SIX MONTHS_(A Seven Series Novel Book 2)

Chapter 1


Ominous storm clouds blackened the autumn sky, and thunder growled like a savage beast. I looked at the Sweet Treats display windows in front and considered how dangerous it would be if they shattered from straight-line winds or flying debris. Spring storms in Austin weren’t uncommon, but this was fall and I didn’t like the dull green tint blanketing the street.
“We need to close the shop, Alexia.” I tapped my electric-blue fingernail on the glass.
Alexia Knight had recently inherited the candy store when our boss, Charlie, died of cancer four months ago. Lexi had given me an unexpected promotion, despite the fact I was only twenty-two.
I’d never thought I’d be a store manager so quickly. After college, I had submitted my résumé to all the top companies in the area, hoping to get my foot in the door.
Unfortunately, I discovered many businesses preferred experience over education. I wasn’t paid a great deal managing a privately owned candy store, but the position would look great on my résumé if the business became stagnant and I decided to move on. I liked my job because it not only gave me leadership experience, but I also rocked at it. Lexi had relinquished complete control of all the hiring and firing. Luckily our part-timers were reliable and I hadn’t had to let anyone go yet. I not only worked the retail angle but also was in charge of scheduling days off for the staff, coming up with the work rotation, and monitoring inventory.
“April, I keep telling you to call me Lexi,” she complained from a crouched position behind the white counter. “That’s what my friends call me and I think you qualify. Where did you put those little coupon books?”
A clap of thunder rattled the windows and we shrieked in unison.
Lexi sprang to her feet, clutching her heart. “What the hell is going on out there?”
“Armageddon,” I said in a jittery, singsong voice.
After securing the locks on the doors, I watched people scurry to their cars with shopping bags over their heads. I was thankful to be at work because the last place I’d want to be during a tornado was in my Airstream trailer. It looked like those old-fashioned models you hook onto a truck, only this one was bigger. I’d worked at Sweet Treats for over a year and Lexi didn’t have a clue where I lived. There were nice trailer parks in the area, but mine had a reputation for housing drug dealers and ex-convicts. People often judged me on where I came from, not where I was going.
“Can you turn on the radio, Lexi?” My hands were shaking as I straightened a few packages of Japanese gum on the shelf. “Maybe if we have some music going it’ll block out all the thunder.”
Lexi lifted a portable black radio from beneath the register. I’d bought the radio a week after my car had died. My younger sister used to pick me up from work in her VW and I hated waiting in the empty store late at night—the silence rattled me. Rose, my sister, had recently wound up in a whirlwind romance with a guy named Shane. He had a counterfeit smile and sold plenty of cars at a dealership located just a mile up the road. A few weeks ago, they skipped town and moved in with his aunt in Arizona—something about him being promised a better job. I couldn’t believe Rose ditched me on short notice, and I’d been walking to and from work ever since.
Lexi switched on the radio and stopped on a severe weather alert. After the intermittent squelching, an automated message came on. “Sounds like a tornado watch,” she said in a distant voice, adjusting the antenna. The announcer confirmed the adjacent county was under a warning, although no tornadoes had been spotted.
“Do you think we’re safe in here with all this hard candy?” I glanced at all the aisles filled with plastic canisters, laughing at the idea of being whipped to death by licorice.
“If the big one hits, I guess the firemen will have to eat their way to our rescue.”
“Not complaining,” I sang.
She slapped a hand over her mouth to smother her quirky laugh.
I threaded my long bangs away from my eyes and hugged my arms when the wind began stripping the leaves from a few pear trees outside. I should have been used to storms by now, but I just couldn’t stay calm when it came to an all-expenses-paid trip to Oz.
Lexi switched the radio station to a classic rock song and belted out a few lyrics. I smiled when my boss swished her brown hair around a few times. Lexi had a sarcastic bite and enjoyed making me laugh. She’d recently hit a rough patch with some personal family stuff and had split with her ex, Beckett. I hadn’t seen him in months, not since the night he drove by and tried to win her back. Lexi seemed like a changed woman ever since she met the new guy, Austin Cole.
Austin was easy on the eyes in every conceivable way. He had the kind of masculine body women fantasized about, except for the bold tattoos on his upper arms and shoulders. I’d never been a fan of ink, but Lexi loved tracing her fingers over the intricate lines whenever he wore a sleeveless shirt. Tall and built, Austin looked like a guy who knew how to take care of himself. Any woman would melt if his thick arms were protectively wrapped around her. His dark hair and brooding eyes made it seem like someone important had just walked into the room. Whenever he swung by the shop, his eyes stayed glued on Lexi. She usually had to leave him and assist customers, so Austin would lean against the counter, watching her with a molten gaze. Sometimes he put on a pair of fringed leather gloves and she’d scowl at him.
