Too Much Love to Hide (Summer Lake Seasons Book 2)

by SJ McCoy

  Maria blew out a sigh. “I’m sure that I don’t, but it’s probably better that I am.”

  “What’s up? I knew there was something wrong since you got here.”

  “It feels like today’s the day. I think that man is going to find Zack today and when he does … I … I …” She burst into tears.

  Laura came and put an arm around her shoulders. “Hey. Come on. Zack’s going to be fine. He’s smart and he’s strong and he has Manny with him. I know it must be hard, but look on the bright side. You’re so good at that. Hopefully by tonight, the guy will be behind bars and you and Zack will finally be able to breathe easy. It’ll all be over. You can take some time off if you want. The two of you can go away together.”

  Maria nodded and sniffed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I need to think about how good it will be after this is over. I can’t let myself focus on how shitty it feels right now. How scared I am. Sorry. I’m a mess. It just got to me. I’ll pull myself together. I’m better than this.”

  Laura smiled at her. “You’re allowed to let it all out. Cry … admit you’re scared. You’ve dealt with all this in a way I don’t think many people could. You’ve stayed strong, you’ve been upbeat, it was bound to get to you at some point. Don’t be hard on yourself, chica. You’re doing great, don’t start telling yourself otherwise.”

  Maria wiped her face and nodded. “Thanks, Laura. I feel like a pressure cooker and I just needed to let a bit of steam out.”

  “I’m glad you could. I’ve been worried about you. You’ve been putting on a brave face, but I know it must be killing you inside. It’s killing me, and I don’t know Zack that well. I’m worried for him, though. You really don’t want to go home?”

  “No. I might go when he calls to say he’s back. That’ll mean it’s not today, and I’ll be so relieved.”

  “Maybe he’ll call to say it’s all over?”

  Maria smiled. “Yeah. Maybe. That’s a bright side I can hope for.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Zack finished his workout and showered. His mind was racing. If his gut was right, then he was within minutes of finally coming face to face with Morales again. It would be the first time in over ten years, and one way or another, it would probably be the last.

  He toweled himself off and got dressed. He had to smile as he put on clean underwear—it was better to be wearing clean underwear if you were going to die. He blew out a sigh. It wasn’t a joking matter. There was a very real possibility that he might die today. Adrenaline surged through his veins. No. No way in hell was he going to let that bastard take him down. Not now. Not when he and Maria were all set to begin their life together. Morales had already stolen too much from him. There was no way Zack would let him take away his life and his love.

  When he was dressed, he picked up his bag and made his way to the back door. He stopped before he reached it to send Manny a quick text.

  I’m on the way out. Any signs?

  Manny’s reply came almost instantly.

  Nothing.

  Zack nodded. It wasn’t as though he expected Morales to be standing in the middle of the parking lot brandishing a machete. He tapped out a reply wondering why he was bothering. Manny was hardly going to be thinking that he might have changed his mind and decided to go for a beer instead.

  Ok. I’m going straight to the old road.

  It appeared that Manny felt the need to state the obvious, too.

  I’ll be there.

  “You’d better be,” Zack murmured under his breath as he pushed the door open.

  As he drove out the old road that followed the river, his heart was racing. He knew how to lower his heart rate by controlling his breathing, but he wasn’t capable of it today. Maybe adrenaline interfered with that process—and there was plenty of adrenaline flowing.

  He reached the pullout and parked the truck in the same spot he’d used all week. There were no other vehicles out here. That was good. At least, he hoped it was good. It meant there was no one else around. At least no unknown others, but did it mean that Morales had left his vehicle somewhere else and already positioned himself somewhere along the path? Did it mean that Manny had parked somewhere so far away that he wouldn’t be able to come to his aid fast enough if Morales did make his move?

  Zack made himself breathe slowly and pulled his heel up to his ass to stretch his quads. He made himself stretch slowly and calmly and took advantage of the time to check out every direction he could. If there was another living soul out here, he couldn’t spot them.

  When he couldn’t put it off any longer, he started to jog down the path, exactly as he’d done every day this week.

  ~ ~ ~

  Maria pulled into the parking lot at the gym. Zack’s truck wasn’t there. She knew he wouldn’t want her to be here, but she just couldn’t sit at work and do nothing. Laura had told her to go home, but she couldn’t go and sit there, either. She hated not knowing what was going on—if he was okay?

  “No.” She said it out loud, and so forcefully that she surprised herself. If his truck wasn’t here, then he’d gone for his run. He went down the old road out by the river. She could take a drive by. He might be mad if he spotted her, but she might be able to stay out of the way. She looked around, remembering that one of Manny’s guys would be watching her right now.

  For the first time, she called the number she had for him.

  “Ma’am?” he answered.

  “For God’s sake would you call me Maria?”

  “Yes, ma’… Maria. What are you doing?”

  “I’m going out to the old road.”

  “I can’t allow you to do that. You need to go home.”

  “I can’t go home! I need to go. I might be able to help.”

  “With all due respect, ma’… Maria, Special Agent Alvarado is not going to want you anywhere near. You could put Zack in danger by being there.”

