Zane (The Powers That Be, Book 6)

by Harper Bentley

  He stood straight. “Babe. I fucked up. I’m sorry. And those weren’t ‘nothings.’ I meant every word. In all of them.”

  I bit the inside of my lip and unlocked my door, signaling for him to follow me. Inside my apartment, I set my purse on the bar and leaned my hip against it, crossing my arms again.

  “How do I know you really meant it all?”

  He glanced around my apartment then back at me. “Babe. I meant it. The only way I can prove it is to show you now.”

  I closed my eyes thinking how much he’d hurt me and here came the tears. “You hurt me so much, Zane.”

  Then he was there, taking me in his arms and holding me tight.

  “I know I did. And I’m so sorry.” He kissed the top of my head. “I was an idiot.”

  Putting my hands on his chest, I pushed him slightly away. “The worst part was hearing from Robo, I mean Officer Pope, what you said about me. I-it devastated me.”

  He let out a breath putting his hands on his hips. “I know. And all I can say is I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “But you’d hurt me too. I wanted payback and I shouldn’t have.”

  We stood there quiet for a moment, me crying and him looking so remorseful it broke my heart.

  He broke the silence and said, “I’m in love with you, Jillian.” His eyes searched mine as I looked at him through my tears. “And I want you in my life.” I closed my eyes then because everything he was saying was perfect. Just as I went to tell him I loved him too, he said sadly, “But even if you don’t want me, at least I tried. I had to try.”

  He pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket and placed it on the counter. “I saw this and thought of you.” I looked down at it then back up at him and he nodded toward it. “Open it.”

  As I picked at the paper, he started pacing.

  “I remember you saying once that some species of albatross mate for life and that you thought it was romantic. You said that’s what you wanted, and I teased you about it. We even got into our first argument over the poem. So, when I saw that, I immediately thought of you.”

  I pulled the lid off the box to see a silver albatross necklace, it’s wings spread which was where the chain connected to it on each wingtip. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered, holding it up and looking at it. “Thank you.”

  “Babe, I wanna be the albatross around your neck,” he said, taking the necklace, and moving behind me, reached around encircling my neck with it and secured the catch.

  I snorted and said, “You wanna be my symbol of bad luck?” as I turned to face him, my hand touching the necklace.

  “I wanna be your everything. Just like you are mine.”

  God! He was so sweet! But there was something I needed to know now.

  Fingers stroking the new jewelry at my neck, I asked, “Where have you been the past month?”

  “Surveillance on a suspected meth lab in a house in White Center.”

  “For a month?”

  He nodded. “It was a bad deal, Jillian. There were kids who lived there. Babies. We had to be careful about how we handled it. But we finally got what we needed and nailed the guys. And no one was hurt.”

  “Good.”

  He walked slowly toward me and my heart beat hard in my chest. “God, I’ve missed you. Please say you forgive me.”

  I nodded and saw the relief on his face as his hands came up to hold my face. “I forgave you a while back. I just needed time. Probably like you did when I hurt you.”

  He nodded as his thumb glided over my bottom lip. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I echoed then tiptoed up and kissed him hard, two months’ worth of missing him behind it.

  “What say we Netflix and chill, minus the Netflix?” he said with a smirk.

  “I’m all in,” I answered, squealing when he picked me up.

  Then he carried me to my room.

  Where the fairy tale became a beautiful reality.

  Epilogue

  I met a mermaid once.

  She was fucking beautiful and sitting alone on a porch. And for some reason, I felt she could be my person which shocked the shit out of me. And then she vanished.

  When I ran into her again, I couldn’t believe my luck, knowing it was my chance to get her back, to make her hurt just liked she’d made me hurt. My pride had me listening to my ego, which I followed blindly without any regard to the consequences.

  Then something magical happened. I fell in love. And I didn’t like that. It was as if she’d cast a spell on me.

  But for all my moodiness, she was willing to stick it out, until I really fucked shit up.

  After she left, I told myself I was fine. I’d be okay without her, but inside I knew it was a lie.