Lexi had once admitted she thought the gloves were sexy as hell, but Austin wasn’t allowed to know that. I found out they’d known each other since childhood, but it had taken years before they were both in a place where being together made sense. I was surprised at how quickly she’d moved in with him, but then again, I wasn’t exactly the spokeswoman for relationships.
My love affair was with paperback novels and hair lightener. I had natural blond hair, but I began dying it a platinum shade back in college to change my image and wore it short in back, tapered to the base of my neck. It worked with my fair complexion, and my best friend had told me it was fashion forward. I’d had a rough time in high school. A group of boys used to bully me right up until the eleventh grade, calling me a dumb blonde. Then one day they’d spray-painted “slut” on my locker and hung up a picture of a porn star who resembled me. Crying in front of them had only made it worse. After that, I kept to myself, studied hard, and didn’t date. The less ammo I could give them, the better. My life had changed by college, but I still worried about running into those boys someday. Chances are I would, but I hoped by then I’d be able to outshine them in my achievements.
Thunder rattled the windows, and while we lowered the blinds, the Rolling Stones sang “Gimme Shelter” on the radio.
“Well, at least we can take a break,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I’m not going to be able to serve customers if glass is flying around.”
I gave her a sharp glare. “You should be used to it by now. I’m surprised my little fiasco didn’t end up on the Internet.”
Lexi snorted. “I haven’t figured out how to use the camera feature on my phone yet. Seven years, April,” she teased.
A week ago I’d attempted to straighten a large mirror on the wall. The mirror gave the illusion of extra space, and more importantly, allowed us to keep an eye on mischievous kids who liked to stuff candy in their pockets when they thought no one was looking. I should have just left it alone, but the mirror looked crooked and when I tried to straighten it, the cord snapped and glass shattered at my feet. Two guys laughed and turned away, not offering to help. So much for chivalry.
My mother had once said I was an accident waiting to happen and it started with my conception.
“Whoa, those clouds look creepy.” Lexi cupped her elbows as she peered between the slats in the blinds.
The streets were black as sin, as if something hellish were preparing to crawl up from the underbelly of the earth. Fat drops of rain assailed the windshields of passing cars, and the wind began to bend the trees in the parking lot. I hurried to the back room, my heart galloping. I stood amid a wooden bench, a plastic chair, a vending machine, a silver water fountain, and a unisex bathroom. It was where I retreated at night, after hours. I’d lie on the bench and read one of my novels until my sister knocked on the front door after her shift ended at Sonic.
Lexi strolled in and examined the antiquated vending machine to her left. “You know what? I think I’m going to request a new line of snacks for this thing,” she announced.
I sat on the floor to the right of the bench and stretched out my legs, crossing them at the ankle. We each wore matching uniforms: bright orange shirts with the store logo written in cursive across our chests and white skirts that stopped just above the knee. My legs looked ghostly compared to Lexi’s warm complexion. She had stunning legs, a cascade of silken hair, a lean frame, and a beautiful shade of whiskey-brown eyes. I also had a slim figure, but more endowed up top and thicker thighs.
Were men more attracted to brunettes when it came to serious relationships? I had hazel eyes—sea green with brilliant flecks of copper. Smokey eyeliner made them appear larger, although it sometimes gave me the appearance of a punk-rock girl. I wanted men to notice me, but after having spent a good part of high school looking like a stereotype, I decided I’d rather be admired for my brains and heart. I worked with what I had, but not in a way that garnered negative attention.
“We need to dump out all these snacks we don’t eat and change the inventory,” she said, looking at the contents in the machine.
“Good. I want those little chocolate donuts.”
“Do they still sell those?” She spun around and knitted her brows.
“Neither of us eats that junk and God knows how long it’s been in there. Is it our machine, or does it belong to an outside vendor?”
Lexi twisted her mouth to the side. “Good question. I’m not sure. If it’s ours, the key might be in one of the envelopes at home. I bet this bad boy is ours. I’ve seen those cute vendors in their shorts refilling the machines in some of the stores, so I know someone would have come around asking about it by now,” she said, patting her hand on the glass. “The last time I bought something was two months ago. Only an idiot would put a snack machine in a candy store.”
“We stare at sugar all day long and that’s what Charlie gave us to snack on? May he rest in peace, but that man didn’t have his head screwed on right.”
We both laughed and Lexi fished out a few coins from a Styrofoam cup we kept on top of the machine. “Oh my God, wouldn’t it be awesome if it’s ours? We can put whatever we want in it. Cookies?”
