21. Lucky

21

LUCKY

W e spent four hours shopping for clothes.

Four fucking hours shopping for clothes with a woman who hates shopping for clothes.

I don’t know if I’m ever going to go shopping, even for myself again after that.

It’s very possible Leo smacked me somewhere along the lines of eighty times, cussed a blue streak every time I made her try something on, and threw her boots at me whenever I reminded her they had to come off before her pants. Leo almost cried—she couldn’t hold it back after the stress of all this shit—when the lady in charge of the dressing rooms made a comment to her coworker about Leo’s scars. They talked about mine, too, but insecure or not, I’m past caring what people have to say about me. Talking about my girl, though? That shit will get you a reality check so fucking fast your head will spin.

Those bitches are lucky their heads didn’t roll after I was done with them.

I put all our shit back and they lost what would have been a huge sale, complained to the manger about how they hired judgmental assholes so we wouldn’t be coming back, and as soon as they recognized who we were, I told them to fuck off.

Neither of us need their phony sympathy or compensation in order to prevent us from suing.

Which I threatened to do on the way out, even though I won’t.

Then we switched stores and started all over again.

Leo was pretty deflated after that and she was finally ready to scrap the whole thing.

When Leo looks at herself all she sees is her scars and years of self neglect. She doesn’t see how fucking beautiful she is, how strong and resilient she is. Leonor can’t see those things, not anymore but I’m determined as hell to get her to open her eyes again. And once all of our ducks are in a row, I know she’ll start seeing herself the way we see her, the way we’ve always seen her.

Until then, Leo sees a broken girl who has spent years burying trauma and living in fight or flight mode.

I brought it up to her primary and psychiatrist when we hit those appointments—yes, I go to them and Leo lets me sit in and ask questions—and that’s how they put it. Until earlier, Leo was starting to come around. Then those cuntasaurus’ had to run their mouths within earshot.

Fucking bullshit.

Which brings us to our current stop, and hopefully this’ll go much better.

“I don’t want to do this, Lucky,” Leo says as she stops right inside the door of the next store.

“I know.” I press a kiss to her temple. “But you have to get something and like you said, we’re out now, let’s avoid another trip later.”

With a deep breath and hesitant nod, my girl straightens her spine and starts walking through Stitches—one of our regular haunts because it has the best vintage punk and rock shit—in search of anything that will salvage this trip into town.

Maybe she’ll get new shitkickers.

It’s not what she needs but if that’s the only fucking thing Leo buys today, I’ll take it as a win.

“Whoa… You’re Lucky De la Grange aren’t you?”

Slowly turning from the rack I was about to reorganize by color and size, I arch a brow at what has to be some high school, maybe college aged kid, his brown eyes wide as saucers and bugging out from under his limp mohawk.

”Holy fuck, and that’s Leonor Poe! Baker. Yo, Baker!” His buddy, who is dressed in what I think is a kilt, starts yelling for their friend across the room. “Dude you were right!”

Apparently Baker comes over to us, practically drooling all over himself as he looks directly at Leo and blurts, “You are so fucking hot.”

She grins as she walks closer, abandoning the shelf of boots in favor of eyeing this kid’s pink polo and khaki shorts. Which has this Baker kid looking like he’s about to cream his shorts and run away at the same time. Especially when he looks between us and swallows hard.

“I mean, you are way hotter in real life. So hot.”

“Alright Baker, that’s enough. Roll your tongue back up into your head before it dries out.” I reach out and pat the young guy on the cheek. “Not to mention it’s rude as fuck, and Leo isn’t a fan of rude.”

His friend with the hawk nudges Baker, grinning like an idiot who just won the lottery. “I told you man. They are too together. See!”

Baker’s eyes drop just in time to see Leo slip her hand into mine, reminding me to be cool to these guys even if they think she’s so hot, then shoot back up to mine. “Dude, I am so not trying to get my ass kicked right now.”

”It’s fine,” I say with a smirk.

They better be thanking whoever it is they believe in because knowing I get to bend her over and fuck her brains out in the back of the beast as soon as we leave this store is the only thing keeping me level. This is nothing new, I’ve always been shitty to Leo’s fans, it’s basically a programmed response at this point. Unrequited love will do that, but the huge difference is the fact that I can actually claim Leonor now. And she happily claims me back.

