Amanda walked up beside him and took his hand in hers. “She reminds me a little of someone.”
“Yeah, who is that?” he asked, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead, vaguely wondering if he was turning into as big a sap as his brothers-in-law were. Mark might be the worst of the bunch, but Luke and James weren’t a whole lot better.
“You,” she answered, a twinkle in her eye.
“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “How so?”
She held her hand up with her thumb and index finger less than an inch apart. “She’s already showing signs of being just a little bit ornery.”
“You think so?” he grinned.
“Yep.”
“I have a question,” he stated, pulling her around to face him, so he could wrap his arms around her.
She laid her hands against his shoulders, smiling up at him. “What’s that?”
“Do you want children?”
“Yep,” she giggled, blushing.
He raised a hand, running a thumb over her cheek. “Why the red cheeks?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I was just thinking I want one or two kids. Maybe six,” she blurted with more of a blush.
“Six? What is it with having six kids? That’s what Mindi and Luke, and Jenny and Mark plan on having.”
“What about James and Lisa?”
“Oh, they’re worse. They plan to just keep having them till one of them cries uncle. Those are Lisa’s words, by the way,” he added, shivering all over as if he were trying to shake off the horror of the kind of chaos that could cause.
She giggled, shaking her head. “Sounds like fun to me.”
“No, that would be chaos,” he said, shaking his head. “I know. I’ve lived in that kind of chaos once already.”
“Well, you can’t deny, making all those kids would be fun.” She giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand when she saw the look on his face. He looked like he might be in physical pain.
“That’s cruel, you know,” he grumbled, reaching around to pinch her on the bottom in pay back. “Really cruel.”
She squeaked and jumped in surprise before giggling again. “Hey, I’m willing to practice, and you know it.”
Just then Zane heard a really loud scream. He let go of Amanda and turned around to see Hannah lying on the ground. It looked like she had fallen off the deck on the back side of the house. He could just barely hear what sounded like painful moaning. “Are you sure about having that many kids?” he asked before taking off across the yard. By the time he had gotten halfway there, Jeff was already picking her up. He had her cradled in his arms and was already starting back Zane’s way.
Zane stopped him only long enough to ask, “What happened?”
“She broke her wrist,” he answered with a pinched expression, giving the impression he was in as much pain as she was. “I’m going to take her to the ER.”
“You’ll have to take Mom with you. She won’t let her go by herself. She’ll be too freaked out to sit here and wait. Go ahead and get her to the truck and I’ll go tell her,” he added, turning back toward the deck. “She’s still in the house.”
He started toward the back door but had only got a step or two when his mom came outside. Apparently, Tonya had went to get her already. “Zane, what’s going on? Tonya said Hannah fell off the deck.”
“Yeah,” he answered with a nod of his head. “Jeff said she broke her wrist. He’s headed to his truck with her. I told him you would want to go with them.”
“Okay,” she breathed, doing her best to calm down. “I’ll go through the house, so I can get her purse. Can you tell your dad and help get everything else done?”
“Yeah, sure, Mom. Go on.” Zane could tell she was a little freaked out. She usually did pretty well with stuff like this, but she needed to see for herself all it was, was a broken wrist.
******
They had all managed to get everything ready and were just starting to sit down to eat when Jeff, Hannah and Jamie came back through the side gate. Hannah had her wrist in a cast, and she looked like she was pretty doped up. Jeff was supporting more of her weight than she was.
“They must have given her a pretty good pain shot,” Carl chuckled as he watched his daughter try to pull Jeff’s shirt out of the waistband of his jeans. “Is she planning on crawling in there with you?”
“Yeah, I think she is. She’s been making things difficult for him ever since we left the hospital. You know how she is with pain medicine. It makes her a little loopy. Jeff almost couldn’t drive home. She kept trying to crawl in his lap,” Jamie chuckled, reaching over to help Jeff pull Hannah’s hands away from his clothes. But when she tried to pull her away from him, he stopped her.
“No,” he said with a shake of his head, putting his arm back around her to hold her close to his side. “I got her. I can handle it.”
“Are you sure about that?” Zane chuckled when Hannah went back to tugging at Jeff’s shirt.
Jeff just groaned and shook his head. He knew he was going to hear about this later. Zane was sure to bring it up. Probably while they were at work in front of the rest of the force. They were all still razzing him over Zane managing to get him to kiss her. Right now, though, he had more pressing matters.
He gave Zane a serious look, jerking his head toward Amanda, where she sat talking to Lisa, Mindi and Jenny. His partner caught on quickly, frowning at the gate to the front yard, like he was going to be able to see through it. “Did you see Austin?” he whispered low enough only Jeff heard him.
“Yeah,” he nodded very seriously. “He was following us. I figure he’ll be making an appearance in another minute or so.”
Zane turned back and made it to where Amanda sat in three quick steps. “Get in the house. Go straight to the library and stay there till one of us comes to get you. If someone knocks on the front door, ignore it and keep going.”
