Sometimes Our Saints Are Sinners (TVH sequel)

I paced back and forth in front of the gate at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska. Mom and James and I drove down to pick up the men, since Sioux Falls’ airport was so small that it would have been nearly impossible to find tickets from California. I rubbed my hands together repeatedly as I waited impatiently for the five men to meet me outside of the gate. I couldn’t deny that I was both eager and quite horrified to see them after five months of barely being in contact with them. I didn’t know if they’ll be angry that I ran away or they’ll just be happy to see me. Hopefully the latter. In all honesty I missed being called Kid by someone other than my mom or soon-to-be step-dad.
A bunch of people started pouring through the gate and I began internally screaming. My pacing stopped immediately but my body begun to shake. I took deep breaths and stared straight forward as I looked for the men who were probably carrying guitars and a drum set. I was standing alone and was regretting not taking James’ offer on him coming for moral support on my part. I don’t know why I was so scared to see the guys because I knew that I had changed and I wouldn’t make the same mistakes. That thought immediately blew up in my face and proved me wrong as my eyes spotted Brian and I bolted towards him. He dropped his luggage and caught me perfectly as I smashed our lips together. I didn’t care that I made a huge scene in the middle of an airport; I missed my men.
“Well hello to you, too.” Brian chuckled quietly as I pulled away, his arms hooked under my thighs so I couldn’t slide down.
“Don’t judge me. I haven’t had physical contact with a man since I left and I’m deprived.” I pouted, tensing a little at the cold hard truth.
“Me too.” Brian whispered. I smiled childishly and he pursed his lips, catching his mistake. “That made me sound gay. I mean I haven’t had physical contact with women since you left.”
“That’s a big lie, Mr. Haner.” I tusked, shaking my head at him. He raised an eyebrow and I let out a silent laugh. “Emma told me about your trips to the club with her.”
“Damn it, Emma.” Brian scoffed, throwing his head back a little. I laughed and smiled, glad that I could finally stare back into the chocolate brown eyes I’ve missed dearly.
“Excuse me, your almost-step-brother gets in for our parents wedding and you run into the arms of my friend before me?” Zach’s voice rang from behind us. I wriggled out of Brian’s arms to run into Zacky’s, throwing my arms over his shoulder as I hid my head in his neck and inhaling his cologne.
“I’ve missed you, Zacky.” I cooed in his ear as his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. We stood there for a minute rocking back and forth a bit before pulling away and looking at the other men. Johnny and Jimmy were waiting patiently with grins on their face and I smiled back before I noticed Matt. He was standing a few feet behind Jimmy, his hands in his pocket. He was staring at me with sad eyes, and his attempt to smile at me made me want to implode. I broke our gaze and went to Johnny, hugging him quickly. “I’ve missed you too, J-Low. You’ve been taking care of my friend and my cat, right?”
“Our cat is good.” Johnny corrected, laughing as I gave him a cheeky grin. “And I’ve been taking great care of Emma.” He winked and I cringed.
“Ew. TMI, Jonathan.” Johnny chuckled and I pulled Jimmy into my embrace by his wrist. Jimmy squeezed me tightly against him, making me squeak at the strength of the stick that somehow passed off as a man. “Ah, the teddy bear hug feels so good.”
“Don’t ever run away without taking me ever again,” Jimmy grumbled against my hair. “Everyone refused to watch children’s movies with me.”
“The nerve of them.” I gasped mockingly as I stepped away. Jimmy beamed and I licked my lips before looking back at all of them. “So James and my mom are waiting for us outside. Brian and Zach, you guys will be riding with my mom and me since my mom is looking forward to catching up with her soon-to-be son. The other three are going to be riding with James. Follow me to the luggage pick-up.” They all nodded and followed me as I guided them through the small airport. I smirked as they all eyed the airport with curiosity and shock.
“This is an airport?” Brian mumbled as we reached the escalators. I snickered and nodded as I glanced back for a head count.
