“Not that I gave him, but there’s been a time or two that he was in here when I got home, and I know I had the door locked.” She sounded really small, and Mark saw Zane grit his teeth. He was going to have to get the man out of here soon. Despite what Amanda had said, he didn’t want to take a chance of Austin waking up with Zane still standing there.
“I wouldn’t put it past him to break a window to get in, so we’ll have to get back here to get it as soon as possible,” Zane grumbled.
“What do you mean get back to get it?” She sounded like she was coming out of a daze, and she looked confused.
“You’re moving in with my parents for now, and this time you’re not going to have an apartment to come back to.” Zane turned and looked at her. “We’re going to put the rest of your stuff in my garage, for now. Mark and I are going to come back to get it sometime in the near future. And if you try to argue with me, I’ll move you in with me, and you can just deal with the consequences.” She didn’t have to ask him what he meant. She could tell by the look in his eyes. And he was really hoping she would argue with him.
“Go on. Get her to the car,” Mark said, drawing their attention back to him. “I’ll search his pockets before I dump him outside.”
******
Zane woke with a start, at first, unsure what had roused him from sleep. When he heard her again, he jumped up and took off in a run for her room.
“Amanda! Baby, wake up.” He flung her covers back and yanked her up off the bed, into his arms. “Amanda, wake up.”
When her eyes came open and she realized she was in Zane’s arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck and started crying. She was shaking so hard she could barely speak. It took her a couple of tries before he was able to tell what she was saying. “I was dreaming he was attacking me. It was from earlier today, right before you showed up.”
“I got you, Baby,” he whispered in her ear. “He can’t get to you.”
“He tried to...” She sniffled, shaking her head, unable to say it yet.
“What, Baby? He tried to what?” he asked, crawling in bed with her, so he could hold her for a while.
“This last time, before you showed up, he was trying to...” she said, trailing off once again.
“Amanda,” he said, shaking his head, doing his best to understand. “You’re going to have to say it. I can’t read your mind.”
“I can’t form the word.”
All the sudden it hit him what she was having so much trouble saying. “He tried to rape you, didn’t he,” he said, sounding like he was in physical pain. All she could do was nod her head. “Had he managed to before?” he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. If it were yes, they probably wouldn’t be able to stop him from killing him.
She shook her head no, doing her best to hold him closer. “He’s never even tried that hard to get me to sleep with him before. This was the first time he really pushed. I don’t know what changed.”
“I think I do,” he grumbled, thinking of what Austin had told him. The man would know that if he had raped her, it would have been the worst or best way to get at him.
“When I’m awake, I can hold it off, and it doesn’t scare me. But when I’m asleep...”
“Shush, it’s okay,” he said, taking a deep relieved breath. He tossed the covers back over them and settled in to hold her as long as it took.
“The way I feel only gives me a small understanding of how a woman who has been raped feels. How could a man do that to a woman?”
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “The only way I can really explain any of it at all, is that the men who rape women, aren’t really men, at all. They’re monsters.”
“Yeah, monsters,” she sighed, snuggling in closer.
“You can sleep in my arms tonight. Maybe that will help.”
“I know it will.” She mumbled, sounding like she was already halfway back to sleep. He just grinned to himself. He was going to have a really long night.
Chapter 24
Saturday, September 6
For the last few days, since Zane had brought Amanda back to his mom and dad’s, he had been staying there with her. After that first night when she had the dream, remembering what Austin had tried to do, he hadn’t wanted to be across town while she was here sleeping. Last night was the third time he had to come running to wake her up from one of the nightmares the man’s actions had induced.
It was still really early in the morning when Amanda woke up, and she didn’t immediately remember the events of the night before. When she tried to move, she realized she had a really heavy arm holding her down. Before she could panic, everything came flooding back, causing her cheeks to flush. She thought about pretending to be asleep until he woke up. She was being a big chicken, and she knew it. All he had done was hold her all night, so she could sleep, just like the other two times.
When she started squirming, trying to turn over, he groaned and pulled her tighter against him in his sleep. She reached her hand back to try to shake him a little bit and froze. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She mentally checked herself. Yeah, she still had as much on as she had when he came to bed with her. She knew for certain they hadn’t had sex. That was something she would be sure to remember. She had been waiting a large part of her life for that very event to happen. There was no way she would forget it.
She ran her hand back over his bare butt, thinking maybe she was losing her mind. No. That was definitely his rear-end, and he didn’t have any underwear on. Unless he was wearing a thong, and she didn’t believe that was likely. She had done his laundry enough to know, he wore boxer briefs. Just the same, she ran her hand farther up his hip, checking for a thin strip of fabric. When she didn’t find anything, she groaned and buried her face in the pillow.
“Amanda,” he whispered in her ear. “It would be a really good idea, if you stopped doing that.”
“You don’t have any underwear on,” she managed to choke out.