  I had to make things right. Even if it meant I still lost her, it was something I had to do.

  Because that’s the chance you take when you love someone—you do what’s right and cross your fucking fingers that it all works out in the end.

  And it did.

  She and I once talked about a poem with an albatross and I’d disagreed with her interpretation of it. But while we were apart, I did a lot of thinking and realized she was right: The guy screwed up but in the end, he received forgiveness and was redeemed.

  A fucking albatross saved my ass and brought her back to me when I saw I was the one who needed redemption all along for being so focused on finding the guy who’d screwed me over and using her to do it, which meant getting revenge on them both, but had backfired since I’d screwed myself when I lost her.

  So yeah, I met a mermaid once…and she saved me from myself.

  Meet Gable (The Powers That Be, Book 1) below!

  Acknowledgments

  To Franca, Mel & Sam, I know I thank you every single time but I mean it every single time too. You guys are the best of the best of the best! Thank you for always being there for me! It makes my heart so happy to know that I can text/message/email and you all are there in a flash. I love you all TONS!

  To the Harlots & Hellbenders, Oh, how you lovelies never cease to amaze me! To Shannon, Michelle, Swess, Lisa, Melissa P. & Gemma especially, thank you for your endless support & promoting my books! You guys all rock my friggin’ world! <3 you hard!

  TC Matson, Thank you for always being there when I need you! I lobe you gobs & heaps & tons! You know all this & I’ll text you in a few LOL

  Anne Mercier, Your friendship means the world to me! You are the most generous and sweetest person ever! Knowing I can text/message/call/send smoke signals at any time & you’re there no matter what makes me flove you even more. Love you much! Xo

  To Jada, Thank you, thank you, thank you for ALWAYS being there for me, dropping everything to make a stunning cover for me ASAP because I can’t seem to get it together and tell you sooner. You’re seriously THE BEST. You never fail to amaze me with your fantastic cover ideas & I love seeing what you come up with EVER SINGLE TIME. This is the TWENTIETH cover you’ve done for me! Can you believe it?! Here’s to twenty more! Love you!

  To the many bloggers who’ve spread the word about my books, thank you x a kajillion. Know that you are appreciated GOBS!

  To anyone who’s ever emailed/messaged/texted/whatever other medium there is to encourage me or tell me you loved one of my books, THANK YOU! It means the world to me!

  And to the readers, this is all for you. Thank you for making my dreams come true! <3

  About the Author

  USA Today Best Selling author Harper Bentley writes about hot alpha males who love hard. She’s taught high school English forever, and although she’s managed to maintain her sanity regardless of her career choice, jumping into the world of publishing her own books goes to show that she might be closer to the ledge than was previously thought.

  After traveling the nation in her younger years as a military brat, having lived in Alaska, Washington State and California, she now resides in Oklahoma with her teenage daughter, two dogs and one cat, happily writing stories that she hopes her read
ers will enjoy.

  You can contact her at harperbentleywrites@gmail.com, at harperbentleywrites.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @HarperBentley

  Summer, two weeks before class:

  You know that feeling you get when you meet someone and feel as if you’ve known them for a lifetime? As if you’re just connected in some way?

  Yeah, that didn’t happen the first time I met Gable Powers. Matter of fact, I didn’t like him one bit.

  Oh, I know about all the Powers boys now. I actually knew about them by the first day of school since it seemed as if every woman on campus couldn’t stop talking about how each brother was just as gorgeous as the next, and things like, “Omigod! The Powers brothers are so hot!” or “Aren’t they just the cutest you’ve ever seen?” were proclaimed almost everywhere I went the entire first week of school. From listening in on these chicks wax rhapsodic over these brothers, if they were anything less than Nick Bateman clones, well, then I’d be highly disappointed. But from their conversations, I learned the Powers were from Seattle, all of them went to Hallervan, Zeke was a senior who played on the football team, Lochlan was a freshman who was some kind of computer genius, Ryker was a sophomore wrestler and Gable was a junior. I had yet to figure out what his superpower was, but I can honestly say that when I first met him, I couldn’t have cared less.

