“But, I—”
He squeezed tighter. “Promise me, gatinha.”
She leaned back enough to study his face.
“Call me an overprotective Brazilian man if you want. Just tell me you’ll do it.”
The frown twisted to a quirky purse of her lips, and one eyebrow arched at an angle that said she thought he was nuts. “Fine.” She pulled free and sashayed into the kitchen. “Now, what are you doing here instead of work?”
“I switched. I’m going in tomorrow morning instead.” He followed her and found shredded lettuce, grated cheese and tomatoes prepped and laid out in separate bowls. In the large skillet, enough chicken strips to feed eight starving men sizzled over a low flame, and a huge stack of flour tortillas waited beside it. Damn, but he loved taco night. He moved in behind her at the stove and nuzzled her neck. “It’s too hard to work overnights now when I know what I could be sleeping next to at home.”
“Jesus.” Danny strolled into the kitchen. His once black Aerosmith T-shirt was so faded it ran closer to gray, and his hair was damp from a recent shower. He popped the fridge open and pulled out a beer. “Not sure I’m ever gonna get used to seeing you making a play for my baby sister.”
“Already made my play.” Zeke squeezed Gabe’s hips, kissed her temple and lowered his voice just for Gabe. “Now I’m just making sure I keep what I’ve got.”
She giggled and stirred the chicken, but her sweet ass pressed harder against his hips, as if on instinct.
He smacked her on the butt and ambled over to the table. “How much longer before dinner? I’ve got a problem with the Camaro I need to show Danny and thought I’d do it before the rain hits.”
Danny groaned and thunked his beer on the table. “Ah, man. Not another ding from the parking lot.”
“I admit, the hospital garage is an affront to all automotive works of art, but no.” Outside the sky had grown even darker and the trees lined up and down the neighborhood whipped in the wind. “You got room in the garage? Looks like it’s gonna pour any minute, and it might be better if I pull it around so you can get the right light on it.”
“Yep.” Danny stood, taking his beer with him. “Just finished up my last job and delivered it yesterday. Got nothing else in there right now.”
“Fine, but hurry up,” Gabe said. “I’ll have food ready in fifteen minutes, tops.”
Not as much time as he’d like, but enough to say what needed saying. In less than five, he pulled the Camaro into the single-bay garage just as the first raindrop splattered against the back window.
Danny flipped the bold fluorescents on and stood off to one side, hands on his hips while he studied the driver’s side. He rounded to the other side as Zeke popped the door, gained his feet and headed for the garage door.
“Man, if there’s something wrong with your ride, I’m not seeing it,” Danny said.
The high steel door rattled until it slammed against the cracked concrete, trapping what was left of the unvented exhaust.
“That’s because there’s nothing to see.” Zeke strolled to the window on the opposite end of the garage with a direct line of sight to the house. “Got a few things I need to run past you that didn’t need your sister’s ears.”
Outside the sky opened up, rain pounding the metal building for all it was worth. A second later, a nasty crack of thunder filled the night.
Danny leaned against his workbench and crossed his arms, not the least bit concerned with Zeke’s cloak-and-dagger. Hell, if anything, he looked comfortable. “All right, shoot.”
Zeke mimicked the pose, but did it leaning against the hood of his car and wrapping his fingers around the lip of the hood. “We’ll start with a softball. I wanna know where your head is about me and Gabe.”
“Told you before. I couldn’t pick a better man for my sister. I’m shocked as shit you’ve gotten as far as you have, but she seems happy. If she’s smilin’, then I’m smilin’, too.”
“You weren’t smiling when I picked her up for dinner a few nights ago. From the scowl on your face, I half expected you to throw a punch. Tonight was better, but you still seem on edge.”
