Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family)

by Ashley Blake

  I felt incredible guilty as I listened to his story, because my life was so different. I suddenly felt really embarrassed about the money we had and I didn’t want him to know. I was worried that he would think of me differently so I tried to change the subject.

  “Well, you turned out pretty awesome. You are so talented Zane, I could listen to you sing and play all day.”

  “Thanks, sweetie. So, what do your parents do?”

  “Um, they’re in finance.” This was exactly what I did not want to talk about. Please don’t ask me anything else.

  “Oh yeah? What do they do?”

  Great. “My dad owns a financial firm and my mom works there too.”

  “Oh, cool. What’s it called? I may have heard of it.”

  Here we go. “Hunter International.”

  He sat up and I could see it register in his eyes.

  “Are you kidding?”

  “No, that’s my dad’s company.”

  I could see the wheels turning. “Your Upper East Side address makes more sense now. What would your dad say if he knew you were dating someone like me?”

  “How do you know that he doesn’t already know?”

  “Does he?”

  I hesitated and then answered him. “No. I think my dad just wants me to be happy.”

  Zane gave me a cynical smirk. “Yeah, right. Why didn’t you mention who your dad was before now, Abby?”

  “Because it doesn’t matter Zane, does it? I’m an adult, I can date whoever I want to date.”

  He leaned back on the bed, stared at the ceiling for a minute and then looked over at me.

  “I hope that’s true.” He was silent and I could tell that he was bothered by what he had just learned so I wanted more than anything to make him feel better.

  “Listen, it doesn’t matter who my dad is. All that matters is how I feel about you so don’t make a big deal about this, please?”

  He was silent for a few minutes, the silence was getting really uncomfortable, and then he looked at me.

  “I’m not the type that is putting all my cards on making it with the band, I do have other plans for my future.”

  “Zane, I have no doubts or concerns about what you are planning for your future.”

  “I know, I just don’t want you to think that I don’t have big plans.”

  “I’m sure you do, baby.”

  He sat up and looked at me. “I do. Logan and I have talked about opening a bar one day. We have really learned the business since we’ve been bartending so we decided we want to have our own bar.”

  I sat up and grabbed his hand. “I think that’s great! I know you guys can do it and I bet your bar will be really successful.”

  “We’re just in the discussing phase, it’s something we want to do down the line.”

  “Well, whenever you do it I’m sure it will be a huge success and I will be there on opening night to support you.”

  Thankfully, that seemed to satisfy him and we changed the subject.

  “I’d love to come to your performance next week, Abby. I’ve never seen you dance.”

  “I’d love for you to be there but since I am Claire’s understudy you won’t see me.”

  “Talk to me about that a little bit more. What will it take for you to be the lead?”

  His words made me feel a little bit defensive. “Haven’t we discussed this?”

  “Yeah, but I just want to understand how it works. The dance world is so foreign to me and I’ve never met someone who was part of a professional dance group. I’m not trying to piss you off.”

  “It will take a lot of hard work.” For some reason talking about it was pissing me off.

  “Okay, I’ll drop it. I have to get up early tomorrow so did you want to stay over or do you want me to take you home?”

  Now he was annoyed. Great.

  As much as I wanted to stay, our wonderful evening had just turned into a load of tension and I figured it was best if I left. Not thinking, I said something that I probably should not have said which magnified the glaring difference between us.

  “I should probably go home, I can just call my driver.”

  “You have a driver? Wow, it just keeps getting better.” He rolled his eyes after the words came from his lips.

  I felt my cheeks get red and I was starting to get hot so I knew that the anger was growing inside me. I became increasingly aware that I was totally naked so I grabbed my clothes and started to get dressed as I glared at Zane.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Look, I don’t want to argue with you. It’s just kind of shocking that you’re part of the Hunter International family and it’s a lot for me to process. I almost feel like you kept that from me on purpose.”

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “That’s not true. Why is it a big deal anyway?”

  He got up and put on his jeans. “It’s not.”

  I grabbed his arm as he reached for his t-shirt because I didn’t want to fight with him and our argument was on the verge of escalating.

  “Hey.”

  He turned to look at me and I saw a mixture of frustration and sadness in his eyes.

  “I don’t want this to change things between us, Zane.”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he gently caressed my arm.

  “Neither do I.”

  “Hey, do you want to come to my parent’s house for dinner next Saturday night?”

  He looked surprised. “Really?”

  “Yes, I want you to meet them and see that this isn’t a big deal.”

