Thanks to his quick temper, Zane also learned that V wasn’t fond of having someone stand up for her. She had been downright livid once she finally got over the hurt that Jake’s words inflicted. Not that Zane cared about that one way or the other. He didn’t regret it, and he’d do it again in a heartbeat. As far as he was concerned, a man stood up for those he cared about. That’s what his parents had taught him, and he’d never questioned their logic. Since he cared about V, even if she didn’t want him to, Zane was going to make sure no one spoke to her that way. And if they did, they’d be damned smart not to let him find out about it.
“Zane?” A dainty, feminine voice interrupted Zane’s thoughts, along with V and Zoey’s conversation apparently. When he finally looked up at the woman standing beside the table, he could feel V staring from her place beside him.
Zane nodded his head in acknowledgement, recognizing the woman standing just a few inches from where he sat.
“I heard you were out of the hospital,” Tamara Stalth smiled affectionately, her baby blue eyes darting from the other three at the table and then back to Zane.
“I am,” he answered, not sure what he was supposed to say.
Zane knew Tamara. He’d had sex with her once.
Literally, one time.
From that day forward, the woman had stalked him to the point he thought he was going to have to move to another country and change his name. It was a mistake, and he knew he was solely responsible for his own actions, but... Well, there were no buts. It was entirely his fault.
“I talked to your mom when I went to visit you in the hospital. She was so sweet.”
Oh, hell. Just what Zane needed, Lorrie Walker talking to Zane’s ex-flings. Still staring up at her, he had absolutely no idea what to say. He couldn’t very well thank her for coming to visit him. If he did, he knew she’d take it as an invitation, and she’d probably show up at his damn house later.
When he felt V’s hand on his thigh, Zane didn’t react. At first, she was just touching his leg, but when she squeezed in a possessive gesture, he turned his attention to her. He expected to see anger in her pretty brown eyes, not heat. She didn’t seem to be jealous, but her touch was meant to be a warning and he found he liked her reaction.
Letting his arm drop onto her shoulders, he pulled her close, never taking his eyes off of her. “Did you need something, baby?”
His words were loud enough for everyone at the table, including Tamara to hear, but he honestly wasn’t speaking to anyone but V. At the moment, she was the only damn person that mattered.
She flashed a smile, then tore her gaze from his, looking back up at the woman still standing by the table. Waiting.
“I’m sure Zane’s mother will fill him in on all of the visitors he had while he was there. She probably hasn’t had time yet,” V told the woman nicely.
Zane wanted to crush his lips to V’s sassy little mouth and kiss her with the fierce, agonizing longing that he’d been living with for the last three months.
What he did was turn to face Tamara and smile.
She smiled back as though he was only there for her. Weird.
“Thanks for checking up on me.”
“If you need anything, anything at all, you’ve got my number. Just call me. Anytime.”
V pinched the inside of Zane’s thigh, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from growling. Fuck that hurt.
“Thanks,” Zane replied through clenched teeth.
♀♂
Watching as the lovely young girl walked away, V felt every single one of her thirty years. The girl couldn’t have been older than twenty one, maybe twenty two. She clearly had an interest in Zane, and from the way she looked at him, she was hoping for a white picket fence sometime in the near future. If V knew anything about Zane, it was that he would not be giving anyone a white picket fence. At least not in the near future.
Considering he was only twenty four years old, V also knew he had years to think about it. Hell, she was thirty, and she felt as though she still had a few good years in her before she worried about settling down and having... Ok, she wasn’t going there.
Just like his brothers, Zane liked his women willing and often, although he wasn’t quite the player the others seemed to be. He steered clear of clingy women and more often than not had one night stands over brief affairs. Those were things V knew from having lived in the small town with him.
Up until recently, V didn’t have much interest in the goings on at the Walker household, but for some reason, after that one party she attended with Zoey, she’d developed some strange infatuation with Zane Walker. Hell, she couldn’t explain it. No matter how hard she tried, so she’d given up.
V remembered the day she and Zane had actually said more than a standard “hello” or “goodbye” to one another. She’d run into him at a party that Zoey had dragged her to.
“Why are you standing in the corner all by yourself?” A dark, seductive voice caught V’s attention, and she turned to see none other than Zane Walker standing much too close.
“Why are you worried about where I’m standing? Do you own this piece of real estate?” V couldn’t help the snide remark because suddenly she felt a little off kilter. Ok, a lot off kilter.
The Walker men were sinfully attractive, that wasn’t a secret. From their dark hair to those wicked blue-gray eyes to the hard bodies they honed with hard work. Every inch of them screamed prime, alpha male. Considering the party was hosted by Jaxson Briggs, a cousin of the Walkers, V had seen more than her fair share of them tonight alone.
On any normal day, she tried to ensure she never got this close to one of them. Yet here she was standing less than a foot away from the youngest of the seven sinful brothers, and she couldn’t come up with anything better than a snide remark.
“Maybe I do,” he replied, his head cocked to the side just slightly and an adorable, crooked grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“I didn’t realize you were friends with my cousin, Jaxson,” he said a moment later when it was clear she was trying to ignore him.
