Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1)

by Sharla Lovelace

  “Or you were, and used those things as darts,” she said, taking a slow drag off her beer.

  Maddi met her gaze. “You bring out the best in me, what can I say?”

  Hannah chuckled. “Don’t sweat it,” she said. “I said—” She cringed a little. “What I said about you and the dress? That was a little harsh.”

  Maddi held up her beer. “To our inner bitches.”

  Hannah clinked her bottle. “Long may they reign.”

  “Now back to Jonah,” Maddi said.

  “Ugh,” Hannah said, closing her eyes. “Leave it alone, Maddi.”

  “I may not know everything now, but let’s just say that what I just saw on you is the same look I see in the mirror every morning since I got here,” Maddi said, feeling the prickles cover her skin inch by inch with the admission. She picked at a corner of the label on her bottle. “I just don’t want you to—”

  “Do something stupid?” Hannah finished.

  Maddi met her gaze. “Yeah,” she said softly. “When’s the last time you dated someone?” Hannah’s eyes darted to where Jonah had exited. “Someone not Jonah.”

  “I told you, I’m picky,” she said.

  “No, you’re waiting for something that isn’t going to happen,” Maddi said. “What was that noise about shelves you were spouting earlier?”

  “Brax is twelve,” Hannah said, her eyes going a little misty. “In six more years, he’ll trot off to college.”

  The weight of what she’d just said hit Maddi like a wrecking ball. Holy hell. Hannah was waiting it out. Waiting for Derrie’s threat to lose its hold.

  “Jesus, Hannah,” Maddi whispered.

  Hannah swiped under her eyes and held up two fingers as the waitress passed by. “Please and thank you?”

  “I’m not done with this one,” Maddi said, holding up her half-full bottle.

  “You will be,” she said, nodding at someone in the distance.

  Maddi looked over her shoulder, and her stomach nearly pushed the beer right back up. Zach was standing at the bar, ordering a drink, in faded jeans and boots and a snug black pullover shirt. She turned her head back around slowly, concentrating on not appearing affected, lifting her bottle to her lips.

  “Might that be the look you were talking about?” Hannah asked, lifting a finger.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Zach hated Deke’s.

  He disliked clubs in general—the whole shoving people together to dance around and socialize and pretend you aren’t trying to get laid. It always seemed fake and a waste of time to him. And Deke’s, well, there were just too many memories there.

  So why was he there?

  Fuck if he knew. All he knew for sure was that the air was getting thick like it always did a day or so before a big storm, and that made him antsy. Normally he could cure that itch with the ham radio or in the workshop, but tonight the second Hannah and Maddi drove off, he called Eli to go have a beer with him. Eli was probably wondering what the hell was going on, too. The last time they’d gone anywhere together that didn’t involve a funnel cloud or a family event, Zach had still been in his twenties.

  “You still come here?” Eli asked as Zach handed him a beer.

  “Nah,” Zach said. “Haven’t been here in a few years. Just felt like getting out.” No he didn’t.

  “I think it’s been close to ten since I’ve been in here,” Eli said, looking around him. “And it’s like a damn time warp.”

  Zach laughed. “No shit.”

  “Still feels moldy,” Eli said.

  “Same furniture,” Zach said.

  “Same carpet a million different people have puked on,” Eli said, taking a long swallow of his beer.

  “Yeah, good times,” Zach said. “Hannah’s supposed to be here.”

  Eli took in the room, how it curved around the dance floor in a U, his eyes landing quickly on a nearby table.

  “She’s right there,” Eli said. “With—” He sighed with irritation. Yeah, that was just a matter of time. “This is why you dragged me here?”

  Zach’s eyes followed the rays of disapproval all the way to where Hannah sat facing him and Maddi sat with her back to him. The kick to the gut was becoming commonplace. “I wanted to grab a beer with you,” he said. “Why do you have to school me every second of every day? Can’t you relax for one night?”

  “Don’t you see her enough?” Eli said.

