When Mark came back out with the ice and plastic bag, Zane pulled her duffle bag off her shoulder and tossed it at him and picked the suitcase up and took her hand. “Come on. Let’s just get you out of here. Luke and I can come back and find your car later.”
He walked around to the back end of the jeep and put her suitcase behind the seat where Mark had already tossed the duffle bag before taking the cup of ice and pouring it into the bag. Once he had tied it shut, he wrapped one of his t-shirts that had been lying in the back seat around it.
The moment she placed it against her cheek, his sent, which had been clinging to the shirt, assailed her, and she instantly felt a sense of calm come over her. That was the way it always was with him. He always made her feel safe, no matter the situation. She knew he would never let anyone hurt her. She should never have waited so long to get away from Austin this time. She had always known Zane would keep her safe. She wasn’t sure why it had taken so long for her to come to that conclusion.
Once she had crawled in and had her seatbelt fastened, he crawled back in behind the wheel. He waited till he was back out on the highway before he got around to asking her about what had happened.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “What set him off, or do you know”
“One of his drinking buddies saw me in your patrol car with you Monday morning,” she answered, barely above a whisper.
He groaned, shaking his head. “I was afraid it might have been something like that. After the other day when you told me, I’m the only one that he has such a problem with, that was my first thought. I was just wondering why it was coming up now. That was five days ago.”
She took a deep breath, finally feeling able to truly relax now that they were headed away from Ruby Falls. “It probably has something to do with Gerald actually holding down a full-time job. He only sees him on the weekend when he has time to go to the bar.”
“Do you think Gerald will ever figure out that Austin is using him?” Mark asked, with a sardonic chuckle.
“Oh, I think he knows,” she answered with as nonchalant a shrug as she could manage. “I think he puts up with him out of some misguided sense of loyalty. They’ve known each other sense kindergarten.”
“I feel Gerald’s as much to blame for that black eye of yours as Austin is,” Zane grumbled, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.
“I don’t think he realizes Austin hits me when he’s drunk. That guy has always been really good at burying his head in the sand.”
Zane snorted, not bothering to answer. That wasn’t a good enough excuse to him for the part the other guy had played in all of this.
******
“Hey, Mom, we’re back,” Zane hollered after walking in the kitchen to find she wasn’t in there.
Jamie walked out of the pantry a few seconds later, carrying an enormous watermelon. “Good timing. Go in there and get those cantaloupes for me, please.”
“Sure, Mom,” he said already starting for the door to the pantry.
Amanda watched as the older woman sat the watermelon down on the counter before walking over to her. She wrapped an arm around her, hugging her to her side. “Hi, Sweetheart. How are you doing? You’re shaking. Trust me, Zane won’t let him get to you here.”
“I know,” she said, giving a weak smile. “Trust me, I was shaking harder when he first got to me. I’ve calmed down considerably. Zane and I have been through enough of this stuff before. Right now, the only time I feel safe, is when I’m with him.”
“I can understand that,” she replied, rubbing her palm over her shoulders, trying to help soothe her. “Do you know what you’re planning on doing for now? Are you going back to stay at your parents’?”
“No, she’s staying with me,” Zane answered for her, walking out of the pantry with a good-sized cantaloupe in each hand. “There’s a third one. Were you wanting all three of them?”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head over the first part of what he said. She was so taken by surprised, the second half of what he said didn’t even register at first. “Son, are you sure that would be a good idea?”
“I don’t see why it would be a bad one. This group goes through food like they’re afraid they’re not going to get to eat for another week,” he smirked, knowing exactly what his mom was talking about but answering her like he didn’t.
“Zane,” she growled, giving him the stink eye. “You know darn well what I’m talking about. And yes, grab the third one.”
Once he came back with the third cantaloupe, she tried again. “I think she should stay at her parents’ house, or here.”
“She’ll be safer with me,” he said, sounding way to serious for Jamie’s peace-of-mind.
“She would be safe with her parents,” she pressed. “I’m sure Leland and Bethany would be happy for her to stay with them. They want her away from Austin as much, probably more, than anyone else.”
“If they were home, I’m sure they would, Mom. But Leland and Bethany are on a much-needed vacation. Remember, they left for Florida yesterday. I don’t think Leland Carter has taken a vacation since he originally took office. What’s that been, more than ten years ago? They’re supposed to be gone for at least two months. I would have thought that would have been easy to remember, with Dad helping to fill in for him while he’s gone.”
“Yeah, that slipped my mind,” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “And it’s closer to twelve or fourteen years.”
“I had to promise not to let anything happen to her to get him to leave on the plane with Bethany, as it is. The man needs to take a break.”
“I know, but maybe you should let him know she’s out of that apartment with that person.” She snorted on the last word, shaking her head. “If you can really call him a person.”
“I’ve already taken care of that. That was the other promise I had to make. Keep in contact with him.”
“I didn’t realize you were on such close terms with my father,” Amanda said, eyeing him with awe.
