Just Lucky that Way (5 page)

"If it's opal, be careful with it." Alex straightened and leaned in to have a look. "A brooch? Wonder how old it is."

"Maybe it was Opal's." Zed had liked the story Phil told the previous evening and was now convinced that Lucky Palmer murdered the unsuspecting girl. "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could solve the crime?"

"Who says there was a crime? Although... It is odd to find this here."

"Of course there was a crime. He murdered her here. She's probably buried--" Zed looked around for a good place to bury a body. "Over there, under the still."

"What've you found?" Kitty asked, planting her petite frame in front of Zed.

He opened his hand to reveal the opal, and she snapped a few photos of it. "Odd place to find something like that."

Zed nodded. "See. Foul play is... was afoot."

Kitty's eyes widened. "You think--?" She looked around in awe. "Maybe the place is haunted."

"Oh, for-- Don't you start, too." Alex rolled his eyes.

"But it explains so much," Kitty started.

"What?"

"Her name was Opal and she disappeared and now Zed finds an opal down here. It must've been a crime of passion. Maybe she was killed by a jealous lover--"

"Or maybe someone lost it in the stall, and it fell between the floorboards. You two read way too many Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries."

Kitty slapped Alex's arm and stuck her tongue out. "Do not. I'm an artiste."

"You're as bad as him; that's what you are." Alex was laughing. "Come on, you guys, be real."

Travis wandered over. "Whew, Zed. Where'd you find that?"

"Down there."

"Think it's real?"

Zed shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Travis nodded. "Be worth a couple of grand."

"I'll hand it over to Phil. It's up to him what he does with it."

"It'd put a nice dent in the mortgage."

"If it is from Lucky's era, the local... historical... society..." Alex turned and darted for the ladder. Anything else was left unsaid as he scrambled up and out of the hidden room.

Clutching the opal, Zed raced up the ladder, his foot slipping off the bottom rung and jarring his ankle as it hit the ground. He'd known that Alex's asthma would be irritated by the conditions in the barn, but Alex was such a stubborn ass. Then again, Zed guessed he'd probably do much the same rather than be left out of all the good stuff.

"They've taken him outside," Phil told Zed when he'd emerged from the hole in the floor. He, Blake, and Jon were in the stall, studying the walls.

"Thanks."

"What've you got there?"

Zed lobbed the opal brooch to Phil. "Just found it down there." He ran outside to ensure Alex was okay.

Yep, Alex looked like he was doing just fine. Becca and Mel were sitting on the grass next to him, cuddling him, and Rhys was behaving as any good medical student would -- guarding his patient.

"Okay there, love?"

"I'm fine." Alex tried to get up only to be detained by his impromptu medical team. "But these two." He gestured toward Becca and Rhys. "Seem to think I make a great test subject."

"Yeah, so much better than working on cadavers." Rhys winked at Becca.

"He shouldn't have even been in there," Becca said accusingly, glaring at Zed.

"You've obviously never tried to stop him from doing something he wants to do," Zed said simply and held his hand out for Alex.

Alex quickly grabbed hold of the offered hand. "Are we going to look for more buried treasure?"

"Nope, you're going to help the girls. I'll go back into the barn."

Alex let go of Zed's hand. "I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions thankyouverymuch."

"I know, but really, you shouldn't have even gone in there in the first place." Since when had Zed been the reasonable one? "I don't want you sick."

"You sure I'll be safe helping the girls? I might inhale some pollen... maybe I should just go somewhere where I'll be safe -- Mom." Alex turned toward the house and skulked off.

Zed's heart sank. He ran across the grass after his boyfriend. "Don't."

"What?" Alex snapped, not breaking his stride. "I'm going to the car -- I should be safe in there."

"Stop!" Zed grabbed Alex's forearm. "I didn't... um, I just--" Great, he couldn't string two words together coherently, and now his ankle thought it would be a good time to let him know he'd hurt it.