She gave him a startled look but didn’t question him. Along with everyone else in the yard, she could tell by his tone, something was wrong. She got up, quickly making her way across the yard and made it through the back door of the house a split second before the gate opened. Austin walked through it, proving Jeff’s prediction to be eerily accurate.
Everyone, especially Zane, stood glaring at him, waiting for him to explain why he would show up at his parents’ house uninvited.
Austin scanned the backyard for several seconds before finally turning his own glare on Zane. “Where’s she at? I know she’s here.”
“Where’s who at?” Zane asked, looking bored. “Who’s supposed to be here?”
“You know darn well who I’m talking about?” the other man snarled.
“Oh, I see,” he laughed, taking a bite of an apple he had picked up off the picnic table just seconds before Austin came through the gate. He looked for all the world like a man without a single care. “You thought Amanda was here. Sorry, she’s not here,” he added, shaking his head.
“Don’t try to lie to me,” Austin snarled again, his obvious anger growing. “I know she’s here somewhere.”
“Well, don’t you think she would be out here with us if she were here?” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I think you’ve drank so much beer and whiskey in the last few years, you’ve started to cause yourself brain damage.”
“How dare you. I don’t appreciate you insulting my intelligence,” he snarled, taking a menacing step forward, only to have Jeff step in his path.
“You’d have to have intelligence to begin with, for me to be able to insult it,” Zane replied dryly, taking another bite of his apple and doing his best not to react when everyone else in the yard chuckled.
“You’re obviously not as tough as you like people to think you are, if you have to have someone else fight your fights for you,” he smirked, glancing at Jeff.
“Oh, Jeff’s only stopping you, so I don’t paint the backyard with your blood,” he laughed back. “It’s you he’s protecting. Not me.�
�
“I don’t need his protection,” the other man snarled, taking a step toward Jeff like he planned to go after him.
When Jeff had first stepped in the middle of Austin and Zane, Hannah had been sitting in a lawn chair a few feet away. Austin’s changing directions had obviously alarmed her, because she got back up and moved over, literally plastering herself to Jeff. Austin didn’t have the good sense to back off when she got between them, and he instantly sent Jeff’s temper into overdrive.
Jeff shifted Hannah behind him and growled, “Take another step and I’ll rip your head off.”
“I’m not anymore afraid of you than I am Zane,” he bellowed, puffing his chest out.
Zane snorted, shaking his head at him. “Not being afraid of me is one thing. Not being afraid of him, could prove suicidal. He’s more dangerous than five of me.”
“Whatever,” he growled. “I want Amanda. Now!”
“It’s time for you to go, Young Man,” Carl snapped in authority, walking up to stand beside Zane. “I don’t appreciate you calling my son a liar or threatening my family. You need to get out of here before I call the police.”
“Well, isn’t he the police?” Austin sneered.
“Yeah, and so are we,” Boston growled, walking through the gate with Andy right behind him. “Like the man said, it’s time for you to leave.”
Austin turned to see two rather large men in street clothes standing behind him. He swallowed, taking a step toward the gate. “This isn’t over, Townsend,” he grumbled before darting around Boston and out the gate.
“So, time to eat yet?” Andy asked, grinning as if he and Boston hadn’t just walked in on a ridiculously tense situation.
******
Zane walked in the door behind Amanda and dropped his keys and cell phone on the end table beside her phone. It was already ten thirty, and they both were needing a shower. He shook his head, trying to jump start some of his brain cells back to working order. He was so tired, he could barely see straight. “I’m glad it’s Sunday tomorrow. If it were Monday, I’d probably need to be hooked up to an I V of coffee to make it to work, the way I’m feeling,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face. “If you want to use the bigger shower in my bedroom, you can go ahead and shower first.”
She grinned, shaking her head, prompting him to head down the hall toward his room with the intentions of going ahead and taking his shower. “No, I think we should take a shower together?”
When she finally got around to uttering her response, he stopped dead in his tracks, nearly tripping over his own two feet. At first, all he could do was groan, closing his eyes. “Mandy, you really shouldn’t say things like that to me,” he said, turning around to discover she had moved up behind him. He shook his head at her. “You have to stop doing this. You don’t have the personality for casual sex.”
“I can handle it, Zane. I want you. I want you to be my first.” She didn’t bother saying, and my last. She pulled his head down to her and kissed him.
She could feel him shaking, trying to control himself, but she just wasn’t sure how to push him the rest of the way to snap that control of his.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to know. His mouth started moving down, running kisses along her jaw, then over her neck, her fingers clutched in his hair and a moan escaped her lips. That was all it took. He couldn’t say no anymore. He picked her up in his arms and brought his mouth back up to her lips.
Just as he started down the hall toward the bedroom, someone pounded on the door, bringing them both back to the present.
He said a few words that made her ears turn red. It made her wonder if he was more aggravated at the person behind the door for the interruption. Or at himself for obviously giving in. It didn’t really matter. The moment was lost, and whoever it was started banging again before he finally managed to sit her down on the floor.
“Who is it?” he snarled.
