Zane (Alluring Indulgence)

by Nicole Edwards

  Ethan glanced down at his coffee cup. “A little.”

  His brother sounded torn. Like maybe he wasn’t happy doing what he was doing either. “Have you considered moving on?”

  “No.” The adamant answer pretty much told Zane exactly what Ethan meant. Butt out.

  Figuring it was a moot point to try and push, at least right now, Zane went back to the safer topic. “So, why don’t you hire Blake to come on full time? As my replacement.”

  Zane’s gaze was drawn to a tall man walking in through one of the bay doors. He didn’t recognize him, but he had a feeling that was Blake. Glancing back over at Ethan, he realized his brother had noticed him too. Only, Ethan wasn’t looking at Blake like they were merely working together. There was something else in his expression. Just as quickly as it was there, it disappeared, and Ethan was looking at Zane once again.

  “I need to get back to work. If you’re sure you aren’t coming back, I’ll talk to Blake.”

  Zane thought that was a good start, except Ethan might want to consider talking to Blake about other things too. Not that Zane would interfere, but he’d always expected that his brother was different from the rest of them. Not in a bad way, just in a different way. The way Ethan was looking at Blake, he saw the same thing he’d seen before. Interest, maybe? Longing? Hell, he didn’t know and maybe he was making shit up in his brain just to make himself feel better about not coming back to work at the demo company.

  “Hey,” Blake’s head appeared in the door, and he smiled down at Ethan.

  Ok, definitely not making shit up. Whatever he saw in Ethan’s expression earlier was the same thing he saw on this guy’s face.

  “Hey. Blake, this is Zane, my youngest brother. Zane, this is Blake.”

  Was it him or did Ethan sound just a little frustrated?

  “Nice to meet you,” Blake said as he moved closer, holding out his hand.

  Zane dropped his feet back to the floor, tipped his hat back slightly and reached out and shook Blake’s hand. “You, too. Thanks for filling in here while I’ve been gone.”

  “Sure.” Blake glanced back and forth between him and Ethan. “Are you coming back to work today?”

  Zane looked over at his brother, expecting him to answer the question, but he didn’t. “No. I’m not coming back.” He left it at that. Whether Blake thought that meant today or ever, he didn’t really care. At this point, Ethan needed to figure it out, or hell, Zane was going to see if Beau wanted to join the Walker Demo ranks as one of their mechanics. The guy would be a huge asset to the company.

  “All right. Well, I’ll talk to you later?” Blake spoke to Ethan, but before Ethan said anything, he turned and walked away.

  “What’s going on between you two?” Zane inquired, knowing Ethan was going to give him the glare that told him it was none of his business.

  Yep, there it was. Perfected by so many of them over the years, that Walker glare pretty much said, “Shut the fuck up”.

  “Well, I’ve got to go. Meeting Beau at the gym, then hoping to meet up with Sawyer later this afternoon,” Zane said when it was clear Ethan was finished with this discussion, no matter how one sided it had been. “Look, if you need anything, just let me know.”

  Ethan tipped his head in understanding but didn’t say anything. So it would seem, there was something fascinating in his coffee cup. Zane shook his head in confusion as he walked out of the office. “Nice to meet you, Blake!” he hollered toward the man on the other side of the room as he left, barely hearing the man’s response.

  ♀♂

  By the time evening rolled around, V was exhausted. Somehow they’d managed to knock out three houses that day because Zoey made the decision that she was ready to move on. Instead of doing one house a day for the next three days, they’d managed to squeeze them all into one. Although that meant they were officially through with their little cleaning business, it didn’t make V’s feet feel any better.

  She’d even turned down Zoey’s celebratory suggestion at Moonshiners, opting instead to go home. Which was where she was now. It had only taken her twenty minutes this time to get inside her house after the panic attack had left her all but paralyzed. She’d sat in her car with the doors locked, peering around and half expecting Jake Sanders to jump out of one of the bushes. He hadn’t though.

