More Than Flesh & Bone

Chapter 7

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

"What do you mean he still hasn't responded?" I sighed, running a hand through my clean hair. I stretched my shoulder, not caring how tight the shirt of Bree's was on my body. I had a few inches on her, and it showed in the form of the shirt not covering my pale ass stomach. At least it was early September and I wouldn't freeze my ass off in the clothes a size too small.

"Well, I texted him once Lacey's friend's brother's cousin gave me his number. I was just asking him to meet up, and he hasn't responded. I'm wondering if something is going down at the ZOM house today. I know they have a frat party like every other night, but this is weird… no one ignores me." She flipped her long, dark hair over one shoulder and then picked at her nails.

"Okay, how about this… I'll swing by the ZOM house to get him." I paused to pull my phone out of my back pocket. Using the tip of my thumb, I bent one corner of the case back and grabbed my credit card, thanking my lucky stars that I kept the important cards in my phone case and not in a wallet like a normal person. "You're going to go to the nearest store and get me a bunch of clothes and shit and put it in a suitcase… then meet Zed and me at my place, where I'm going to pretend that I got rid of my beautiful BMW for some stupid reason and act like I didn't just lose all my favorite shit in a car accident. Sound good?"

She took one look at the credit card and asked, "Do I have a spending limit or…"

"Just be reasonable. I don't need Louis Vuitton purses or Jimmy Choo pumps. I need clothes that look somewhat normal and fit me and a sturdy pair of Docs." I pointedly looked down at my body then lifted an eyebrow in her direction.

She took my card and nodded once. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope. Let's do this."

She opened her bedroom door, and we let ourselves out the back, avoiding interacting with the other succubi. While they seemed like perfectly nice people, I also just got a front-row seat to a leather-clad dominatrix trying to un-brainwash some rando from thinking he was her sex slave.

I shuddered to think what they might do to me if they knew what I really was, and then I decided that was a problem I'd worry about if we ever came to it. Right now they thought I was Bree's weird hobo friend that ate a lot, which suited me just fine. It wasn't that far off, actually.

Outside, Bree hopped in her Porsche with one last sarcastic salute, and then it was just me standing on the sidewalk of a school I didn't even go to. I tried to hook my thumbs in my pockets as I started walking towards the ZOM house, but the itty-bitty booty shorts were closer to underwear than anything else.

Giving up on that, I walked up the hill breathing just a little heavier than before, and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I stared at the two-story brick house, awkwardly tugging my shirt down, but it only flashed more cleavage. As a result, I was ninety percent sure I looked like a hooker, but considering I was heading into a frat house, maybe that was a good thing.

I climbed the stairs and stood in front of the black double doors. There was an old Victorian-style door knocker, but I wasn't sure if anyone would actually hear it, so I opted for the doorbell off to the side instead.

I could still hear the electronic chiming when the door opened, and a guy built like a lumberjack stared down at me. His eyes immediately dropped to my chest. Score one for the cleavage.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not bothering to meet my eyes.

"Hi, I'm Tracey's sister. I'm here to see Zed."

That caught his attention. His eyes moved up my body, making me feel like I needed my third shower in less than twenty-four hours. "You're Addison?" He smirked, leaning against the door. "What do you need Zed for?"

There was a scuffle behind him, and the perv looked back, giving me time to twist and poke myself in the eye with the corner of my nail. Tears immediately welled, and I spun back just as he did.

"He's…" I sniffled, "helping me… with… my brother's things." The tears were openly streaming, and the linebacker was clearly uncomfortable. I gave a mental eye roll. So predictable. One thing all macho guys had in common was their inability to handle a crying girl.

"I'll, uh… just go get him for you. Zed!" he shouted into the house. "Get your ass down here and deal with this."

I had to work hard to keep my sad girl act going as a flicker of anger ignited within me. What did the asshole mean, 'deal with this?' He was only the second Zombie I'd met, and so far, I was not impressed with my species. Hopefully, the others wouldn't be quite so douchey.

I couldn't help but notice he didn't welcome me into the house either. The guy was probably afraid all my girl cooties would infect his super-macho frat house. Jerk. So I was still standing on the porch when Zed came down the stairs.

"Addison?" Zed asked, looking equal parts furious and concerned as he rushed to the door. "I've got this," he said under his breath, pushing the other guy out of the way and stepping outside with me. "Is everything okay?"

As soon as the door shut behind him, I started to rub my eyes. "I poked myself in the fucking eye and it hurts."

"What the… why the hell would you do that?" he asked.

"Because I needed to cry so that the lumberjack that answered the door wouldn't ask me more questions about why I needed to see you. I don't know how to cry on command. Why are we still talking about this?" I ran a hand through my hair. "Why were you ignoring my texts?"

"Your texts?" he trailed off, and then his eyes flared wide. "That was you?"

Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn't have let Bree be the one to talk to him. "Well, I mean… It was Bree on behalf of me."

Zed pulled his phone out, clicking something on the screen and holding it out for me to read. "Would YOU have responded if you got that?"

My eyes dropped to the little gray bubbles that read:

Yo, Zed, wanna fuck?

You should really tap this… at my place… tonight

I'm thirsty for your scythe. You feel me?