  “I won’t. And did you ever think you could put him in danger by not being there?”

  The line was quiet for a moment.

  “Exactly,” said Maria and hung up. She pulled out of the parking lot and looked around, wondering if she might be able to spot him coming after her. She still couldn’t.

  When she reached the pullout, she felt a sense of relief when she saw Zack’s truck parked there. She got out and looked around. There were no other vehicles anywhere near. She walked a little way down the road. Nothing. So, Morales mustn’t be here. She frowned. There was no sign of Manny either. Maybe they both left their vehicles somewhere else? She felt stupid. Of course, they would. They both knew how to do this. She, on the other hand, was bumbling around in the middle of it all, possibly about to screw everything up. She finally understood that this was the wrong move and started back toward her car. She needed to get out of here.

  The pathway, where she knew Zack took his run, ran parallel to the road, dropping down toward the river, whose path it followed all the way back to the lake. She heard someone coming; it was Zack! And then she saw him. Manny had shown her a photo of Morales when he first arrived. She’d been surprised that he looked so normal. She wouldn’t have picked him out of a line-up as someone who looked like a criminal. Right now, perched on the embankment above the path, he looked like an evil demon waiting to pounce.

  “Zack!” She called his name to warn him, without stopping to think.

  Zack’s expression was shocked when he saw her, and then stunned when Morales jumped down from the embankment and landed on Zack taking them both to the ground.

  “Oh, my God!” Maria looked around. Where was Manny? Where were the two agents? She couldn’t see anyone. She ran back to her car. All she could think of was the baseball bat under her seat. Maybe she could jump down on Morales and get him with one good hit.

  By the time she’d grabbed the bat and run back to her vantage point above the path, what she saw paralyzed her. Zack and Morales were trading blows—and Zack was covered in blood. Where the fuck was Manny?

  “Drop your
weapon.” There he was.

  He had a gun trained on Morales, but there was no way he could take a shot while he and Zack were bearhugging each other to better beat the crap out of each other.

  “Zack!” Manny obviously wanted him to move away, but Morales wasn’t letting go and Zack didn’t seem to want to stop punching.

  Maria watched in horror as Morales locked his arm around Zack’s neck. He was going to strangle him! Manny couldn’t shoot him—there was too much risk of him hitting Zack. She looked down at her baseball bat and started to slide her way down the embankment. Manny could see her, but Zack and Morales had their backs to her.

  She slid a little way and hoped she wouldn’t fall all the way down. A strong hand reached out and grabbed her and she had to bite back a scream. It was the other agent—why had she never learned their names?

  He gestured for her to get back and then reached for her bat. She handed it over willingly. Even if she’d been able to get down there without Morales seeing her coming. She doubted she would have been able to hit him hard enough to knock him out.

  She watched as the agent slid down the rest of the way and landed just behind Morales. Manny had kept talking loudly the whole time, commanding Morales to drop his weapon—though if he still had a weapon, Maria couldn’t see it. He seemed intent on choking Zack to death, since stabbing him hadn’t worked.

  He must have heard the agent land behind him. He turned at the sound, and in doing so, loosened his grip on Zack. Zack twisted out of his stranglehold and rolled away, just as Maria’s bat made contact with the side of Morales’ head.

  Maria cringed and covered her eyes as he went down. Then she scrambled to her feet and slid the rest of the way down the embankment. Manny reached Zack just before she did, but she pushed him out of the way and hauled Zack up in her arms.

  “Are you okay? What did he do? Where did he stab you?”

  Zack held a hand over the bloodstain just above his right hip.

  Maria looked at Manny. “Can you get him an ambulance? Quick!”

  Manny nodded and jerked his chin at the third agent who was talking on his phone several yards away.

  “He was here, too?” She asked indignantly. “Why did none of you stop him?”

  “We didn’t know where he was until you shouted. Then he was on Zack and there was nothing we could do without putting Zack at risk.”

  Zack smiled up her. “Did you bring a towel rail?”

  She laughed, aware that it might sound a little hysterical. She was just so relieved.

  “A baseball bat.” The other agent smiled at them, even as he was rolling Morales onto his stomach and cuffing his hands behind his back. “I want to be mad at you ma’am, Maria, but you brought the perfect weapon.”

  She smiled at him and then looked at Manny, realizing for the first time that he might be madder than hell at her.

  He gave her a wry smile. “It all worked out.”

  She kissed Zack’s forehead. “Does this mean it’s all over?” He smiled up at her. “It does. I told you it would be.”

  She couldn’t hold back the tears, it was relief—that was all, but the tears flowed freely down over her cheeks. She lifted his shirt up to see how bad it was.

  “It’s not bad,” said Manny.

  Zack looked at him. “That’s easy for you to say.”

  Manny laughed. “True, but it’s not life-threatening. How about that?”

  Zack smiled. “I’ll take it.”

  “It’s going to need stitches,” said Maria. “Lots of them.”

  Zack smiled at her. “That’s a small price to pay.”