  My up-close-and-personal with Gable Powers left me less than thrilled, and when I finally figured out who he was and said something later about it to my new roommate, I got a stare of disbelief which made me roll my eyes.

  See, I’d answered an ad in the Seattle Times for a roommate. On my way to meet Amy (fellow sophomore who’d eventually become my new roomie), I’d had a flat tire and had to pull over in an area of the city I was unfamiliar with—hell I was unfamiliar with the entire friggin’ place—and, of course, it’d been raining. As a farm girl, I knew how to change a tire, had no problem changing a tire, but per Dad’s instructions, I called AAA and stayed in my car waiting for someone to show up, kind of feeling like a wuss for doing so. I knew I could’ve done it and been on my way in no time but I decided to let Dad parent me for a change. Not that he wasn’t a good father; it’s just that I was majorly independent.

  Needless to say, I was a little surprised when a black pickup truck stopped behind me and a guy got out, almost immediately after I’d hung up with the auto service. I mean, I’d heard AAA was fast, but come on. The guy had come to the driver’s side and when he’d tapped on the window of my little Honda, I’d seen the full sleeve tattoo on his muscular arm and my eyes had bugged out.

  See, I’m from a small town in Idaho where everyone thinks tattoos are Satan’s markings, which I know is ridiculous and is one of the many reasons I couldn’t wait to leave that shitty little place, but I regret saying that when I’d seen his arm, I’d been a little on edge. The guy had stood there in the pouring rain while I contemplated what to do as I checked out the rest of him. He appeared to be over six feet tall and his entire body was ripped. Dang. I could see his abs all bumpy and defined through the wet white t-shirt that clung to him, and his rain-soaked jeans were stuck to what appeared to be muscular thighs. I’d then felt bad for ogling him as he stood there getting drenched, so I finally rolled my window down an inch and he’d bent to ask if I needed help.

  And, my God, was he beautiful.

  I stared at him as rain dripped from his straight nose to the ground. It drizzled down his high cheekbones where it met his strong, stubble-covered jaw, trickling to his chin before finally slipping off. The long curls of dark hair that framed his tanned face were dripping wet also, but it was his light brown eyes that held my attention, so expressive and soulful, lined in long, sooty lashes that were spiked from the rain. Damn. He was a total friggin’ hunk.

  “I’ve called Triple A, so no, thank you,” I’d yelled over the rain through the cracked window.

  He’d given me a sexy half grin, which made butterflies bounce off the walls of my stomach. “I could probably have it fixed before they even get their truck started.”

  I’d twisted my mouth to the side not really knowing what to do. I mean, if I agreed to let him fix it, I may as well just do it. “Uh, that’s okay.”

  “Seriously. You wouldn’t even have to get out, Rebecca. Just pop the trunk and I’ll take care of it. You won’t even have to lift one of your pretty, little fingers.” The smug look he’d given me made me frown. A lot.

  “Rebecca?” I asked wondering what he was talking about.

  “Of Sunnybrook Farm. You know, all clean and wholesome. Prissy,” he’d replied with a twinkle in his eye as he grinned fully now, his straight white teeth making him even more attractive.

  What the hell? I’d grown up with two older brothers and I was anything but prissy. I could drive a tractor for chrissakes! “No, really, it’s fine,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Oh, c’mon. Can’t have a helpless little lady like yourself out here all alone, you know. What are you, like fifteen?”

  I blinked at how rude he was being which was when Kim Kardashian, Jr. had walked up holding an umbrella and wearing the shortest shorts I’d ever seen. The crop t-shirt she wore had so much cut off that I could see her braless boobs hanging out from under it and couldn’t help but gape at how provocatively she was dressed. Then she’d whined, “What’s going onnnnnn, Gable? God! These helpless little Daddy’s Girls are so annoying! I could’ve changed the tire by nooooow! Leave the rich bitch alone and come onnnnnn!”