  “Okay, sounds cool.”

  I smiled at him relieved that our fight did not escalate and I stood on my tippy toes and gave him a quick peck.

  “Perfect. I’m going to call my driver so you don’t have to leave your place.”

  “No, I will drive you home, Abby.”

  I didn't want to argue with him and make a big deal so I just agreed. When he dropped me off a few minutes later I was exhausted both mentally and physically from the night, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and start over with a new day. Even though I’d invited Zane for dinner, I couldn’t help but begin to worry what my dad would say when he met him, but I decided that I would just deal with that when the time came. Claire wasn’t home so I would just have to tell her about my night when I saw her the next day.

  Chapter 4

  Claire finally strolled in around 11:00 the next morning and I nearly pounced on her as she walked through the door. I was dying to talk to her and tell her that I had invited Zane to dinner.

  “Finally! I thought I would have to call missing persons!”

  She rolled her eyes at me and smiled. “Oh, please. You knew where I was.” She put her bag down on the couch and turned to me as she took off her sweater, slowly looking me up and down.

  “Wait a minute. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  I couldn’t sugarcoat it so I just blurted it out. “I invited Zane to dinner with mom and dad on Saturday night.”

  Her eyes were wide as saucers. “You what?!”

  "When he found out who they were he started acting kind of weird and I want him to feel comfortable about everything so I decided they should just meet him.”

  She stomped her foot like a child and whined like crazy. “Abby, now mom and dad will find out about Logan! This is going to ruin everything!”

  I put my hand on my hip and stared at her. “Claire, why are you hiding Logan from them in the first place?”

  “You know how dad is, and I don’t want to deal with what he is going to say.”

  “Well, maybe he will surprise us.”

  She rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, right.”

  “So I guess this means you haven’t told Logan who we are.”

  She fidgeted with her watch as she looked down at her nails. “It hasn’t really come up.”

  "Claire, he's going to find out. I just told Zane last night and they are best friends so you shoul
d probably tell him before Zane does.”

  She snatched her bag off of the couch and stomped down the hall to her room, yelling at the top of her lungs. "I wish we could just be a normal family sometimes!”

  My sister could be so dramatic but this was the first time I had heard her wishing we were normal. Our lifestyle had never bothered her before so I knew that Logan was really having an effect on her.

  Claire didn't talk to me the rest of the day, which by the end of the night was pissing me off because it wasn't my fault that she didn’t tell her boyfriend about our family. She was not going to put the blame on me for this one, so I decided that I wasn’t going to talk to her until she talked to me first.

  I called my parents the next day and told them that I wanted them to meet someone and I was bringing him to dinner Saturday night. My mom was always excited when I introduced her to someone new because she knew that he had to mean something to me if I was bringing him around. My dad, on the other hand, was a different story. He was always skeptical from the first second I ever mentioned a new guy.

  Claire still wasn’t talking to me so I didn’t tell her that mom and dad agreed to have us for dinner. We had practice all day and by the time we got home I finally confronted her.

  “Claire, when is the silent treatment going to end?”

  She gave me a cool stare as she shrugged her shoulders and looked for something to eat in the kitchen.

  “Claire, this is ridiculous. You have to talk to me. It’s not my fault that you didn’t tell Logan who we are, he was bound to find out sooner or later. By the way, I told mom and dad about dinner Saturday and they are expecting you to be there.”

  She stopped fishing through the cabinets and looked at me. “Fine.”

  That was all I got but it was all I needed to know that the silent treatment was over. Claire had been having little fits like that since we were little girls so I knew that it was just a matter of time before she started talking to me again.

  The rest of the week passed pretty quickly and Claire and I were able to see Zane and Logan’s band play one night after rehearsal. Our show was starting that Sunday with a matinee so our practice times were letting up a bit. Weeks before the show we always had practice until at least one o’clock in the morning, but the week before the show practice times were cut and ended at about 6:00 PM each night.

  Saturday came before I knew it and I was a nervous wreck all day. Claire was no help at all. She was more nervous than I was and Logan wasn’t even going to be there. I think she was thinking that whatever my dad said about Zane would apply to the way he felt about Logan, so she was terrified. I had never seen her like that, ever. I told Zane not to mention Logan because I wanted Claire to tell them in her own way.

  Dinner was at 7:30, so Zane came over to our place at 7:00 and he was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt. He looked more conservative than I had ever seen him and I could tell that he was nervous.

  “You look great, Zane. Don’t worry, this will be a piece of cake.”