“You should see the size of Sioux Falls’ airport. It’s so small it’s only one story high.” I informed them as I stepped off the metal plate of the escalators and towards the moving carousal with luggage on it. I heard the guys mutter in perplexity to each other and I laughed silently to myself as I stood and watched as they all waited for their luggage. I observed as each of the men practically poised themselves in a starting position, as though they were in a race to see whose luggage would come out first. I smiled and quietly stepped away from them, walking out of the airport to find my mom and James. I looked down the aisle of cars outside and noticed two figures standing by where I went in earlier to pick up the guests. I whistled loudly and their heads turned in my direction. I waved at them and ushered them over here, watching as they got into their cars and drove up past the taxis to where I was. I turned and glanced back inside; laughing loudly as I watched five grown men search around for me with lost looks on their faces, as though they were five years old and were looking for their mom. Finally, Jimmy’s eyes landed on me and he slapped Zach’s arm to get his attention. His mouth moved and all of them turned toward me, narrowing their eyes. I waved and they gave me dirty looks before heading in my direction.
“Thanks for letting us think we got lost.” Zach snapped as he came out of the airport. I pursed my lips and my eyebrows rose.
“You guys were literally just making fun of how small Eppley is and now you manage to ‘get lost’? I was getting our rides.” I gestured towards James and Mom, who were opening up the trunk and making space in the Escalade and Optima. Mom noticed that the guys were next to me and stopped her cleaning to scurry over to us. The guys got in a line and smiled at her. “Mom, this is Matthew, Jonathan, James, Brian and Zachary.” Zach hit me in the shoulder and I shoved him a little before rolling my eyes. “Sorry. Matt, Johnny, Jimmy, Bri and Zach.” Mom scrunched her face a little when she eyed all the men before quickly composing herself and smiling.
“Tammy.” Mom said simply before going back to her Optima. James waved at us and I waved back before turning towards them. I felt each pair of eyes on me as they had looks of confusion painted across their face about Mom’s actions. I mouthed ‘tattoos’ and smirked as they all looked down at their bare arms. Mom hates tattoos, and she has yet to find out about the one on my back. Smirks all waved across their faces and I cleared my throat before turning to James.
“Are the cars clean or do we need to get you a vacuum?” I asked mockingly as he wiped out spare crumbs from his backseat. He gave me a look a grabbed my arm, quickly putting me into a headlock and messing up my hair.
“I think we need to vacuum out your mouth, Miss Know-It-All.” I squealed as he rubbed his fist against my scalp, the friction beginning to burn.
“Gah! James stop!” I cried as I tried to pull myself from his grip. I punched him in the stomach and he humphed before letting me out. I shoved him against the car and fixed my hair before glaring at him. James laughed, and I heard the sounds of a few other deep chuckles joining in. I glanced behind me to see Jimmy, Johnny, Zach and Brian all laughing quietly and I narrowed my eyes at them. I flitted my gaze to Matt for a quick second, my mouth moving a little when I noticed he was pursing his lips, the corners twitching. He was trying not to smile. I ran my fingers through my hair quickly, wincing at the pain in my scalp, before clearing my throat. “Okay, well if we’re done watching James rip my hair out of my head in public, let’s get going shall we?”
“Aw, Jess, don’t be like that…” James pouted, holding his arms out towards me.
“No. No. Get away from me, you monster.” I commanded, walking backwards to try to get away from him. James began walking quicker to hug me and I screamed loudly before running around Mom’s car. James started chasing me and I squealed as everyone else laughed at me. “Mom! Get your fiancée to leave me alone!”
“Sorry, sweetheart, no can do.” Mom replied simply as she slid into the driver’s seat. I hit the door as I ran by and dashed towards the group of guys, hoping I could hide behind them.
