How embarrassing.
I felt it in the way Zac’s chest was heaving against mine, the way his forehead fell to mine. His eyes were squeezed shut as if stopping was causing him pain. It was for me.
“It’s fine,” I whispered. “She’s walked in on much worse before.”
Zac groaned, only this time it for sure wasn’t from pleasure or the excitement of seeing me without a shirt on. He pushed away from me and grabbed his shirt in the same movement. When he put it back on, I fought the urge to pout. I’d been so lost in what we were doing I didn’t have the chance to really see him.
“I don’t want to hear about that.” He sounded so serious that I couldn’t help but giggle. “Actually, she has perfect timing,” he said.
“How’s that?”
“This isn’t happening on your dad’s couch.”
I giggled. “It’s still so surprising to hear you want it to happen at all.”
“I explained about the bikini picture, right?” He smirked over at me.
“No, I just meant… ”
“Laney, if I thought I could convince you to leave your friend for the night and come to my house, I’d have you naked in my bed in thirty seconds. And I’m not sure I’d ever be able to let you go. But time and place.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I sighed as he handed me my shirt and I pulled it back over my head. After we were both put back together, we stood so I could walk him to the door. “Who was that guy Maddie left with?” I was torn about asking him before because they had a history, but they’d both insisted it had just been the one time, that it had just been sex, and they’re only friends ever since. Just happily co-parenting. Had to trust that was true.
“His name is Ian. Seems like a good guy,” he said. “He lives over in the township.”
Ah, the nicer part of town.
“How long have they been dating?”
“You’d have to ask her. I met him like a week before you came back because she was going to introduce him to Dylan. I’d guess that means a while, but I really don’t know.” He stopped at the open front door, pressing me into the wall with his body weight. “Can we please not talk about Maddie anymore tonight?”
Biting my bottom lip, I nodded, which he took as an invitation to kiss me goodnight. In reality, what he did was kiss me to frustration, and I think that was exactly what he meant to do.
Chapter Sixteen
Every night that Rhian was at my house, we hung out with Zac and Porter. I wasn’t complaining because Zac and I had gone too long without seeing each other, but there was definitely something brewing between Rhian and Porter. I had “the talk” with her about him twice, but she was a big girl and would make her own decisions.
Mostly we just hung out at my house but also went to the lake again and I even took Rhian into Detroit because she’d never been before, although that trip was just the two of use since the guys had to work at the parts store.
Zac had Dylan the weekend Rhian went back home, so I planned to keep to myself. She didn’t want to go and promised to be back, but she had to go. Plus she assured me that she never went further than flirting with Porter. Dodged that bullet given that girls usually fell for him and his… talents but he had never once returned the feeling.
It was only ten o’clock on Friday night, but I was tired due to still not sleeping well and with Rhian around, we’d stayed up really late every single night, so I was spent. Still, I had to make a quick stop at the grocery store because we’d also eaten everything in the house.
As I turned the key in the lock, I didn’t hear the mechanism disengage. Which was weird. I always locked the doors when I left. Always.
“Stupid,” I muttered to myself. All I wanted now was to put the groceries away and climb into my welcoming bed.
Until I was almost to the kitchen and heard someone walking in my father’s room. The room I hadn’t yet brought myself to enter. But that couldn’t be right. I was alone in my house.
Then I heard it again.
Another low thud sent a wave of adrenaline through my body. It’d come from my dad’s room for sure.
Someone was in there.
I quietly set the two bags I was carrying onto the floor and glanced around for my phone. Shit. My purse wasn’t anywhere around me which meant I left it in the car and with it, my phone.
As quietly as possible, I turned on my Converse-covered heel and slowly took quick steps toward the door, doing my best to be invisible. It was so quiet, I was convinced whoever was in my house would hear the erratic beat of my heart before my footsteps or smell the fear trailing down my back.
Something thumped loudly in my dad’s room causing my heart rate to spike even more. It thumped in my ears and all I wanted was to get out of there. What could they even be after anyway? There wasn’t anything expensive in the house.
I just didn’t understand.
Instinct told me that I only had a few more moments before whoever was in my father’s room came out and I didn’t want to be here when they did.
Once through the front door, I ran, no longer on my toes, skirted across Zac’s driveway to the far side of the house where I knew whoever had intruded on me wouldn’t be able to see me.
Then I took off full force, making a hard left, and leaped up Zac’s porch, two steps at a time. I didn’t even bother knocking.
After yanking open the screen door, I slid through and shut both doors behind me.
After taking a moment to catch my breath, I turned around to face Zac and Porter on the couch, game controllers in their hands and mouths hanging open in surprise. I’m sure they didn’t expect me to burst through the front door right then.
“There’s someone in my house,” I said breathlessly.
“What?” Zac popped up, tossing the controller behind him.
Porter did the same, but he went down the hall while Zac came over to me.
“What do you mean, someone’s in your house?” he asked, grabbing my arms firmly.
“I just came home from the store and I heard a noise in my dad’s room so either someone’s in there or his ghost is visiting.”
