The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club

by J. C. Isabella

  “Shoot.”

  “Were you mad at me?” her eyes were careful.

  “Uh, no. What gave you that idea?”

  “Ever since that night you found me with Max, you’d been acting like…I don’t know, snippy. I know you said it was because all we ever did was fight, but I think there is more to it.”

  “Men are not snippy.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  It took me a minute to formulate a good answer, and then I decided to go with the truth. “I was irritated.”

  “Why did you have to take it out on me?”

  “I wasn’t, not on purpose. Max really pissed me off. The way he was acting, his vibe. I didn’t like it.”

  “Really?”

  “I found myself liking that he thought you were my girlfriend.”

  Her mouth dropped open and she pushed up onto her elbows. “Why?”

  “Gives him a reason to stay away from you.” I didn’t say that I liked the idea of us being together, or that Max thinking Chloe was my girlfriend gave me the right to defend my territory.

  I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear that from me yet. We were just becoming friends.

  “Is it because you’re the only one allowed to give me a hard time?” She poked me in the arm playfully.

  “Careful, Baker. I know you’re ticklish. But to answer your question, I’m your stepbrother now. Nobody messes with my family.”

  “Isn’t that enough? Him knowing that you’re my stepbrother?”

  “I thought so, until yesterday.” I lay back in the grass next to her, watching puffy clouds float lazily above us. We weren’t touching, but I felt a kind of companionship with Chloe. We could talk, be together, no expectations or pressure. She didn’t judge me on the social level.

  “You never told me what he wanted. Why did he follow you into the girls locker room?”

  “He wants to take me on a date.” She tucked her arm under her head and shifted to watch me. I didn’t look at her, not for a few seconds. When I did, she smiled at me and closed her eyes, sighing. I imagined this was what it would feel like to wake up next to her.

  “A date?”

  “Dinner and a movie.” Her voice went soft, barely a whisper.

  “That’s the most uninventive date you can plan.” I glanced up at the sky. There were darker clouds on the horizon, and it looked like we were in for more rain.

  Chloe fell quiet. I knew she wasn’t asleep.

  “Babe?”

  Her eyes fluttered open. “Hmm?”

  “Do you think dinner and a movie is a good choice for a first date?”

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “You don’t sound very convincing.”

  “I’d rather do this. Just stare up at the sky and talk. You can watch a movie any day. Having dinner puts all this pressure on you. Don’t you think?”

  I nodded. “I feel the same way.”

  “And why do you keep calling me babe?”

  My phone rang and used it as an excuse not to answer her question. “Hello?”

  “It’s Molly, is Chloe near?” she said, sounding kind of upset. I told her to hang on and handed the phone to Chloe.

  “Hey, mom. No, we’re in town.” She sat up and tucked her legs under her butt. Not able to resist, since she was so close, I reached out and smoothed my thumb over her knee. Her skin was heated from the sun, and very silky. Our eyes met. She shook her head. At first I thought I’d crossed a line, but she grabbed my hand when I took it away, holding onto me. “Are you okay mom?”

  Something was wrong. “What is it?”

  She shook her head again. “No, we’ll be home soon. Yes, I’m fine. I promise. Bye.”

  “Is everything alright?” I asked.

  “No, it’s my father.” She said. “He wants to see me.”

  “This is bad?”

  “People should take paternity aptitude tests before being aloud to reproduce. And if they fail, they should be sterilized or sent to rehab.”

  “Isn’t that kind of harsh?”

  “Just wait till you meet my father, you’ll be all for it.” Her cheeks went pink.

  “Just let it out, give me the rest of it.”

  “Vince can’t be coming!” she shouted, more to the sky than to me. I lounged back in the grass, watching her throw a tantrum. The more I got to know her, the more I noticed how she kept things bottled up. Getting them out helped her. I encouraged it. Even if she was acting like a five year old.

  “Vince is…” I watched her jump up to pace.

  “My father, the jerk.”

  “Mhmm, remind me never to piss you off.”

  “He’s just so…so…annoying. I haven’t seen him for three years, and I was hoping he forgot about me.” She dropped down beside me and ripped at a patch of weeds. “I was never good enough for him.”

  I bumped my knee against hers to get her to look me in the eyes. “Your dad told you that?”

  “Well, not those exact words. He implied it plenty of times.” She held up her fingers and quoted, “‘Chloe, you know I always wanted a son to take over the family business, but I guess girls can be great car sales people too. Look at Helga, she can sell faster than I can fill out the paper work.’”

  “Who’s Helga?”

  “My dad’s girlfriend. She’s from Germany, used to make sausages and got into modeling.”

  “You look green.”

  “Uh, yeah. Helga is special.”

  I nodded. “Well, good.”

  “No, no. Special Ed. Her boobs are so big they have their own zip code, and she dresses like a slut.”

