Rory got to his feet. “Sorry, kid. We tried.” He headed for the door.
“Thanks for the photos,” I said before Hades and I followed. Marvin took up the rear. On the porch, Rory turned to his dad. “Thanks for letting her look.”
“No problem. Listen…” Marvin swallowed hard, “keep in touch.”
Rory looked as if he’d been hit in the back of the head with a board. “What?”
“Keep in touch. I want to know how she’s doing,” Marvin told him. The stunned look disappeared.
“Yeah, sure.” Rory’s voice was hard again. I moved down the stairs and towards the truck. Rory followed. Hades was already in the back of the cab when Rory climbed in. He was quiet all of the way home.
I pulled up to the twins’ house and shut off the truck. Rory had ordered a pizza and wanted to watch sports with Hades. Tonight was Miles’ birthday at the twins’, and I was starving. I hurried up the steps and went inside. The smell of heaven hit my nose. If I could, I would have floated after the scent to the kitchen like a cartoon character. Zeke was in the living room, spread out on the couch. His eyes were closed but he wasn’t snoring. Grinning, I walked over and carefully dropped my ass on Zeke’s stomach. He grunted, opened his eyes, and glared at me.
“What the fuck, Lexie?” he snapped. “There’s a chair right there.”
“Yeah, but I wanted to sit on the couch,” I shot back with a grin. One of his hands went to my lower back. His muscles flexed under my butt, surprising me. I looked at his shirt before reaching down and feeling the thickness. It was thinner than his usual shirts. “Did you work today?”
“Yeah,” he growled. “Now, get your ass off me.”
“Are you going to stop hogging the couch?” I asked sweetly.
“I was here first,” he countered.
I leaned back against the sofa and rested my hands behind my head. “Ahhh. Comfy.”
Zeke’s eyes had a small sparkle a second before he grabbed me and pulled me down to lay on him. I was laughing as he moved an arm around my shoulders and locked me against his chest.
He closed his eyes again. “Now, stay still.”
I laid my head down on his chest and listened to his heart beating under my ear. “Okay, I can sleep,” I muttered. It had been a long day and I didn’t get much sleep last night. And he was pretty comfy. Fingers lifted my chin. I opened my eyes to meet those sky-blue ones.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice low.
“Yeah, just a long day.”
His eyes were warm as they ran over my face. “Let’s get some caffeine.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What? No nap?” I teased. His arm loosened, allowing me to get up and climb off him. Zeke heaved himself to his feet and I followed him into the kitchen.
It was chaos. Asher and Maria were chatting back and forth as they moved around the kitchen. Ethan and Miles were at the kitchen table watching the show.
“Hey, Lexie,” Ethan said.
“How was your afternoon?” Miles asked as he scratched his arm above the cast.
Zeke headed for the fridge.
I shrugged. “Rory took the afternoon off and took me to see some family.”
The guys shared a look before turning back to me. “You have more family?” Miles asked carefully. Zeke came back to the table and handed me a soda. I took it gratefully.
“I’ll explain later,” I promised as I popped the top and sat down. “So, how are you two feeling?”
“Not bad,” Miles said.
“Banged up,” Ethan added. “Though not as bad as before that back rub. Thanks, Beautiful.”
I smiled. “No problem.” I looked around the kitchen again. “Where’s Isaac?”
“Upstairs,” Ethan stated. “Something’s off with him.”
“Well, he does have the fight tomorrow,” I pointed out. “He’s probably nervous.”
Ethan shook his head. “I’ve seen nervous; this isn’t it.”
Worried, I got up. “I’ll go see if I can talk to him.”
“Good luck,” Ethan called as I left the kitchen. The rest of the house was dead silent as I walked up the stairs and stopped at Isaac’s door. I knocked. No answer. I opened the door slowly. Isaac was sitting on the floor, his back against his bed. The evening sunlight glowed against the drawn curtains giving barely enough light to see. I made my way over and sat next to him.
“Hey, Cookie Monster.”
He didn’t say anything, he just continued staring at the wall. I took a closer look. The bags under his eyes were even darker, his face was pale, and his eyes listless. His hair was oily, and the room had the faint stench of body odor. His entire body was practically shaking with tension. In short, he looked like shit.
“I’m sorry about today… are you feeling okay?” I asked quietly as I eyed his face stubble. It looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. I noticed his knuckles. They were bruised, and the skin was scraped off a few knuckles. Where did those come from?
“Fine,” he grumbled.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” I asked, hoping to get him to talk.
He didn’t answer. Okay…
“Dinner will be ready soon,” I offered. If anything could get him out of his room, it was food.
“Can you leave?” he asked so quietly I barely heard him.
I blinked at him. “You want me to leave?”
He turned to me, his jaw clenching. “Yeah. I don’t want to talk. Not everyone feels the need to gab like you and Ethan do.” He turned back to stare across the room. I blinked at him. What the hell? Something was wrong. An odd shadow moved over his neck, probably from the light in the hallway.
“Okay,” I said, stunned. Isaac never spoke to me that way. Something was very wrong. Worry knotted my gut as I sat with him in silence.
He turned his head to look at me again. His amber eyes were cold and hard as they met mine. “Get. Out.”
“I wasn’t talking,” I pointed out. “I just want to be here for you—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you want,” he snapped. I was taken aback. His face was like stone; cold and unyielding. It wasn’t like him. Yeah, everyone had bad days, but this…
“Alright, you don’t have to be a dick about it,” I muttered as I got to my feet and left his room, closing the door behind me. I stood in the hall trying to understand what just happened. He was rude, downright mean. Isaac was many things, but mean wasn’t one of them.
I started for the stairs. Halfway down, Miles, with his arm in a sling, met me on his way up.
His gaze ran over me. “What’s wrong?”
“Um, I think something is wrong with Isaac,” I whispered.
His eyes softened. “Why’s that?”
“He was rude. Not just rude, he was mean when he told me to leave,” I said. Yeah, saying it out loud, it seemed like I was overreacting. But a small part of me was telling me I wasn’t.
“That’s strange,” he said. “What did he say?”
I was being ridiculous. I shook my head. “You know, he’s probably nervous about tomorrow and he’s not sleeping. That would make anyone cranky.”
Miles looked up the stairs. "There was a car accident." He met my eyes. "It could have brought on flashbacks."
Shit, I hadn't thought about that. "Shit." Now I felt like an asshole.
“I’ll talk to him,” he assured me.
“But first…” I pulled Miles' present out of my pocket and handed it to him.
Miles smiled as his ears turned pink. “You didn’t have to,” he told me as he began to open the wrapping paper.
“It’s your birthday,” I reminded him. “Yeah, you got in a crash. Your car is totaled, but it’s still your birthday.”
Miles pulled off the last of the wrapping paper and smiled. “Lexie, it’s beautiful.”
My face grew warm. “It’s okay…”
He met my eyes. “I love it. Thank you.” Everything else faded away. Miles stepped up to my step.
“Um, I should…” He swallowed hard as his gaze ran down my face to my lips and then back to my eyes. My heart raced, my skin hummed.
“I’ll, um, head back down to the kitchen…” I whispered.
He blinked and looked up the stairs, his ears were turning pink. “I’ll go check on, um, Isaac.”