  Finally, after what seemed like an incredibly long time, V made it into her house, locked all of the doors, checked all of the windows – twice – and had now locked herself in her bedroom. She needed a shower, and then hopefully she could just fall into bed without another thought. Doubtful, but maybe.

  A short while later, V was showered and in her pajamas. She checked her cell phone to see if she’d missed any calls from Zane, but there weren’t any. She hadn’t heard from him that day. Not one time. For some reason, ever since they had gotten back from Dallas, there’d been a little distance between them. She wasn’t sure whether that was her fault or his, but she would admit she hadn’t pushed it. They needed the time apart anyway. V was getting way too close to him.

  On her way to the kitchen, V glanced around the living room, trying to see if something was different. It felt different. She wasn’t sure why. Everything looked the same. Apparently she was just paranoid. But, since her freak outs were fairly consistent, V carried her cell phone in her hand just in case.

  When she rounded the corner into the kitchen, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and V started to hyperventilate. She flipped on the kitchen light, only to find that everything in there appeared the same as well. She was there just that morning, so what could have possibly changed when she was gone for a few hours? V impulsively wished she had a dog. Maybe her mother was on to something there. At least a dog would let her know whether she was crazy or not.

  Opening the refrigerator, V grabbed a bottle of water and then closed the door.

  That was when she saw it.

  Her heart pounded like a bass drum in her ears, her chest constricted painfully, and she wondered if she was going to pass out.

  I can get you or him any time I want.

  The note on the refrigerator was scrawled in bold, black ink. V gripped her cell phone so tightly she was surprised it didn’t crush in her fingers. The pain reminded her of where she was, and she glanced down at the screen, then up at the words in front of her. Without another thought, V called the sheriff.

  Fifteen minutes later, there was knock on her door, and V told Zoey to hold on. After she called the police, she instinctively called Zoey, praying she’d be able to keep herself together. Before she managed to get any words out, Zoey had known something was wrong. Thankfully her friend agreed to stay on the phone with her until the police arrived.

  With the phone against her ear, V glanced through the peephole in the door. There on her front porch was Sheriff Endsley. She opened the door, trying to focus on breathing and told Zoey she would call her back in a little while.

  “Vanessa?”

  She vaguely heard the sheriff’s voice, knew he was talking to her, but the panic had set in long ago. She’d managed somehow to remain lucid for the last half hour, but now that he was there, she wasn’t sure she could hold it together much longer. In an instant, V felt herself falling, her brain going fuzzy and the last thought she had was whether or not Zane was ok.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  ♂♀

  “Where is she?” Zane didn’t even wait for Sheriff Endsley to get the door open completely before he pushed through the door, heading straight for the living room.

  “Son of a bitch.” That was the greeting him and his brothers received as he walked right past the sheriff in his haste to get to V. Kaleb, Sawyer, Brendon, Braydon and Beau were behind him, he knew. He had been at Beau’s when he got the phone call, and since Zoey had been the one to call, he hadn’t been surprised to see his brothers pulling in behind him when he arrived at V’s house.

  There in front of him was V, sitting on the couch, holding something agains
t her forehead while Greyson Cutler spoke softly to her. He hadn’t been on the phone with Zoey for more than a few seconds before he was in his Jeep and disobeying every traffic law as he made his way over to the house. Apparently the ambulance beat him, which was surprising.

  “What the hell?” Zane rushed to her side, easing himself down beside her and trying like hell not to pull her into his arms. He looked up at Greyson and saw the concern in the other man’s eyes.

  “I think she needs to go to the hospital,” Greyson said, his voice calm and reasonable. He didn’t sound urgent, so Zane relaxed a little.

  “Baby?” Zane leaned over, placing his hand on V’s shoulder as she turned to look at him. She appeared disoriented for a second, but as soon as recognition dawned, she threw her arms around him and began sobbing into his neck. Zane’s heart squeezed painfully in his chest. Now he had a hard time breathing, and it wasn’t from the way V clung to him.