  “No wonder she’s good at selling cars.”

  “Yeah, too good.”

  “My dad’s never met your dad before. You know it’ll go one way or the other.”

  “This will be a disaster. Glenn is totally hot for, and in love, with my mom. Vince is an over opinionated ass wipe. He always picks at us when he comes around. Glenn would never, ever yell at my mom. He doesn’t call her names or disrespect her.”

  “Vince sounds like a bastard. But what’s the worst that could happen? We can get though an uncomfortable dinner and hope my dad scares Vince into never wanting to come back.”

  “I can only hope.” She laughed, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Helga and Vince get along great because she is a doormat with more silicone than brains. My mother has an opinion about everything.”

  “At the very least, we’ll be entertained.”

  “Why are you being so optimistic?”

  “I have crazy relatives too. I’m not going to throw you under a bus for that.” I grinned, “I can mock and irritate.”

  “Oh, well of course. I wouldn’t want you being nice to me.” Pushing to her feet, she waited for me to spring up beside her, and we walked back to the diner to retrieve her bike. When we got there it was gone.

  “Aw, that sucks.” I said.

  “Nope, I’ve been wanting to get rid of that thing for years. Every time I tried I worried that Vince would ask me if I still had it.”

  “Guess that means you’re walking, Baker.”

  Chapter 20

  Chloe

  Walking wasn’t so bad, since our food had settled, and it was a little overcast out, so the heat was less direct. For a while I worried Zack would want to run, but he didn’t seem to mind walking, well, strolling. We took our time, chatting about things we liked. Zack was an action movie fan, hated olives of any kind, and his favorite candy was the same as mine, Twizzlers. We actually shared a lot of likes and dislikes, which surprised me. He didn’t turn out to be the guy I’d always thought, and he actually had a brain. Common sense, I found most people lacked at our age.

  “Zack?”

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Can I ask you something?” I stopped in the middle of the street just outside of town, shading my eyes to look up at him. His baby blues sparkled in the hot sunlight.

  “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” he grinn
ed, bracing his hands on his hips.

  “Don’t be such a baby. I was just curious…do a trick.”

  “A trick?”

  “Yeah, like…karate chop a fence or something.” I laughed. “Come on. You tell me you’re a marital arts badass and not expect me to ask for a demo?”

  The side of his mouth kicked up, dimpling his cheek. “You wanna see my moves?”

  I felt a blush rise in my cheeks. “Those were some pretty impressive trophies, Warren.”

  He backed up a few feet, grinning like a fool. “No fences around here, but I think I can work something out.”

  Resisting the urge to clap excitedly, I folded my arms, waiting to see exactly what kind of moves he had. His smile faded, and without winding up, or even a breath, he flipped backwards. Perfectly. His feet going right over his head, and they hit the pavement right where they’d been.

  My jaw dropped.

  Zack’s devastating smile returned. He grabbed my hand, pulling me down the road. “You didn’t think I had it in me, did you?”

  “Un-uh.” I was in a daze, literally, just letting him drag me in the direction of home.

  “I have something else too.” I sighed, after about another minute of letting Zack’s impressive stunt sink in. The something else had been weighing heavily on me since yesterday. “Max doesn’t understand that I don’t like him.”

  “And?”

  “That’s all.” I let go of his hand, pretending to fix my ponytail. It was too nice walking with him, like we were more than friends.

  “How was he acting?”

  I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, because I told him I’m not attracted to him.”

  “And let me guess, he got pissed off.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “So you explained nicely, again. He still didn’t get it. You stomped off hoping your display got the point across.”

  He knew me too well. “So?”

  “So, that’s why he didn’t stop, Chloe. Following you into the bathroom was taking it too far, but guys enjoy the chase, to an extent.”

  “You think Max is having fun being shot down?”

  “No, I think he likes a challenge. How many girls like you are there? Not many. You tell it strait Chloe, no guesswork, no games.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” I always preferred honesty.

  “Not to me. Having girls play with my head does not fall under the chasing category. You were honest with Max from day one, probably threw him for a loop.”

  Feeling out of my depth, I wondered what Zack thought would be a good way to get Max off my back. “What do you suggest?”

  “You really want my advice?”

  “Believe it or not, yes. I don’t want to involve my mom. Max is giving me a permanent headache.”

  “I don’t like that.”

  “Me either.”

  “My advise,” he rubbed his hands and eyed me. “Get a boyfriend.”

  “That’s it?” and where the hell was I going to find one? It wasn’t like I could overnight a guy from Amazon or pick him out in the freezer section. Mom did land Glenn in the produce department, but I wasn’t about to start hanging around the grocery store on the off chance I’d meet prince charming.

  If I had the right guy playing the part it might work. Because that’s all it would be, playing, fake. No real boyfriend for me as long as Zack and I were living under the same roof. I already compared every other guy I met to him. Having them stand side-by-side so I wouldn’t have to do it in my head anymore would be overload.

