Larson swung his gaze to meet Zack’s. “I told you to stay away from Skylar.” Even as his split lip was starting to swell and his face was already bruising, Larson took a step toward Zack. “Don’t you go near her.”
Zack clenched his fists at his sides, almost shaking from the desire to land another punch.
Instead, he met Larson’s gaze for one long moment before he scooped up his hat off the ground, turned, and walked toward his personal vehicle, a Silverado.
“I’ll tear you up if you even get close to her,” Larson shouted behind Zack.
It was all he could do to keep walking.
As he saw Sky’s horrified gaze in his mind, Zack’s gut tied into so many knots he didn’t think they’d ever unravel. It was the same way she’d looked at him the first time she saw him after he beat his stepfather.
You really fucked up, Hunter.
Chapter 10
Sunday afternoon, Zack stared through the sliding glass doors at the desert mesquite bushes and dried grass just beyond the apartment complex. His nose ached and had swollen, and the mirror had reflected one hell of a shiner last time he checked.
It had taken everything Zack had to stay away from Sky all day Saturday and most of today. He was going out of his friggin’ mind.
He needed to apologize to Sky. He needed to let her know he wasn’t giving up on the two of them.
Ah, fuck, Hunter. Who are you kidding?
Why should she forgive you?
Zack braced one hand against the wall as the afternoon sunshine cast shadows across the back deck. He tried to get his father’s voice out of his head, but he kept hearing “You’re a worthless piece of shit,” over and over.
Zack pounded the door frame with his fist hard enough to feel a satisfying jolt of pain.
Was he like Carter Hunter, the man who had fathered him?
No, goddammit.
Zack pictured Sky’s face as he’d entered her. After having Sky in his arms, after tasting her sweet lips, after being inside her, he’d known she was his again.
Seeing Larson come close to kissing Sky had sent Zack over the edge.
No way in hell was another man putting his hands on her.
No way in hell was Zack giving up on their relationship.
Zack turned away from the window. Damned if I’m going to wait any longer to see her. He’d given her some space. Given himself time to think things over. Now they’d talk.
He frowned as he thought about how Sky had been limping when she left. He didn’t know what she’d done, but he wanted to make sure she was all right, too.
First things first. He’d better test the waters.
He located his small pad filled with notes and leads about the investigation and found Luke Rider’s contact information.
Zack dialed Rider’s number, and after a couple of rings, the man answered, “Rider here.”
“Zack Hunter,” Zack said as he scrounged for a pen in one of the kitchen drawers. “Wanted to check in with you on the rustling case.”
“Anything in particular?” Rider said as a cow bawled in the background.
Zack finally found his pen and turned to a blank page in his notebook. “Did you figure out how Sky’s dog got sick?”
“Vet called.” Static crackled over the line like the wind was blowing. “That chunk of beef Blue got ahold of was laced with poison that could have killed him if Sky hadn’t gotten to him when she did.”
“Damn.” Zack picked up the pen. “Do you think it was meant for Blue or to kill off some of the coyotes in the area?”
“With all the shit going on with the rustlers,” Rider said, “my first guess would be intentional. But that begs answers to a whole lot of questions, and none of them make sense. At least not now.”
“What’s the vet’s name and number? I’ll give him a call.”
“Hobgood.” Rider rattled off the vet’s phone number while Zack scrawled the information onto a page in the notebook. “If—when—we catch the son of a bitch,” Rider went on, the slightest hint of amusement in his voice, “Sky’s planning to personally cut off his balls.”
“I bet she will,” Zack said, and shook his head at the image. “Anything else?”
“Wade Larson’s missing at least a dozen head of cattle, too,” Rider said as one of the ranch hands yipped over bawling cattle in the background. “Larson reported the thefts today to Clay Wayland, the new county sheriff.”
Zack whistled through his teeth. He couldn’t stand Larson, but he didn’t like to see the guy screwed like this. “I’ll have to give Sheriff Wayland a call.”
