Luke had decided he was going to wait about an hour before he went to check on Val and Brenda. By that time, he knew that the brownies would be in full effect and he wasn't going to miss that for anything. By that time, he and Carl had completed the framework for the three main walls for the boat house. He actually enjoyed working on projects with Carl since he was very knowledgable and Luke always seemed to learn something new from him. He was always efficient and nothing rarely went wrong.
They both agreed to take a little bit of a break so they could go check on their women. Carl didn't really ask any question about Val and Luke didn't really expect him to. It was another thing he liked about Carl. He wasn't nosy. He always left people to their own devices. He didn't ask about her family or how they met and that was perfect for him since he really didn't want to explain the whole story. It was just too complicating.
They heard their laughter before they even reached the porch. Carl let out a low chuckle.
"I suppose those brownies kicked in," he commented as they reached the steps. They stepped around the corner where the glass top table sat and found Brenda leaning back in her seat with her head leaned back as she laughed with delight. Val had propped her feet up on the glass top table and was laughing in much the same fashion as Brenda. Val glanced over her shoulder at the approaching men and tried to settle down a little, but it wasn't working. She ran her finger under her eye to wipe away a tear that was forming.
Luke slid into the chair that was to her left, where he feet were propped up on the table. He watched her as she and Brenda tried to calm down enough to where they form coherent sentences.
"Brenda was telling me about the time she slipped you a brownie and you called her an hour after you left to bring you more food," Val finally said though most of it was still hard to understand because she was still laughing. Luke rolled his eyes.
"I'm still mad at her for that," he said eyeballing the older woman who was smiling as if she was the most innocent person in the world.
They fell into light conversation about Carl's latest project and how he figured it was only going to take a day or two with Luke's help. Carl complained lightly how his son wasn't there to help, but he understood since his son was working all the time. Val could tell that he missed his son and it was hard to tell when the last time their son was there. Apparently, he only lived thirty minutes away. Val personally couldn't understand it. She lived about that far away from her family give or take a minute or two and she was always sure to visit as much as possible. It didn't matter how busy she was. She wasn't going to voice her opinion because she figured it wasn't her place.
Brenda and Carl asked Val about her family. She spoke of Dom and Mia first. She loosely touched on how Dom was the one who practically raised them and how it was always him taking care of things. She spoke of Letty and Brian and how they came into the family, though she stretched the truth on Brian a little. She talked about Tej and Roman and Han. She talked about little stories here and there that she shared with each person.
"You have a really big family," Brenda stated taking a sip of her beer. Val shrugged sipping at hers as well. Sure most of them weren't blood related to her, but that didn't matter. Family was family. It didn't matter if they didn't share the same blood or even the same skin color, they were still her family. Her brothers and sisters.
She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through pictures until she found a photo of Jack and showed it to Brenda and Carl. Brenda practically squealed as Carl grinned. The picture was of Jack and Val. Jack was sitting in her lap and Val had taken a selfie with him. They were making crazy faces at the camera. Brenda just couldn't get over the little boy in the picture.
Brenda began to talk about her grandchildren. She had a little boy and girl. She claimed she hadn't seen them in about six months and Val could tell that it bothered her. It made Val upset hearing that. No family should go that long without being with each other. She thought of Luke and how long it had been since he had seen his mother. She lived in Hawaii which was where Luke had moved from when he joined DSS. Val and Luke had been together for nearly a year and she had yet to meet his mother in person. She had talked to her on the phone a few times, but that was it.
Luke and Carl had left them alone once more so they could continue on their project. Brenda and Val told each other stories. Val liked the old woman. She was glad that she wasn't as crazy as Luke was letting on. Sure she liked to give you pot brownies and wouldn't let you know until after you had eaten it, but that was besides the point. She was a kind, gentle woman with an affinity for slightly illegal substances.