“I like animal crackers.”
She wrinkled her nose.
“Ding Dongs?” I suggested.
“Now you’re talking. A man machine. My friend, Naya, would totally love that concept. What kind do you want? Dark and handsome, tattooed and dangerous, a sexy jock, nerdy and hot…”
“That’s not what I meant.” I removed a candy barrette from my pocket and clipped my bangs away from my face. The hard rain made a clamor against the rooftop.
“I know what you meant, April. We could always put PMS pills in there,” she said with a snort. “Sorry, just having some fun. What’s wrong with you today? You’re always in a better mood.”
“You’re asking me what’s wrong while tornado sirens are blaring outside?” The lights flickered and my heart did a quickstep. I felt an urge to run outside. Despite the fact it was storming, being in the open made me feel safe. I hated the dark.
Hated.
I’d been known to have panic attacks in a dark room.
Lexi sat on the bench and fumbled with her new phone, sending a text message. “Austin says everyone is okay at the house,” she said in a distant voice. “The storm is south of them and all they see are a few dark clouds. He wants us to sit tight.”
“Sounds like a man with a plan,” I said facetiously. “What was our other option? Because I was thinking we could dance naked in the street with a few gumdrops stuck to our nipples.”
Lexi burst out laughing and texted feverishly with a devilish grin. Then her brows popped up and I knew she was giving Austin the full visual. I could only imagine what his reply was.
A terrible thought crossed my mind. What if something happened to my trailer?
My grandma was sixty-five when she died from lung cancer two years ago. It didn’t come as a surprise since her health had been declining. Some people inherited money, jewelry, or even a house when a family member died. I got a trailer and a stack of bills. The student loans weren’t as bad as I’d imagined, and as tough as it was, I didn’t drop out. Rose had worked part time and helped with some of the expenses until I got a job at Sweet Treats. Grandma had given us a roof over our heads and fussed a lot, but we were grateful she’d taken us in after Mom had left us. Each Friday, she made a trip to the gas station and bought a wad of scratch-off lottery tickets and a carton of Marlboros. I’d had no idea how much debt she had incurred until after her death. Maybe if she’d taken out a loan from the bank it might have gone away, but I quickly found out she’d dealt exclusively with loan sharks. These men didn’t let a coffin get in the way of getting back their money. I had to ignore them for a while until the funeral was paid for, but after that, I squared away her debt. I was finally in a good place where I could put aside money and save for an apartment.
I bent my knees when something rapped against the glass at the front of the store. “Do you think the hail will blow out the windows?”
Lexi stood up and peered around the doorway. “Hail doesn’t fly sideways. Well, usually. Someone’s outside—be right back.”
“Lexi, this is the part of the horror movie where I’m supposed to scream don’t do it! But that’s okay. Let the serial killer inside. Be sure to show him the cash drawer while you’re at it!” I yelled at the empty doorway.
The bell jingled and I grabbed my oversized brown purse and dug around for my charcoal eyeliner. I flipped open a compact and did a little touch-up. Not that I needed makeup, but it kept me from going into freak-out mode. Thirty more minutes, I kept telling myself. Severe storms ended quickly unless there was a squall line.
“You’re paying for those,” Lexi grumbled as she breezed into the room. Her tennis shoes squeaked against the white floor when she spun around and sat on the bench to my right.
I lifted my eyes to a tall man with a mop of wavy blond hair. Not bright blond, but a sexy color with a few dark shades mixed in. He had the face of an angel and the indigo eyes of a devil. He could have been a male model in a fashion magazine. When he raked his fingers through his hair, he revealed a prominent scar on his forehead. But it just added to the allure.
He also had about twenty gummy worms shoved in his mouth. After chewing most of them up, he looked down and grinned. “I don’t believe we’ve met, honeypie,” he said with a mouthful. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Ben.”
Oh. Ben.
Lexi’s new boyfriend had a bunch of brothers. I’d met two of them a couple of months ago when the electric company shut off our power. Ben and Wheeler were identical twins—except Ben had a perverted mouth and Wheeler had tats and chin hair in the shape of a circle beard. The mean-looking one didn’t say much and seemed like a guy who liked to pound people’s faces in. Ben might have been clean-cut, but he couldn’t take his dirty eyes off my ass. If I had to guess their age, I’d say around thirty. The man in the doorway had the same look about him—youthful and yet seasoned, but something flickered in his eyes and made me second-guess myself.
“I’m April Frost,” I said with a subtle wave of my hand.
“Denver Cole,” he replied, swallowing the last bite of candy. “I’m here to save the day, so you girls just sit tight and I’ll protect you.”
