That got them all laughing.
Zach moved away and handed Susie off to Aunt Belle, who sat among the older members of the Gardner clan. He kissed an aunt, hugged a grandmother, and moved toward his brother to help drag him away from his adoring fans.
“C’mon bro. Time to see if all those crazy moves you do on the big screen are smoke and mirrors or if your body is still in shape.”
Zach ignored the protests of the women surrounding Mike as he removed him.
“Thanks,” Mike whispered in his ear as they both walked over to where the teens were setting up the net.
Zach patted him on the back. “I always have your back.” Yet even as the words left his mouth, his gaze reached for a set of eyes he felt on his back.
He turned and caught Karen looking toward them.
Damn!
The teams were divided by the usual pecking order: age, family obligation, and skill. Not exactly in that order. Zach and Mike started on the same team along with Joe and three more guys, which left the jocks from their days in school. Larry, Ryder, and Keith were the star athletes who’d stuck in Hilton, or at some point returned. They stacked their team with old football friends.
With six men on each team, the ball made it through the air and it was game on.
After a couple of sets, Zach knew his brother’s acting wasn’t softening his body in the least.
The crowd grew around the game, some picking sides while others just cheered. They’d been playing a good thirty minutes before Mike pulled their team into a huddle. “Larry is totally dogging. If you can aim toward him, we have this game.”
Zach served the ball to have it volley over the net twice before Mike took the opportunity to spike it in Larry’s direction. Even Zach was shocked to see it back on their side of the net. Zach set the ball and Mike hit it toward Larry again for the game point.
The match was close and everyone shook hands. They tossed the ball to the younger kids, who took time picking teams to make their own match.
“Show-off.” Rena punched Zach’s shoulder with a smile.
Karen rolled her eyes but the grin on her face matched the smile in her eyes. “Men!”
His mom brought the first tray of cooked steaks from the grill and placed it on the table.
Zach and Mike stood back as the women hustled around the table, uncovering dishes and getting ready for the onslaught of takers.
His dad brought over another tray and smiled at Zach and Mike before returning to the grill.
Zach glanced over at his brother. A soft smile accompanied Mike’s gaze as he watched their father walk away.
“He’s hard on your ass because he misses you.”
Mike patted him on the back before he grabbed a plate, filled it with food, and then allowed one of his old friends to drag him off across the park.
Zach piled a plate full of food and sighed over the perfection of the steak. Joe took a seat beside him and soon Rena followed. There were people everywhere. Rena waved Karen over to sit beside them. Zach scooted over so Karen could sit and tried to ignore her closeness.
“Where did Mike run off?” Joe asked.
Rena motioned away from their table. “Keith and Larry have his attention.”
“Friends from school?” Karen asked.
“You’ve not heard about them?”
Karen shook her head as she bit into her corn on the cob. Zach watched her lips wrap around the corn and had to force his gaze away. Lucky-ass corn.
“Larry and Keith were his best friends their senior year. Busted his ass when he took the lead in the high school play.”
“Until the chicks started to swarm,” Joe told Karen. “Then they changed their tune.”
Karen chuckled and kept eating.
“I can’t believe Mike hasn’t told you about them.”
Karen swallowed her lucky corn and wiped her mouth. “High school was a long time ago.”
“Don’t you keep up with any of your high school friends?” Rena asked Karen.
A quick shake of Karen’s head gave her answer. “Not really.”
“That’s too bad. High school friends are the ones who knew you when. The kids that keep you grounded.”
Karen glanced at Mike and the smile on her face fell. “I’m glad Mike has friends like that. He needs them.”
Zach looked beyond Karen, then back to his sister. “Really? Why do you say that?”
Karen looked away and then stabbed the meat on her plate with her fork. “It’s different in LA. Everyone wants him to be something different.” She placed the steak in her mouth and chewed.
Before anyone could ask more, Karen spoke around her food. “It’s different here. Yeah, there are a few groupie types watching him, but he’s more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him.”
Zach and Rena swiveled toward Mike at the same time. They passed a knowing look then focused their attention back to Karen. “I’m glad you made him visit,” Rena said.
Karen shook her head. “Don’t thank me. Zach was the one who made that happen.”
He smiled at her and continued to finish the food on his plate.
“Where’s Tracey?” Joe asked when they were nearly finished eating.
Zach did a quick look around. He hadn’t realized that she hadn’t shown up. Where was she? He reached for his cell phone but it didn’t show any missed calls or text alerts. “Maybe something came up.”
“Is everything OK with you two?” Rena asked.
Zach noticed Karen look away.
“Yeah. Fine.”
Joe huffed out a small laugh. “Fine? Fine doesn’t describe a woman, ever.”
Rena elbowed her husband.
Before Zach could reply, Eli ran to his father and pulled on his arm. “Daddy, play ball with me.”
Joe pushed his plate away and untangled from the picnic table to play with his son. In his place, Aunt Belle made herself comfortable.
“Is this the kids’ table?”
Rena picked up her red cup. “The kids’ table doesn’t have alcohol, Aunt Belle.”
