by A. K. Evans
I was in the middle of prepping the salmon filets when the doorbell rang. Knowing we were all here I was a bit puzzled. I looked up to Lorenzo and found that he was already moving to the door, his body having gone from relaxed on the couch to alert. He cracked the door open, looked out, and opened it further to speak to the person on the other side. Lorenzo was so large I couldn’t see who it was, but I heard something about a flower delivery. I smiled as I walked back to the island and continued prepping the food and thought how nice it was that someone was sending Luke flowers for winning, even though I didn’t think he was the type to get all mushy over having flowers being delivered to him no matter what the reason. I had just finished prepping the last salmon filet, popped them in the oven with the potatoes, and set the timer when I turned around to see Lorenzo standing there with a seriously concerned look on his face.
“Is everything ok?” I asked.
“Is Emme a nickname for Emily?” he countered.
My stomach went cold and my knees buckled. Lorenzo was quick on his feet and immediately wrapped his arm around my waist to catch me before I collapsed to the floor.
“Talk to me,” he said.
“Nobody calls me Emily,” I began, my body beginning to tremble. “Except for him.”
“Miller?”
I nodded.
With his arm still wrapped around me pulling me into his body, Lorenzo tossed the flowers on the counter and tore open the card with one hand. He didn’t show it to me. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and held it to his ear.
“Need you in the kitchen now,” he said into the phone before tossing it on the countertop.
“He knows where I am. How does he know I’m here?” I asked, my body shaking uncontrollably now.
Lorenzo wrapped both arms around me and pulled me into a hug. He leaned down to my ear and said, “He’s not going to touch you, Em. As long as I’m here in this house I promise you he does not get to you.”
Seconds later, I heard footsteps in the kitchen.
“Fuck,” I heard Cruz say. “What happened?”
I felt one of Lorenzo’s arms let go of me briefly, though the other got tighter to compensate for the loss.
“Motherfucker. Who brought this?” Cruz asked.
I assumed at that point that Lorenzo had given Cruz the card.
“Delivery guy. Call and get Trent looking in to it now. Need to know if the threat is local.”
Hearing the word threat had me trembling harder. I then heard more footsteps.
“Hey what’s going on?” Luke asked. “Is she ok?”
“Need you to get Zane,” Lorenzo ordered.
I completely zoned out at that point. Zane. I just needed him. Within seconds, I heard footsteps running down the stairs.
“What happened to her?” Zane roared.
I tensed.
“Fuck, man. She’s already fucking scared and her body just went solid hearing you yell. Think you can take it down a notch so I can put her in your arms, where I’m sure she’s going to get a whole hell of a lot more comfort than she will in mine?”
Zane didn’t answer. His arms came around me as Lorenzo let me go.
He whispered in my ear, “I’m sorry for scaring you, sweetheart.”
Luke spoke up and asked, “What happened?”
“The flowers were delivered a few minutes ago. Delivery guy said they were for Emily. Took me a second to realize that they had to be for her. Came back and asked her if Emme was her nickname for Emily. Had I been standing farther away from her she would have collapsed on the floor. She told me Miller is the only one who calls her Emily.”
“Was there a note?” Luke asked.
“Cruz has the card that was attached to them. He’s calling Trent to have him look in to it.”
“What did it say?” Zane questioned.
Silence.
“De Luca,” Zane called, no patience left in his voice. “What did it say?”
“Enjoy your final show tomorrow.”
I burst into tears. Zane bent down and picked me up. He carried me to the couch where I curled into his body. It was at this point that I heard things happening around me, but couldn’t bring myself to do anything but cry with my head buried in Zane’s chest. The fear I was now feeling had taken over.
Enjoy your final show tomorrow.
I couldn’t help but run through every possible scenario in my head. Why would it be the final show? Was he going to hurt Zane? Was he going to do something to me? Would he try something in broad daylight? Would he wait until we returned to Rising Sun?
Question after question filtered through my mind. Stone had joined the group now and had just gotten the rundown on the whole situation. Minutes later, Cruz returned.
“What do you have?” Lorenzo asked.
“Confirmed the order was placed online this afternoon. Trent’s figuring out where the order originated. He’s working like a madman right now trying to get us a lock on Miller’s location before tomorrow morning. Even if we can determine he’s still in Wyoming we’re still going to be on high alert tomorrow. Nothing changes.”
It was at that moment I spoke up. “How did he find us here?”
Cruz shrugged and offered, “You told us he worked for an IT firm throughout the last half of your relationship. Thinking he was half decent at what he did there and then he likely spent the last year researching how to get ahold of that kind of information.”
It was then that Wes and Charley came down the stairs. The tension and anxiety in the room was thick and they felt it the moment they walked in. Wes immediately pulled Charley into his side. I’m pretty sure he had a good idea of what was happening.
“What’s going on?” Charley asked.
“Just had a delivery guy here dropping those flowers off for Emme,” Lorenzo began. “Told me it was a delivery for Emily.”
“Oh my God,” Charley started. “He knows we’re here?”