“We have something in common,” he said with a much more serious expression than she would have expected.
“What’s that?”
“Our worry over your safety.”
Jamie shook her head and mumbled, “You’ve got that right.”
“What?” Amanda asked, turning toward the other woman.
“I know how they feel. I’m just as worried. She could stay here,” she said, turning back to her son.
“No, Mom. She’s staying with me,” he answered back, giving her his own version of her stern ‘my word is the final word’ look.
She nodded, not giving a reply. He could tell his mom wasn’t happy with his decision to move Amanda in with him, but she wasn’t going to say anything else. She knew enough not to push him too hard.
She had been praying about Amanda’s situation for weeks now. She just hoped Zane knew what he was doing. She didn’t think he had realized he was in love with her yet. She was afraid he was going to find out real soon if he wasn’t careful. She knew one of the reasons Leland Carter trusted him so much to keep her safe was because of how strongly he felt about her.
“Mom, I’m going out to talk to Luke about going back and looking for her car. Do you need me to send anyone in to help you?”
“No, I’m sure if I need any help, Amanda will help me,” she said, looking toward the younger woman.
“Yeah, certainly,” she nodded with a big smile. “I’ll help. Having something to do will help me calm down even more.”
Jamie waited till the door had closed behind him before turning her full attention on Amanda. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be better for you to stay with Carl and I?” she asked, trying one more time to get one of them to see reason.
She shook her head, giving the older woman a smile. “Jamie, you have enough to take care of without me adding to your load. If I stay with Zane, I can take over certain responsibilities, and I won’t feel like I’m free loading.”
“Sweet
heart, I can give you plenty to make you feel useful here,” she replied, giving her a reassuring smile. “It wouldn’t be a problem at all. Remember, I have a house full of kids.”
Amanda just shook her head. Jamie felt like she was just too terrified to let herself get that far away from Zane. “If Austin showed up here, he could hurt one of the kids and that would kill me. I’m better off staying with Zane. He wouldn’t have anyone else to worry about protecting if Austin showed up on his door step.”
“Okay, Sweetheart. I understand,” she nodded, finally conceding defeat. “Let’s get these melons cut up. I’m sure Carl and Phillip probably have things well underway out there with the burgers and hot dogs.”
“I didn’t realize I was pulling Zane away from helping out when I called. I’m really sorry,” she added with a blush.
“Amanda, going and getting you was the more important thing at the time. There was no way any of us wanted him to leave you stranded there with Austin.”
Zane came back in then and wrapped his arms around her, so he could lean down and kiss her on the forehead. “Luke and I are going to go and see if we can find your car. Do you have any idea where he was at?”
“Not really. All I know was they were going to the bar last night when he left. You might try looking between my apartment and there.”
“Okay. Give me your keys.”
Amanda dug her keys out of her pocket and looked up at him. “Do you really think it’s necessary to go after it right now? From what your mom said, it should be time to eat soon.”
“Yeah. If we don’t, it could end up impounded. It would be better to try and get it now. Besides, Mom and Mindy will make sure there’s enough left for us to eat when we get back,” he said, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead again before he turned and walked out the swinging doors to head out the front door.
******
A little more than an hour after they left, Amanda walked out on the porch in time to watch Luke pull up in his tow truck with Zane behind him in her car. It looked like Austin had ran it off in the ditch and got stuck. He was probably too drunk to figure out how to get it out. The right front fender was a little messed up, but that looked like all the damage that had been done. She was going to need to have Phillip look at it.
“I guess everything went okay,” she said, watching Zane walk across the yard. Luke just waved at her and headed through the gate to the backyard.
“Yeah,” he said, stepping up on the porch with her and handing her the keys to her car. He gently brushed his thumb across her cheek where it had swollen. “The idiot actually left the key in it, but as long as that was the only copy he had, you now have it back. I wanted to talk to him, but when we went back by your apartment, he had already taken off.”
She shook her head, staring at the Superman logo on his t-shirt. The shirt had obviously been washed several times by the way it looked. It was stretched tight across his broad chest and was faded from use. “Zane, please stay away from him. I don’t want you getting hurt or in trouble because of him. Superman might be invincible, but you’re not.”
“Mandy, there’s no way I’d get hurt,” he said, giving her a cocky grin.
“Even Superman had kryptonite,” she whispered, nearly in tears.
“Mandy, I’ll be fine.”
“Zane, please,” she pleaded, wrapping her arms around him and sinking her nails into his back without realizing what she was doing. “Don’t. I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.”
He grimaced from the pain but didn’t push her away. “Alright. I’ll stay away from him, as long as he stays away from you,” he said, hugging her close.
She took a deep calming breath, then pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. “Is that the best I’m going to get?”
“Yep,” he said, turning to head off the porch to go to the backyard and grabbing her hand to pull her along. “Is it time to eat yet?” He didn’t want to talk about it any longer. She was getting to upset and the last thing he wanted to do was make her cry. Right now, he was just beyond thankful she was out of that apartment again. The rest could be worked out later.