  Claire snorted and smirked at us. “Yeah, right.”

  I shot daggers at her and she ignored me and went to her bathroom to finish getting ready.

  I gently rubbed his arm. “Don’t listen to her.”

  “I’m good, I’m looking forward to meeting everyone. Your brother will be there too, right?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be there.”

  “Cool.”

  Claire was finally ready a couple of minutes later and our driver took us over to my parent’s townhouse. Zane was a little taken aback by the fact that we actually had a driver but he seemed to quickly get over it.

  As soon as we approached the door it swung open, my mom stood there with a huge smile on her face and she pulled me and Claire in for a double hug.

  “Hi Girls!”

  I couldn’t help but smile. Every time she saw us, even if it had only been a couple of days, you would think it had been months since she’d last seen us.

  “Hi mom.”

  She smiled at us, kissed us on the cheek and then she looked at Zane and stuck out her hand.

  “You must be Zane. I am Mrs. Hunter, it is so nice to meet you.”

  Zane smiled at her and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Hunter, thank you for having me over to your home for dinner.”

  “You’re more than welcome, dear. Girls, your father will be home in a few minutes so will one of you please call Jonathan down for dinner while I help Francesca set the table?”

  “Sure thing, mom.” Claire ran upstairs calling Jonny’s name.

  Zane turned to my mom. “Mrs. Hunter, can I help with anything?”

  “No dear, thank you. Abby, why don’t you and Zane relax in the living room until your dad gets here.”

  Zane and I settled onto the couch and he looked around, admiring the art work.

  “This place is gorgeous, Abby. Did you guys grow up in this townhouse?”

  “Yes, we did. My parents have good taste.”

  “Yeah, they do. “

  Just then I heard my dad come in and my mom walked over to him to greet him. I heard her giggle and looked over at them as he was nuzzling her neck. I smiled to myself because they were like lovesick teenagers.

  I grabbed Zane’s hand. “Come on, let me introduce you to my dad.”

  His hand clung tightly to mine as we walked over to interrupt my parent’s little love fest. I wanted so badly to make him feel relaxed because I could tell that he was a nervous wreck.

  I whispered to him. “Just be yourself.”

  “Hi, daddy.”

  My dad smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. “Hi, sweetheart.”

  “Daddy, I’d like for you to meet my friend, Zane.”

  My dad quickly sized up Zane and after a few seconds he extended his hand to him.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Zane.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Hunter.”

  Dad turned to mom. “Is dinner ready?”

  She smiled at him. “Yes, we are ready to sit down.”

  “Okay, I will go wash my hands and will be there in a minute.” My dad went upstairs while we all went to the dining room.

  Claire and Jonny were already seated when we entered the dining room and I could hear Zane suck in air as we walked in. I forgot how impressive the room was because I was used to it. The ceiling was at least 20 feet high and my mom had a mural painted years before which was breathtakingly beautiful.

  We all sat around the table waiting for my dad to join us and as soon as Jonny saw Zane, he freaked out. I should have known he would recognize him because he was such a music lover and he wanted to be in a band just like Zane’s band. My dad happened to walk in the room at the exact moment Jonny had his mini freak out.

  “Oh my gosh! Dude! You’re the lead singer of Kisses on Fire! Your band is awesome!”

  As soon as the words escaped his mouth it was as if everything moved in slow motion for the next couple of minutes. My eyes went straight to my mom who had a worried look that she instantly tried to hide, then they slid down to Claire who looked terrified and then over to my dad who I saw clench his fist by his side. He was not happy.

  “Jonathan, did you just say you recognize Abby’s friend from a band?” His words were stern and he didn’t even try to hide his disgust.

  “Yeah, dad, his band is really good! They are huge on the underground scene!”

  Zane smiled at Jonny and I could see that he appreciated the recognition. My dad sat down and slowly put his napkin on his lap as he processed the information and then looked at Zane.

  “Well, Zane, my son seems to be impressed with your band so you must be very good.”

  “I like to think that we are pretty good. We have a big following, we play in a local bar every week and then we have gigs on the road sometimes, too. We put out a couple of CDs independently which have sold pretty well and we’ve actually talked to a couple of record execs so we should be signed to a lab
el pretty soon.”

  My mom jumped in to try to ease the tension in the air that you could cut with a knife.

  “Zane, how wonderful that you are being scouted by record executives. I am sure your band has to be very talented to be talking to people like that.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Hunter. We’re very excited about it.”