by Kylie Kent
He sent Sarah a message. This is what my brain focuses onto from his response. “How do you know Sarah? And how do you have her number?” It comes out sounding much harsher than I intended, but something irrational happened when I heard I sent Sarah a message. I got jealous, well at least I think it’s jealousy, I’ve never been jealous before so it’s hard to tell.
Zac stops at a red light, turns to look at me, I don’t know what he sees on my face because he doesn’t say anything for a good minute. Suddenly he smiles, picks up my hand and kisses me on the inside of my wrist before resting our joined hands on his thigh. Well okay then, if that hasn’t put the green eye monster to bed a little, I don’t know what would. I’m so focused on trying to breathe and not show just how much that simple gesture has affected me. I startle a little when he talks again.
“Sunshine, you can put the claws away. I have Sarah’s number because I asked her for it this morning when you were in the shower.” At this, I try to tug my hand away from him, it doesn’t work he just holds on tighter. “I asked her for her number, because I knew your phone was dead this morning and I didn’t know if you would have had the chance to charge it while at work. I didn’t have your number, and I wanted a way of reaching you, so I asked for Sarah’s.”
I can still feel the green-eyed monster wanting to come out a little. “Okay, well thank you for the ride and the meal,” I lamely get out. I use my free hand to pick the fork back up and start eating. I let out a little moan around a mouthful of noodles and the hand that Zac is holding gets a little tighter. I look over to him to see his jaw tensed, eyes hyper-focused at the road.
I have no idea whatever storm has rolled up within him again, I really can’t keep up with this man’s intense moods. I try for some light conversation.
“So, no Batmobile tonight?” I question.
He looks over and smiles slightly, he’s eyes lighting up. “No, it’s at the detailers, someone left muffin crumbs all through it.”
I audibly gasp and drop my fork, the fork drops to the floor of the car with a pile of noodles on it. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I can pay for the detailing of the Batmobile and this one, but to be fair I did pre-warn you I’m a messy eater. Oh god, who’s car is this? Now I’ve messed someone else’s car too. That has to be a record, two cars ruined in one day.”
He’s full on laughing by the time I finish my little freak out. I turn and glare at him. “It’s not funny, that Batmobile obviously isn’t a cheap car and I ruined it.”
“Sunshine, I was joking about the muffin crumbs. It’s fine. You didn’t ruin any car, and this car is one of mine so don’t worry about putting noodles everywhere.” He raises my hand back to his lips and kisses the inside of my wrist again. It’s confusing how much this move both calms me and makes me hot and bothered at the same time.
Placing the lid on the pad Thai and leaning down to pick up the fork I put it all back in the plastic bag. Zac looks over, he’s not impressed. “You need to eat Alyssa, eat.”
“I’ll eat it when I get home. Besides, it’s not easy eating noodles in a car.” I place the bag on the floor beside my feet and lean my head back on the headrest. “This is a really nice car. I think I like this one better than the Batmobile.” I close my eyes a little, I’m so damn tired.
“You look exhausted, I knew I should have made you take the day off today.”
My eyes pop back open, glaring at him. “I’m sorry if I look exhausted and am not up to your level of expectations of how one should look, but I just finished a twelve-hour shift in the emergency department. I didn’t even get a proper lunch break. And just so you know, there is nothing you could have done to make me take a day off; you don’t own me and I certainly don’t answer to anyone!”
Zac looks over and smirks at me. Dammit, I’m mad at him and it’s really hard to stay mad at him when he looks at me like that. “Yet,” he mumbles under his breath, almost like he’s telling himself something. “Sunshine, I wouldn’t have to force you to take a day off. I can be very persuasive when I want something, and sunshine, I will stop at nothing to get what I want, even if that’s you taking a day off to rest when you need it.” I’m gobsmacked, my mouth hanging open. I don’t even know how to respond to that and before I can even contemplate a half intelligent thought to respond, he adds, “and as for how you look, you could wear a hessian sack and still be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
I just stare at him. Who is this man? And where the hell has he been all my life? I pinch my leg. Yep, definitely awake and dreaming this, Zac far surpasses anything I could dream up. I’m racking my brain for something to say to him when his phone rings over the speaker system in the car.