”You are like, my hero man.” Kilt dude smiles at me before his cheeks go a little pink. “I’m a musician, too. I mean, I can’t play all the other shit like you do, but I’m a drummer and started drumming cause of you and The Ravens.”

I let go of my girl’s hand and shake the kid’s, opting to earn more brownie points so maybe we can finally give Pete the green light on some of the more intense stuff he’s into. Not that it takes much to convince Leo of anything sexual. At all, but Peter is… intense, and I know better than anyone that you have to work up to some of his proclivities. “That’s awesome man. What kind of kit do you use?”

He starts going on and on about his kit, which is pretty great for how young this dude is but I can’t seem to get into the conversation no matter how hard I try.

No, I’m too distracted watching my girl interact with two kids who think she’s so hot . I’m not jealous, not really, but I can’t take my eyes off of her. Leo looks so happy, smiling so goddamn bright as the two teenie boppers ask about her signature guitar she used when she’d play at our shows, gushing about the one time they saw us live and Leonor did a backflip off my bass drum.

Not once do they ask about where we’ve been, why we disappeared, or about our last show that almost killed us both. No, Baker, Kilt Boy, and Hawk go on and on about how much they love us, how much they love our music, and ask if we’re writing anything new or if we’ll play any shows soon.

And those are the questions that have me holding my breath.

”We’re always writing, always playing. When The Ravens get back out there, you’ll know. You guys want some autographs?” Leonor asks with a smile, handling that entire situation with all the humble gratitude that she can, but I’m used to that.

For an angry little thing, Leonor was probably the best at dealing with our fans. Shockingly, even Norm had a short fuse when it came to watching them fall all over themselves to get to our girl but…

When .

Leo said when we get back out there.

Not if, not maybe. She didn’t make excuses or feed them some bullshit.

Leonor said when we get back out there , implying more music and shows.

And it has my heart fucking soaring.

Which is exactly why I’m standing here signing every fucking thing they’re putting in our hands including their receipts from the store, and taking a couple selfies before I send them on their way.

“You wanna go have sex in the dressing room?”

My head swings toward Leo the second the words leave her mouth. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” She grabs both of my hands and starts pulling me, walking backward through the clothing racks toward the curtained off hole in the wall. “I mean, you’re like my hero, man.”

I roll my eyes but don’t stop her. “It was a little much, I’ll give you that.”

“It was sweet.”

“If I’d have said it was allowed, they would be the ones about to fuck you up against a mirror right now. They aren’t sweet.”

Leonor shrugs one shoulder. “I’d politely decline.”

“Code for dick punch .”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely.” I grin as we stop outside the dressing room. “You don’t like rude . Which includes unsolicited fucking last time we discussed it.”

Leo giggles before she pushes the curtain open. “True, but I do like fucking my heroes and you, my love, are one of mine.”

I fucking love this woman so much.

Today turned out to be a really good day.

“Shit.”

I lift my head from the book I’m reading, my ratty copy of The Great Gatsby for the hundredth time, and look at Leo from over the back of the couch. “Everything ok, baby cakes?”

Leo nods as I watch her wipe her hands off on a towel then grab her phone, briefly staring at the screen before she blurts, “I have to take this.”

“Ok...”

Like I’m going to stop her from answering a call or something. Is this playing out kind of strangely? Yes, and her entire mood changed the second her phone started ringing, I can literally feel it in the air but I’m not going to push. Today was enough, I don’t need to add to it.

Even as she grabs her smokes, runs up the stairs like her ass is on fire then trips at least twice before I hear her balcony door open and close with a slam.

Weird .

Leo pretty much ignores her phone and nine times out of ten she has one of us answer it. She’s never been the type to need total privacy for a phone call, for anything really, and this has those unsettled vibes creeping back up my neck.

Which is why I dog ear the page I’m on, half tempted to go up to see what’s going on when the lock on the front door clicks and our boys come strolling in.

“Oh man, is that Leo’s meatloaf I smell?” Mark asks with a grin before dropping two cases of beer and a pretty big package on the floor. “Please tell me she’s making smashed taters, too.”

I nod, barely fighting my own smile as all three of them start to get comfortable. “Asparagus with bacon, and corn on the cob, too.”

“Fuck yes,” Pete groans as he kicks off his boots then heads over to give me a kiss. “Sweet rolls?”

