Mistakes Were Made (Careless in Calabasas Book 1)

by Heidi McVay

  A smile spread over Zarek’s face as he chuckled. “No. The house is good. I just… umm… well, there’s a girl.”

  He heard a soft laugh coming through the line then as Embry spoke once more. “Okay. Good enough. I’ll be looking for that contract and have my bank get ready to transfer the funds. Good luck, Zarek. It was nice to finally meet you.”

  “You too, Embry. Thanks.” With that, she hung up, and Zarek flicked off the hazards, pulling back onto the nearly empty highway. Only ten miles to go until he was home. Now, if only he could convince the stubborn woman, he was on his way to see to let him through the front door. Especially since he was now, officially, homeless.

  *

  Scarlett stared at the computer screen without really seeing the lines of code. She’d been trying to work since her mother had left that morning, without success. She was well ahead of her deadline, but work had always been an escape from reality when she’d needed it.

  Programming made sense in ways that people never had. She sighed and closed the laptop lid, pushing away from the table and heading into the kitchen. She filled the kettle by rote and put it on its base to heat. She didn’t need the coffee, but she needed to do something. Zarek hadn’t called again, hadn’t texted. It was well and truly over. Despite what her mother had said, she had no idea what to do now. Apparently, Zarek had taken the hint and was resuming the status quo.

  Just as she was measuring the coffee grounds into the French press, she heard it. Someone was honking their car horn from the road. She poured the grounds into the press and shook her head. Even way out here, up on her mountain, there were idiots. The noise got louder, the honking oddly familiar. It wasn’t just laying on the horn anymore, and it wasn’t on the street. She frowned and turned to face the front window, though with the blinds down, she couldn’t see anything. The horn blasted insistently. Then she heard the sickening crunch of metal hitting something unyielding.

  Scarlett sprinted for the door and threw it open, prepared to see some car at the bottom of the steep hill that her house sat on. Instead, there was a bright yellow, flawlessly restored ‘78 El Camino in her driveway. Her eyes widened as she saw one of the headlights dangling from the crumpled front end. And in the driver's seat, sat Zarek, backing down the driveway. What the hell? For a moment, Scarlett could only stare in confusion as he laid on the horn again and sent a spray of gravel from beneath the rear tires of the car as he gunned the engine and cut it sharply to the right, driving straight on into the large oak tree at the end of her driveway, taking out the other headlight. She watched as his big body lurched forward. Scarlett stepped off the porch; her jaw dropped in shock.

  He lifted his eyes, his gaze meeting hers. She watched as his fingers wrapped around the gear shift, and he threw the car into reverse.

  This time he cut the wheel and rear-ended a defenseless pine tree. “Stop! Zarek! What the hell are you doing? Stop it!” Scarlett shouted as he shook his head, and raised his right hand, left still on the wheel. Then the crazy man flipped her the bird as he pressed the gas once more and slammed the El Camino right into the same oak tree again.

  With that, she sprinted toward his car and gestured toward her tree, unable to process the insanity of it all. “What the fuck are you doing?” Zarek was out of the car in the next moment. Scarlett’s heart skipped a beat as she registered the fury in his gaze and the baseball bat in his hands. He rounded the car, baseball bat in hand, and she backed away. He wouldn’t hurt her; she knew that, but she wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. Why was he here? And why had he repeatedly bashed his beloved car into her trees?

  Without a word, he gestured for her to back up. Scarlett obeyed, watching in mute horror as he raised the bat, took aim, and smashed the passenger side window of the car. She flinched as it shattered inward, wishing to God she knew what the hell in him had finally snapped. He stepped forward, lifting the bat over his head and bringing it down, sending the passenger side rearview mirror flying.

  “What are you doing? Are you nuts?”

  He paused, bat held aloft, preparing to swing again, this time aiming for the front quarter panel. “Yep.” And with that, he swung again, repeatedly bringing the metal bat down on the car’s hood. “Completely fucking insane.” He grinned now, though anger burned his silver eyes.