"Yeah, I know. I just need to be alone right now. Go help the others." He shook Zed's hand off.

A wave of despair enveloped Zed. For as long as he'd known Alex, Alex had never needed to be alone because of him.

All at once, Zed's insecurities flooded back. What if Alex decided he'd made a mistake and should never have started dating him? Zed thought that as they were such great friends, they'd be perfect as lovers, but maybe Alex was right and that line should never have been crossed. They could never go back to being just friends so, for six months of having Alex in his bed, Zed had destroyed twenty years of friendship. There was a downside to always getting what you wanted.

And his fucking ankle was throbbing.

He flopped down on the grass and pulled his right sneaker off. He prodded his ankle. No swelling, but it was tender. No biggie, he'd just hobble over to the impromptu medical team and let Rhys fix him up. Rhys did have wonderful hands...

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, sitting down next to Zed.

"You came back." Zed took a deep breath.

"Of course I did."

"I thought you wanted to be away from me."

Alex draped his arm over Zed's shoulders. "Never. I just." He sighed. "I hate that I have asthma. I hate not being able to help with the barn or explore that secret room anymore. I hated being coddled by Becca and Rhys."

"Being coddled by Rhys can be kinda nice," Zed said, giving Alex a sideways grin. Relief that Alex hadn't had enough of him pushed all the uncertainty out of the way and enabled him to joke.

"I don't want to be coddled by Rhys. If anyone's going to coddle me, it'll be you."

"That just annoyed you."

"Yes, because you know better than anyone how much I hate that."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch--" Zed kissed Alex. "Make up sex?"

"Later." Alex's pointed to Zed's ankle. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I slipped. All good."

Alex laughed. "You always were a klutz." He dropped a kiss on Zed's neck. "You sure you don't want to play patient with Becca and Rhys?"

"If it doesn't feel better soon, I'll let them poke and prod. And--" Zed removed his other sneaker and got to his feet. "I have my klutziness under some control now, I'll have you know."

***

By the time dinner time rolled around, Zed was exhausted. And a mass of cuts, bruises and crushed toes. Well, okay, he didn't really have crushed toes, it just felt like it. But on the plus side, his ankle felt a lot better compared to all these new injuries.

He'd cut his arm on a sharp piece of rusty metal and had been forced, by Becca, to phone his doctor to find out if his tetanus shot was up to date. Planks of wood were much more dangerous than he gave them credit for, after dropping one on his toes. He'd bumped into walls, knocked his arms and legs against posts, and even managed to walk into a door. The stupid thing had opened every other fucking time, and now he had a lump on his forehead as well. He hadn't been this clumsy since he was going through that lanky growing stage where he grew an inch a week and earned his reputation as a klutz. At least the spiders hadn't heard he was vulnerable.

Even the cleansing dip in the pond hadn't brightened his mood like it should have. Alex had disappeared into the house for a warm shower, and all Zed had wanted to do was to follow him and cuddle under the soothing heat and have Alex tell him he wasn't a klutz. Instead, he got Rhys flirting, and Jon and Blake's crude remarks that would have probably been funny if he'd been in a better mood. He had let them know, though, that there was no difference between a straight guy and a gay guy other than the sex of the person they loved. He was fed up with them thinking he was into kinkier sex than they were -- just because he was gay -- even though he probably was. But it wasn't because he was gay, it was just because he was. He pitied any girl that chose to date either of them.

This sucked; he wanted to go home.

"You're handsomer when you smile," Alex said, taking the seat next to Zed. "Surely Phil's burgers aren't that bad." He gestured toward Zed's untouched dinner.

Zed snorted. "The way my luck's going right now, I'll probably choke on it." He took a bite of his burger with everything only to have half of it fall back on the paper plate, and ketchup and onion to drip down his front. "See?"

"Damn, Zed, did you break a mirror or something?" Alex grabbed a handful of napkins and started to wipe at the mess on Zed's shirt.