“Yeah. Not my most comfortable moment.” Danny hung his head and huffed out a laugh. He reached for the skull cap he usually wore, realized it wasn’t there, then tucked his hand in one pocket. “I want Gabe to have someone. I want to know she’s with someone good like you. But for twenty-four years, that hasn’t been much of a reality. Takes a little getting used to. Especially that night you picked her up. I knew damned well what kind of thoughts were in your head. No matter how much I like you, a mental picture of my sister in a starring role didn’t sit well.”
“So, no change on where your head’s at as far as me being with her?”
“Nope. Like I said, she’s happy. Putting herself out there. Hell, there was even a chick here when I got home this afternoon. Some girl she met at the mall.”
“You mean April. Gabe met her while she was out buying the dress.” Two girlfriend outings in under a week. Definitely a plus in the way of Gabe taking chances.
“So what else is on your mind?” Danny said.
For the past few months, he’d spent a lot of time thinking about how Axel and Jace had brought Zeke and Trevor into the brotherhood. How his life had turned on a dime in only a handful of sentences. Now that he had the chance to do the same for Danny, he wasn’t so sure how to go about it. “Had some stuff come to a head with the brotherhood today.”
“Come to a head bad, or good?”
Zeke laughed, the power behind it ricocheting off the garage walls. Leave it to Danny to cut through the shit. “Bad that led to good.” Across the yard, he caught a few glimpses of Gabe moving around in the kitchen. Setting the table, if he had to guess. If anyone would want her to keep on having her peaceful life, it would be Danny. “Don’t you find it odd how many Realtors are out here knocking on doors?”
Danny shook his head. “Not really. It’s prime land. One of the sales guys claimed Dad could make a small killing if he’d sell his acre. Dad just wasn’t interested. He was a lot like Gabe. Liked the quiet. Liked the people and the lake.”
“Yeah, well, I thought it was odd. Especially with the break-in at Wallaby’s and the fire next door.”
Danny frowned, but other than that held his stance.
Zeke plowed ahead. “I asked Beck and Knox to do some digging. Knox thinks I’m on to something. The houses that have sold all ended up in the hands of a company called Lakeside Investments. Apparently, some of the execs on their board have a thing for creative financing deals. And by creative, I mean the kind the feds and financial industry frown on.”
“You think they’re pushing people out?”
“Looks that way, but we’ve got nothing to prove it. To dig further, we’re going to have to get in their offices. Knox has a hunch they’re smart enough to keep whatever info they’ve got offline.”
“And you need me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Danny’s gaze slid to the side, narrowed, then zipped back to Zeke. “Then what are you saying?”
“Don’t you want to know why we’d be digging into this?”
Danny’s stare shifted to the window and the house beyond. “Given you’re into Gabe, I’d guess she’s the main reason.”
“She’s part of it. I want her safe and I imagine you do, too, but there’s more to it than that. Brothers watch each other’s backs. That means we’re watching yours.”
Danny froze, but a wild and supersized tension gripped his body. “I’m not a brother.”
“You weren’t. You are now. Assuming that’s something you want to be a part of.”
Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Danny gripped the side of his workbench and sucked in a deep breath. His gaze darted around the room, momentarily
landing on random items like he was trying to factor whether the room around him was real or some mental hoax.
God, he remembered that feeling. That surreal moment when things you didn’t even know you’d hoped for clicked into place. The instant, unequivocal acceptance given without a price tag of any kind. Belonging by choice and knowing good people had your back. “You need me to run that by you again or did it register?”
Danny blinked a few times and zeroed in on Zeke. “It registered. Fuck, yeah, it registered.”
“I take it that’s a yes?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s a yes.” Danny smiled huge and pushed off the workbench, his hand outstretched. “That’s the best damned news ever.”
A handshake. Christ, he had a long way to go in getting this guy to learn things were different. Zeke took the hand offered and pulled him in for a hug, slapping him on the back. “You’re a good man, Danny. You deserve a big family. Now you’ve got one.”
Danny’s arms tightened sure as someone had jolted him with serious voltage before he stepped back and studied the floor long enough to get his wits around him. After a beat or two, he looked up. “I don’t have words.”