  Zach narrowed his eyes. “Is that a no?”

  “Jesus, you’re screwed up,” Eli muttered, walking toward the girls.

  He laid a hand on Maddi’s shoulder as he came up behind her, and she jolted like he’d shot her. Till she looked up and saw it was Eli and laughed and hugged him. Zach was pretty sure she wouldn’t laugh and hug him if he came to the forefront. Better to stay back and not crowd her. And kick himself in the ass for coming there in the first place.

  Hannah knew. It was why she’d mentioned it to him, he knew that. She was testing him to see if he’d be able to stay away, and he’d failed miserably. But the thought of Maddi coming here, all decked out and sexy, when she’d left the house in her pajamas—he just couldn’t stand it.

  He could barely stand this, either. Zach hadn’t seen Maddi’s face full-on yet, but the view from the rear was killing him. She was wearing a blood-red top that fell off one shoulder, revealing half the skin on her back. Her dark hair fell in casual curls just past her neck, bouncing as she talked. And she had on red boots.

  Zach had no damn business being there.

  “Hey, Zach,” Hannah said, pointing to the empty table next to them. “Feel free.”

  Maddi didn’t turn around, so he knew she knew he was there. “Nah, we didn’t come to crash your party,” he said with a grin. “We’ll find something else. Just saying hey.”

  Hannah nodded like she knew he was full of shit. “Uh-huh,” she said. “Hey.”

  Zach shook his head and headed to the buffet table as the band set up and started doing their mike checks.

  “Y’all ready for a little love tonight?” one of the band members drawled, making the crowd hoot and holler.

  “Fuck me,” Zach muttered, spearing a shrimp.

  Maddi had never felt so split in half in all her life. She was so hyperaware of Zach sitting on the other side of the dance floor, it felt as if her insides were pulling her in that direction.

  Zach and Eli had snagged a table next to two women—that wasn’t lost on her, either. It was a strategic move on someone’s part. And evidently she was now an adolescent girl.

  Hannah left in search of the ladies room, and Maddi’s pretend confidence had a chance to rest. She pressed her palms together and took a deep breath. This had been a bad idea. This place—Zach being here—it was too familiar. Too much.

  “Shit,” Maddi said under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “Such language,” said a male voice to her left, making her nearly fall off her stool.

  “Gah!” she yelped, then laughed and jumped up to throw her arms around the perpetrator. “Monroe, you just took thirty minutes off my life.”

  “Just breathing the air in here will do that,” Monroe said, squeezing her tight and kissing the top of her head. “How is it still smoky in here?”

  “Decades of it soaked into the walls,” she said, gesturing to an unoccupied stool.

  He pulled it up and sat, leaning back to study her. Too closely. His trained eyes could always pick her apart, and she was in no mood for picking. She just wanted him there.

  “You look good,” she said, flagging down the waitress. Maddi patted his torso. “Put on a little weight, did you?”

  It was a joke, as there wasn’t a visible ounce of fat on his body. Monroe was disgusting that way. Ate healthy, lived healthy, owned a hard-core workout facility so he always looked like a cross between a p
rofessional wrestler and a runway model. He’d always turned heads with his face, as he had a pair of blue eyes that could stop time, but his body now guaranteed it. His three tours in the Marines made his body hard and sometimes his eyes even harder, she thought, but he always had a grin and a hint of mischief for her.

  He ordered a beer and sat back. “So where is he?”

  “Eli?” Maddi asked flippantly. “Over there,” she said, pointing.

  “Really?” he asked. “That’s how you’re gonna play it?”

  She gave him a look. “Yes, he’s over there, too,” she said. “Don’t make a scene.”

  “No scene to make,” Monroe said, taking a drag off his beer. “I have no beef with a man who plans to marry my sister, leaves her alone on her wedding day, lets her leave town an emotional wreck, and then never comes to check on her.” He shrugged. “Why would I have a problem with that?”

