip on Isaac’s hand.