Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2)

by Harper Bentley

  After having a couple beers, we’d headed back to our room, showered separately (hm), gotten in bed, he’d given me a peck on the lips telling me goodnight, then pulling me with my back to him so he could hold me like I was some big teddy bear or something, he fell asleep. I reasoned in my head that he was probably tired, so keeping myself from thinking any negative thoughts, I, too, closed my eyes and slept.

  We’d had an excellent time skiing the next day. I’d only been a couple times before, so I wasn’t very good, but Zeke had patience for days and stayed with me almost the entire time. I finally told him to go do his own thing then watched as he hit a black diamond trail and absolutely owned it.

  “Is there anything you don’t do well?” I asked him our second night as we lay in bed, him rubbing my lower back because those bunny trails had eaten my lunch.

  I’d thought that was the perfect tie-in to some steamy sex since we hadn’t made love the night before, but he’d just muttered a “Mm” and continued giving me a massage, utterly caught up in his thoughts.

  Once again, I let it go hoping he’d finally trust me enough to talk to me. Then with a sigh, I’d sat up, leaned in to give him a goodnight kiss and settled into his arms and gone to sleep.

  The next day had been much the same except Zeke had gotten a call from who I thought was his dad that morning after which he seemed to be in better spirts. I’d gotten brave and tried some intermediate trails which were okay, but I preferred the bunny ones. He’d laughed and shook his head at me when I’d shrugged after telling him my preference. That night I’d tried seducing him but he was back to being preoccupied, so as I had the night before, I’d sighed, kissed him goodnight and fallen asleep as he held me.

  But now I was beginning to get worried. God, what if he’d changed his mind about me? I mean, there we were at a gorgeous bed and breakfast in the mountains, alone, and we hadn’t had sex the entire time. He’d acted like things were okay, but I could see a shadow of worry in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. What if he’d decided it just wasn’t going to work out with us and he was just biding his time before he dropped me off at my house never to see me again? But honestly, I couldn’t blame him. It was just par for the course in all my relationships minus the cheating. So I hoped for the best but steeled myself for the worst.

  So now there we were on our way home and I’d played out every scenario in my head wondering what could be going on with him (minus the wanting to break up with me part). Was he not going to get drafted? Had that been his agent calling giving him bad news and he was pissed? Was there something going on at the college, like he’d found out he needed to take a summer class to graduate? Had he had an overdraft at the bank? I know I got pissed when that happened to me.

  Or… and this was the one topic I didn’t want to even broach… had he cheated on me with Sara and she’d given him an ultimatum, as in her or me, and he’d thought about it and chosen her, but being the nice guy he was, he’d gone ahead and taken me skiing because he knew how much I’d looked forward to it.

  On the three-hour drive home, I sat thinking up every angle this situation could go, but I just kept coming back to him and Sara.

  For one, he hadn’t touched me the entire time we were at the inn. I mean, if I’d planned on breaking up with someone to be with someone else, I wouldn’t want to sleep with that person either. Since this made the most sense to me, I at first was sad as we drove down the snow-covered mountain. And then I’d gotten pissed. And the longer we drove, the madder I got.

  I now realized I’d reversed the calls he’d taken on our way here. The angry ones were when he was talking to his brothers because they were probably sticking up for me (at least I hoped they were) and the sweet ones were when Sara had called. And the call he’d gotten yesterday morning that put him in a better mood had also been from her. Duh. It was right there in front of my eyes.

  When we were about thirty minutes outside of Seattle, we stopped for a bathroom break and to get a drink at a convenience store. Since I was pretty ticked and didn’t want to be near him, I’d asked for his keys and gotten back in the truck because he’d been standing in line to pay for our drinks. That’s when his phone buzzed and I looked down to see a text from Sara.

  Text Message—Mon, Mar. 16, 1:33 p.m.

  Sara: Call me when you get this : )

  I’d had to look at it a couple times to make sure I’d read it right. On the third look, I realized I was literate and had actually seen what I thought I’d seen.