Porter rejoined us and handed Zac a baseball bat. He kept one for himself.
“Stay here,” Zac said, moving me to the side.
“Zac, no.” I reached out to stop him. “Call the police.”
“Come on, Laney,” Porter said. “You know how long that will take.”
Despite me continuing to protest, they walked out and shut the door behind them. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I tried to think it through slowly.
First, lock the front door of Zac’s house. Dylan was there this weekend and was probably asleep, so keeping him safe was the priority. Then I paced. I wanted to sit and wait patiently, but there was zero chance of that happening. I went to every single window I’d be able to see my house from, except Dylan’s room, but all I could make out was lights being turned on at my house.
So I waited. Listening hard to the night, trying to decipher anything out of place, but there was nothing.
A knock on the door almost made me jump right out of my skin. It was light—a tap more than an actual knock—but I’d been so focused that even the slight disruption caused my heart to beat out of my chest.
“It’s us, Laney.” Zac’s voice came from the other side of the door.
I sighed and unlocked the deadbolt before opening up for the guys. They came through looking exactly as they had before they’d left.
I didn’t know what I’d been expecting. Maybe for them to come back looking like they’d just wrestled a bear. I should have been glad there hadn’t been any kind of altercation because that meant there hadn’t been anyone there in the first place. But there had. I’d heard someone moving around in my dad’s bedroom.
“Well?” I asked.
“Empty,” Porter said while leaning the bat against the wall beside the door.
“Empty?”
“As in no one was there,” he said with a smirk.
/> “I know what it means, asshole. But someone was in there.”
“Yeah. The front door was open a crack. Did you come out that way?” Zac asked. I nodded. “And a couple of drawers were open on the dresser in your dad’s room.”
“In Dad’s room?”
He nodded. They’d gone into my dad’s room. A room I hadn’t had the guts to enter yet.
“What could they have been looking for?” I asked the universe more than him. “When I came home, the door wasn’t locked. I thought I forgot to lock it when I left.”
“No idea what they were looking for,” Zac said, taking a step closer to me. “Why don’t you stay here tonight?” he asked. I started to protest. “Just until we can change the locks tomorrow. If someone picked the lock, it could be damaged. It’ll make me feel better.”
“No… I’ll be OK.”
“It’ll make me feel better,” he repeated quietly.
“Both of us will feel better.” Porter crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his brows. I never knew him to be concerned about anything. Porter had what my mom called a “devil may care” attitude. Nothing was taken too seriously.
“Zac, you’ve got Dylan… You’re right next door if I need you, right?”
He nodded.
“OK, then. I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight.”
I pushed up onto my toes and kissed his cheek, but Zac grabbed both my arms and held me there, kissing me gently on the lips.
“I’ll walk you back then.”
Zac led me to the back yard and said they’d closed up the front but hadn’t done the back in case I didn’t have my keys. Good thinking because I’d dropped everything and run over to his house without thinking about it.
Inside, something felt off. Someone I didn’t know had been inside, I knew that. But it sent a shiver up my spine. It had me rethinking my decision to stay here and not on Zac’s couch. I was about to say as much when someone knocked on the front door.
Zac scowled and shut the back door, turning the deadbolt before trudging toward the front. He slowly cracked open the door, then pulled it all the way. Porter came through with a pillow under one arm and a blanket under the other.
“What are you doing?” I asked, racing over toward them.
“Sleeping on the couch,” Porter said as he dropped down onto said couch.
“No,” I said.
“I like it,” Zac said with a smile.
“You like the idea of Porter being alone with me all night?” I cocked my head to the side.
“If I can’t be here, which I can’t, then yes. I don’t want you alone tonight.”
“We’ll change the locks in the morning,” Porter said with a yawn.
“Why do we even need to do that? They look fine.”
“Laney,” Zac said with a sigh. “Whoever was in here didn’t break in. There are no signs of anything out of place, which means they had a key or picked the lock. Either way, we’re upgrading in the morning.”
“Fine.” I sighed.
Zac leaned down and kissed me again, this time lingering until every cell in my body came alive. When he pulled back, I wanted to go with him.
“Take care of my girl,” he said as he walked across the threshold.
“Will do,” Porter called back before I could get the door closed behind him.
“What are you doing?” I asked after I spun around to face him. He was already lying on the couch, his head on the pillow. “Why are you here? Are you really planning on sleeping there?”
“I’m spending the night with my friend because there was someone in her house tonight. I do plan on staying all night, so I hope you don’t snore too loud. Zac has never said.”
“He wouldn’t know,” I snapped.
A sly grin crossed Porter’s face. “Oh, really… ”
“Shut up,” I said, shaking my head at him and trying not to smile.
“Listen, me being here makes everyone feel better, so let it go.” He flipped over onto his stomach.
“Doesn’t make me feel better,” I mumbled.
Of course, Porter heard me, looked back over his shoulder, and said, “Yes, it does and you know it. You were scared as hell when you came over. Like a little bunny that had been spooked by a snake. So, you might be able to lie to yourself that my being here doesn’t make you feel a little safer, but you can’t fucking lie to me. I know you too well.”