  And that was the precise moment I think steam had shot out of my ears. I reached down and jerked up on the trunk release because fuck that. Then I’d thrown open my door and saw the guy jump out of the way. I walked to the back of the car, raised the trunk, pulled back the carpet and removed the jack then went to the side where the tire was flat, put the jack down and started loosening the lug nuts with the tire iron.

  “Whoa! What do you think you’re doing?” Jerkface asked, having come around to the side of the car where I was.

  “Well, Prissy Rich Bitch here is changing her tire if you haven’t figured it out,” I muttered glaring up at him. And my eyes got great big when I saw that both his arms were covered in tattoos. Whoa. And why that made him even hotter, I had no idea.

  That was when Kim, Jr. huffed and called the guy an asshole (with which I couldn’t disagree), then she called me a stupid cunt (with which I totally took offense) and my mouth fell open as I watched her stomp back to the truck in her strappy wedge sandals, her ass cheeks totally hanging out from under her shorts. Wow. Classy babe.

  “At least let me help you with that,” Tattoo Guy said, ignoring his girlfriend.

  The glare I’d given him had him holding up his hands to his sides in surrender, his eyebrows raised as he grinned at me. I know I must’ve looked like an idiot with my long, blond hair soaked and hanging in my face, my cute, white cotton romper, which was sticking to me everywhere and was now probably ruined as I’m sure were my very awesome, white ankle-high gladiator sandals, but I’d be damned if I was going to let him help me now after he’d made me out to be some helpless female.

  When he hung around, I muttered, “Go away,” as I positioned the jack and twisted the handle. Once I got the car jacked up, I realized he still hadn’t left so I stood and turned to him, putting my hands on my hips. “What?”

  The perusal he gave me made the butterflies kick up again. Stupid fucking half grin. I frowned at him then moved back to the tire and proceeded to take off the lug nuts. When I went to remove the tire itself, he stepped in, took it off the wheel and rolled it to the trunk as I followed, telling him I had things under control and that he should just leave now.

  “Can’t have you getting yourself all dirty, now can we?” He’d looked me up and down appreciatively and that’s when I realized he could see everything through my outfit.

  Shit! I hadn’t bothered wearing a bra because the romper had a built-in shelf bra, and I’m sure I was giving him quite the show, knowing my nipples had
gotten perky at his heated gaze. But now I had to own it. So taking a deep breath, I leaned into the trunk to remove the spare, but he pushed me aside gently and reached in for it. And, God, he smelled good, all fresh rain and hot man. Damn it.

  “I can handle it. Really. Why don’t you and Luscious take off?” I mumbled.

  He set down the tire, appearing confused, then asked, “Luscious?”

  “Your girlfriend. Isn’t that her stripper name?” I smiled sweetly at him hoping that’d make him mad and he’d finally leave, but instead, he’d barked out a laugh then proceeded to roll the tire to the front. I sloshed through the rain behind him then watched as he finished changing it, none too happy about it.

  “That’s it,” he said when he finished, putting everything back in its place in the trunk. Then his eyes landed on me, once again moving up and down my body making me want to cover myself with my arms but refusing to do so, and after wiping his hand on a rag held it up for me to give him a high five. “Nice working with you.”

  A high five? Really? Maybe he did think I was fifteen. “Uh, yeah,” I replied moving my hand slowly up to touch my palm to his.

  He ended up grabbing my hand during the high five, and I swear, this is so cliché, so stupid chick lit banal, but I honestly felt a damned jolt go through me when we touched. I think he felt it too because he looked at our hands, scowled for a second before scrutinizing me closely then let my hand go.

  His honey-brown eyes stared in thought into my green ones for a moment before that sexy grin hit his gorgeous face again. “Well, Miss Priss, I might be seeing you around.”

  “I’ll be waiting breathlessly until that moment.” At my sarcasm, he grinned again. I rolled my eyes and said, “So… thanks for the help.” I’m pretty sure he heard the muttered, “Jerk” I tacked on, but to his credit he didn’t say anything as I closed the trunk and rounded the car to get inside, but before I could pull my door closed he was there holding it open.