After a short time, Brenda and Val decided it was time to go check on their men and make sure they weren't killing each other quite yet. They found the men down by the docks putting up the framing of the boat house they were attempting to build. Val had to take a deep breath to compose herself upon seeing that Luke had discarded his shirt. If she didn't know any better, she would say he did that to her on purpose. She always got a little weak in the knees when he walked around without a shirt on. She could see a small sheen of sweat coating his muscular back as his muscles flexed as he lifted the frame of the wall. She took a sip of beer to wet her tongue. It had dried out and she was certain it wasn't cottonmouth that time around.
Brenda and Val had taken their place under a shade tree. The fat chocolate lab, Cocoa, laid down next to Val and rested her head on Val's lap. Val grinned down at her and rubbed her head slowly. The dog yawned loudly then rested her head back on Val's lap. Val grinned looking down at the comfortable pooch as she caressed her head then looked back to a more interesting spectacle. Luke moved as if he hadn't noticed her, but she was still skeptical. She bit her lip watching as Luke's muscles flexed and relaxed under the hot sun. She watched as he seemed to glow with the sweat that coated his rough, yet smooth skin. She had to take a deep breath to compose herself, then she glanced over at Brenda just to discover that she had been trying to gain her attention.
"Shut up," Val stated when she saw the grin that Brenda was supporting. Val wasn't going to deny that she had been caught by the older woman because there was no point in the matter. Val was well aware that Luke was a very attractive man and that Brenda herself had noticed. Brenda couldn't blame Val for her actions. She knew Brenda was well aware of the level of their relationship. Luke had told her that he hadn't really had any kind of relationship since before Samantha had been born. It was simply too hard for someone in his line of work to have a relationship. So Val knew she was one of the only women, if not, the only woman to be to his hidden cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Val wasn't sure if it was jealousy or the weed that made her think of her next thought, but she wondered if Shana had been to his cabin. It was a possibility. Val wasn't sure how long his cabin had been around. Maybe it was built when he and Shana were still married. There was an odd grip to her heart upon thinking that Shana and Luke had slept together in the same bed that she and Luke had shared. Even worse, maybe he had made love to his ex wife in the same way he had made love to her. She knew she shouldn't have been thinking the way she should have, but that didn't stop her.
She looked back to Luke who was helping lift up another frame to a wall for Carl. She wondered if Shana had ever looked at him the same way she had looked at him previously. She lowered her eyes away from him wondering if Luke had ever made love to Shana the same way he did her.
Cocoa, as if sensing her uneasiness, lifted her head to catch her attention. Val grinned and the brown canine and scratched her behind her ears. She knew that Shana was happily married to another man and that Luke approved of the man that was helping raise the daughter that he and Shana had created together, but that didn't stop her from wondering if Shana had looked upon Luke's partially nude body the same way she was. She would hate to admit that she was jealous, but she was a woman and they never admitted things like that.
Had Shana had to live through the same things she had with Brenda? Had she eaten the tainted brownies? Had she drank the beers before one o'clock? Had she had to listen to the arguments of Carl and Brenda? Had Shana their relationship? Val knew that Luke and Shana had separated before Samantha was even born, but she wasn't sure when the cabin of his was even built. Maybe Shana had been spent time there maybe she hadn't. She wasn't going to ask because she didn't want it to become awkward between anyone. Especially Luke.
It was then that Val heard the sound of thunder and the sound drew her eyes to the sky. So far the day had been so beautiful, but the looks of thick, dark gray clouds looked like they were rolling in. She looked to Brenda and the way the woman had looked at her, they were sharing the same thought. There was a storm rolling in. It was still a ways off, but with the way the clouds were moving, it wasn't going to be much longer before the storm hit. She glanced down to Carl and Luke who had stopped what they were doing to look at the sky as well. They turned back to their work and started moving faster.
"It wasn't supposed to rain today," Brenda said in annoyance.
"Try telling that to the sky," Val said looking to the old woman. Brenda sighed.