“Zach!! Call your damn dad off!” I cried as I ran behind Matt and Brian, which were both large enough to be a wall of protection. Brian glanced back at me and smirked before starting to step away, which made me punch him in the spine before grabbing onto each of Matt’s arms for protection.
“Dad, quit harassing Kid and get in the car.” Zach chuckled as he gripped James’ shoulder. James stuck his lip out and sighed before narrowing his eyes at me.
“This isn’t over.” James challenged. He sauntered to his car and called the guys that were going with him to get in. I didn’t realize until I felt muscles twitch under my grasp that I was holding onto Matt’s arms so hard that my nails were beginning to dig into his skin.
“Oh shit, sorry Matt.” I mumbled as I quickly let go of his tanned and tattooed arms. He just smiled softly and nodded, silently forgiving me. I scratched the back of my head and gave him a weak smile before swiftly walking towards Mom’s car, sliding into the middle next to Brian. We all buckled up and headed off, Mom in front of James since she knew the trip like the back of her hand. I watched in amusement as Brian’s eyes skimmed the fields upon fields of corn, the Missouri River, and the bluffs.
“Wow, those are some puny mountains you guys have got going on.” Zach commented quietly as he glued his face to the window. I met Mom’s same blue eyes and we smirked.
“They’re called bluffs, guys. Seriously?” I scoffed, giving both of the men a look. Brian’s face flushed red and he coughed, looking up at Zach for support.
“Oh yeah, we knew that. Totally.” Zach stuttered, looking at my mom with a pink face. Mom and I shared a laugh and I pinched Zach’s cheek.
“Did you guys never take Geography?” I snickered childishly. I felt green and brown eyes burning holes in my body but I continued to laugh, covering my face with my hands. “There’s a reason we’re called ‘The Great Plains’… Okay, well actually that’s West of where we are now, but still.”
“Okay, Jess. Quit harassing the Californians.” Mom scolded lightly. I groaned and she smirked before full-out grinning as she met eyes with Zach. “So Zach…” As Mom began her adventure into knowing her soon-to-be step-son, I laid myself down across the empty seats, my head resting on Brian’s lap. I smiled up at him and he returned it, his calloused fingers running across my face as he pushed my light blonde hair out of my face.
“You changed your hair.” Brian identified as he lightly placed my newly-cut bangs high on my forehead.
“Tastes change.” I shrugged. He nodded and I tapped him on the side of his nose. “You took out your nose ring.”
“Tastes change.” Brian repeated, smirking as he mimicked me. I frowned a little and stuck my lip out.
“But I liked it. You guys always do stuff I don’t want you to do.” Brian’s eyebrows rose at my statement and I grinned at him.
“Excuse me. You shouldn’t even be speaking right now, since you did something that none of us enjoyed.” He pinched my nose and I bit at his finger, laughing at the irony in my statement. Brian rested his hand on my stomach and I snuggled my head a little closer to his stomach. “So why did you leave?”
“What happened after I left?” I wondered, curiosity taking over me. I heard very little about what went down after I hopped on the plane to South Dakota, and I never wanted to bring it up with them. Brian let out a breath and looked out the window for a bit.
“You mean after I got beat up from everyone because of what I said on the phone to you?” I nodded and he smiled sadly. “Sorry again.” I head-butted his stomach and his mouth twitched before his face got a little hard. “We all waited for about ten minutes until Jimmy was like ‘fuck it, this is taking too long’. When we got to Matt’s house we noticed your car was gone so we thought either all went good and you guys took off somewhere or it all went bad and you went back home or something. Either way we began walking up to his house when we heard something break. When we got in there he was on the other side of his living room, rubbing his fingers together—as he does when he’s angry—while Gayle was sitting on the couch with a snarky yet scared look in her eyes. Matt was try to control his voice and stay away from her since, despite the past problems you’ve had with him, he usually doesn’t like getting into girl’s faces and scaring them. But he was packing a punch, like he was saying how she ruined his life and he regrets ever going out with her and letting her use him and fucking up his relationship with his friends and being selfish and pathetic. Gayle got all upset and rushed out, and about that time we were all like ‘where’s kid?’ and Matt explained about everything that had happened between you two for the past few months and what happened just minutes earlier. Then we just started calling you.”