“Got any theories why the rustlers might be taking the cattle to Mexico?” Rider asked.
“Mad cow disease,” Zack said, then explained what he’d come up with.
“I think you’ve got something there, Hunter.” Rider had a note of approval in his voice. “That epidemic might be over a thousand miles away, but it’s still too close to the U.S./Mexico border for comfort.” He added over the static, “The Mexican government better get on stamping it out before it takes the whole damn country.”
“How the hell do you transport herds of cattle across the line without anyone catching on?” Zack said, thinking out loud.
“The rustlers are possibly splitting the herds and using the same routes they’re running drugs and illegal aliens,” Rider said.
“Got a feeling you’re right.” Zack leaned his hip against the counter as he frowned. “You’d think with ICE, the DEA, the sheriff s department, and Border Protection on the job it would be possible to nail all these sons of bitches before they cross the line.”
“This is some huge territory to cover and the volume of illegals and drugs crossing the line—Jesus,” Rider said. “Not to mention the routes change all the time. It’s all the agencies can do to handle a portion of it.”
An idea formed in Zack’s mind.
“Hamburger,” he said as he thought out loud again.
“You hungry or something, Hunter?”
“I’d bet a good portion of the beef is being processed somewhere around here.” A feeling in Zack’s gut told him he was on the right track. “Hell of an easier way to get it out of the country.”
“Goddamned.” Rider paused and Zack heard a horse whicker in the background. “Hell if that doesn’t sound like you’ve hit it dead-on.”
“I’ll get on this first thing tomorrow when I hit the office.” He’d have access to more databases there.
The line crackled. “I’ve got to head on out,” Rider said.
Zack paused for a moment. Yeah, he’d wanted info related to the rustling, but he had another reason altogether for calling.
“Hold on a sec.” He cleared his throat. “How’s Sky?”
The bawling of cattle sounded louder, along with the sharp whistle of one of the ranch hands, as Rider said, “She sure did a number on her ankle after the dance. Doctor wants her off it for at least a week.” He gave a frustrated sigh. “Keeping her down is going to take some doing. She’s as stubborn as hell.”
Zack rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t realize she’d hurt it so bad.”
“Yeah, she did.” Rider paused for a moment before changing the subject. “I’ve never seen her so pissed.” A note like suspicion was in his next words. “She’s fit to be tied. Says she doesn’t want any company. Especially you and Larson. Any particular reason for that?”
Might as well be straight up. “Larson and I got into a fistfight Friday night in front of Sky. I’d say she was beyond pissed.”
“You might want to keep your distance,” Rider said over the sound of the cattle that was growing louder. “Sky’s got her claws out and she’s spittin’ mad.”
“Is she laid up with that ankle?”
“She’s in the living room and not exactly mobile.”
Zack rubbed his jaw and winced as he touched a bruise from the fistfight. “I’ll be right over.”
Rider snorted. “They’re your balls, Hunter.”
<
br /> “Check in with you later,” Zack said before he ended the call. He dialed information and got the number for the county sheriff’s office. He placed a quick call to Clay Wayland and left a message asking the sheriff to return his call.
Zack clipped his phone to his belt, then braced his palms on the kitchen counter as his thoughts turned to Sky MacKenna. Looked like he was headed into the lioness’s den.
***
Sky eased back in the living room rocking chair, her foot resting on a hassock. Two ice packs surrounded her throbbing ankle and a pair of crutches leaned against the closest end table.
The prickling on Sky’s arms, the heat flushing her body, drove away the cold of the ice pack. “Asses. Both of them,” she nearly growled. Who the hell did they think they were, fighting over her as if they had some kind of claim on her?
But that wasn’t the worst part.
No.
The worst part was seeing Zack’s face when she screamed at him and Wade that she never wanted to see either one of them again.
Her chest suddenly hurt like she couldn’t catch her breath.