  Raising his eyebrows in question, he silently asked Greyson what was going on. Instead of answering, Greyson stood up and went into the kitchen where Sawyer and Kaleb were talking to the sheriff. Zane noticed that Brendon, Braydon and Beau were standing near the front door, all three of them looking out the door.

  “V?” Zane whispered into her ear, holding her head against his chest, his body shaking from the impact of her sobs.

  “I can’t let him get to you again,” she whispered, and Zane’s heart broke right then and there.

  The stress was finally too much for her. He couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through the day he was attacked. By the time he woke up in the hospital, many of his injuries had healed, at least those on the surface. But Zane had seen pictures of what those bastards had done to him. Yes, it was, quite frankly, probably a miracle that he had lived. Knowing that V witnessed the entire thing as it happened still pissed him off.

  “He’s not going to get to me, V. I promise you that,” Zane reassured her as he kissed her hair, holding her close. He wasn’t giving her false promises either. Jake Sanders would not have the chance. Zane was ready for him. His brothers were ready for him.

  “I don’t give a shit!” Sawyer’s voice bellowed from the kitchen, causing Zane to look up, and V to flinch in his arms.

  “I want him arrested.” Zane watched as Sawyer pressed his fingers up against Sheriff Endsley’s chest in a move that was likely going to get him arrested. “If he lays one hand on my brother again, you won’t like what happens. I promise you that. You find that bastard. Or we will.”

  The silence that followed Sawyer’s statement was deafening. Zane knew this was beginning to wear on them all. Travis had eyes out in town, and they knew Jake was back. However, no one had found him yet. He wasn’t staying at his house, and he hadn’t been to his parents’ house either. But he was there, they knew that much. He was getting braver, or maybe he was just getting stupider. Either way, Zane knew this was going to come to a head sooner rather than later.

  Right now, he wasn’t worried about Jake. He was concerned about V. It was obvious by Greyson’s body language as he stood across the room talking to Kaleb that he was concerned too.

  When the front screen door slammed, V jerked in his arms, and Zane barely saw Sawyer’s back as he went out, followed by a very pissed off sheriff. It was a damn good thing that Sawyer knew Sheriff Endsley’s daughter because he might just need her to protect him right now.

  “Hey,” Kaleb’s voice caught Zane’s attention as he sat across from him, followed by Greyson.

  “What’s up?” Zane knew what he was about to hear.

  “She needs to go to the hospital,” Greyson stated at the same time V began shaking her head against Zane’s chest. “At the very least, she needs to go see a doctor.”

  Zane knew that Greyson wasn’t referring to a physician. V needed to see someone who could help her to cope with what had happened. Zane wasn’t able to help her as much as he hoped he could.

  “She’s showing all of the signs of PTSD,” Greyson said quietly.

  V did look up then. Zane released her but kept his hand on her leg. “I’m not the one who suffered the attack,” V replied, clearly not understanding just how much she had been affected by the attack.

  “V,” Kaleb said as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “you need to talk to someone about this. What you saw that day is tearing you up inside.”

  “No!” V exclaimed adamantly, pulling away from Zane completely. “It’s Jake. He’s stalking me. He’s breaking into my house and leaving notes! He’s... terrorizing me.”

  “And he’s also throwing bricks through your goddamn window, V!” Zane barked, losing his shit. He was so fucking tired of seeing how Jake Sanders had affected every damn person he cared about. V was suffering probably more than he ever had because the mental strain was so much different than the physical pain. He’d healed.

  Sure, the anger was still a black cloud that loomed dangerously overhead, and clearly it was beginning to spread to his brothers.

  The fear in V’s eyes made Zane realize what he’d just done. He’d worked hard to keep what happened from her, yet he was the one who went and told her.

  “That’s what you and Kaleb were doing? You had my window replaced?” V asked, sounding oddly calm.

  Zane nodded.