“Oh. So he told you everything.” I huffed a little bit, feeling embarrassed and distraught that my dirty little secret had come out and I wasn’t even there to see the reactions. “How did everyone react?”
“I kind of expected it. I mean, I was a little shocked since I was kept in the dark—” He pushed my side a little bit and I smiled slightly, “but I mean I was kind of glad that you actually had a chance to be with him, you know? Emma was angry that she didn’t know about it, Johnny and Zach were just in a confused daze, and Jimmy was irritated with Matt for fucking it all up, which made Emma even angrier since you trusted Jimmy over her.”
“Well she’d probably tell Johnny and then of course he’d tell you guys so,” I shrugged, not really feeling guilty for keeping it from Emma. I sighed and licked my lips a little, staring out at the blue sky and small wispy clouds as we sped down the interstate. “And I guess I ran away because I was stressed and I needed to clear my head. Like in one aspect I didn’t want to step out of California ever again because I love it so much and I love you guys, but on the other hand… I don’t know. I mean realizing that I got my hopes up for nothing and then feeling like my wants made everyone else angry kind of… I’m just known for running away from my problems. I needed to fix myself.”
“Jess, we’re going out to dinner tonight with the family, so when we hit the farm quickly show the men where they will be staying then get ready to leave.”
“Okay.” I answered simply. My eyes met Brian’s dark eyes, and he stared at me in curiosity.
“Well did you fix yourself?” I scrunched my face up a little, unable to answer the question. I thought that I did, but being around the guys even for the short time they’ve been here had me reverting back to my old self. It wasn’t a bad thing, and I surely wasn’t blaming the men, but I just didn’t know if that’s who I was supposed to be. I have been trying to change myself to the better, but maybe I wasn’t supposed to change. I guess only time would tell.
~
“Welcome to Eggers Manor.” I announced loudly as Mom drove into the secret driveway hidden behind the grove. Brian and Zach were staring out of the clear windows with wide-eyed, looking appalled at the large house hidden from the rest of the world by trees.
“Wow, this is crazy.” Zach said in awe. I smiled and met eyes with Mom, who was also amused at the reaction of the two men.
“So Jess, can you show them around or would you like—”
“I can do it, Mom.” I interrupted, rolling my eyes a bit. “Like you said, we need to get ready for dinner. I’ll keep it short, sweet, and to the point.”
“Okay.” Mom sighed as she parked in front of the garage. James’ Escalade slid smoothly into the spot next to us and, like Brian and Zach, Johnny, Jimmy and Matt were all staring in awe at the large and old home. Mom and James waved quickly to me before locking hands and escaping around the corner to the back where the pool was.
“Okay, guys. Follow me and I’ll show you Eggers Manor.” I ushered them closer and they all fell into a small group. I closed my eyes for a second and cleared my throat before putting on a cheesy smile and clapping my hands together. “Hi, my name is Kid and thank you for choosing Eggers Manor as you vacation home for this month. If you’ll follow me through these doors I’ll show you all that comes with this lovely home.” I got a few chuckles from the men and I grinned a little more before turning and opening the door. We all filed into the home. I stopped in the open area and turned around. “Here is the entryway and the living room. My uncle Wendell stays in the living room and controls the TV so unless you want to sit with a grouch I’d reside elsewhere. Follow me.” I continued through the entryway into the hallway, pointing out the small bathroom as we passed. “Over there is the formal living room, complete with a piano. Jimmy, no early morning symphonies, please.” Jimmy pouted and I giggled before walking to the kitchen. “Here is the kitchen, which comes with a fridge full of beer. To the right is the formal dining room and to the left is the informal dining room. Now up the stairs.” I bounced lightly up the old wooden steps and listened as five sets of heavy footsteps followed me. I turned right into a small hallway and turned around.
