Page 20 of We Are All Sinners

“You haven’t changed a bit pipsqueak. I knew the day you beat the shit out of Kacey Rushford your sophomore year for touching Brixon that you were always going to be the one to be the most terrified of!” Liam jokes.

“What about the time she scared Alissa Worthington so bad she pissed herself before Evie even touched her for texting Brix her tits!” Noah keeps them laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s go get cleaned up and get their cars back to his place. We can stop back by the shop and grab y’all’s cars since it’s walking distance from the shop, that way their GPS and phones show they were together. You guys get the cameras fixed to show we were never there. Sound good?” I look at the boys, who all look stunned at the fact that I thought this whole thing out.

Ha!

Now they know I’m not just a pretty face, maybe a bit psychotic when it comes to killing people, but I have skills that are helpful as well now. I won’t always have to sit on the sidelines anymore, like when we were kids and the boys had a task to fulfill.

“I need y’all to give me a few minutes. I need to bury her fingers and do the consecration ceremony, and there are a few things in the house I need to pick up.” I explain.

“Go ahead pipsqueak, Noah and I will head back and meet y’all at the house. You should probably wash the blood splatter off your face to.” Liam shakes his head, watching me head towards the old white rundown Victorian style farmhouse.

“Duh Thor.” I holler over my shoulder.

We had been working on the old house, but lost focus recently. Emily and I have been DIYing everything in this house, and the one in town, after binging Fixer Upper. I’ll get back to renovations out here when I’m done with my own tasks from the ancestors.

Can’t exactly bring people out here to torture when there is a crew working on the house.

Brixon pulls up in front of our houses, stopping in front of mine. I laugh at the fact that he bought the house next door, to be close to me.

“Give me an hour to shower and just take a little time to myself to think and ya know be a girl. Do you want me to come over to your house or are you coming to mine?” I ask him, hoping he still wants to spend some time with me.

“I’ll come to you if you will send Emily over to Liam, that way we have the whole house to ourselves, for a little while at least. If that’s okay with you?” He sounds as nervous as I am, not knowing what to say.

“I’m sure Emily will be ecstatic to spend some time with Liam after the way she gushed over him this morning over coffee. Maybe we can all go to dinner together tonight?” I offer, trying to gauge what he is thinking.

“I was hoping we could make something or order takeout. I honestly want to spend the rest of today and tonight just being with you. We can all go to breakfast tomorrow before you go into the Apothecary. You have to keep things as normal as possible. The sign on the door keeping the store closed today for inventory made it look like you were there the whole time and leaving all our phones there along with our cars, was brilliant.”

“I honestly just watch too much true crime TV. No one is going to miss them, for a while anyway. They booked flights to the Poconos this morning, while Brook tried to rob my store, so everyone will think that’s where they are.” Brixon’s eyes go widegiving me a questionable look. “What? I saw it on his laptop that he conveniently left open on his coffee table.” I wink at Brix.

“Should we have taken their cars to the airport?” He asks, suddenly concerned.

“Nope, he had already ordered an UBER to pick them up at three pm.” I explain and watch his face relax.

“I just want to make sure they can’t ever be traced to you, that’s all. Even if they could, it wouldn’t matter, I would fix it. I’ll see you in an hour my little witch.” He says sweetly before cupping my face and giving me a soft kiss. He releases me way too quickly for my liking and leans back in his seat with a small smirk, waiting for me to exit the car.

“Actually, no body, no crime, but thank you.” I turn and give him a wicked smirk and wink at him after exiting the car before I shut the passenger door.

Brixon moves the car fifteen feet before he slams on the brakes and kills the engine. He gets out, running frantically up to his porch pointing at his watch, making me laugh. He turns to me and winks before going inside.

Maybe you really can fall in love with the first boy to give you flowers. The boy who gave you all of your firsts. He is my love story.

I love a good dramedy, but most of them are not realistic. That’s the beauty of fiction. Look at the unrealistic expectations movieslike, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Sweet Home Alabama, and Practical Magic give us.

It’s also the reason we go back and watch those movies over and over again.

For the love story. It’s what we all strive for.

What if I don’t get the happy ending though?

What if all the time I have with him is cut short for reasons that I may never understand?

But… What if I can change things and have a happy ending?

I think all of these thoughts before I even enter the house where I’m bombarded with a confused and worried looking roommate.

“Where have you been? I went to the shop to bring you lunch, you were nowhere to be found! The apothecary was locked up tight. I saw the hot neighbor’s cars there though! Spill the tea sis!” She is overly excited at the thought of me with any guy at the moment. I typically don’t give many guys the time of day.

---