“You don’t need any. We’ve all been there. That said, we’re throwing you in fast. You weren’t wrong on the job that needs to get done. Before our vote, Beck would’ve been the one to run the job, but he said you’re the best man for it now. If we want to get to the bottom of this deal, we need inside.”
Danny nodded, his energy pinging around the room like a six-year-old boy hopped up on a case of chocolate. “Yeah. No, I’m good. And I’m in. Whatever they need.”
Zeke grinned. Definitely a long way to go. “It’s not them anymore, brother. It’s us. And we’re looking out for your home.” He pushed away from the car and padded to the window for a better angle on the house. The rain had eased a little, and they were already pushing Gabe’s dinner timeline. Knowing her, she’d stomp over and drag them both in by their ears. “Timing-wise, we’re moving fast. We’re rallying at Haven Friday night after Crossroads and The Den close. I figured we’d drive out together and get you hooked up with keys to the house.”
Danny’s jaw dropped, his adrenaline rush held hostage by the latest information. “Shit. I forgot about that. Beck said Haven’s nice.”
“Haven’s great. Jace’s and Axel’s moms, Ninette and Sylvie, live out there. They’re awesome. But have a mind on what you tell them. You may not have grown up with much of a mother, but you’ve got two now and they’ll be in your business nonstop.”
Danny smiled for all of two seconds before a frown swept in. “What about Gabe?”
Yeah, that was the hard part. The rest of the guys had seen the reason in moving slow with Gabe, but then they weren’t Gabe’s big brother. “The brotherhood’s got few rules, but one of the biggest is that Haven is family only. That means no women unless they’re claimed. And by claimed I mean you may as well put a ring on her finger.”
“And you’re not there yet.” Danny nodded. “That’s cool. Better not to rush—”
“I claimed her.” Every time he said it, his body buzzed as sure as a lightning bolt had worked him from the ground up. “She’s mine, protected by me and my brothers. Whether or not she’ll ever get to the same place as me, I don’t know, but I’m all in and will bust my ass to get her there, too.”
Danny’s eyes narrowed at the unspoken ending in Zeke’s voice. “But?”
“A claimed woman doesn’t just mean she’s family and protected against whatever happens to her in this world. It means she’s worthy of no secrets. Not from me and not from the brotherhood. I’m willing to do my part to earn her trust, but I don’t know yet if she wants me enough to trust me. To take me as I am. Until I do, I can’t put my family at risk.”
With a heavy sigh, Danny stared at his boots. “Yeah. I get that.” He looked up, more emotion bared in his dark eyes than Zeke had ever seen. “Don’t give up on her.”
“I’m not even close to the edge, brother. Got a whole lot of patience where she’s concerned. Wouldn’t have put myself out there with the rest of the guys if I didn’t.” He jerked his head toward the garage door. “Now get that thing open. Gabe’s cooking waits for no one.”
Danny barked a sharp laugh and stomped over to the cord, yanking it upward in one practiced move. “Don’t give me that shit. It ain’t dinner you’re looking forward to.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
A sharp, incessant vibration yanked Gabe from sleep, the clatter coming from Zeke’s side of the bed. She propped up on her elbows and blinked her eyes into focus.
On the opposite nightstand, Zeke’s phone flashed against the darkness.
“Zeke.” She shook his shoulder. “Zeke, your phone’s ringing.”
He knifed upward, going from the deepest sleep she’d ever seen him in to wide-awake and scanning the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, but your phone is ringing.” She flopped back down to her pillow, her old digital alarm clock glowing 2:00 a.m. in soft neon blue.
The bed shifted and sheets rustled in the darkness.
Her eyes slipped closed, sleep pulling her back into its comforting depths as Zeke shuffled around the room, the brush of denim against skin overloud in the darkness.
Wait.
Her eyes flew wide and her heart lurched. He hadn’t talked to anyone, had he? Or maybe she’d fallen asleep and missed it. Whatever had happened, Zeke was up and moving swiftly. She pushed up to one elbow. “Who was it?”