“What’s this?” Johnny wondered as his deep brown eyes skimmed the multiple doors.
“This is where you will be staying. Now unfortunately there’s five of you and only three bedrooms, so four of you will have to share.” A few groans ripped through the group and I shushed them. “Now these two rooms will hold two of you each and the small golden one will hold one. You guys can talk in a bit, but the one who sleeps by themselves will get to hear the sounds of my uncle Wendell hacking up with lungs, which is spotted with about thirty years of smoking.” I turned and pointed toward an open door between all the bedrooms, smirking a little as I glanced back at the group. “Here’s the bathroom. Shower, toilet, sink and two mirrors with tons of drawers. So lucky you, Brian, you get a mirror and a drawer for your cosmetics all to yourself.”
“Five months gone and I’m already done with your shit, Kid.” Brian snapped, although he was laughing. I silently slipped into another room, turning to make sure they were following me. “Here’s the laundry room. And here…” I walked into the huge master bathroom and stepped back as all the men blinked in awe. “Is the master bathroom. Jet tub—although unusable—and a master shower with two showerheads. The bedroom next to this bathroom is my aunt Susy’s, so if you want to use this shower then make sure the bedroom is empty. Now let’s go check out the backyard—”
“Wait, where are you staying?” Zach wondered as he raised an eyebrow. I smirked.
“There’s a catwalk outside of Susy’s bedroom that leads to an apartment. Small kitchen, small living room, full bathroom and a bedroom. That’s where I’m staying.”
“By yourself?” Zach scoffed. My eyebrows rose on my face and I crossed my arms. “You’re going to make two sets of grown men snuggle while you, a small frail girl, gets her own bedroom. How is that fair?”
“Because this is my house and therefore my rules, Baker.” I remarked, flicking my eyebrows at him. His bright green eyes narrowed and I rolled my eyes in return. “Fine. Every once in a while I’ll take one of you orphans and his partner will get the bed to himself that night. But not all the time. Now follow me so I can show you the backyard.” I went out through the bedroom door, pointing out the catwalk and my apartment before swiftly walking down the stairs. I went into the informal dining room and opened the door a bit. “Up there is the pool. It’s only about five feet, but it’s nice. Over there is the shop, which has a few four-wheelers and a pool table. Also a bunch of alcohol.” I shut the door and went into the kitchen, sitting down on one of the seat. The men went around me and I smiled a bit. “So I guess what you guys could do for the bedrooms is switch, so one night Zach sleeps alone while the other four sleeps together, and then after a few days Brian gets to sleep alone and so on.”
“That sounds okay.” Brian nodded. I smirked and looked at the clock.
“Well, you guys better go choose your bedrooms. We’re leaving soon.”
“I so call sleeping alone first!” Jimmy screamed as he jumped over Johnny to get to the steps.
“Oh no way in Hell!” Zach yelled back, shoving his way through the men. I laughed loudly as the five oversized balls of muscles try to throw themselves over each other to get to the bedrooms. My Aunt Susy entered the home just as the men reached the top of the stairs, stomping loudly as they ran to the hall of bedrooms.
“What was that?” Susy cried as she scurried into the kitchen, her arms full of groceries.
“That was the sound of five men fighting for a bedroom to themselves.” My face was full of triumph as I listened to my friends scream at each other.
“Well that was unpleasant.” Susy tusked as she began putting her food away.
“Oh yeah, this will definitely be interesting.”

Notes

I am nowhere near where I want to be with the chapters of this story, but because I promised Kaleigh (MissJimmySullivan) that I'd update this if I got to chapter five by Sunday night (which it is currently 10:23 Sunday night) so here you go. Enjoy the first chapter of the sequel. :D ~Jessi