“You don’t know me at all.” I crossed my arms just under my breasts, to which he raised an eyebrow. That asshole noticed everything. “Not anymore,” I added.
Now he sat up, his back against the arm of the couch, giving me a hard look.
“Four years might have passed, Laney, but I still fucking know you,” he snapped. “You can pretend you’ve changed and in some ways you have. But in most ways… I still see that girl who took any challenge she was given, was up to do whatever Zac and I were, and didn’t give a shit what the other bitches thought. That’s still you.”
Chapter Seventeen
My face burned at Porter’s words. Partly because he was right about me and I didn’t like it. That was still me. Whenever women were worried about how they looked doing something or worried they were breaking the rules, Rhian and I would be there having fun and not caring about the rest. But also partly because he was reminding me of all the time Zac, Porter, and I spent together before I moved and all the things I’d missed in the meantime.
“Bunny? Snake? When did you get so country?” I asked in lieu of acknowledging anything he’d just said.
His deep chuckle filled the room.
“Goodnight, Laney,” he said, sliding back down onto his back.
I stood there for a good twenty seconds before heading back to my room. Even when I tried avoiding the reality of the situation, Porter knew exactly what I was doing. He’d know that I hadn’t responded to him over the things he’d said about me because I knew he was right. That was me. I had been terrified and I did feel better with him asleep on my couch.
Damn him.
But who’d been in my father’s room?
The next morning, I woke to the sound of a drill and male voices. I rolled over, grabbed my phone to check the time, and found that’d I slept in. It was almost ten already. What else were weekends for if not sleeping in? But the voices coming from the kitchen weren’t going to let me sleep any longer.
With a quick run of my fingers through my hair, I trotted down the hallway to find out what was going on. There was no apprehension because I could recognize Zac’s voice anywhere and if he was there, then everything was fine.
I found him and Porter on their knees with the back door open. Zac had a cordless screwdriver in his hand while Porter was reading the back of a package. Looked like they were replacing the doorknob and deadbolt already.
“Hey, bud, can you hand me that Phillips-head screwdriver?” Zac asked, but I didn’t think he was talking to Porter. A little hand popped up between the two of them with the item in it. “Thanks.”
“What’s going on here?” I asked, leaning against the wall near the refrigerator.
All three glanced up at me. Zac’s gaze went from my eyes downward, making me self-conscious of the fact that I’d just gotten out of bed and was wearing pajama shorts and a tank top. Yet when his eyes found mine again, all of that disappeared. The way he looked at me… even though I was sure I looked horrible… warmed even the warmest parts of my body.
Suddenly, Porter smacked the back of Zac’s head and said, “Changing the locks. Thought we’d get it done early.”
Dylan popped his head up between the two of them, then rushed over to me, stopping right before he would’ve crashed into my legs.
“I’m hungry,” he said in that little voice kids have.
“Me too,” I said with a laugh right as my stomach growled.
“Dylan,” Zac said in that Dad voice he had. “I said we’d eat after Porter and I finished this.”
“But I’m hungry now.”
“Geez, Zac. You don’t feed your kid?” I asked, trying not to smile.
Zac narrowed his eyes one me. “He ate breakfast at six. He’s fine.”
I glanced back down to the kid staring up at me.
“Do you like donuts?” I asked. Dylan nodded emphatically. “I feel like donuts this morning.”
Zac sighed, then hung his head. “I’ll go get you both donuts.”
“No, no.” I stopped him before he could stand. “I’ll get dressed, then run down the street real quick.”
“Can I come?” Dylan asked.
I didn’t know how to answer, so I glanced to Zac for guidance. That idiot pretended to have not heard his son. Instead, he continued with the doorknob while obviously still listening intently.
“That would be up to your dad,” I finally said. “I’d love for you to come with me, but I’m not the boss around here.”
“Sure you’re not,” Porter muttered, which earned him an elbow to the stomach courtesy of Zac.
I squatted down by Dylan and said, “You talk your dad into it while I go get dressed.”
I grabbed the first skirt my hands touched and a clean tank top, then went to the bathroom. After brushing my teeth and finger curling what was left of the wave from yesterday, I got dressed, slipped on some sandals, and headed back out to the kitchen.
“He said I could go.” Dylan bounced excitedly on his toes.
“We’ll be back, boys,” I said with a small wave over my shoulder.
Dylan and I didn’t talk much as we walked the five blocks to the nearest bakery. It was a mom-and-pop place that had been in East Branch for as long as I could remember and made some delicious pastries. Once inside, I let Dylan pick out three, figuring he wouldn’t actually eat all of them, but I was getting a dozen so Porter and Zac could have some if they wanted.
More surprising than how quickly Dylan knew exactly which ones he wanted was when Justin Coleman popped out from the back, covered in flour. I’d forgotten this was his grandparents’ bakery.
“Hey, Laney. Haven’t seen you in a long time,” Justin said as he came around the counter and gave me a polite hug.
Last Good Thing (The Fallout Series Book 1) Page 11