  “Zarek, stop!” Scarlett shouted the words. He ignored her, casually walking around the car to the open driver’s door and sending the glass flying with a perfect strike. It was mildly impressive, given that he’d never been very good at baseball. In fact, he’d been the only kid to spend the entire season of little league on the bench after accidentally beaning the umpire in the head on his backswing. “This is crazy. Just put the bat down and talk to me!”

  “Oh! Now you want to talk.” Zarek spun to face her, tossing the bat to the ground and reaching into his pocket. He produced his pocket knife and unfolded it as he rounded the car. “You think I drove a thousand miles to talk? No.” And with that, he leaned down and stabbed the knife into the front tire. “No more talking. Time to show you.”

  “Show me? Show me what? That you’re an absolute moron? What is wrecking your car going to prove? Z, that paint job alone cost you nearly ten grand!” She remembered that because she’d thought it was an idiot move, spending more to paint the car than the damn car was worth. He shook his head, clucking his tongue at her. “Tsk tsk tsk, Scarlett. It’s just a car.”

  “You love that car! Why are you destroying it?” She surged forward once more, her hands coming up to grab at his wrist.

  Zarek held it over her head, his eyes burning with that rage she’d only seen a few times in her life, and never directed at her. “Let me go, Scar.” He intoned the words so very softly that she released him immediately.

  He spoke again, in quiet command. “Now step back and try to understand why I’d do this.”

  On instinct, she obeyed, swallowing hard as he moved to the rear tire and wordlessly slammed the knife into the rubber. He’d been so damn pleased with himself when he’d found the white-walled tires to match the leather interior of the car. The leather that he was now slashing ruthlessly. Scarlett’s stomach dropped as she brought a hand up to scrub at her face. “Zarek, I’m sorry. I don’t understand. I just don’t get it. Why would you drive all this way just to destroy something you love?”

  He straightened, folding the knife and slipping it back into his pocket. Zarek was shaking his head as he stepped closer, and for the first time, Scarlett noticed that there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in the two days since she’d seen him last. “The same reason that I just sold my house for five hundred grand less than it’s worth. Because it’s just stuff, Scarlett, it’s noise. It doesn’t mean anything. It never meant anything. I only bought the goddamn car in the first place because I wanted to be able to drive places with you, without our mothers watching our every move.”

  Scarlett frowned at him. “I thought you bought it because it was your grandfather's.”

  He stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I bought it because it was all I could afford, and my gramps let me make monthly payments to him for a year. I bought it because it was the only thing I could buy working at Burger King making minimum wage. Scarlett, it was never about my grandfather or the El Camino. It was about what it meant. It meant you and me together. It’s always been about you and me.”

  Scarlett stared past him toward the car, and for the first time, she saw the thing with war wounds all over again. Zarek had just shredded the car, and as her gaze flicked to him, it was painfully obvious that he was serious. The realization made her want to cry from frustration and joy all at the same time. She gritted her teeth, determined to hold her ground. Zarek’s voice was a deep rumble of conviction as he spoke again. “I should never have walked away from you that night. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay. I wanted to tell you how I felt. I wanted to kiss you, hold you, take you to bed and show you everything I’d spent years holding back.
I thought I was doing the right thing. And I honestly wouldn’t change doing it, even knowing that it hurt you in the process because that decision brought me Evie. And Scarlett, next to you, she’s my life. You were right when you said that I was selfish. I was. I am. I will probably always be in a lot of ways. But I don’t want you, Scarlett.” He stepped forward, his hands moving to wrap around hers, tugging her forward. He brought his forehead down, resting it on her own, even as the tears began to sting at her eyes. “It’s not a want, Scar. It’s a need.”

  She bit at her lower lip and swallowed, struggling to control herself. His fingers were warm around hers, and his solid body was right there in front of her as it had always been. Zarek’s voice was smaller now, less confident than she’d ever heard it. “I will admit, mistakes were made, and they can’t be undone. But if you just give me a chance. That’s all I’m asking. We can stay here, in your…” He lifted his head and then grimaced. “Holy shit, Scar. This is the smallest fucking house I’ve ever seen.”