Lorenzo gave her a nod.
Wes held tight to Charley, whose eyes were on mine, when he asked, “Just the flowers?”
Cruz walked over and handed the card to Wes. Wes took the card from Cruz, and read it as Charley looked on. Charley’s terrified eyes came back to mine as Wes’ jaw clenched.
Cruz’s phone rang. As he pulled it out and up to his ear everyone sat in silence listening.
“Tell me you’ve got something good, Michaels,” he answered.
Silence again.
“You got someone on that?” Cruz asked.
He waited while Trent answered.
“Keep us posted on anything new.”
Silence.
“Appreciate it, but I think De Luca and I will be good, especially considering this news. If you find anything else, though, get it to us.”
Silence.
“Thanks, man. Later.”
Cruz disconnected the call and looked to us. “Trent managed to locate the IP address used to place the online order. Tracked it down and it’s coming from a location twenty miles east of Rising Sun. Assuming he’s not working with anyone else, it looks like he’s still back in Wyoming. Reynolds is going to check out the area the IP is targeted in to see what he can find. They’ll call with any updates. Trent said Levi was ready to send out two more guys for the extra security tomorrow if we wanted it, but I’m thinking that since we’re pretty certain he’s still back in Wyoming we should be good.”
“Want you both on her tomorrow?” Zane said.
“What?” I asked, pulling back from him. “No way, Zane.”
“Emme, I’m not fucking kidding. I want you safe and I’d prefer there be a second person with you,” he said.
“And what about you? Who makes sure that you are safe? Somebody has to have your back, baby,” I demanded.
Zane was struggling at this point. He knew how strongly I felt about this and how much I wanted to know that someone was looking out for him. He stared at me, fighting a battle with himself to make a decision on this. H
e wanted me to have the extra protection, but he knew I wouldn’t settle for him having nothing.
“I’ll help,” Luke chimed in.
Everyone looked to him.
Luke looked to Zane. “I don’t have any formal training, but I can be an extra body. Let Cruz and De Luca split up, one on each of you, and I’ll be a second body with Em. I’m sure one of these guys could singlehandedly watch out for the both of you; you know that’s the truth, Zane. My stuff ended today so I’m free tomorrow. I’ll stay with one of them and Emme so you can ease her mind and have one of them at your back.”
“Luke,” I whispered.
Zane stared at Luke. After a moment of silence he finally asked, “You serious?”
Luke nodded.
Zane dropped his head and I felt some of the tension leave his body. When he brought his head back up he looked to Luke and in a slightly more raspy voice said, “Thanks, brother.”
“It’s all good, man. You’d do the same if the roles were reversed.”
“Without a doubt.”
The timer on the oven started going off. I moved to get up, but Zane held me tight in his arms.
“Baby, dinner is ready. I have to get it out of the oven before it overcooks.”
He gazed at me a moment before he pressed a kiss to my forehead and let me get up. I walked out into the kitchen and Charley followed behind me to help. After I turned off the timer and took the food out of the oven I looked back into the family room. Zane was still sitting on the couch, but his elbows were now resting on his thighs and his head was dropped in his hands. Cruz had walked over and sat down next to him. He put his hand on Zane’s shoulder and said something to him. Zane looked to his brother and nodded. Cruz squeezed his shoulder and patted him on the back before dropping his hand.
“He’s worried for you,” Charley’s voice filtered into my head.
I looked to my best friend. I could see the worry on her face, too.
“I know, sweets,” I began, giving her a small smile. “A lot of people are. I’m going to be ok, though.”
“You’re not scared?” she asked.
“Of course I am, but I’ve learned that being scared doesn’t mean you stop living your life. There’s too much beauty you can miss out on.”
“I hate that Seth is still terrorizing you, but I’m so happy you’ve opened your heart to Zane. That man would do anything to protect you and keep you happy. And, there’s nobody in this world that deserves it more than you.”
“Thanks, Charley,” I said, pausing a moment to let her feel my sentiment. “When we get back to Rising Sun will you help me out with something I want to do for Zane?”
“Anything, honey. What do you need?”
“Wes liked your boudoir photo session, right?”
“He freaking loved it,” she began, a smile spreading across her face. “In fact, he made me give him all of the shots you took of me.”
“I want to do one for Zane. I think he’d like it,” I shared.
“Are you kidding me? He’s going to love it!”
I smiled at her before I looked back out to the family room and asked, “Think we should feed these boys?”
She looked out to the family room before looking at me and agreeing, “It’s probably not a bad idea.”
With that, the two of us plated the food and took it to the dining room table. We called the guys over and somehow the tension that had been overwhelming not a mere ten minutes before seemed to have dissipated, except for Zane. I watched him throughout dinner. His mind was preoccupied.
After dinner, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, I moved to start cleaning up when Charley said, “Hey, Zane. You’ve got a long day tomorrow. Why don’t you take my girl here upstairs and get some rest?”
“Charley, I can help clean up first,” I said.
Wes chimed in. “You cooked, Em. Go take a break. I’ll help Charley clean up.”