  And my heart died.

  You know the feeling. All the air is knocked out of you at once, your entire body goes numb and you feel as if that place in your chest cavity which once held the muscle that keeps you alive is as hollow as a tomb.

  Zeke came out of the store just then and had had the audacity to smile sweetly at me. When he got in the truck, he handed me my drink and leaned in to kiss me, but I turned to give him my cheek. I didn’t look at him but knew he was frowning as he started the truck. I also knew he smiled when he’d picked his phone up to see that Whatsername had texted him. Whatever.

  As we got closer to my house, I’d had enough and deciding that if this was the end, I was going to do it my way and let him have it.

  “So why’d you even bother taking me this weekend?”

  He jerked his head to me either out of shock that I’d figured out his and Sara’s nefarious plan or because we’d been quiet since the store. I was going with the first one.

  “What?” he asked with a frown.

  I shot him a “get real” look. “Why’d we still go when you don’t want to be with me?”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Scarlett.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I saw you talking to Sara. I know you want to get back together with her. I know you’re a good guy, so you kept this little vacation date because you knew I was looking forward to it. And I know that’s why you didn’t touch me the entire time. Oh, and I just saw her text.”

  Well, that pretty much took care of everything. If he wanted an out, there it was all laid out in front of him.

  I felt the air in the truck change and looked over to see him staring at the road as he drove, his face hard, jaw muscles jumping and wondered what the fuck he had to be mad about.

  We didn’t say another word until he pulled up to my house, got out, grabbed my suitcase from behind his seat, closed his door then came around and walked me to the porch.

  I chewed on my bottom lip staring at a spot on the porch that I’d always thought looked like Abraham Lincoln, waiting for him to man up and tell me that what’d I’d said was right and that he was sorry we didn’t work out, blah, blah, blah but he just stood there. I finally got tired of waiting and looked at him and wished I hadn’t.

  God, the glower he was giving me made me wish I could go invisible and get the hell out of there. But I took it like a champ giving him my best glower right back.

  “That what you really think?” he asked, voice clipped.

  I threw my hands out. “Isn’t that what’s going on?” My hands went to my hips. “It all makes perfect sense now, the phone calls, your brooding all weekend because you weren’t with her, you not touching me because you’d be betraying her. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that shit out, Zeke.”

  I saw his lips twitch but then his look turned cruel. “That’s exactly it, Scarlett. You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you? Since you think I’m such an asshole and would pull something like that, I guess there’s nothing left to say. Enjoy the rest of your goddamned break.” He turned and headed back to his truck with not one look back at me.

  And I was left standing on the porch watching as he drove away.

  *Week Ten—Not Even One Encounter*

  Grammy and Lane left me alone for the most part during the week. I turned off my phone because I just didn’t want to deal and stayed in my room and cried the majority of the time and wasn’t life grand. I worked Tuesday through Friday at The
Nook but talked myself into not crying or showing any emotion while there by telling myself I had the rest of the day to do that when I got home, which worked like a charm.

  Dad had come home on Wednesday but had had to leave again on Friday because he’d picked up an extra job, so we barely got to spend any time with him, which I’m sure he was just dying to spend quality time with his sobbing mess of a daughter. Friday he’d come into my room to see me all red-eyed and sniffy, asked what the guy’s name was and did I want him to kick the shit out of him. I’d told him Zeke was the best guy that I’d ever met (besides him, of course), so, no, no shit kicking was necessary. He’d nodded, told me he loved me and that everything would be fine, he promised, then he’d kissed my forehead and he was gone.

  Friday night I finally turned my phone back on to see that I had fifty-three calls, twenty-two voicemails and eighty-seven text messages from Zeke. Jeez. I deleted them all. Jay had gone to Cabo with Dex for break, but I saw that she’d called several times, so I called her back and after griping me out for not answering my phone, she asked me what was going on, that a rumor was going around campus that Zeke and I had broken up. I confirmed it was true and she’d actually cried herself.