"This just means I won't be getting my boat house any time soon." Val frowned glancing back down to the men then back to Brenda.
"Your boat house?" Brenda let out a small giggle.
"Yes, my boat house. That's my bass boat down there." Val had to take a moment to let Brenda's statement sink in. Val had just assumed that the boat house was Carl's along with the boat. If the bass boat was Brenda's then that would mean that she was an angler. Brenda's laughter caught Val's attention.
"I grew up with five brothers. I had to learn all of the outdoorsy things, but fishing is my favorite. Carl hates it." Val grinned waiting for more detail. "He thinks the worms are disgusting." Val laughed.
Thunder rolled through the sky once more, but that time it sounded a lot closer and a lot louder. Val could have sworn she felt the electricity in the air. Her heart rate picked up a little almost as if instinct took over her and it was telling her that she needed to find shelter. The wind started to pick up. The men started to clean up so nothing got ruined by the upcoming storm. They hurried into the workshop as Cocoa slowly got up and waddled towards the house.
Val stood too and helped Brenda stand. They walked back to the house and started getting the beer together so Luke and Val could just head down to the boat. Luke collected the beer and he had Val made their way down to the boat. Carl and Brenda followed after them to say their goodbyes. Val hugged Brenda and shook Carl's hand while Luke done the same. Carl pushed them away from the docks as Luke started the boat and started on his way back to his cabin.
The sky was thick and black and Val could tell that the storm rolling in was going to be bad. Luke hurried to tie the boat off at his dock and grabbed the beer. They made it into the cabin just in time. The first raindrops hit and they were huge. It took no time for the real storm to start. The wind was blowing so hard that the trees leaned around the cabin. The lightning never seemed to stop causing the thunder to never stop. Sometimes it shook the cabin it was so loud.
Val grabbed a book that she had packed and took her place on the couch to read it. Sure it was a little hard to keep focused on it since she was still buzzing bad on the brownies, but she still tried. She found herself having to reread paragraphs because her mind began to wander and she lost track of what she was reading. Luke cracked open a beer and took his place next to Val on the couch. Val scooted over to the middle cushion and leaned up against Luke to continue reading her book while Luke turned on the television. Luckily, he had cable so the storm didn't effect the tv.
They sat in a comfortable silence for quite some time only for Luke to ruin it by chuckling. Val glanced at the television to see if there was something funny happening, but he was watching a random restoration show that looked more boring than anything. She looked up to Luke who was watching her with a very amused look on his face.
"What?"
"You've been reading the same page for thirty minutes." Val looked back at her book and giggled. She placed her bookmark back between the pages then tossed the book on the table.
"I'm still stoned." She paused for a moment. "And hungry. I think the munchies are setting in." She went to stand, but Luke grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap. He pushed her hair over her shoulder and began to leave light kisses on her skin. She giggled rearranging herself on his lap so she was straddling him.
After they had made love on the couch, they had laid back together. Val had covered them with a blanket and was running her fingertips over his skin while he mindlessly played with the tips of their hair. Val felt like she was having an out of body experience. She had never felt so relaxed in her entire life. Mixing sex and marijuana was possibly the best combination that she could ever have put together, but there was still one little problem.
"I still have the munchies." Luke chuckled before pushing her up so he could make her something to eat.
Author's Note: Hello again all my little duckies! Hope you all are doing well. Sorry it took a minute for this to be posted, but shiny things kept floating by and kept getting me all kinds of distracted. Anyhow, we'll be getting back on track with the upcoming chapters. There is still going to be one or two before Samantha shows up. I got a little drama planned out for the upcoming chapters.
Also, I would like to see what you guys think about this. I've been thinking a little here lately about doing a spin off to Guilty by Association based after the first movie focusing on Leon's and Val's relationship. Would you guys be interested in something like that? Let me know in the reviews or pm me about it.
Oh yeah, don't forget to review. Haha.
Aven