“I sleep naked, and when I hear you screaming in the middle of the night, I don’t stop to put clothes on.” He sounded like he was strangling. “Baby, you’re still doing it.”
He almost sounded like he was growling, and she froze. “I’m sorry.” She had been running her hand over his butt and thigh unconsciously.
“You don’t need to apologize. It’s just that, if you’re not careful, you may get more of me than you’re ready for. I know you were wanting me to make love to you before, but with everything else, it might take a little while for you to get comfortable with the idea again.”
“Were you naked the last two times?”
“Yeah,” he chuckled.
“How did I miss that?” she asked, sounding incredulous.
“Well, when I got in here, you were still asleep. Then you were trying to shake off the feelings from the dream,” he answered seriously. “The other two times, by the time you were awake, I had already gone back to my own room.”
She laid there for a few seconds, still trying to recover from the embarrassment of what she had been doing. When it started to sink in what he had meant by more than she was ready for, she realized she could feel what he was talking about.
She wasn’t sure where her courage came from all the sudden. With everything that had happened, she should have been shaking with fear. But this was Zane, and that made everything different.
This time when she tried to roll over, he lifted his arm to make it easier for her. When she started moving in closer, she heard him groan. “Amanda, don’t. I don’t think you’re ready for this.”
“Shut up, Zane.”
When she started trying to work the t-shirt she had on over her head, he tried to stop her again, but she slapped his hand away, so he rolled and jumped out of bed, giving her an eye full, stopping her from finishing her task and causing her to take a sharp breath.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m going back to my room.”
“Come on, Zane. I p
romise. I’m ready.”
“I’m still not convinced of that,” he said, backing out of the room. “I’ll see you in a little while.” He knew he was going to have to take a really long cold shower before everybody else got up, or his mom was going to run him off back to his own house instead of letting him stay here with Amanda. She would know with one look how close he was to giving in and making love to the insane little brunet. The woman was going to make him crazy if he didn’t marry her soon. He knew for a fact, he wasn’t going to be able to take much more of this.
******
Jamie found Zane pacing back and forth in the library, exactly where Carl had told her she would find him. She stood watching him for several seconds, noting that while he was definitely agitated, she didn’t sense the anger that had been there a week ago. She knew he and Amanda still had a lot of stuff to work through before they would walk down the aisle, but they were finally on the right path to get there.
They all had a lot to be thankful for. For the last few days, he’d been their Zane again. They had all been so grateful for that, no matter how hard he tried to get someone riled up, they would just laugh at him. Mindi had even went so far as to pretend to be irritated. He ended up giving her a dirty look because he’d known she was faking it.
She smiled softly, moving forward enough to reach out to touch him on his shoulder. “Son, your father said you wanted to talk to me.”
He stopped to turn and look at her, not seeming all that surprised to see her standing there. “I need your advice on something.”
“Ah,” she chuckled. “That’s why we’re hiding in the library. You don’t want anyone to realize you don’t know everything, after all.”
“Ha-ha,” he snorted.
“You have to understand, since Amanda’s been back, you’re back to your old self,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “We can all breathe freely again. I don’t know if you truly understand how worried we were about you.”
“I probably understand more than you realize. I knew the whole time how close I was to the edge, but I had no idea how to pull myself back,” he admitted, taking a deep soothing breath. “Thankfully, I didn’t have to. My family did it for me.”
“Yeah, Mindi explained what they did. While I don’t like you fighting with each other, I realize it was what you needed.”
“Just so you know, I apologized to Mark,” he chuckled softly. “He told me I didn’t need to apologize. He was more than willing to suffer a few days of sore ribs and a sore jaw to help me.”
“I’m sure he did,” she nodded. “He cares. So, what did you want to ask my advice on? Whether or not you and Amanda should sleep together before you get married? Don’t ask me that? You know what my answer will be, already.”
Zane chuckled, pushing back to look at her. “Since I know your sense of humor doesn’t normally swing that direction without someone else leading the way, that has to be your attempt to either, find out if we’ve been engaging in marital relations already, or to remind me we shouldn’t.”
“Well, I could say, knowing you as well as I do, you probably already have, but for some reason, I really don’t think so.”
“So, it was more of a reminder then,” he smirked. “And no, we haven’t. If it helps ease your mind, I don’t intend to until we’re married.”
“Really?” she asked, sounding more than a little shocked.
“Yep,” he nodded his head, walking over to sit on the window seat.
“I am pleased, but can I ask why? Out of all of my children, you’re the last one I would have ever expected to hold back on having sex with the one you intend to marry.”
“Because I love her, and I feel I need to show her the respect, no matter how likely it is to drive me crazier every day,” he said, showing a little embarrassment. “She’s likely to make it really hard on me. She’s already tried to get me to take her to bed more than once.”
She chuckled, shaking her head at the look of pain on his face. “I’ll pray for your strength to hold out. What did you want to ask my advice on?”
He sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “About telling her the real reason Austin has been terrorizing her.”