“I’m not.”
“Then what brings you here?” He took a step closer, successfully invading what was left of her personal space. V took a step back, finding herself much closer to the wall than she expected.
“I’m here with Zoey,” she said smartly, keeping her eyes trained on his.
“Well, it must be my lucky night then.”
“That’s a horrible pickup line,” she retorted, laughing.
“Who said I was trying to pick you up?” Zane asked, sounding much too serious.
“No one. I –” V had no idea what to say to him at that point.
Zoey’s voice broke through V’s wayward daydream, bringing her back to the present and the three people who were staring at her. “What?”
“What were you thinking about?” When V realized Zoey was talking to her, she caught her friend grinning sheepishly.
“Nothing,” she said, grabbing her beer and making a giant production out of finishing the rest of it off. Yuck! She hated warm beer.
“Nothing, huh?” Zane’s big, warm arm held her much too close for comfort.
V had never been into public displays of affection, but for the last hour, she’d been sitting beside Zane, his rough, callused fingers touching her in some manner and she’d managed not to shrug him off. Mainly because she was enjoying it, although, it still made her a tad uncomfortable. She only could imagine what other people thought when they saw the two of them together.
“Well, I think we really need to get going. I’ve got to get up early and meet the contractors at the house before I come pick you up,” Zoey stated as she pushed her drink away.
“I really should be going, also,” V proclaimed when Kaleb maneuvered out of the booth and back on his feet.
“Stay,” Zane’s voice was low, but V knew the others could hear him.
“I can’t,” she lied, grabbing her purse from the spot beside her.
“Then I’ll take you home,” Zane insisted, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to argue with him. Considering she and Zoey had ridden together, she didn’t have much of a choice. From the look in Zoey’s eyes, she had much bigger plans for Kaleb anyway.
“Thank you,” she replied, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
When Zane pulled up in front of her house a short while later, V knew she wouldn’t have the luxury of sitting in his Jeep and trying to figure out just how she was going to force her legs to move up those steps and through the front door.
What if Jake was hiding in the shadows?
She absolutely had no intention of letting him know just how panicked she was, so as soon as he pulled the emergency brake, she grabbed her purse and reached for the door handle. She was out in the crisp night air with her feet planted firmly on the ground before she could think about what she was doing, but not before Zane was rounding the front of his Jeep moving briskly to her side.
“I don’t need you to walk me to the door,” V stated, her nerves erupting as she instinctively began looking around, waiting for something dreadful to happen. “Please, just go.”
The sound of metal crushing bone echoed in her ears. Make it stop!
“I’m walking you in,” he demanded, and she heard the insistence in his tone. When he took her elbow, she forced her feet to move. They hadn’t taken five steps before the shaking began and V knew she was on the cusp of freaking out. This was becoming a frequent thing, and she didn’t want Zane to see her like this.
“Please, just go,” she told him, ripping her arm out of his grasp and forcing her legs to move faster.
God, please don’t let them hurt Zane again. Please. Please.
Zane didn’t seem to care what she was saying because he was right there beside her. When she tried to push her key into the lock, she couldn’t get the damn thing to line up because she was trembling like a leaf in a windstorm.
Need to get inside! Must get inside. Please don’t let Jake be close.
Zane stilled her hand with his, taking the key and dexterously inserting it into the lock. Once he had the door open, he took her hand and led her inside before shutting it behind them. V efficiently locked the door, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t move.
“What’s the matter, V?” Zane asked, his tone low and soothing.
The images played like a horror movie that she couldn’t erase from my memory. The grunts and growls of grown men hitting one another, iron striking bone, Zane falling to the ground, not moving. Oh God!
She couldn’t get any words out, and she was immediately overwhelmed with a cold chill that raced down her spine. Without meaning to, she dropped her purse on the floor, her arms wrapping around her body while she tried to hold herself together. She was shaking, her teeth chattering, her mind whirling with memories she so desperately wanted to eradicate from her mind.
“V?” Zane’s voice was no longer soothing. He was visibly worried, and she couldn’t blame him.
Here she was falling apart, and he had no idea why, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Hell, she didn’t know why, other than the fact that she hated coming back here. Hated remembering that day when Jake Sanders brutally attacked Zane right outside her front door. Watching as Zane fell to the ground, doing his best to hold his own against his attackers while she lay bruised and bloodied on the ground after one of Jake’s friends pushed her away. She couldn’t save him. Couldn’t stop them. Helpless and cold. So cold.
“Dammit, V! Talk to me,” Zane’s deep, booming voice penetrated her thoughts, and when he pulled her against him, V didn’t try to fight. She let him wrap his strong arms around her, holding her as she tried to soak up some of his warmth.
“That’s it!” Zane exclaimed, grabbing her purse from the floor at her feet while still holding her close and once again moving out onto the front porch. V’s panic intensified as she stood there with him, her eyes roaming the area surrounding her house as she waited for the horror to rain down on them once again.