The screen reads Bray calling, Zac looks over at me and says. “sorry,” before answering the call. “Be careful with your words.” That’s how he answers the call, as I’m contemplating why not a simple hello a rough voice fills the car.
“Zac, man, you gotta get to the club, NOW!” The guy on the other end sounds like he’s yelling.
“Bray, for the love of god, tell me you haven’t burnt down my club in the hour I’ve been gone?” Zac demands.
“No, it’s Ella.”
Zac’s entire body tenses. Who is Ella? Whoever she is, she must be important to both men as I can see the worry overtake Zac’s features and can hear it in the man's voice on the phone.
“What happened? Where is she Bray?” Zac’s voice is strained as he grits out the demands.
“Bro, you have to fucking get back here now. She was in the VIP section, went to go to the bathroom and the drummer from the band fucking attacked her. The about to be dead fucking drummer.”
Zac’s body vibrates as he listens, he spins the car around going faster than what is probably safe. I stay quiet, not sure what’s going on. Whatever it is, whoever this Ella is, he cares about her.
“I’m ten minutes away Bray. What do you mean he fucking attacked her? What the fuck did he do?”
I can vaguely hear the sounds of someone crying in the background when Bray speaks again. “She’s okay Zac, I’m with her in your office. Dean has the fucker downstairs, he’s only keeping him on ice until you get here. I had to make him promise not to go lethal until you got here man. I’ve never seen Dean like this, he’s a caged lion at the moment, bro. But Ella, she’s banged up, cut on her head, black eye. From what I can see, bruises on her arms and legs. She’s not speaking, won’t talk to anyone. When Dean found her in the bathroom, she clung to him. She wouldn’t even let me fucking take her from him and carry her up here. I don’t know what to do Zac. Tell me I can finish this, I don’t think I can wait for you to get here.”
“Bray, stay with Ella. Don’t let anyone in the office that isn’t Dean until I get there. I’m going as fast as I can. Just stay with Ella, okay?” Zac sounds like he’s trying to calm Bray with his words, whatever he says must do something because Bray agrees.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you to get here, but then the gloves come off. I’m going to fucking kill him.” With that, the phone disconnects.
Zac turns to look at me, he looks torn. “I’m sorry, sunshine, I have to make a detour. I promise I will get you home. I can have one of the security drive you once we get to the club if you want.”
I don’t really know what’s going on back at the club, but I know right now Zac is struggling and I don’t want to add any stress to his night. “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do. If you want me to wait for you, I’ll wait. If you’d rather I go home and let you deal with whatever it is you have to do I’ll do that to,” I say, giving his hand a squeeze.
“What I want right now is to get my hands on the fucker who thought he could touch my baby sister!” Looking across at me as we pull into a carpark he says, “I want you to stay, wait for me. I want to take you home tonight. I will take you home tonight.”
Chapter Six
Zac
Pulling into the carpark at the club, I look over at Alyssa and take a deep breath a
ttempting to calm my rage. I should get someone to take her home. I shouldn’t want her to be here when I may just kill someone in the underground cellar of my club. I shouldn’t want her to see the other side to me, the side that will hunt and kill to protect those close to me.
I know I should let her go now, try to forget her and not bring her down with my level of shit. I know I should, but I don’t, I don’t want to let her go. I don’t care if I have to spend the next month grovelling and apologising for whatever she is about to witness tonight, but right now I need her. I can’t explain it or put a label on what it is but having her next to me feels right.
“Wait there,” I instruct her as I jump out of the car and go around to her side, opening her door I reach in for her hand to help her out. Although every bone in my body is screaming at me to run up to my office to make sure Ella is okay, I don’t. I take another deep breath and silently count to ten in my head.