“It wasn’t a call. It was my alarm. I have to be somewhere.”
“What?” She double-checked the clock. “It’s two in the morning. I thought your shift didn’t start until seven.”
Already in his jeans, he pulled the T-shirt he’d worn the night before over his head. “It doesn’t, but I have to be somewhere. So does Danny.”
“Now? Who does anything this late?”
Zeke’s sigh slid through the shadowed room, the faint moonlight through her window accenting how his shoulders sagged with the sound. He grabbed his shoes off the floor and padded to her side of the bed, sitting near her hip to put them on. “My brothers are meeting tonight. It starts late because it’s Friday.” He nodded toward the clock. “Or it was Friday. Weekends are rough for some of the guys because of the clubs, so we get together after closing time.”
Your mom slipped out late, too.
Look what that got you.
“You don’t think that’s... I don’t know...weird?”
“Babe, just because I keep odd hours doesn’t mean I’m up to nefarious deeds.”
He had a point. Not that she had any history with friends to gauge normal behavior on, but after the fun she’d had visiting with April the past few days, she’d at least try to pry her sleepy ass out of bed if it was the only time she could see her friend.
For you, wading into the deep end’s worth it.
He was trying. Putting in the effort in a way no one else ever had for her. Giving her the truth when she asked for it. Even now. He easily could have said it was a trauma case, but instead he’d given her the facts straight up.
She shrugged and curled up on her side. “Okay.”
Finished putting on his shoes, he twisted and smoothed her hair off her face. With the window behind him, his face was all angles and shadows, but the glow from her alarm was enough to highlight the intensity behind his eyes. The same lasered focus he wore when working with a patient. “What kind of man do you think I am, gatinha?”
He’d posed it simply. Lightly spoken. But the depth behind what he asked loomed bottomless and deep. She hesitated, giving her thoughts time to surface. “I think you’re the first person outside family I’ve trusted in a very long time.”
He cupped the side of her face, his eyes roving her features as though se
eking reassurance. “Do you?”
She jolted against the pillow, the soft, carefully spoken words ricocheting through her. Not once in the time she’d known him had he sounded so vulnerable. So raw and uncertain. “I’m trying.”
His lips softened on a wistful smile, and he traced her lower lip with his thumb.
She parted her mouth on instinct, her body igniting with the simple touch, craving the caress only he could give her.
Leaning in, he pressed a gentle, lingering kiss to her mouth and whispered, “I know you are. Just give me what you can.” He stood, but pressed another far more innocent kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep. I’ll head straight to work this morning, but I’ll be back tonight. Be sure you keep your doors locked, all right?”
She nodded, too dumbfounded by the odd tone of their conversation and the emotions they’d stirred. The dim overhead light from the stove painted his outline the second he opened the bedroom door. More than anything, she wanted to scramble across the bed and ask him not to go. To keep him here with her.
To make sure he doesn’t run away.
She sat up, the sheet clenched tight in one fist. “Zeke.”
He paused, one hand on the door jam and the other on the knob. “Yeah, sweetheart?”
Her insides twisted, panic spiraling her thoughts in all directions. Everything was fine. She’d said she trusted him, now she needed to show it. She pulled in a steadying breath and settled back against the mattress. “Be careful.”
In shadow, she couldn’t see his face, but a smile lit his voice. “Always, gatinha.”
* * *
It took a thirty-minute drive and a whole lot of handshakes and backslapping from the brothers before everyone gathered round the table for Danny’s first rally, but the delays had been worth it. The slack jaw and wide-eyed wonder on Danny’s face when he’d caught his first glimpse of Haven had yanked Zeke ten years back in time. To the buzzed, angry and unbalanced man he’d once been with nothing but intellect and street smarts to navigate life. The brotherhood had grounded him. Taught him and backed him while he found his way. And now it was Danny’s turn.
Wild & Sweet (The Haven Brotherhood) Page 23