Belle tossed back her head with a laugh and her gaze fell on Karen.
“So, you’re Mikey’s wife?”
Zach couldn’t help but feel Karen’s discomfort.
Karen swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Humph! Funny how none of us were invited to the wedding.”
Zach couldn’t look at Karen when she spoke of her marriage. He would leave the table if it didn’t look so damn obvious that he was uncomfortable.
“It was a sudden thing.”
Belle narrowed her eyes. “When did marriage become a thing?”
Karen drank from her red cup and didn’t answer the question.
“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Belle said.
“What question was that?” Rena asked.
Belle had always had a mind unique to herself and didn’t often hold her words in. So what she said next shouldn’t have come as a shock, but for some reason, they blew Zach out of the universe.
“I always thought our Mikey was gay.”
Rena sucked in a laugh.
Zach forgot to breathe and Karen sputtered the beverage from her glass and choked on the liquid.
Chapter Eleven
Karen’s attempt to keep the white wine contained within her mouth resulted in choking the liquid down her lungs. The alcohol burned up into her nose until her eyes watered. Zach’s strong hand rubbed her back as she fought to catch her breath. Rena was staring at her with a smile on her lips, and Aunt Belle lifted an eyebrow. When Karen glanced over as she tried to gain her breath, she saw concern in Zach’s eyes. “You OK?”
Karen coughed into the napkin and reached for the water. As soon as she was able to speak, she pointed a finger at Aunt Belle and laughed. “That’s a good one.”
Karen hid her face behind the glass of water and kept coughing into the napkin even after the urge to do so had passed.
“Well, I did,” Aunt Belle continued
once it was clear that Karen was going to live.
“I think it’s safe to say that’s not the case,” Zach said.
All Karen could do was nod behind her cup and hope to hell her face wasn’t giving anything away.
She searched for the topic they’d been discussing before Aunt Belle sat down and uprooted what felt like an easy role of duping Michael’s family, but whatever they’d been talking about had escaped her brain.
Across the field, she heard Michael laughing. As much as she wanted to go to him now and let him in on the conversation that was taking place at their table, she didn’t.
“Well what about babies?”
“Aunt Belle!” Rena chastised. “They’ve only been married a year.”
“You had Eli nine months after you were married,” Belle pointed out. “Or was it eight and a half?”
Rena’s jaw dropped. “It was eleven.”
Karen felt her cell phone buzz in her back pocket. Happy for the distraction, she pulled it out and checked her text messages.
Is Aunt Belle behaving?
The message came from Judy. Karen glanced around and noticed Judy watching from another table.
Could use a graceful exit. Help!
Karen shoved her phone back in her pocket and waited.
“Well you’re not exactly young,” Aunt Belle pointed out. “Babies are easier before you’re thirty.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” Karen told Michael’s aunt. The woman was too sharp for her own good.
“Aunt Belle, give Karen a break, will ya?” Zach asked.
She offered him a grateful smile right as she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey, Karen? Can you help us settle the debate over who’s sexier, Brad Pitt or Bradley Cooper? We figured you’ve met them both and would know firsthand.”
The smile that spread over Rena’s face was poetic. Even Zach sighed as Karen swung her leg from beneath the table.
“Love to.” Karen grabbed her cup that didn’t hold nearly enough wine and saluted Aunt Belle. “Fabulous talking with you.”
Karen tucked her arm into Judy’s and let her voice travel. “Isn’t it crazy how two men with the same name can be so different? What kind of name is Brad anyway?”
Judy laughed and glanced into Karen’s cup when they were too far away for Aunt Belle to hear her words.
“She’s a crazy old lady.”
“I think she was about to ask me if I was ovulating.”
Judy busted out a laugh. “She’s convinced that Eli was conceived before Rena and Joe were married.”
“I heard that. Are there any other crazy aunts I need to be alert for?”
“No, she’s the only one.”
“Thank God.”
Karen tucked into the table with Judy and her friends.
“Have you really met Brad Pitt?”
Karen shook her head. “No. But Bradley Cooper is crazy hot.”
The girls squealed and Karen enlightened them with details that would fuel their conversation for days to come.
When she was relatively certain that no one was watching her, she made her way to Michael’s side. She could tell by the slight sheen in his eyes that he had a little buzz going, which wasn’t something she’d seen very often, at least not when they were with a crowd.
“Hey, babe.” He draped his arm over her shoulders. “Have you met the guys?”
“You introduced her to us hours ago, moron,” Larry said as he tipped his cup back.
“Hey.” She waved at Keith and Ryder, who were watching her a little too closely.
“Can I talk to you a minute?” she asked Michael.
“Sure. Be right back,” he told his friends.
She pulled him away from the ears of others.
“What’s up?”
Karen turned toward him so his back was away from the Gardner crowd.
“Your Aunt Belle is on to us.”
Michael narrowed his eyes. “On to us?”
“She told me she always thought you were gay,” she whispered.
He stiffened and the playful smile on his face fell.