Zack’s expression had been the same as it had when she’d seen him the day he was released from jail. A flash of vulnerability followed by pain and self-loathing.
The heat of Sky’s anger mixed with an ache for Zack, and her stomach twisted.
She didn’t want Zack beating himself up like he had ten years ago. What he’d done was stupid, but that didn’t mean he was anything but a good man.
She forced her thoughts away from Zack for the moment.
Last night, even through her haze of pain and fury at Zack and Wade, she’d realized she’d wrenched her ankle bad enough that she needed to have it examined. After she had been waiting for what seemed like forever in the ER, an X-ray tech had taken a couple of films of her ankle. Nothing broken, so they’d wrapped it in an Ace bandage, given her crutches, and told her to stay off it. Not to mention ice it, elevate it, and follow up with her own doc in a week.
Just fabulous.
Being cooped up inside was a slow form of torture as far as she was concerned. She wanted nothing better than to be out in the barn working with Satan, or riding Empress, her mare, or doing any number of things that didn’t involve being stuck in the house.
Sky winced as she shifted her foot on the hassock. She leaned over the right side of her rocking chair and grasped the handle of her quilting basket.
“When are you going to finish this thing, Sky?” she said aloud. She’d been working on the same quilt since she was sixteen, when her mother passed away from breast cancer. While Sky’s mother was ill, she’d taught Sky how to quilt one block. Sky had used it as an example as she practiced on a few blocks before she started working on some for a blanket.
Thirteen years later Sky was still working on the same damn quilt. She probably had enough blocks for two king-sized beds. For some reason she’d never been able to get herself to finish the project. Like it was the last link holding her mother to her.
Preferring to be outside, Sky only managed a few blocks a year when she couldn’t do anything outside. But quilting did relax her when she was upset. She’d made a lot of blocks the first six months after Zack left.
She set the wicker basket on her lap. Quilting usually helped keep her mind off other things, too.
Like the fact I had sex with Zack.
Tier stomach dropped. The illusion she’d had that she was less vulnerable than she had been ten years ago was completely and utterly shattered.
She wrapped her arms around her belly and shivered, and it wasn’t from the ice pack on her ankle. It was from the realization Zack had stripped away all of her defenses.
He’d laid her heart and soul bare.
And I let him fuck me.
Sky hugged herself tighter, wishing to god she hadn’t wanted Zack so bad at that moment. No matter how right it had felt to have him inside her, she shouldn’t have let it happen. Zack Hunter had torn her apart once. She couldn’t let him do it to her again.
Too late now, MacKenna. Now all you can do is regroup and push him as far away as possible.
Still, even though she’d told Zack she never wanted to see him or Wade again, she’d expected Zack to call anyway. To stop by. He was bullheaded that way.
But he already got what he wanted, didn’t he.
Even as the thought came to her, she rejected it. Unless he had changed drastically, Zack wasn’t the kind of man who used a woman and discarded her.
Yet he’d left ten years ago.
He left.
And this time he hasn’t even called.
Sky’s hands trembled a little as she gripped her quilting basket. Yes, she’d told him to stay away, but it still cut her inside that he hadn’t made the effort.
She shifted in her seat again and tried to clear her mind of all things.
Yeah, like that’s going to work.
Before she had a chance to grab anything out of the quilting basket, a knock sounded at the door.
Sky’s heart stuttered before it started pounding. Maybe it was Luke.
The knock was louder this time. Her heart knocked harder, too.
Ignore it, MacKenna. Don’t answer.
The catch on the door handle clicked and she could only stare at the door, holding her breath.
The door creaked open and Sky’s heart creaked with it as Zack Hunter stepped over the threshold.
Chapter 11
For a moment Zack just stood in the doorway, watching Sky. Even after what had happened Friday night, he still had the power to take her breath away.
Damn him.
Zack stepped into the house, his dominating presence filling the room as he closed the door behind him. Sky felt like everything was off-balance, as if the house itself were tipping.