I nod again, smiling against his lips just as Norm plops down on the couch next to me, forcing me to move my legs. “What brought all this on?”

“We had a good day,” I say with a shrug. “Better than expected…” Frowning, I follow Pete with my eyes as he rounds the couch, dropping down onto the recliner with a smirk. “Something is different.”

“Yeah?” My boyfriend settles into the overstuffed chair next to me as I arch a brow. “You and our girl do ok in town?”

I shake my head then nod as I sit up and set my book on the coffee table. “Fine. What’s different?”

Pete shrugs so I look at Mark—who is ignoring all of us in favor of whatever insane text he’s sending judging by the speed of his thumbs—then at Norm.

Who turns about thirty shades of red as he nervously pushes his hair behind his ears and avoids looking me in the eye.

“Norman?” I turn to face him then scoot closer. “Norm, look at me.”

And the second he does, it clicks.

“You and Pete had sex,” I whisper as if there’s someone around who shouldn’t know. “You did, didn’t you?”

Norm nods, fighting an adorable smile by chewing his lip before he asks, “Are you mad?”

Am I mad?

Quite the opposite, actually.

I want to explode into a supernova then drag Pete and Norm upstairs to Leo so we can all bang but that’s not what our sweet boy needs right now.

No, he needs to feel like this is a good thing, that this is something we’ve wanted for so long, and he needs to know I’m thrilled because I love him.

So I scoot even closer and make sure he’s looking me in the eye. “You want to be with Pete?”

Norman nods.

“You love him?” Not that I have to ask but it’s good to know where everyone stands.

“Yeah,” he whispers.

“And what about?—“

“I love you and Leo, too, Luck. I didn’t really understand it before, and I’m still trying to completely grasp it now but… I know I love you, too, and I want all of us to be together.”

My heart fucking swells, triples in size but instead of letting it explode warm and fuzzy shit all over our sweet boy, I just lean in as I gently cup his cheek.

“I love you, too, Norman.” I smile as I press my lips to his seconds after he sucks in a sharp breath. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

His soft smile returns as I kiss him a little harder, slipping my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck to tilt his head, Norm opening for me just enough to lick at his tongue.

If I keep going, this is going to turn into something it can’t, not yet. We need Leo to confirm she’s on board, for Norman, not me and Pete. We already know how she feels about him but he needs to hear her say it before I get carried away.

And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that Mark is pacing on the other side of the room while he talks on the phone.

I’m convinced that if he sees the rest of us in all of our horny PDA glory, he’ll take a hint and get his head out of his ass.

Pete disagrees with me but I think it’s a solid plan.

Kissing him a little longer, I caress the side of Norm’s neck then his jaw, chuckling just a bit as I start to pull away and he follows. “You’re ours now, right, sweet boy?”

He nods emphatically, looking at me with glassy hooded eyes, the greenish-blue a shade or two darker.

“Forever?”

“Uh huh,” Norm says with a sigh.

One he almost chokes on when I grin and say, “Good, because now that I know what it’s like to kiss you, all I’m going to be able to think about is watching you kiss Leonor’s pussy like that while I’m balls deep inside you.”

“Jesus,” he pants before we both turn to Pete, who’s chuckling behind me.

“Told you.” He smirks. “Luck’s mouth is as dirty as mine, and he has zero qualms about letting those words fly.”

“No kidding.”

I chuckle as I turn back to Norm. “All within reason. I don’t ever want to make you uncomfortable, sweet boy.”

Giving him one more quick kiss, I settle back against the couch as Mark finally joins us. “Everything ok?”

“Nanny Vee is at it again.”

“Didn’t you just leave there?” Pete grunts.

Mark nods. “I was with her all fucking day. If she’s not careful, she’s going to get herself kicked out of this home, and I’m not really liking the idea of finding her a new one that’ll put up with her shit.”

“My mom’s offer still stands,” Norm says as he finally relaxes next to me. “Move Nanny back into her house, and my parents will take care of her.”

Mark scrubs a hand over his skull trim as he sits on the loveseat I just made Leonor buy. “I know, and I really fucking appreciate it.”

“But you won’t do it.”

“Where would you live? Hell, where would I live? I love my grandmother but there is a reason I moved out as soon as I turned eighteen.”

“Her boobs,” all three of us say in unison.