Lexi sighed and crossed her legs. “What are you doing on this side of town?”
“Austin sent me to check on you since I was in the area. Your mother ordered curtains,” he grumbled. “Can’t she just get them at Walmart like everyone else? No. She has to special order them,” he said, using his fingers to make quotation marks. “They’re in the back of the truck. I hope a tornado blows them all the way to Mexico.”
“Why would you wish something like that?” I wondered aloud.
He quirked a brow. “They’re lacy with flowers and shit on them. Sorry, but men outnumber the women in our house. Every time I see a doily or a new flower arrangement, my balls get a little bit smaller. Speaking of, you got any malt balls in there?”
Denver wandered over to the vending machine and put his hands on top of it, tilting it forward. The lights in the store flickered.
“Stop doing that,” Lexi said, losing her patience.
Then it happened. Total blackout.
A rising tide of panic set in and I catapulted to my feet. Before I knew it, I was unlocking the main door and running into the street. Lexi yelled from behind me, and the wind funneled my short hair around my head, whipping my bangs in front of my face. A few grains of sand stung my eyes as the wind battered me with relentless force.
Suddenly, a strong arm hooked around my waist and lifted me off the ground.
“Are you a bag of nuts?” Denver shouted over the wind as he hauled me back inside.
The lights flickered back on and he set me on my feet. Lexi watched with wide, uncertain eyes as he shut the door and the bell jingled wildly.
My heart pounded against my chest like a drummer in a parade.
Denver grumbled and folded his arms. “Saving damsel in distress: check. Nearly crapping pants while standing in the middle of a f*cking tornado: check.”
Lexi wrapped her arms around me and we stood in the center of the room. “Sorry, April. I’m on the verge of freaking out too, even though it doesn’t show much. My coping mechanism is denial. We’ll be fine.”
Denver stuck his hand in a bin full of chocolates and I walked over and grabbed the collar of his T-shirt, yanking him back. “Those are for paying customers. We can’t afford to just give it away.”
When he winked at me, I got flustered and let go.
Something hard jabbed into my back and I glanced over my shoulder at the corner of the shelf. I pivoted around and knocked several bags of candy on the floor. Denver chortled, pinching his chin as he watched me step on them.
A flush of heat stung my cheeks.
Handsome or not, I hadn’t made up my mind if I liked him. I certainly didn’t enjoy being a klutz in front of any guy. I possessed an inner monologue voice that loved to criticize. Now she was saying, Smooth move.
Why did I have to turn stupid around men? I’d been in a relationship before. Then again, Nathan had cheated on me constantly, so maybe it hadn’t given me enough experience with men. Who had time to date? I had to focus on work and savings before I ended up living under a bridge, which was a frightening possibility if I suffered one financial misstep. No guy wants a girl with that much baggage at the airport.
“You’re kind of cute,” he said with a handsome smirk. “If I had a tail, I’d wag it.”
“Leave my friend alone, Denver,” Lexi scolded.
“I don’t wear a leash,” he replied. “Nor a muzzle. Ah, hell. Looks like the storm’s over.”
We glanced out the windows and sure enough, sunlight sprayed onto the street through a break in the clouds. Denver angrily tucked the back of his thin T-shirt into his faded jeans, which were so frayed at the ends, long pieces of thread dragged on the ground.
“Maybe I can throw those curtains in the road and tell ’em we got hit hard.”
“Do that and my mom will never cook you another seasoned pork chop again,” Lexi said in an amused voice, folding her arms and tilting her head.
“Am I done saving lives now?” Denver said gruffly. “I came here to be a nice guy for a change and all I get is heat. I’m outta here. Tell Aus I’ll be home later; I’m going to check out a new place up the road. I hear they got a three-story laser-tag room. If that’s true, then we’re going,” he said, circling his finger to everyone in the room and invisible parties not present.
Denver had an easygoing personality with a flair for humor, and sometimes that was a good quality for a man to have. The only thing I didn’t care for was how he’d walked in on a tense situation and had done little to keep me calm. I respected men who knew how to take charge, although I’d never known one outside of a paperback novel. Maybe they didn’t exist.
“Oh, no,” Lexi gasped, staring at her phone. “April, I need to go home early. Can you handle the rest of the shift alone, or do you need me to be here? I have an emergency.”
“Not a problem,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Denver asked in a serious tone, his brows slanting down.
Lexi’s brown eyes flashed up. “Maizy’s hurt.”
His face tensed and he clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. “What happened?”
“She fell off the new swing and hit her mouth. They’re taking her to the—”
The bell jingled and Denver jogged toward an old yellow truck. Lexi grabbed her purse and followed close behind.