Fie said nothing as he walked toward her, his worn blue jeans hugging his thighs and his boots ringing against the tiled floor. A gray T-shirt stretched over his chest, the shade bringing out the steel of his eyes. His weapon was holstered at his side along with his cell phone.
No doubt from his fight with Wade, a bruise darkened Zack’s cheekbone, his nose looked a little swollen, and he had a black eye. His dark hair was slightly ruffled and he gripped his Stetson in one hand.
Sky swallowed. Where were all the things she wanted to yell at him about? Why wouldn’t her mind cooperate with her mouth?
When he reached her he towered over her for a moment and it looked like he was trying to read her frown. Then without invitation he moved to the couch near her rocking chair and sat on the end closest to her.
“I told you to stay away.” Her mind finally was able to transfer the words to her mouth as she deepened her frown. “Starting a fistfight with Wade—that was inexcusable.”
Zack looked down at his western hat that he now held in both hands. He raised his face again and met her gaze. “Was it?”
Sky looked at him with incredulity. “You think that charging in, acting like you own me, and trying to beat the crap out of another man is excusable?”
“After what we shared, I couldn’t let another man touch you, Sky.” Zack’s deep voice was low, almost soft. “The sight of him trying to kiss you—there was no way I was going to let that happen.”
“What you and I did—that was a mistake.” Fear of Zack destroying her defenses any further made her voice quaver. At the same time, the memory of him taking her up against the building sent heat flushing through her.
He shook his head. “Being inside you again was right. Perfect.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She clenched the edge of the quilting basket in her hands as she could almost feel him thrust in and out of her slick core. “It should never have happened.”
Zack glanced down at his hat again that he was slowly turning around by its brim. “I’m not going to apologize for something that was meant to be.”
“Then what are you here for?” She let the words out with a bite to her tone. “I’ve already made
it clear you’re not welcome.”
“I fucked up.” His voice had a harsh edge to it. “I shouldn’t have lost control with Larson. I should never have let you see me like that.”
Sky didn’t know what to say as she looked into his gaze.
“And I don’t know how to fix this.” He glanced at his hat before looking at her again. “I don’t know how to fix us.”
She could feel her heart crumbling. Why was he doing this? To let him into her life again... she couldn’t let him hurt her like he had before. She wouldn’t let him hurt her again.
When she could speak, she said, “How many times do I have to tell you there’s no us to fix?”
He looked away and when he turned back she was startled by the pain etched into his features. She had the instant desire to wrap her arms around him and draw that pain away. His expression filled with so much self-loathing that something hard twisted inside her belly.
“I saw it in your eyes when I was arrested for beating the shit out of that bastard.” Zack got to his feet and looked down at her. A muscle in his jaw ticced. “You were revolted.”
Sky was shaking her head. “Never—”
“That’s why I left like I did.” His gut churned as her eyes widened. “You deserved better than some out-of-control bastard like me.
“A decade later I thought I’d changed.” His skin felt stretched tighter with every word he spoke. “God, when I saw you again, I thought maybe we had another shot.” Zack pushed his hand through his hair, wanting to rip a chunk of it out just to feel the welcome pain. “But Friday night I proved I’m the same stupid son of a bitch.”
“Zack!” Sky’s shout, the red flush in her cheeks, and the anger in her eyes brought him to a complete halt. “I knew then and I know now that you’d never hurt anyone—except that worthless scum who deserved it.”
She looked like she was ready to come out of the rocking chair despite her messed-up ankle as she went on, “Ellis Kerrigan was a lousy son of a bitch who deserved every damned punch you laid on him for what he did to your mother.” Sky’s voice escalated as she tossed the basket she’d been holding onto the floor. “You never gave me a chance. You were so wrapped up in your own pity party that you couldn’t see anything past your own misery.”
Zack (Armed and Dangerous Book 1) Page 8