Karen caught his arm to keep him from turning around. “No, don’t.”
“Is that all she said?”
“She asked about babies. The usual stuff. But if I had to guess, I’d think she’s the one to watch out for.”
A muscle in Michael’s jaw twitched.
Michael leaned over as if he was picking something up from the ground, and when he stood, Karen had to turn her back to the crowd to continue looking at him.
He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and glanced over her head.
She wasn’t sure what was going on inside his head, but there was a fierceness in his gaze she’d not seen before.
“Michael?”
Something flashed behind his eyes as he looked beyond her, then without any warning he gripped the back of her head and forced his mouth on hers.
She stood motionless, her body rigid as Michael fought some of his demons and used her as a battering ram. He tried to pull her close and she pushed against him. He’d never kissed her like this. Not for the cameras, not for his family. This was feral and dangerously close to abuse.
Oh, Karen knew he was doing it for effect, but it didn’t make her any more forgiving of the line he was crossing. When his free hand dug into her side, she was close to kneeing his groin to make him let her go. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt her lips bruise.
It was almost impossible to grab hold of any flesh through his clothes, but she managed to twist the skin under his arm and pushed him with the other.
Michael gasped and let her go.
They stared at each other, shell-shocked.
Karen lifted her hand to her lip and worried that he’d split it.
“Oh, God, Karen.” Instant remorse filled Michael’s face.
She stepped out of his reach. Memories of other unwanted hands on her broke through her memory and had her trembling.
Never again.
“If you ever touch me like that again, our divorce will be anything but friendly.” Without waiting for his reply, Karen nearly ran away from him and his family.
Zach caught Mike looking over Karen’s shoulder as they stood apart from the family having a private conversation. He cautioned himself for staring, but something in the way Karen was standing, her fingers flexing her sides, or the nervous and shifting gaze of his brother kept Zach watching.
When Mike reached for his wife to kiss her, Zach started to look away. Then he noticed Karen push against him.
Let her go, Mike. Only Zach’s mental message to his brother didn’t work.
The longer the kiss went on, the more apparent it became that Karen wasn’t a willing party.
Wife or not, no one deserved to be manhandled. Before Zach could take one step in their direction, Karen stumbled away from Mike and then ran out of the park. Zach waited to see if his brother would follow.
When he didn’t, Zach did.
He caught up with her as she turned down the road to Beacon’s barn. Her pace was so fast, he was out of breath when he ran up behind her.
She swiveled her head long enough for him to see the tears in her eyes.
He considered grabbing her arm to make her face him, but he pictured her punching the next man who touched her. Instead, he jogged in front of her and stopped.
“Hey?”
She simply stepped around him and kept walking.
This time he kept her pace at her side. “Where are we walking? Back to LA?”
“Maybe.”
He decided silence would be his friend at this point. Eventually she’d get past whatever had pissed her off and talk…right? They passed Beacon’s barn and continued down what he knew was a dead-end road. He doubted Karen knew this or she probably would have taken another route.
A half a mile of silence later, Karen asked, “Why are you following me?”
Zach made a show of opening his arm
s and looking around. “Wouldn’t want you to get lost.”
“Hard to get lost in a one-horse town.”
“So you know where you’re going?”
She walked another block before answering. “Thought I’d go and see if old man Beacon wanted to have an affair with a younger woman.”
Zach liked the fight in her voice. “Old man Beacon would have loved that. Too bad he died a few years back.”
Karen snorted, but didn’t smile. “Just my luck.”
He laughed, hoping she’d follow suit.
She didn’t. “Really, Zach. You don’t need to follow me.”
He didn’t slow his pace and didn’t make excuses as to why he stayed by her side.
The farther away from the park they walked, the less he heard her sniffling. He never could deal with a woman’s tears. If that woman was as strong as he felt Karen was, those tears weighed even more on him. Strong women didn’t crack easily, and when they did, whoever or whatever made them crack deserved to pay. Even if that someone was his own damn brother.
The inevitable end to the road approached, and he saw Karen looking around for a path or some escape route. She twisted around and he noticed her dismiss the idea of going back.
“C’mon,” he said as he led her though the long weeds and forgotten trail behind Beacon’s property.
Karen followed as he ducked into the woods behind Beacon’s old abandoned house. The trees thickened and the brush at their feet thinned out. Eventually the trail widened so they could walk side by side. Even if it was in complete silence.
They stepped over fallen trees and around overgrown brush as they moved steadily uphill. Zach felt his heart rate shoot up, even though their pace slowed. He was ashamed to say that his legs started to burn with the strain of Karen’s pace.
When Beacon’s pond, which was more lake than pond, opened before them, Karen finally stopped. Zach wanted to sing.
“Wow.” Karen gazed over the majestic pond and quiet landscape.
Zach leaned forward and caught his breath. “Don’t think anyone gets up here anymore.”
He diverted his gaze from her breasts as they pushed against her shirt with each deep breath she took.
“It’s beautiful.” She paused. “And quiet.”
“No crazy aunts to be found.”
The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday Page 11