  “You hear that?” he asked.

  The very familiar sound of dirt bikes grew louder by the second. “Oh, no.”

  Zack grabbed my arm and pulled me around the other side of him, forcing me to leave the road and walk in the grass. He put himself between the bikes and me as they jerked to a stop beside us. I was safely blocked.

  I’d never had anyone do that for me before, it was nice, and gave me yet another reason to like him.

  So I can finally admit it without any flinching or eye twitching—I like Zack Warren.

  A lot.

  There, that wasn’t so hard.

  “Hey.” Max flipped up the visor on his helmet. “What are you doing out here?”

  “Walking home.” Zack said. He crossed his arms over his chest. They were not going to be friendly neighbors after what happened yesterday.

  “Hi, Chloe!” I glanced past Zack to see Stella waving. She had her own bike, the electric blue one, and on a black one next to her was Carlos.

  “Hey.” He nodded.

  “So, you guys want a lift?” Max sent a smile my way, the intention behind it perfectly clear. He wanted me on the back of his bike. And he was in a good mood too. Come Monday though, he’d get a nasty surprise when coach called him into the office to suspend him.

  “No,” Zack hooked his arm around my waist. “We’re good.”

  My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

  Max scowled. “It’s going to rain, you wont get back in time.”

  “Then I guess we’ll get wet.” I bristled. Zack’s fingers curled into the flesh of my hip as if he was prepared to keep me from moving. I felt more okay with that than he knew. I wasn’t going anywhere.

  Carlos studied me, and then his cool gaze swept to meet Zack’s. “You ride?”

  “Sure, my dad has a Harley.”

  “He does?” I asked, never having seen it.

  “Yeah, in storage. But now that we have a house with a garage, he’ll probably put it there once it’s fixed up.” Zack said.

  “And you ride it?”

  He winked. “Every chance I get.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “I suck at poker.”

  “Sure you do.”

  “Stella,” Carlos winked at her, his Spanish accent a purr now. “You want to snuggle up with me?”

  “Love to,” she got off her bike, hopping up behind Carlos, and kissed the back of his neck.

  I felt Max watching us, anger rolling off of him in waves as Zack steered me toward the blue bike, keeping me plastered to his side. Carlos produced a couple spare helmets from the saddlebag and we put them on.

  “Chloe, hang on tight.” Zack said. He swung his leg over, waiting. I’d always wanted to ride on the back of a bike, but had never been presented with the opportunity. For my first time, to ride with Zack, it brought a smile to my face. I was practically giddy.

  “Okay,” I got on and wrapped my arms around his middle.

  He revved the engine. “Ready?”

  “Yep,” my stomach lurched when he throttled it, zooming down the street after Carlos. I let out a squeal.

  “You okay?” he shouted.

  I lifted my head. “Yeah!”

  It was the best rush I’d ever had. I hated rollercoaster’s, but riding on the back of a dirt bike was one thing I’d have to do more often.

  We took a corner, flying over a speed table, and Zack raced Carlos to the house. Neck and neck. Zack lost by a couple seconds, because Carlos’s bike was faster. We parked in the front yard. Max sped past the house in an angry red blur.

  The guys decided to take the bikes out before the storm came, while Stella and I went inside, wanting to hang out for a little while. We were both hungry, so I lead her to the kitchen to whip up a snack. I realized it was lunchtime, and changed my mind. I was in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches.

  “Hey, honey.” Mom said, coming in from the garage, covered in flecks of paint. At least she remembered to wear an apron. “And who is this?”

  “This is Stella. She lives down the street.”

  “Hi, Mrs. Warren. It’s nice to meet you.” Stella said.

  Mom went to the cabinets and pulled out baking ingredients once Stella and I had our sandwiches. “I’m making brownies. Glenn loves chocolate, and we need a desert for tonight.”

  But mom didn’t get to finish, the phone rang and she had to take the call in another room. Must h
ave been pretty important, so I handled the mixing, while Stella propped the recipe up and measured.

  “I saw the way Zack pissed off Max,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

  “What do you mean?” I preheated the oven to 300 degrees.

  “Did you notice that they seem to be fighting over you?” she cracked four eggs into the bowl.

  “No,” I beat the eggs till they were fluffy light yellow, thinking that two guys would fight over me was crazy. Fighting over Lana, who had the sex kitten vibe, or Regina, who was just easy…that seemed plausible.

  “Zack is marking his territory.” Stella said. Dumping in one cup of brown sugar and one cup of white sugar.

  “No, way.” I beat them, and then we added eight ounces of melted butter. I remembered to sift everything, 1¼ cups of cocoa powder, two teaspoons of vanilla, and then ½ a cup of flour to the bowl. We mixed the ingredients together until it was yummy and fudgy.