It Happens (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 6)

Prologue

She’s standing on a line between giving up and seeing how much more she can take.

-Jubilee’s father to Jubilee’s mother

Zee

Age 9

“Give it back!” I screamed at the little girl.

The little devil known as Jubilee waved the hat like it was a red flag, and like the bull that I was acting like, I started to charge.

She squeaked in surprise when she realized her danger and started to run.

Unfortunately, when she did, she tripped.

The hat went one way, and her body went the other.

Later I would be told that Jubilee was lucky that she didn’t fall into the fire like my hat did.

Now? Well now all I saw was my favorite ball cap burning up and a six-year-old girl on the ground laughing to blame for it.

***

Jubilee

Age 9

“Give me that back!” I yelled, mad because, once again, Ezekiel had stolen my candy and then shoved it down his throat because he thought I wouldn’t want it back.

Joke was on him, though.

I did.

And I’d get it back no matter what I had to do.

“You snooze, you lose, Wednesday!” Ezekiel yelled, laughing his butt off over whatever he found so funny about this situation.

I hated. HATED. When he called me Wednesday, after Wednesday Addams off The Addams Family. The girl that looked like a goth when she wasn’t. I wasn’t goth! I was just pale and dark-haired! So I liked black. Whatever!

He was wrong about something else, too. There was nothing funny about this situation. It was tragic.

Who ate a person’s M&Ms when they were literally in their hands? It wasn’t like I had left them unattended.

“Give them back, Zee,” Eitan ordered, looking angry on my behalf.

Really, he was tired of listening to me and his brother fight, just like my own sister was. Which was why Annmarie was in the other room, just like she always was when Eitan and Ezekiel McGrew came over.

“Sorry,” Zee said as he poured the rest of my M&Ms down his throat.

That’s when I tackled him, then started punching and kicking him with my fists of fury until our parents separated us an entire minute later.

“Getting slow on the uptake, kid,” Gordon McGrew, Zee’s father, said.

Zee glared at his dad, then at me.

“She took me by surprise,” Zee lied.

“Gordon, Ezekiel ate my M&Ms. Can you tell him to give me his candy for repayment?” I batted my eyes at Zee’s dad.

Gordon turned his eyes to Zee.

“That right, boy?” Gordon asked.

Zee shrugged. “She wasn’t eating them.”

Liar.

“Then you get to either give her your candy or pay her back. Your choice.”

Five minutes later, I took every second to relish the taste of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that used to belong to Zee, making sure to moan and groan out my pleasure with each bite.

“So good,” I groaned.

Zee threw the TV remote at my face, and I ducked it.

“Still so good.”

“Die.”

***

Age 13

“Leave her alone, bro,” Eitan said. “She’s going to fucking kill you.”

“She’s not going to do a thing to me because she wants to be out just as much as I do,” Zee said. “And if she goes whining to Daddy, they’re going to know that we snuck out to go to the movies, then she’ll get into trouble.”

I clenched my fists so tightly that the blood left them.

“Come on, Wednesday,” Zee teased. “Take a drink. It’s not going to kill you.”

I pushed the bottle away.

Again.

“I’m not drinking that,” I said. “A, I don’t want a drink. B, you’ve slobbered all over it and I’m not touching anything that’s been anywhere near your mouth.”

“Your sister’s mouth has been near mine, and I saw you hug her the other day,” Zee teased.

I glanced up at the ceiling.

“I really do hate you.”

Eitan pulled me into his arms, and I had to fight the urge to pull away.

Despite Eitan being the sweeter of the two brothers, and also being my boyfriend, I had a hard time hanging out with him when he was near his brother. Because he acted like a completely different person when he was around.

“Whatever, Wednesday.” Zee took a swig and handed the bottle to Annmarie, who took a drink of her own and passed it to Eitan, who followed suit.

My stomach twisted.

But I didn’t break.

I wouldn’t.

Somebody needed to be sober.

And I was only thirteen after all, even if being around these three made me feel like I was much older.

***

Age 15

My feet dragged as I walked down the aisle toward the coffin.

My sister was there, in that wooden box, with the lid closed.

Dead.

That had been at my father’s request. The closed casket.

I’d tried to get him to leave it open, but he hadn’t allowed it.

I looked down at my arm, noticing the spider web of scarring that hadn’t killed me but had killed my twin sister, Annmarie, and Eitan, my boyfriend.

You want to know who else it hadn’t killed? Eitan’s twin brother, Ezekiel.