  “B-but you guys were perfect for each other,” she sobbed.

  And this made me start crying again. “Apparently not or he wouldn’t have dumped me for Sara.” I dabbed at my eyes with the eight-thousandth tissue I’d used in the past five days.

  “What exactly did he say when you broke up? And remind me to tell you something about her when you finish,” she said through her sniffles.

  I told her everything that had happened and waited for her to tell me what a pig Zeke was and how she wished he’d be afflicted with a disease that didn’t hurt him internally but just made him ugly physically but that didn’t happen.

  “That doesn’t sound like a breakup to me, Scar.” She wasn’t sniffing anymore and now she sounded a little peeved.

  I huffed. “Um, it doesn’t sound like he was proposing, Jay. What about it doesn’t sound like a fucking breakup?”

  “Did he once utter the term ‘breakup’? No, I don’t think he did. It sounds like he was calling you out on you assuming that he and Sara were together.”

  Frowning, I recalled (for the twenty-billionth time) what Zeke had said when we were on the porch. At the time, it had sounded as if he was telling me we were over, but maybe it’d only sounded that way because I’d already made up my mind that that was what was going to happen.

  “Shit, I don’t know. I’ve thought about it so much, run it through my head so many times, that I’m not even sure anymore,” I mumbled.

  “Well, I still don’t think it sounds like a breakup,” she repeated. “Has he tried calling?” I told her about the numerous messages he’d left but that I’d deleted them and after griping me out for doing that she said, “I need to tell you something about Sara, though. Are you sitting down?”

  God, what else could there be? “Yes, I’m on my bed. What is it?”

  I heard Jay take a breath. “She’s pregnant.”

  For the second time that week all the air was knocked out of me. “What?” I wheezed. “And it’s… it’s… Zeke’s?”

  Holy fuck. No wonder he’d brooded all weekend. That’s what they’d been talking about before class last Friday.

  “I’m not saying that. She’s saying it is, but who knows?”

  I started crying again. “And now they’re together and will be the perfect little family.”

  I hadn’t thought I had any heart left, but found out I did because what was left of it completely shattered.

  ~*~*~*~

  “Can you drop me off at the courts? Eric and Jace have a game up with a bunch of other guys,” Lane asked Saturday afternoon sticking his head in my room after he’d knocked.

  “Sure,” I mumbled, throwing my covers off and hobbling out of bed. “Give me a minute.” I was in my black and white plaid sleep pants and a white t-shirt minus a bra. I grabbed the maroon Hallervan hoodie I’d stolen from Zeke, the only thing I had left of him, and pulled it over my head, tears stinging the backs of my eyes for a second when I realized it still smelled like him. Then proud of myself for only tearing up and not actually crying this time, I looked in the mirror attached to my dresser, made a face at my disheveled self and reached for the Mariners cap that hung on the top edge of the mirror. Not bothering with brushing my hair, I pulled the cap on. And even though I hadn’t showered that morning, I was okay with that. I wasn’t out to impress anyone. So slipping on my old pair of moccasins and sans makeup, I left my room.

  Yep. My fall from despondency into depression was well on its way.

  “Hi, darling,” Grammy said when I went through the kitchen. I mumbled hi to her, and grabbing my keys, hollered at Lane to come on and we left.

  “Why’s it have to be so bright outside?” I complained as I drove, digging for my sunglasses in my purse.

  “It wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t holed up in your room in the dark all day long, Vampira,” Lane said with a chuckle.

  I couldn’t help but smile a bit that he knew who Vampira was. Making him watch TV Land and old movies with me would definitely pay off one day if he ever went on Jeopardy and they had a “Stupid shit my sister made me watch over the years” category.

  I pulled into the parking lot, and deciding Lane was right and I needed to get some fresh air after being cooped up inside for the past several days, went to the bleachers beside the courts, where I sat and watched him and his friends play basketball for a bit.