I only made it halfway down the screen when I'd seen enough to understand. I scrubbed a hand through my hair. "Okay, I'm just going to start by saying that you're a fucking idiot if you thought that was me. Thirsty for your scythe? Really? Now, onto point two…"

"Are you really doing this right now?" Zed demanded, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me down the stairs.

"Doing what?" I asked, shrugging him off with relative ease. "Tracking your ass down after you left me to climb out your window because you didn't want your mom to know I slept over?" I gave him a pointed look, and he lowered his head a fraction. "Which, by the way, you owe me for."

"You know, while it was nice of you to help cover for me in the moment, reminding me that I owe you isn't how you convince people to do things for you, Addison," he said. "Also, I'm not talking about that. I'm referring to you trying to defend the slew of texts I got an hour ago that sound ridiculous. If I wasn't looking at you right now, I'd think you were high when you sent these."

"If you'd let me finish I would have told you my best friend is apparently a succubus and more than a little horny, and she's the one that texted you. NOT me. Now, as far as the whole 'nice' thing. You wanna know what's NOT nice?" I asked, not giving him a chance to respond. "A girl telling you she died, you tell her she's a mythical monster and then disappearing when your mommy comes home. I need to figure out what the fuck I need to be doing right now so that I can find my brother's killer. Werewolf or not." I poked him in the chest, and Zed took a step back to catch himself. Both his hands came up to grab my arm, warm fingers touching my skin.

"You said a lot of things I want to respond to, but we're going to start with the obvious," Zed said, lowering his voice. "Who did you tell? It's been twelve hours since we had that whole conversation about how Grims aren't very popular." His face somehow went from being very punchable and far away, to only inches from mine.

I opened and closed my mouth, my throat suddenly dry. "You left me at your place with no instructions. I called my best friend and because I'm not a liar I told her the truth when she asked what happened. But don't worry, she a succubus…"

"Yeah, I got that part. They get in trouble at least once a semester for fucking with the humans on campus. Not exactly a great species to tell this sort of secret to when their entire house spread lies like chlamydia."

Okay, he was back to being punchable again.

"Bree is like my sister. She wouldn't say anything that would put me in danger."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, and I sensed the asshole comment coming from a mile away. "When did she tell you she was succubus? Because as of last night you were telling me that you knew nothing about this world. So who's the liar here?"

"You're a massive dick, you know that?"

Zed's eyes narrowed, and he leaned a little closer. "I might be a dick, but right now, I'm the only person you know who can actually help keep you alive. You need to remember who your allies are, Addison. You can't just go around…"

"I'm not JUST anything. She is my best friend, who I've known since I was eleven, by the way. You are barely more than a stranger to me, so excuse me if out of the two of you, my trust is on team Bree. Maybe she lied by omission, but she did it because she had to. As soon as she knew she could, she told me everything."

He made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl. He looked away, a vein pulsing hard in his neck. "If you don't trust me, then why are you here?"

"I've been trying to tell you that," I said, beyond exasperated. "Bree wants the three of us to get together tonight at my place to talk through what I need to know and what my next steps should be to keep me safe. You guys may not think much of each other, but you both seem to agree that I am about one breath away from getting myself killed… again. I'd like to avoid that if possible."

Zed looked back at me, his eyes hard. "Fine."

"Fine? Really?" I was a little shocked he'd actually agreed. I thought for sure I was going to have to bribe him.

"Yes, Addison. Really. Despite what you think. I'm not going out of my way to be an asshole here. All I've been trying to do since I found you yesterday…"

"I'm not a stray puppy, Zed."

His eyes went frosty, but he continued to speak over me. "… is to get you up to speed so I can keep you safe. This is new territory. For both of us," he added, lowering his voice as if he just remembered there was a house full of Zombies a few feet away. "We need to work out a training schedule, and there's still a lot I haven't had a chance to tell you."

I let out a little groan, my brain already overloaded with everything him and Bree had dumped on me. "You guys and your secrets. You know, none of this would be an issue if everybody just told the truth from the beginning."

Zed snorted. "No one really wants to hear the truth all the time."

"I do," I said.

"Oh yeah? You'd really be okay with me telling you that in those clothes you look like you're about to audition for a porno?"

My mouth fell open.

"Exactly," Zed said, noting my reaction. "Just because something is true doesn't mean it should be shared."

I crossed my arms, aware that it only pushed my boobs up higher. "If I kick you in the nuts, it's because you deserve it. There. That's true AND necessary."

Zed ignored my dig. "So what time is our little gathering?" He couldn't have said it any more condescending if he'd tried.

"As soon as all three of us are at my house. I kinda told her you and I would meet her there since I don't have a car anymore." I flashed him a sarcastic smile as he groaned.

"Okay, fine. I'm going to go inside… by myself… to tell the guys that I'm heading out to help you deal with whatever it is you told them you needed me for."

"Shouldn't I come with?" I asked. "Just to sell it?"

"No," he answered quickly. "Because you suck at lying. So once that's done, we're going to head back to my place."

"Your place?" I repeated. "For what?"

The look he gave me was not amused in the slightest. Still, he answered. "I might have a solution to your car problem."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Me: I'm not working on ANYTHING ELSE until I update Watch Us Shine or Call To The Wild... Also Me: Here's another More Than Flesh & Bone update!

I promise I'm writing for my other stories! Pinkie Promise!

Thank you so much to all the new readers! I'm aware I'm crazy and my stories reflect that, so... Thanks for loving them anyway!