Gripping Alyssa’s hand, I walk as calmly as I can muster. When I notice that Alyssa is struggling to keep up with my pace, I slow a little. We stop at the elevator; stabbing at the button over and over does not make it open any quicker. Alyssa gives my hand a squeeze and looks up at me with those grey-blue eyes of hers. The doors open and I pull her in, as soon as the doors close, my arms go around her, I hold her tight, probably too tight.
“I’m sorry for whatever your about to see, for whatever I have to do tonight. Know that no matter how much I may want you here, how much I need you here, if at any time you want to leave and go home, you tell me and I will have someone take you.”
She rests her head against my chest, wrapping her arms around me. She hugs me back but it’s what she says that has me holding her tight and not wanting to let her go. “I want to be wherever you are, but I also don’t want to be in the way. So, you need to tell me if I am.”
Damn, I think I could be losing my mind. I can’t ever recall wanting, no needing, a woman as much as I need Alyssa right now. “Sunshine, you could never be in the way, you are right where you belong.” As the doors open, I grab her hand and pull her along the hall to my office.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me as I walked into my office. Ella is curled up on the corner of the couch, she’s rocking slightly, crying silent tears that I can see run down her cheeks. She’s bleeding from a gash on her forehead, an enormous bruise is forming on her right eye, and her arms are covered in marks. My world is tumbling, the anger I thought I had controlled comes barrelling back full force.
Bray is pacing back and forward throughout the office, he stops as soon as he notices me. “Zac, thank god you’re here, she won’t let me touch her, she keeps asking for fucking Dean. Where the fuck is Dean?” He looks like he’s about to lose it.
Alyssa squeezes my hand before walking slowly over to Ella. She takes a seat on the couch next to her, not touching her and speaking softly. “Ella, my names Alyssa, but you can call me Lyssa, all my friends call me Lyssa. I’m a nurse, I can help you. Would you like me to help get you cleaned up a bit?”
Bray and I both watch in shock as Ella picks her head up and gives a slight nod. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding before going over to Ella and crouching in front of her.
“Ella, sweetheart, I need to know …” Swallowing I try again, “I need you to tell me what happened, please.”
Ella looks at me. “Zac?” she questions like she doesn’t believe it’s actually me.
“Yeah honey, it’s me Zac. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I … I was so scared Zac, I didn’t know what to do, I screamed for help, I kicked, scratched and hit wherever I could, just like you told me too, but he was too big.” Her sobs get louder. This is killing me, I can feel my body vibrate with rage.
Alyssa must sense something in me, she touches my shoulder. “Zac, I’m going to take her through there,” she points to the bathroom, “I need you to get me a first aid kit. I can help her, the cut on her head is not bad, it looks it because head wounds bleed a lot. It doesn’t look too deep.” She turns to Ella. “Ella, honey, I’m going to take you to the shower and help you get cleaned.” I watch as Alyssa grabs Ella’s hand to help her up. She follows Alyssa blindly through to the bathroom attached to my office.
Bray watches them go through then he looks at me. “I’m going downstairs. I can’t stand this Zac, I feel helpless. I should have been there. This shouldn’t have happened to her. This won’t happen again, I will make sure every asshole out there knows what will happen to them if they even think about touching her,” he says, pointing towards the bathroom door.
“Give me five minutes. I’ll get the first aid kit for Alyssa and meet you down there, don’t finish without me,” I demand. I need this, I need this fucker’s blood on my hands. I need to watch the life drain out of him. I dig a first aid kid out of the cabinet and knock on the bathroom door.
Alyssa cracks the door open slightly, not enough for me to see in. “Is she okay?” I ask, almost pleading that she is.
“She will be.” She takes the first aid kit before stopping me from entering. “Zac, I’ll take care of her, you can trust me to do this for you, for her.”
Nodding in agreement, I let out a breath. “I know, I just need to know how bad it is.”