Zane and I both looked to our friends. This is what I would have missed out on had I not taken a chance and opened my heart to Zane. People who cared about you. People who knew what you needed and did what they had to do to give it to you when you wouldn’t give it to yourself.
“Thank you,” I said.
Zane pushed his chair back and stood. “Thanks, guys.”
They both nodded and Zane took my hand in his as we walked out of the dining room toward the stairs. When we got inside the bedroom he insisted, “Why don’t you go take a shower and get ready for bed?”
What?
“What’s wrong, Zane?”
He shook his head. “It’s been a long day, and Charley was right, tomorrow will be a long day, too. We should try to get some rest.”
I didn’t say anything. He was struggling with this right now and needed some time to process it. It saddened me, but I’d give him the time he needed.
“Ok,” I said, trying not to let the sadness I was feeling overwhelm me as I walked toward the bathroom.
I lingered a bit in the shower trying to give Zane some time alone, but it wasn’t easy. I hated that he was in such turmoil over this and wished I knew what I could do to make it better. I wanted his head in the game for tomorrow so he could go out and win the event. He’d been working so hard and deserved it. When I could no longer stay in the shower I hopped out and went about the business of my usual nighttime routine. I took my time doing this, which easily gave Zane an extra fifteen minutes of time alone.
I finally emerged from the bathroom and walked out into the bedroom to find my strong, protective man looking defeated as he sat on the small sofa in the corner of the room. It broke my heart seeing him like that. I walked over to him, put my hand on his shoulder, and he lifted his head. The turmoil swirling in his baby blues was too much to handle.
“Baby,” I began. “Talk to me.”
“Don’t think I want to ride tomorrow,” he said, the tightness in his throat evident.
I moved and settled myself in his lap. His arms wrapped around my body instantly.
“Tell me why not,” I urged him.
“All I care about is you, Emme. I want you safe and I would never forgive myself if something happened to you tomorrow.”
“But Cruz said that they believe he’s still in Wyoming,” I reminded him.
“Know that, but they aren’t positive about it.”
I took in a deep breath before I pleaded, “Zane, baby, don’t let him win. I understand why you are struggling with this because I feel the same exact way about you. If something happened to you I’d be a mess. We need to fight back, though. We’ve got Cruz and Lorenzo here with us and I trust them. I put my trust in them in the beginning because I trusted you. You were confident that they could get the job done. And now, I trust them not only for that same reason, but because they’ve earned it. I believe they will do whatever they need to so they can keep the both of us safe. It took a lot for me to get to this place, Zane. I did it because you were by my side. I know you are worried and I love you for it, but please don’t give up. Keep fighting with me and get me out of the darkness so I can spend the rest of my life in the light with you.”
“You want to spend the rest of your life with me?” he asked as he stared me in the eyes.
I smiled back at him and answered, “Absolutely.”
“I love you so much, Em.”
“I love you, too.”
With that, Zane picked me up and carried me to the bed. He settled over my body and I put my hands up to frame his face.
“Tell me, Zane. Tell me you’re going to compete tomorrow and that we’re going to win.”
“Sweetheart, I’ve got you; I already won.” I held his eyes a moment before he added, “We’ll fight together tomorrow. Want to love you now, though.”
“Ok, baby,” I agreed.
At that, Zane loved me good. It was slow and sweet and meant everything to me.
Chapter 28
Emme
“We did it, baby.”
Zane turned to look at me,
let out a sigh, and agreed with me.
“Yeah, sweetheart, we did it.”
We were currently sitting in the Raptor and had just pulled into the garage at his house. The last two days sent the two of us through a whirlwind of emotions and I’m certain we were both grateful at this point to be back.
The morning following the flower delivery left everyone feeling a bit on edge. I tried to remain as calm as possible, particularly around Zane because I didn’t want him more worried that I was actually completely freaking out about what would happen that day. He had enough on his plate and needed to focus; I refused to add to the stress I knew he was already feeling.
Everyone was up and ready to go early that morning. Cruz and Luke were with me while Lorenzo was spending his day covering Zane. Zane and Stone had quick practice sessions just after lunch and the finals started immediately afterward. The competition was tough, but as was typical our guys were leading the pack. I took photos throughout the entire session and knew the moment I saw Zane land his final trick that he had done it. Of course, I was biased in my assessment, but I wasn’t wrong either. When all was said and done, only a tenth of a point separated Zane and Stone. The next closest competitor was two full points off.
Throughout the entire competition neither Cruz nor Luke left my side. When it was over, we all wasted no time in heading out and making our way back to the house. After arriving back at the house and having dinner, everyone called it an early night. We were leaving early in the morning to head back to Wyoming so Zane and I got our stuff packed back up. When we got into bed roughly two hours later Zane wrapped an arm around my waist and held me, but never tried to make love to me.
He was pretty quiet and this was unusual, which made me begin to worry. “Zane?”
“Yeah, Em.”
I rolled over in the bed so that I was facing him, pressed my hand to his cheek, and asked, “You ok, baby?”