“Jeff,” his partner answered, sounding far more serious than made her comfortable, with everything that was going on with Austin. Especially after his surprise visit earlier in the day.
“What do you want?” Zane asked, flinging the door open.
Jeff took a step forward, forcing him to back farther into the house. “Sorry to interrupt, but one of the officers on night patrol called me.” He spoke low, obviously trying to keep his voice from carrying as he stepped the rest of the way into the house, so he could close the door. “I was right behind you. They saw someone lurking outside. You may have walked right past him.”
“You still could have called first,” he grumbled, stepping forward, already turning the knob before the last word left his lips. “Why didn’t they call me first?” he snarled, taking a step out on the porch.
“I had just reached your street on my way home when they called. I was pretty much already here. And he said my name was the first one he came to in his phone. Maybe you should get your gun before you go out there,” he added, still speaking low.
Amanda gave the other man a startled look before turning fearful eyes on Zane. “Zane, get back in here,” she hissed in fear. “You’re giving him an easier target.”
Of course, he didn’t listen. She wasn’t sure why she’d thought he would. He had always been a lot better at taking control of a situation than he’d ever been at taking orders. It made her wonder how his chief managed to get him to listen to any he gave him.
She shook her head and started to take a step out on the porch but was stopped short of the opening by Jeff. “No, stay in here. Zane will be a lot safer if he doesn’t have you out there to worry about.”
“Stay with her,” Zane said without looking back. “I’m going to look around.”
He headed off the porch, turning to the right. He had made it all the way around the house and was almost back to the porch when a patrol car pulled in the driveway. Unfortunately, that was a split second before he saw the subject of his search take off down the street and cut across someone else’s yard, disappearing between two houses. The height and build of the man had been right for Austin. No matter how certain he was, though, he couldn’t say for a fact it was him. Whoever it was had been wearing a black hoodie a few sizes too big. Along with all the shadows they had to hide in, they’d had the hood pulled far enough down over their forehead and eyes to make a positive identification impossible.
“Dang it,” Zane grumbled. He figured the officer pulling into his driveway scared the guy off. He didn’t see Jeff’s truck. He figured his partner had done his best to go unseen.
He held up his hand, stopping the officer driving the patrol car from backing out of his driveway. He stepped up to the guys window, shaking his head. “Don’t bother. You probably wouldn’t be able to find him, unless you want to try following him on foot.”
“We noticed him skulking around maybe a minute or so before you arrived. If I’d had any idea you were going to be here so soon, I’d have skipped calling Jeff and called you instead.”
Zane gave the younger man a dirty look. “Why didn’t you pull up sooner?”
“Because I was thinking he’d do exactly what he did. When I saw you walking around the house, I figured he’d already taken off.”
He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Yeah, I’d have probably figured the same thing”
Chapter 18
Sunday, August 17
Amanda had managed to talk Zane into going to church with her. It was the first time he had been to church in nearly two years, and when he walked in, his mom nearly fainted. He saw Phillip actually look up at the ceiling like he was looking for falling ceiling tiles. He glared at his brother without saying a word, taking a seat beside his mom where she had scooted over enough for, he and Amanda both.
“Yes, Mom, I’m here,” he said when he noticed she was getting ready to say something about him being there. “Amanda talked me into coming to church this morning. Let’s not make a big production of it.”
“Well,” she chuckled. “I knew sh
e would have a positive effect on your sorry hide. I’m glad to see someone can get you here.”
He gave her his best scowl and retorted, “Mom, don’t make me regret coming.” He didn’t think they all needed to know there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for Amanda. All she had to do was ask.
“Alright,” she smirked. “I’ll shut up, for now. Church is getting ready to start anyway.”
Jenny was sitting on the other side of Amanda with Gavin on her lap. He heard Amanda ask his sister if she could hold the baby. He shook his head, chuckling and wondered to himself, what is it about women and babies. He just hoped he got the chance to have those six kids she wanted, with her.
When the service was over, Zane noticed the pastor trying to make his way toward him and Amanda, but knew they weren’t going to be able to sneak out before he reached them. He wasn’t real sure Amanda would be willing to try anyway.
Sure enough, when he reached them, Amanda turned giving him a smile and stuck her hand out.
“Hi, Zane. It’s nice to see you and… Amanda isn’t it?” Pastor Macy asked, taking her offered hand. “Maybe you can get him to come on a regular basis again.”
Amanda had to hide a grin over the look on Zane’s face. “Yes, I’m Amanda. I used to live in Sapphire Springs before. I’d been living in Ruby Falls for the last six years.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ve only been the pastor here for the last three. Matter-of-fact, this is my first church,” he grinned back at her, doing his best not to laugh at Zane’s obvious discomfort.
“Well, you seem to be doing a good job.”
“Thank you,” he nodded. “I’m glad to see you were able to get Zane here this morning. I haven’t seen him here in quite some time.”
“Well, I can see what I can do about getting him here on a more regular basis,” she grinned. “We never know, until we try.”
“Jamie has filled me in on what is going on with you and your ex-boyfriend. How’s everything going?” he asked with genuine concern.
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