She reads between the lines and nods her head, “I’ll find out.”
“Thank you, I’m going downstairs for a bit. I won’t be too long, but I’m locking the office door. Don’t open it for anyone, everyone that needs to be in here has a key, okay?”
She gives a small smile and says, “okay, I’ll be here when you get back.” I place a kiss on her forehead. Turning, I walk out the door, looking forward to getting all my rage out on this fucker.
Walking into the basement, I can hear the telltale signs of skin meeting skin. I can hear Bray telling the fucker the mistakes he made tonight.
“You think you can come into our club, touch our sister and get away with it? You just signed your own death certificate fucker.”
I walk through the room they’re in and see they have the drummer hooked up to chains, his face is already unrecognizable. Turning to Dean who is pacing the back wall I ask, “did you have to start without me? You know how much I enjoy the start of the show.”
Dean looks up but doesn’t even greet me with his usual devious smirk, the one he usually saves for these situations. He’s hanging on by a thread.
“Zac, just let me take him out, I need to take him out.” I look at him, really look at him, for a moment.
“This isn’t just some random fucker that wronged me Dean. He thought he could touch my sister, my fucking sister!” I yell. Dean bends his head, running his hands through his hair. He lets out an anguished grunt and continues pacing the back wall.
Looking back over, I see Bray hasn’t given up on this fucker. I walk over and tap him out. He looks at me, nods his head, and goes to stand in front of the door. Leaning his back against the door his eyes are focused on the drummer as he says, “you think Dean was bad? You think I was hard on you? Well now you’re about to wish for death to greet you.” Bray laughs a little.
I take my time rolling the sleeves of my shirt up, I look the drummer in the face, although I suspect he’s having a hard time seeing me, seeing as though both of his eyes are pretty much swollen shut already. I stand in front of him.
“So, I hear you thought you could put your grubby little hands on my little sister. You know you shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you, don’t you? Especially when those things don’t want to be touched,” I say, oddly calm.
Now that I’m in this space, I can feel my rage simmering. I’m always calm once I get into this zone. It’s like a drug, a rush of endorphins runs through me. What can I say? I fucking enjoy teaching fuckers like this a lesson. It’s sick, I’m sure I’m a perfect candidate for the nuthouse, but I don’t fucking care. What I care about right now is that this fucker put his hands on my sister, hurt my sister.
I look over to Dean. “Pass me the sheers,” I say, holding my hand out.
Dean picks up the sheers and walks over to hand them to me, giving me his trademark devious smirk. He knows what I have planned and is one hundred percent on board with it. I make a show of opening and closing the sheers a few times before lining them up with a pinkie.
The fucker must realise what I have planned because he attempts to back up and move his hand away. He can’t though, those chains have no give in them.
As I cut through his pinkie, I say, “this little piggy …” and revel in the scream he lets out. I continue until all of his fingers have gone, and the drummer is about to lose consciousness.
Grabbing him by the throat, I say, “I would love to stay and play, but I have more pressing matters.” I don’t let go until I know he’s no longer breathing. Turning to Dean and Bray, I growl, “deal with this, I need to get back upstairs to Ella.”
They don’t say anything, knowing better than to question me right now. I walk out of the room feeling only slightly better than when I walked in.
I stop at a bathroom to get cleaned up a bit. Looking at my reflection, I can see blood splattered over my white dress shirt, up my arms and even my face. I strip the shirt off and scrub my arms and face the best I can in a fucking sink with hand soap. Deciding it’s an improvement, I make my way up to my office.
I find Ella curled up on the couch asleep. She looks better. Her face cleaned and not covered in blood; some butterfly stitches have been placed along the cut on her forehead. Alyssa is sitting on the chair opposite Ella, looking down at her phone. She looks up and turns her head towards me, gasping a little when she sees me. She looks back to Ella before standing and walking over to me. She doesn’t say anything as she grabs my hand and leads me into the bathroom.