It’s not really the reason Mark moved out, even if Nanny Vee is free most of the time. They constantly argued about his mom back then and now that she’s slipping more often, Nanny brings her up more than Mark would like because she doesn’t always remember where his mother is. Since Mark’s mom has been in prison for the last twenty years, it’s still a touchy subject but for different reasons.

“Well, it’s still on the table,” Norman says with a smile. “My mom and dad love Nanny.”

Mark shakes his head with a grin. “Everyone loves that crazy old bat.” Then he lifts his eyes and gives our sweet boy a tender look I’ll be banking for later. “I really do appreciate it, and I’ll keep it in mind.”

“So, why the big dinner?”

We turn to Pete, who has no tact regardless of how sexy he is, and I roll my eyes with a smile. “We ran into some fans while we were out shopping.”

Norm sits up a little straighter. “Yeah? She did ok with it?”

“She did great,” I say, getting excited about it all over again. “It was like the old Leo. She was practically beaming at them while they talked about one of our shows, one where she?—“

“Flipped off your kit,” Mark says with a smile. “They always talk about that.”

I nod like an idiot. “They raved about that, then started praising the hell out of all of us while excessively calling Leonor hot. ’”

“I’m not sure where to start,” Norm says before Mark stops him.

“Whoa, hold on. You took Leo shopping? How’d that go?”

“About like you’d expect.”

“So you’re gonna have bruises?”

I nod with a wide ass smile. “Totally worth it. We banged in the dressing room after we ran into those kids but that’s not even the best part.”

“Fucking Leonor in a public place isn’t the best part of today?” Pete asks skeptically. “I call bullshit.”

“Well, ok that was the best part of the shopping trip but the second best part was what she said to the kids we were talking to.”

“Which was?”

“They asked if we were working on anything new and Leo said no but when we do, they’ll know.”

“Hot damn!” Mark yells before cringing, looking toward the stairs to make sure Leo didn’t hear him. And when he’s in the clear, he whispers, “Fuck yes, when is a great fucking sign.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t pointed it out yet. I don’t want to spook her in case she didn’t realize what she said.” Because if Leo didn’t mean it and we do point it out, that’s exactly what’ll happen.

Mark gets to his feet, the biggest smile I’ve seen him sport in a long ass time on his face. “We’ll keep it quiet for a little while longer but this is a good thing.” He walks toward the door and retrieves one case of beer and the package. “Getting her to practice with us, having her agree to go into town. These are good fucking things and now? The possibility of music so real it’s a subconscious thing? It calls for a celebration.”

He opens the case and starts dishing out bottles but as soon as he does, my nose scrunches.

“Is this shit expired or something?” I start looking at the label as Norm sniffs the opening of his beer.

He shakes his head. “It’s not these.”

Pete leans forward, smelling himself before smelling me . “Isn’t us.”

“No shit,” Mark says as he rolls his eyes. “That doesn’t smell like any odor the four of us have ever produced. It’s?—“

“Rotten.” Norm leans toward the coffee table where the package is sitting. “I think it’s this.”

My stomach pitches the same way it did earlier and as Mark pulls out his pocket knife and starts cutting along the clear tape, my heart starts to beat a little faster.

“You didn’t order one of those meal kits did you?”

I shake my head, knowing damn well what we smell is not rotten vegetables.

“Jesus Christ…” Mark grunts as he opens the flaps. “This is putrid.”

“Give me your knife,” I say as I hold out my hand, motioning for it while my eyes never leave the box. “Yours, too.”

Mark and Pete hand them over, all three of them leaning in as I use the blades to keep opening it.

“Lucky?” Norm asks, his voice a little panicky. “Why are you opening the package like that?”

He knows why, they all know why, but the tension is too much and Norman needs something to break the silence. So I do.

“Fingerprints.” I carefully push the crumpled newspaper off of what looks like a plastic bag, the stench growing stronger as I do, then hold my breath as I puncture it.

“Holy shit,” Peter grunts as he shoots to his feet and starts to pace. “Holy, fuck, Jesus…”

“I need to call Franc.”

That’s all I manage to choke out before I gag, all of us immediately leaving our seats to put distance between us and the box.

Because lying in a plastic grocery bag, under all that newspaper, is the dismembered remains of a black cat, complete with a note.

Only this time, this time the words are carved into the shaved side of the poor animal.

You will see me .