“Yeah, everyone else is in the backyard,” she answered, wiping her eyes. She was going to have to pray Austin finally decided to leave her alone.
“Have you put any ice on that?” he asked, opening the gate and stepping back to let her go through first.
“Yeah, for a little while. My face got cold enough, it was starting to hurt, so I took it off. Your mom gave me some ibuprofen.”
“Maybe you should put the ice back on it for a little while again. I don’t like seeing your beautiful face swollen like that.”
Amanda was so surprised by his words, she stopped dead in her tracks. When he realized she was no longer beside him, he turned back and gave her a questioning look.
“You think I’m beautiful?” she asked, sounding awed.
He stood there at first, thinking she must be kidding. “You don’t realize how truly gorgeous you are?”
She shook her head at him. “I’ve never thought of myself as beautiful. Attractive, I guess, but not beautiful.”
“Attractive, you guess? Woman, if I didn’t already know it for a fact, I’d say you’ve been dating the wrong men, for sure. By now you should have heard that so many times that you didn’t even notice when someone said it to you,” he said, shaking his head and turning back toward the picnic tables where everyone else was still seated. Luke had already managed to get a plate and was already sat down and eating. Mindy had probably started fixing it for him when they heard them pull up out front. The tow truck was loud enough it would have telegraphed their arrival.
******
Alex eyed the torn lawn chair with a thoughtful expression before turning the same look on his brother. “Michael, would you trade me chairs? This one’s starting to tear, and I weigh more than you,” he said, kicking his brother in the foot.
“No, and if you wouldn’t eat everything in sight, you wouldn’t weigh so much,” Michael said, smirking at his older brother.
“I don’t eat everything in sight. Only the food,” he said, slapping his hands against his chest with a smirk back. “And it’s not like I’m fat. I’m just larger than you. Come on. The chairs going to tear.”
“Will you shut up if I do?”
“Probably not,” he said with a grin. “But I’ll stop nagging at you.”
“Fine. Take the stinking chair,” Michael said, standing up, not really wanting to deal with Alex in one of his moods.
“Thanks,” his older brother smirked.
When Michael went to sit down in the other lawn chair, it ripped under his weight and Alex burst out laughing. Michael gave his older brother a dirty look. “Not funny, Man.”
“I really didn’t think it would tear under your weight,” Alex said, trying to cut off his laughter. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to kick your butt just as soon as I get out of this thing,” the younger boy declared as he struggled to pull himself out of what was left of the lawn chair.
“Oh really?” Alex was laughing so hard, he was holding his ribs. “You think you can?”
When Michael managed to pull himself free of the damaged chair, Alex jumped back, putting himself out of his brother’s reach. When Michael went to reach for him again, Alex spun around and took off in a run.
Alex saw Abby, who had her head turned back talking to Jamie, walk into his path a second too late. All he could do was try to catch her, causing both of them to go down hard and roll. When they come to a stop out in the middle of the yard, Alex was on the bottom, they had everybody’s attention and Michael was laughing so hard he sounded like a hyena.
At first, he just stared up at her. But when his body started to react to the fact that she was sprawled on top of him, and her eyes got huge, he closed his eyes and groaned, dropping his head back to the ground. He knew he was in trouble. He wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to let her up without ever
yone noticing. But that was the only way he was going to be able to cool off.
When she started to get up, she ended up making it worse. Without thinking her actions through, she had brought her knees up on either side of his body and ended up straddling his hips.
When he groaned again, she looked back down at him, her eyes growing huge again. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
He still had his eyes closed, and he sat up, so he could talk to her without everyone else hearing. Unfortunately, he almost felt the need to bite his tongue off to keep from groaning again. “It’s not that kind of pain.”
“What?” He could see the shock on her face and it was all he could do not to laugh.
“Abby, if you don’t understand what’s going on, maybe someone needs to explain male anatomy to you better. I’d be happy to show you, using the hands-on approach, but we have too much clothing in the way and there’s people watching.”
That caused her eyes to get even bigger. “Oh.” She knew what was going on, but her mind was having a hard time wrapping around the fact that she could do that to him so easily.
“Scoot back a little bit,” he said, his voice sounding much huskier than normal.
“Oh, yeah.” When she started to get up, he reached up and stopped her.
“Give me a second, please,” he said, looking up in her eyes. He noticed she still looked dazed and it caused him to have another very Alex moment.
“What? You didn’t realize you could turn me on?” he asked her, whispering, watching her eyes grow even larger. “You’re the only one that can do that to me so easily, but I still don’t think we’re ready.”
“What are you two talking about?” Zane asked, walking over to where they still sat on the ground. “I’m sure if you had asked, she would have been willing to give you a hug, Alex. You didn’t have to tackle her.”
“Shut up, Zane,” he said, nearly growling, still trying to get his hormones under control.
Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 3