What was that shadow? Was it Jake? Or one of his friends? What were they going to do? Please no!
The next thing she knew, V was back in Zane’s Jeep, but she had no idea how she got there. He carried her if she had to guess because even then she couldn’t feel her legs.
“Where are we going?” she asked when she finally found her voice. She was sucking in air like she’d just run a marathon.
“My house,” he responded, but said nothing more.
V watched as he rapidly shifted gears, pushing the Jeeps engine past the red line as he drove, the deep rumble eerily similar to the anger she could detect in his voice. She couldn’t imagine why he was mad at her, but having gone back to her house, she couldn’t necessarily blame him. Every time she went home, she felt the overwhelming panic ignite like a flame in her belly, tightening her chest and making her bones ache from the chill.
By the time they reached Zane’s house, V was feeling remotely better. The trembling had subsided, but now she just felt tired. And cold.
“Come on,” he said when he opened her door for her, grabbing her purse from the floorboard and gripping her elbow gently.
“I shouldn’t be here, Zane,” she said halfheartedly as he all but dragged her up the steps to his porch. “I need to go home.”
“The fuck you do,” he growled and pushed open his front door, waiting for her to precede him into the house.
By the time V was sitting on Zane’s couch, a bottle of water in her hand and a big, growling man sitting beside her, she was beginning to feel normal, not to mention, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” she said when the silence began closing in on her.
“For what?”
Zane clearly wanted her to explain what had just happened, and she knew she should tell him. Tell someone. Only she didn’t want to explain it. He shouldn’t have to worry about her or her apparent mental issues. He had enough to worry about. Like his new job at the resort.
“Are you really going to manage one of the clubs at AI?” Her voice still sounded a little distant. It was clear she was trying to change the subject.
“Not talking about that right now. I want to know what the hell just happened to you, V,” he argued.
Damn it. She did not want to talk about this. She had issues, and she had no idea what they were, but seriously, it wasn’t any of his business.
“I need to go,” she said, standing to her feet abruptly.
“Sit down, V,” Zane ordered, not moving from where he was sitting.
V plopped back down on the couch, resting her butt on the edge of the cushion, still holding the damn water bottle that she didn’t want.
Chapter Seven
♂♀
“How long have you been having panic attacks?” Zane questioned as he moved to sit closer to V. He almost couldn’t believe what he witnessed just a short while ago at V’s house. With everything that had happened, it appeared no one thought to check on V during the last few months. Did Zoey know about these anxiety attacks? Was anyone worried about how she was holding up? Or did V manage to keep everyone in the dark all this time?
Sitting close to her, his thigh against her thigh, his arm against her arm, he stared down at the floor, his hands clasped in front of him between his spread knees.
“I’m scared to go in my own house,” V whispered.
For a moment, Zane wasn’t sure that he hadn’t just imagined the words. He waited patiently to see if she would continue. When she didn’t, he prodded her to tell him more.
“Is it because of what happened?” he asked, hanging his head low, knowing the answer was yes, but wanting to hear it from her.
“I keep seeing you lying on the ground, beaten and bloody,” V’s voice was soft and she swallowed hard before continuing, “and I hate that it’s my fault –”
“Stop!” Zane barked, pushing to his feet instantly. “It wasn’t your fault, Vanessa. You couldn’t have stopped Jake from d
oing what he did.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, her tone still sad. “If it weren’t for me and the fact that the town thinks of me the same as they do my mother...” V didn’t finish her sentence, but Zane didn’t need her to.
“Do they, V?” he questioned angrily. “Do they really think you’re like your mother? Or is that something you’ve conjured up in your head?” Zane had heard some of the rumors, but he never paid them any mind. The rumors were nothing more than a bunch of hot air, spoken by people who didn’t have anything better to do with their time.
“They call her a whore, Zane.” Vanessa’s tone firmed as she stared up at him.
“I know what they call her, but that doesn’t make the rumors true. Do you believe them?”
V stared down at her hands, but she didn’t respond. Zane had a hard time thinking anyone could think so lowly of their mother. The rumors had spanned two decades now, with Regina Carmichael painted as a woman looking to bed a billionaire. With several sharing their stories of bedding V’s mom, never intending to have a relationship with her, but wanting to see just how far she’d go. True or not, V’s mother had issues, but that didn’t make her a terrible person.
“No, I don’t. I think she has problems. I think she loved the wrong men, but no, I don’t think she’s a whore. She’s made some mistakes, but she’s my mother, Zane.”
Zane sat back down beside her, taking one of her hands in both of his and holding it firmly. “We can’t change how people want to view things, V. And we can’t change how they’ll react. I know you hated what I did that day, but, there won’t be a single person who is allowed to talk about you like that when I’m around. You didn’t cause Jake to go off the deep end. I did. And honestly, I’d do the same thing all over again.”
“How can you say that?” It was V’s turn to jump up from her seat. She paced the floor in front of him, her long hair flowing down her back, the same color as creamy milk chocolate.
Zane (Alluring Indulgence) Page 8