  “It’s called a tiny house for a reason.” She whispered the words, her face burning as he shook his head and refocused his attention on her.

  Zarek’s hands now rose to frame her face, coaxing her head upward. “We’ll stay here. No California, no Greece. I’ll go there and take Evie and when I’m done with work, I’ll come back here to you. We can live wherever you want; I don’t care. But I’m here, and I’m not walking away this time. And if you try to make me, I’ll be sleeping in Buttercup on broken glass and freezing my ass off. I literally no longer have a house to go back to. My home is where you are.”

  Scarlett lifted a hand and touched his face lightly, and in that one contact, everything fell into place. “Okay. That was pretty good.” She drew in a steadying breath and watched as Zarek’s eyes shifted once more, this time betraying apprehension. She shook her head. “It’s my turn. Let me talk.” At his hesitant nod, Scarlett gently disentangled herself from his arms and turned to regard Buttercup. Zarek loved that damn car. He loved her. She now knew it bone-deep. This man loved her with a ferocity and a depth that scared the shit out of her only because she felt the same way. “That night was my fault too. I shouldn’t have let you go. It killed me because she was giving you what I couldn’t. That was why I never said anything.”

  She heard her name coming from him softly. “Oh, Scarlett. I don’t care about that-”

  “My turn.” She spoke as sternly as she could. “I don’t even know when I fell in love with you, Z. It was just kind of always there like you were. At first, I didn’t say anything because you were so far away, and you seemed so happy with your life. But then when I found out, I couldn’t have kids, any idea of saying something just… I couldn’t do the one thing I should be able to. The one that was so important to you.

  You’d always talked about a family as a given, and I couldn’t even talk about them as a possibility. When Tatiana told me that night that she had the upper hand, I knew she was right. But I still should have taken the chance. I was a coward, and I’m sorry.”

  She heard the soft exhalation as Zarek wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I don’t give a shit how we build a family, Scar. I don’t love you for your damn uterus.” Scarlett gave in to the urge to raise her hands, gripping at his arms as his head bowed, the words coming in her ear. “I love you because you’re my home. The rest of it, just remember that it’s all noise. You and Evie, you two are my whole world. That’s all I need.”

  With those words, Zarek’s arms loosened, and he gripped her shoulders, spinning her around. As she stared up at him, Scarlett’s heart was suddenly bursting. It didn’t come out of nowhere as she had always thought it might. No, it had snuck up on her quietly, like a thief making off with the silver, in the dead of night. Zarek’s eyes had always been his tell, and now they were on her again. The love he had for her was laid bare as it probably had all her life, but she just hadn’t seen it. She raised a shaking hand and touched his face. His eyes closed for a moment, and he turned his head, kissing her palm.

  In that one gesture, Scarlett understood everything Zarek had said and done. It had always been meant to be this way. She rose up on her toes and brushed a kiss over his lips. When he exhaled, his breath was warm, and Scarlett could feel the tension draining from his large frame. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her from her feet and taking her lips in a hard kiss. The touch was hungry, as though he had been deprived of something vital to his very life, and maybe he had, maybe they both had. Scarlett answered his kiss just as greedily, twining her arms around his shoulders. She wasn’t sure how long she spent, tasting him, holding him. But when he eventually settled her on her feet, and that kiss turned sweet and light, she knew everything was okay.

  He lifted his head, his arms locking around her, as though to let her go might shatter something apart. “My Scarlett. My Scarlett.” The murmured words were the same as he’d said that night in Las Vegas. A shiver of need went through her, and she buried her face in his chest, inhaling the scent of Zarek. He was home. They both were.

  Epilogue

  “I can’t believe you convinced me to get married in your mother’s backyard.” Zarek’s rumbled words were laced with mock annoyance as he took a seat beside Scarlett in one of the lounge chairs beside her parent’s pool. His fingers brushed hers as he passed her one of the beers he’d just filched from his mother’s fridge. She glanced up at him only to see that he had donned dark sunglasses, shielding his eyes from the too-bright July sun.