"Fuck's sake, Alex." Zed grabbed the napkins off him. "I'm not a baby." He just took the shirt off and dropped it next to him. Relenting -- it wasn't Alex's fault -- Zed winked at his boyfriend. "Maybe you can lick it off next time, huh?"

"Sure, if it's something more lickable than ketchup."

"Me?"

Alex leaned in and kissed Zed on the neck. "You are always lickable. I just prefer chocolate to condiments."

"If we get fed chocolate, I'll be sure to spill some on me. Did we bring any?"

Alex shook his head and turned his attentions back to his own plate. "No I left packing all the sex stuff to you."

"Are you guys at it again?" Jon asked sitting down across from them. "Don't you ever get tired? Blake, I think we're gonna have to move the tent away from them." Jon grinned and bit into his burger.

"You can switch with us," Mel said. "We won't mind hearing them."

"Is that right?" Blake asked, eyebrows raised.

"Chocolate isn't 'sex stuff'," Zed chimed in. "It's all in the way you use it." There; might as well exaggerate the idea that gay sex was kinkier than straight.

Alex swallowed a mouthful of food. "When it comes to you, chocolate is sex stuff."

"Do we have any chocolate?" Phil asked Tania.

"Yes, and you can have it once we have a finished room. Can you imagine all the ants and bugs we'd attract with it?"

"I'm gonna need chocolate before then." Phil groaned. "I'm not talking about sex, sweetheart. We're married for God's sake."

Amidst the laughter and comments of, "that does it, never getting married," Zed whispered that there might be some chocolate in with the supplies they brought.

"Perfect for a midnight snack."

Alex reached for his beer and took a long pull, reminding Zed of those 'outdoorsman' beer ads on TV. He'd had a thing for one of those blokes in his teens. He shifted as his cock became interested in Alex as a rugged 'outdoorsman', with beer and chocolate. Okay, not the ideal gastronomic combination, but the role play was taking shape nicely.

"Did you have any luck finding out anything about Lucky Palmer?" Alex asked Tania.

"A lot of useless information and a link to several porn sites that I'm sure had nothing to do with him and a lot more to do with getting lucky." Tania smiled ruefully. "I'm honestly scared to bring children into a world like this sometimes."

Becca, ever the vigilant listener, jumped on that one immediately. "You're pregnant?"

"Nope. Didn't you hear Phil before? No sex after marriage." Tania rolled her eyes. "But, I did basically manage to confirm what Phil told us last night. And Lucky did give Opal an opal brooch, only she wore it on a head scarf and it had peacock feathers attached." She looked at Zed. "So that could be what you found. Apparently it made the news 'cause it cost Lucky a small fortune. And opals are supposed to be a bringer of bad luck. But Opal Townsend loved that about it. She was even quoted as saying that nothing could bring her bad luck when she had her Lucky around."

"Well, that explains your misfortune today, Zed," Alex said. "Good thing you got rid of it."

"You believe that? Besides, Phil has it now. Why hasn't the house fallen on his head? Oh, yes, I know why. 'Cause it's waiting for me." Zed looked imploringly at Alex. "Can we go home? You drive." And he was only half joking. Despite scoffing at Alex, Zed did believe in the supernatural. Yes, items could bring bad luck; yes, items were cursed; yes, ghosts did exist; yes, people could be possessed by spirits. Bad things did happen on Friday the 13th, walking under ladders was bad luck, umbrellas up in the house, shoes on the table... you name it, Zed knew most all of the superstitions and believed them. Learning a new one didn't make him overly thrilled.

"If the house tries to fall on your head, I promise you we'll go home."

"Thank you."

"How about a game of Charades or something?" Travis called. "It's not even that dark yet."

***

As darkness fell, Charades had to be abandoned in favor of something that didn't require as much seeing. Spin the Bottle and I Spy had been vetoed.