  Maddi widened her eyes dramatically. “You weren’t even there, babe. You were still deployed.”

  She had taken root in her brother’s unused rental house, not leaving for two whole weeks after she got there. Ordering takeout and washing and wearing the same pajamas was all she needed. She figured he’d given her a key for a reason—emergencies. That felt like an emergency to her. By the time his duty was up, she’d found her own place.

  “You told me he never came to see you, did you not?” he asked.

  Maddi was feeling itchy, finding herself in the uncomfortable position of defending the person she didn’t want to defend. “I did.”

  “Well, there you go.”

  “I’d told him it was over,” she said.

  “Wouldn’t have stopped me,” he responded.

  “So, talked to Dad lately?” she asked, smiling.

  The look he gave her was icy. “Nice deflection.”

  “And?”

  “No way!” Hannah said from behind her. “Monroe Hayes.”

  Monroe winked at Maddi before his eyes landed on Hannah, and the smile that tugged at his mouth was way past relief over a subject change.

  “Hannah Chase,” he said, getting to his feet in one slow, fluid movement.

  Maddi looked from one to the other as they commenced a silent mutual admiration society.

  “Okay, then,” Maddi said under her breath. “Have the names down.”

  “Wow,” Hannah said, struggling to find her tongue for the second time that night. She laughed and hugged him. “You got—um—”

  “Tall?” Monroe offered, a flirtatious glint in otherwise serious blue eyes. “Ugly?”

  “Yes, that’s definitely it,” Hannah said, pointing. “You got ugly.”

  Monroe laughed. “Well, it was bound to happen.”

  She wrinkled her nose in mock sympathy. “You feeling okay about it?”

  He nodded. “I muddle through,” he said softly.

  Hannah laughed and took her seat, and Maddi saw her flush—for the second time that night.

  “You’ve certainly grown up since I saw you last,” Monroe said. And there went number three. Hannah was having a banner night. He dropped his gaze to her left hand. “No ring?”

  Hannah’s eyebrows raised slightly as she said, “No date?”

  Monroe smirked. “Just here with my sister.”

  “So am I,” Hannah said. “What’s wrong with us?”

  “You know I’m still here, right?” Maddi said, holding up her hand.

  Monroe laughed heartily and upended his bottle. “We’re just messing around.” He jutted his head toward the other side of the room. “I’m gonna go see what the boys are up to.”

  “Not nearly as much fun as the girls,” Hannah said.

  He smiled at her. “No question about that.”

  “Monroe, be nice,” Maddi said, feeling the tinges of panic at what he might say.

  “Not everything’s about you, little sister,” he said, not quite pulling off innocent.

  “Uh-huh,” she responded, watching him part the crowd as he walked away.

  “Jesus Christ, Maddi,” Hannah said, slamming a hand on the table.

  “What?” Maddi exclaimed, jumping.

  “What?” Hannah echoed, wide-eyed. “You didn’t tell me your brother had turned into—that!”

  “That?”

  “Don’t play,” she said. “You know exactly what I mean.” She picked up her coaster and fanned herself with it. “I’m sweating. He actually made me sweat.”

  “Well, talking about my brother in terms of hotness isn’t the first place I go,” Maddi said. “You should understand this.”

  “True,” Hannah said, turning to try to find Monroe in the crowd.

  “And also you weren’t talking to me before tonight,” Maddi added.

  “Okay, okay,” Hannah said. “I get—”

  She turned back around just as Jonah walked by on his way to the bar, and her words disintegrated into the air. Her gaze dropped along with the coaster. Her demeanor changed. All the flirty fun she’d been having a few seconds ago buried back down again when she put eyes on Jonah.

  Maddi looked to where Monroe was now sitting with Zach and Eli, all three men kicked back, at ease with themselves. Zach had one arm slung on the back of his chair, and one of the women at the next table had maneuvered her way in.

  Maddi looked away and took a deep breath of stale, stagnant air, grabbing what was left of her beer and finishing it off. She looked up to see Hannah smirking at her.