  Wearing nothing but a pair of still-damp board shorts, he was staring toward where their fathers were arguing loudly as they arranged all of two folding tables borrowed from the church. The two men had nearly come to blows over who would control the helium tank for the balloons.

  Zarek’s voice held a note of hesitation. “You know, it’s not too late to call this whole thing off and have a big shindig.” When Scarlett’s eyes flicked to his face, he reached up and pushed the sunglasses up on his head. “I waited more than twenty years, Scar. I don’t mind waiting another few months.”

  Scarlett’s breath was stolen away at the sight of the genuine concern in those steel-gray eyes that were focused entirely on her now. She lifted her beer, tipping it up and taking a long sip. When she lowered it again, she managed to keep her voice casual, refocusing her gaze on the sight of Abasi trying to unfold the second table, cursing in Arabic when it defeated him yet again. “Well, considering how much this kid is gonna cost us, I think it’s better to do it this way.”

  Zarek’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, and when she dared to cut a glance to him, he was frowning. “Kid?” There was a moment of confusion before understanding dawned in his eyes. “She called?”

  “She called.” Scarlett confirmed, heart thumping in her chest as she finally broke into an impish grin.

  Zarek’s entire expression changed as he edged forward, sliding from the lounger he’d been balanced on the edge of to crouch in front of her.

  “You’re saying it worked?” There was cautious joy in his expression. “Really?”

  Scarlett’s breath caught at the sight of the genuine pleasure that filtered into Zarek’s eyes. “It worked.” She answered softly. “She’s due in February.”

  Zarek’s mercurial expression shifted, and his full lips widened into a grin. The next thing Scarlett knew, his arms locked around her, and he lifted her into the air, kissing her as hungrily as he had the first time, almost a year before. He gave a soft chuckle against her lips as he drew away, settled her on her feet, arms still around her tightly as he directed his gaze to where their fathers were now arguing all over again, gesturing to the table, the balloons, and anything else they could think of to rage at one another about. “Joe! Dad!” The two men immediately lifted their heads to look at Zarek as he bellowed the words out, raising the beer he held in triumph. “The surrogate called! It worked! We’re pregnant!”

  Scarlett couldn’t help burst out laughing as the demeanor between the two men chang
ed, and Abasi threw his head back, laughing as he slung an arm around her father. Her dad, not much taller than Scarlett was, wrapped his arms around Abasi’s midsection and hugged him tightly. Zarek’s voice was a low, sweet rumble in her ear when he spoke again, murmuring the words softly. “Scarlett, my Scarlett. Look at us now.”

  Those tender words made her heart tighten. She buried her face in his bare chest, sliding an arm around Zarek and pressing a kiss just over his heart. When she lifted her head, the intensity of what she saw reflected in his gaze was almost too much to bear. The truly remarkable thing was that it was exactly the same thing she’d seen in his eyes her entire life.

  Only now, she truly understood what that expression was. “Okay, enough sap.”

  Even as he released her, Zarek grinned slowly. “You know, our moms will be out with Evie for at least a couple more hours.”

  As he arched a brow, Scarlett’s gaze flicked to their fathers, where Joe Landry was now gesturing toward the folding chairs as he tried to explain something to Abasi. She answered him just as quietly. “And it looks like the dads are trying to turn setting up two folding tables into an international incident, so they’re gonna be a while too, I think.”

  Zarek’s fingers plucked the beer from her hands, and he leaned to set both down on the ground beside the chairs they’d abandoned. “Race you to the gar-” A second later, she heard a huff of annoyance from somewhere behind her as he roared the words. “I didn’t say to go!”

  Scarlett was already tearing across the yard toward the garage apartment they were staying in and was halfway up the steps by the time she heard him following, bare feet thundering on the staircase. “Dammit, Scarlett! Remember the rules!”

  In response, she lifted her hand and flipped him off as she reached for the door. His arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her through the door, kicking it closed behind them.