She nodded her head, sitting down in one of the over-stuffed arm chairs across from him. “Now I know why we’re hiding in the library for this conversation.”
“What do I do?” he asked, the look on his face making her think of the five-year-old little boy from so many years ago. He looked a little terrified himself.
“You need to tell her. This is something she needs to hear from you.”
“I get that,” he huffed, throwing his hand out in frustration. “But how do I walk up to the woman I love and tell her the whole reason she’s been being abused and terrorized by her ex-boyfriend is because he realized I was in love with her in high school. She’ll end up hating me.”
“No, I won’t,” they heard Amanda whisper softly from the door. When they both looked up in shock, she blushed and dipped her head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I was coming in here to look for something to read. There was already too many in the kitchen when I went to see if I was needed to help and I wasn’t in the mood to watch TV.”
“It’s alright, Dear,” Jamie said, getting up from her chair. “I think this may be where I need to leave, so you two can continue this conversation.”
Amanda waited till Jamie had shut the door behind her before turning to look up at Zane. He still sat on the window seat, almost like he was frozen in place. “I could never hate you, but I especially would never end up hating you because of something someone else had done. Whatever his reasons, Austin is a mean and horrible person. Apparently, no matter who you ended up in love with, he was going to do his best to make them miserable. Am I right?”
“Yes,” he answered, nodding his head, still not moving off his seat.
“I trust you to keep me safe and I know no matter what I do, I can’t keep you safe by returning to him. He’s out to get you and you’re going to have to be the one to deal with him.”
“Okay,” he nodded, still afraid to move. He wasn’t sure he wasn’t dreaming.
“Zane, no matter what, I do not, nor will I ever, blame you for what Austin has done or might do in the future.”
“Thank God,” he exclaimed, finally jumping up to take the few steps across the room to wrap her up in his arms. “It would kill me if you hated me.”
“Like I’ve already said, I could never hate you.”
He pulled back enough to lean down and give her a kiss on the forehead. “So, what’s for breakfast?”
“Crisis averted? Time to think about your stomach again, huh?” she snorted, smacking him in his six-pack abs.
“Hey, I may not be as big as Mark, but I still require a lot of fuel,” he chuckled before leaning down to kiss her on the mouth long enough to make her toes curl.
******
Everyone had made it over and they were all sitting down for breakfast, chattering about random topics. If Zane had been watching the expressions crossing Amanda’s face a little closer, like everyone else over the age of eighteen had, he might have had some warning of what she was getting ready to say. He might have realized her true intent as well. Everyone but Zane seemed to know she was bluffing when, out of the blue, she announced she was going back to her apartment in Ruby Falls. Even if they didn’t understand what she was trying to do with her bluff.
“What the heck? Have you lost your mind, Woman?” Zane bellowed, jumping up, nearly shouting the ceiling down. “You are not going anywhere near that apartment.”
She had to work hard to hide her smile, but managed to say very seriously, “You can’t stop me.”
“Yes, I can,” he said, leaning down to touch his nose to hers. “I’ll handcuff you to me, if necessary. I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger again. You are going to stay away from that as...”
“Zane Daniel Townsend, don’t you say it,” Jamie cut in. “Un
less you want me to show the rest of your brothers and sisters, along with the others, I can still paddle your behind.”
Zane looked over at his older brother when he heard him trying so hard not to laugh that he actually snorted. “I wouldn’t laugh if I were you. She’s likely to come after you next.”
Phillip finally gave up trying to hold in the laugh and nearly doubled over, he was laughing so hard. “Mom, please, go after him with the paddle. I’ve got to see this.”
“Wait till it gets around the station she even threatened him with it,” Jeff chuckled. “He’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you, Jeff,” Zane growled, looking over at Hannah.
The guy in question threw his hands wide. “Hey, I never said I’d be the one to tell them. There are a lot of people in here. And most of them aren’t really afraid of your blustering.”
“Yeah, I have to agree,” Officer Daniels chuckled.
“Seriously, Boston?” he asked his friend, eyeing him like a bug. That only caused the man to laugh harder.
“Okay, that’s enough picking on Zane, for the moment,” Carl intervened. “At the moment, we have a more serious issue to deal with. Go ahead, Amanda,” he added when he noticed she wanted to say something else.
“I’m going,” she said, doing her best to only look at Zane. She could tell by a few looks she had already noticed, he was the only one that didn’t realize she was up to something. And that included Boston Daniels. She didn’t want to end up giving herself away. “I have to face this head on.”
“No, you’re not,” he said, shaking his head vigorously. “It’s too dangerous. You’re moving in with me if you think you’re going back to Ruby Falls. All you’ll be doing is playing back into his hands. I am going to end up handcuffing you to me, aren’t I?”
She just glared at him. She knew if she tried to say anything else, she was going to grin at him. He had played right into her hands. She knew she was going to have to find time alone with him, where they weren’t likely to be walked in on before she was going to be able to get him to give into her.
Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 23