  “Scarlett?” I heard someone call and isn’t that what always happens? You go out looking like crap then run into everyone you know. I pulled my cap down lower over my head, burying my hands in the pouch of Zeke’s hoodie and hunched down a bit hoping whoever had called to me would think they were mistaken. Out of curiosity, I slid my eyes to the side and saw Scout walking toward me looking gorgeous as usual. Great. She climbed up the bleachers wearing a Nike wind suit with her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and sat down next to me. “What’s up?”

  “Hey, Scout. Not much. Just brought my little brother to the courts.”

  “Which one is he?” she asked, putting a hand over her eyes as she looked out at Lane’s group. “Never mind. He’s the one in the gray long-sleeved t-shirt, isn’t he? He looks just like you.”

  I nodded. “What’re you doing here?”

  “I played basketball in college, so Gable had the brilliant idea of coming out here and playing today. I kicked his ass a couple games then some guys showed up. He’s playing with them over on that court.” She laughed and pointed to a court where some really hot guys were playing shirts and skins. “When I walked to the car to get some water, I thought this was you sitting here.”

  I nodded again not much in the mood for talking.

  “So… Zeke’s pretty stressed out…”

  Ha. I’ll bet he was, probably making wedding plans and getting excited over Zeke, Jr.

  “Yeah… well… yeah…”

  “He misses you.”

  I wanted to scream at her that if he missed me so much why hadn’t he called. Better yet, why had he gotten another woman pregnant, which I knew wasn’t fair since they were together before we met. But I didn’t say anything, just sat there staring straight ahead, my eyes unseeing.

  “Okay, look. I don’t know you all that well, but I do know that if Zeke was with you, you’ve got to be someone pretty fucking special.” She sounded angry.

  I turned and looked at her surprised to hear her talk that way and at the fact that she was mad.

  “Good. Now that I’ve got your attention, I need your help.” She raised her brow. “You in?”

  I shrugged. “Depends on what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m going into investigative journalism and this shit is right up my alley. Granted, I haven’t done a whole lot with it yet since I only write movie reviews for the school paper, but anyway, here’s the
deal. Sara kinda… gets around if you know what I mean. She’s really nice, but she’s dated a lot of guys, most of them musicians from the bands she’s done videos for, and Zeke was only with her for about two weeks, which I know is long enough to get someone pregnant, but I’m just not feeling that this is his baby.”

  Wow. That was a lot to take in.

  “I know she’s dated at least three guys since she was with Zeke, so maybe it’s one of theirs.”

  I shook my head. “Not sure where you’re going with this.”

  She let out an exasperated sigh. “You and I are going to find out what the truth is. If we have to break into her apartment to find the pregnancy results from the doctor’s office to check how far along she is, so be it.”

  My head swung to her again. “Are you serious?”

  She nodded.

  “You’re crazy,” I replied looking back out at the courts.

  “I can be,” she agreed. “But you’re in love.”

  I closed my eyes and swallowed roughly. “You don’t know that,” I whispered.

  She chuckled. “You don’t think I know what you’re going through right now? I was where you are not even four months ago with Gable.” I glanced at her and she nodded. “He ran me through the wringer but good, Scarlett. But we made it. And now I want to help you and Zeke.”

  “Did Gable love you?”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t know it.” She laughed. “But Zeke knows he loves you…”

  Another swing of my head toward her. “What?”

  “He does.” She shrugged.

  I huffed out a laugh. “He told you he loves me?”

  “Well, no…”

  Just what I thought.

  “But last night I was at the house and he was drinking and got pretty wasted. Gable wasn’t too far behind. Always fun having to take care of not one but two muscled-up drunks at the end of the night.” She snorted. “Anyway, they were playing some basketball video game and it was getting crazy then all of a sudden Zeke started telling Gable he was gonna get you back no matter what it took. He said he didn’t care if he had to go into that little breakfast place where you work and carry you off, he’d do it.”