  “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Ok, not so calm anymore.

  This was getting completely out of hand.

  “Grey,” Zane addressed the EMT, also Sawyer’s best friend, “she’s not going to go to the hospital.” That was more than apparent. Zane totally agreed that she needed to see a doctor, but tonight wasn’t the time to discuss it.

  “I don’t think she should stay here alone,” Greyson added.

  “She’ll be staying with me.” Zane wasn’t about to leave her here, and they were much safer at his house, thanks to the fact that his brothers all lived on the ranch.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” Greyson asked V one last time. When she shook her head, telling him the same thing she’d told him earlier, Greyson simply nodded and left the room.

  “Get some of your things,” Zane instructed her, trying to rein in some of his frustration. He was angry at so many things right at that moment – V for being stubborn, Jake Sanders for being a prick, Sheriff Endsley for not doing his job. But mostly, Zane was mad at himself. He’d brought this all on them. He’d been the one who couldn’t keep his temper in check when Jake was mouthing off. He was the one that Jake was retaliating against, yet everyone he cared about seemed to be in the middle of it.

  When V didn’t move, Zane glanced over at Kaleb, waiting for his brother to give them some privacy. Kaleb nodded his head, then stood from his seat on the other side of V. He, as well as everyone else, disappeared out the front door, leaving them completely alone in the house.

  “Go get some of your things,” he repeated, looking over at her now.

  “I don’t want to go with you.” V’s words stunned him for a minute.

  “We’ll be better off at my house where my brothers are close by.”

  “No, Zane. I don’t want you here, and I don’t want to go with you.”

  His anger flashed bright and incandescent. So that was the way she was going to play it. Zane was too damned tired to play her games right now. “You’re not staying here by yourself.”

  “I’m going to go stay with my mother for a while.”

  “What do you mean ‘for a while’?” Zane stared back at her, noting the determination in her light brown eyes. She was breaking up with him. He could feel it in his bones.

  “I don’t know.”

  Zane stood from his seat, too pissed off to say anything more. He didn’t have it in him to argue with her. Once V made up her mind, it would take more energy than he had to change it. Nodding his head in understanding, Zane walked right out the front door and didn’t look back.

  ♀♂

  V packed her suitcase. Two actually. She would be going to Vegas next
week with Zoey, and she wasn’t about to come back home before then. She’d go stay with her mother for a little while. Maybe without her here, Jake wouldn’t be so hell bent on hurting Zane.

  Dragging both suitcases into the living room, V nearly came out of her skin when she saw Beau standing in the doorway.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” she told him, remembering she hadn’t locked the front door after Zane left. Beau had still been on the front porch with the twins, and she wasn’t sure whether they’d need to come back in. Apparently he did.

  “You’re really leaving?” Beau didn’t sound or look happy with his thick arms crossed over his even bigger chest, a scowl on his face. For all intents and purposes, Beau was a giant teddy bear. He didn’t seem so soft and cuddly at the moment. In fact, he looked a little pissed.

  “Just for a little while,” she explained, knowing it wasn’t going to do any good.

  “Why?”

  V should’ve expected the question, but it pissed her off all the same. It was none of his business why she was leaving.

  “As a point, I do my best not to get involved,” Beau began, “but I’m going to say this one time. Don’t crush him, V. You can’t even begin to understand what you’ve got in a man like Zane. He’s loyal, honest, and when he loves, it’s forever. He’s found that with you. I’ve never seen him look at another woman the way he does you. Take time to think about what you need to think about, but make sure you know what you’re doing. If you push him away, he won’t come back.”

  V’s heart felt like it’d been stabbed with an Exacto knife and was deflating rapidly. She could only stare at the big man in her entry way. The same man she’d been intimate with a time or two in recent months. The same one who she’d come to care about because he was there for her while Zane was in the hospital. The same man who obviously had more feelings for Zane than anyone else would probably ever know. Beau Bennett was a good man. As good a man as Zane.