  Manny got to his feet and offered Zack his hand. “Come on. Let’s get you back up to the road. They’ll want to take you to the hospital to get that taken care of.”

  Zack put one arm around Manny’s shoulders and the other around Maria and they made their way back up to the road.

  Manny smiled at Zack. “You were right when you said she’s super girl. She doesn’t need you to be her hero, but I think she just became yours.”

  Zack smiled at her. “She’s always been my hero.”

  Maria’s eyes filled with tears again. “And you’ll always be mine.”

  Epilogue

  “It was good of Doctor Morgan to see you on a Saturday,” said Maria as they walked back to her car.

  Zack smiled at her. “Michael’s a good guy. I don’t know him as well as some of the others, but he’s the kind who’ll go out of his way to help.”

  “What did he say about the stitches?”

  “He wants me to come back on Tuesday to have them taken out.”

  Maria nodded. “I think I’ll ask Laura if she minds if I take next week off as well.”

  “That’d be great.” He could hardly tell her that he’d already talked to Laura about that. He was hoping that they were going to be far too busy for Maria to go into work.

  He rolled his eyes at her when they reached her car and she held the passenger door open for him. “I’m not an invalid. I could have driven us here.”

  She laughed. “I know, but I need to feel like I’m taking care of you.”

  He dropped a kiss on her lips before he got in. When she came around to the driver’s side, he gave her a wry smile. “Do you still feel like you need that?” He jerked his head toward the back seat where her baseball bat was sitting.

  She laughed. “You just never know.”

  “I guess not. But I believe that our days of needing it are behind us.”

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I do, too, but after spending all that time knowing he was out there, watching, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get too complacent.”

  “Yeah.” He was relieved that Morales was now in federal custody and from what Manny had told him, he wouldn’t ever be coming back. Manny said there were so many charges against him, in so many countries, that even if he wanted to make a deal, there was no way he’d ever walk free.

  “What do you want to do this afternoon?” she asked as they drove through town. “Should we stop at the store?”

  “No. I think we have enough at home.” He smiled. There was so much more waiting at home for her than she imagined. He couldn’t wait to get there.

  She slowed the car as they approached the gate and then stopped. It stood wide open. She turned to him with wide eyes. “You don’t think …?”

  “No. I don’t.” He reassured her. “We need to get used to the idea that he’s not coming back.”

  She pulled forward slowly and then stopped again to reach in the back for her bat.

  Zack had to laugh. “You’re not going to need it.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Luke said he and Angel might stop by this afternoon. I told him the code. He probably forgot to close it after them.” He hoped that would set her mind at ease. It wasn’t a lie—it just wasn’t the whole truth.

  She pulled forward again, but he could tell she was still cautious by the way she drove slowly, peering through the windshield.

  As they got closer to the house, her expression changed. There was no one hiding in wait for them; instead, there were at least a dozen vehicles parked outside.

  She turned to him with a frown. “What the …?”

  He had to laugh at her expression. “Sorry. I wanted to surprise you. I invited a few people over. You’ve been so busy playing nurse to me all week. You only got a break when Luke took me out last night. You haven’t been out at all. And we never invited people over for a housewarming, so I thought we could kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have made sure the place was nice … gotten food and drink in and …” She made a face. “I feel like a bad host now.”

  He reached over and tangled his fingers in her hair. “That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d work your ass off to get everything ready, and that’s not what this is about. It’s all taken care of. There’s food and drink—and that’s not what peo
ple are here for anyway.”

  She pursed her lips. “Still, I wish you’d told me.”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  He could see the struggle on her face for a few moments but, as he’d known she would, she let it go and laughed. “Well, you’ve definitely done that.”

  “Good.” He managed to stop himself from telling her that this was just the first of the surprises he had in store.

  They got out of the car and he took hold of her hand and led her around the side of the house.

  She stopped dead when she saw how many people were out there on the lawn. There was a long table laid out with sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres and a bar set up on the patio, just like he’d wanted.

  She shook her head in disbelief and looked up at him.

  “Is it okay?”

  She laughed. “Okay? It’s amazing! You’re in charge of all our parties in the future.”

  He smiled and hugged her into his side. “I can do that. And I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you want to hold all our parties here?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I mean, does this place feel like home to you now? Do you want to stay here?”

  She drew in a deep breath and blew it out, then nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, I do. We’ve been through so much already, and this place kept us safe through it. It feels like our sanctuary. I know I wasn’t sure at first, but I can’t imagine leaving it to live somewhere else now.”

  He landed a kiss on her lips as relief swept through him. She’d put the way he felt about this house into words better than he could have. “Neither can I. For the first time in my adult life, I feel like I found home.”

  She rested her head against his shoulder with a smile, and he wanted to tell her that it was only home because he shared it with her, but he didn’t get the chance.

  “Look everyone. They’re here!”

  All heads turned in their direction and he gripped Maria’s hand tightly and led her over to the lawn where a sea of smiling faces waited for them.

  ~ ~ ~

  Maria struggled to take it all in. There were so many people. Angel and Luke stood on the patio with Roxy, Colt, Austin, and Logan.