  “What?”

  “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

  Hannah and Maddi talked and laughed for another hour, not that Zach was paying attention to the time. He was engrossed in the droning on and on of the woman from the next table named Valerie, who had managed to move her conversation seamlessly to their table without anyone really noticing the move. She was a pretty redhead who had eyed Eli from the second they’d sat down, and now an hour later, she was only inches away from sitting on him.

  Eli didn’t appear to mind as he gave her his full attention and the hint of a smile. He liked redheads, always had, and this one had it all going on. Zach figured they’d want to cut out of there soon, and he’d have an easy excuse to leave. Except for the newest addition of Monroe Hayes to the party. He and Eli had caught up, told some stories, thrown a little testosterone around for Valerie, and then Monroe had gone into quiet mode. Zach didn’t know if he was lying in wait to finally tear into him about Maddi—after all, he’d never had the chance. Or if he was just enjoying the peace. Whatever the case, Zach was about to crawl out of his own skin. Coming to Deke’s was a stupid idea. And one he couldn’t seem to leave. Why?

  Because he didn’t want to go home. And every time he came close to getting up, he’d see Maddi glance over at their table.

  She didn’t leave you because she fell out of love with you . . .

  And ten guys had already hit up the girls’ table after Monroe left it, including Jonah Boudreau, who circled around no less than three times. So Harlan was right—not that it was his business. And Maddi hadn’t given anyone more than a polite smile, so she wasn’t there to hook up. And that wasn’t his business, either.

  Fuck. If he didn’t get out of that chair and do something soon, he was going to lose his damn mind.

  “Valerie, do you two-step?” Zach asked, making her jerk his direction midsentence like she just realized he was sitting there.

  “Um, yeah, why?” she asked.

  “Want to dance?” he fired back.

  Eli looked at him funny, like he’d missed some crucial step, and Monroe lifted one eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

  Yes, Zach thought. Go ahead, go tell your sister I’m an ass.

  “Uh,” Valerie said, glancing at Eli, who wasn’t jumping to claim her or defend her honor. “I—sure—I guess so.”

  “Let’s go,” Zach said,
on his feet before she even got the words all the way out.

  “What are you doing?” Eli muttered as he passed.

  “Dancing.”

  “We were talking—”

  “For decades, I know,” Zach said under his breath. “You were boring.”

  Zach followed Valerie out onto the dance floor, put his hand at the back of her neck for driving purposes, and let muscle memory take over. He used to love the adrenaline of the fast ones, and this one fit the bill. He grinned as her eyes widened in surprise.

  “You didn’t think I could do this?” he said.

  “I guess you have hidden talent,” she said, laughing as he gripped her tighter for leverage and did a spin as they made a corner.

  “It’s been dormant for a while.”

  “Does your brother have this same gift?” she asked, her red hair tossing about her shoulders.

  Zach narrowed his eyes. “You know, I have no idea,” he said. “You should get him out here and see.”

  “I couldn’t tell if he was interested,” she said, doing a twirl and coming back.

  Zach nodded. “Nice.”

  She tilted her head. “I have some hidden talents, too.”

  Zach laughed, feeling the knots start to unwind in his neck. “I’ll bet you do. And he’ll be interested now,” he said. “He just takes a little pushing sometimes.”

  “Well, it looks like we pushed him a little too hard,” she said, a wry grin on her face as she looked past Zach.

  “Why?” Zach asked, catching his breath on a straightaway.

  Valerie gestured with a jerk of her head. “He’s talking to somebody else.”

  On the next turn, Zach looked for Eli, and felt the sucker punch to the gut to see him laughing with Maddi.

  “Shit,” he muttered.

  “What?” Valerie said, her brows drawing together.

  “Nothing,” he said, shaking it off. “Sorry.” As the song came to an end and a milder-tempo’d one came on, she gave him a quick hug and smile. “Hey—he’ll be back. She’s just a friend.”