Chapter 4 Zach
FOUR
ZACH
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Teddy asked for the hundredth time, and I nodded. Also for the hundredth time.
“Go. Do your thing. I’m fine right here,” I said and held my cup of coffee closer to my chest.
“Call if anything happens,” he persisted, staring at me, his big blond masculine energy making me feel small, but also protected. It was nice having friends. Especially friends who could pack a punch.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I reassured him, but he raised an eyebrow.
Even he knew that was a lie.
There was no telling what Victor would do.
Maybe the truck was just the beginning. No, it most definitely was just the beginning.
I would have thought he’d have gotten over me by now.
Gotten over my ditching him. Moved on to another twink who could bend over for him, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
My poor truck. An innocent victim in all of this.
“Come on,” Teddy said. “Bolt the door behind me.”
I rolled my eyes for his benefit and stood up. Victor was more than capable of breaking down a door, but Teddy had to stop worrying about me so he could get on with his job.
I walked with him the short distance to my front door, coffee cup still in my hands and watched him open the door and turn back around to face me.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I find out anything new.”
I nodded with a smile.
“Send me all the pictures you can get so I can start the insurance claim,” I added, and he gave me a captain’s salute before I closed the door, attached the security chain and returned to my kitchen to refill my coffee cup.
I may already be on my fourth cup, but I didn’t think there enough coffee in the world to help me deal with today.
As my espresso pod machine whirred to life, I stared at the miniature liquor bottles on the shelf above it but quickly dismissed the idea of turning my coffee Irish. I wasn’t one to abuse alcohol when things got tough and I wasn’t about to start now.
I added a spoon of sugar to my cup then carried it to the window where I stood for a moment watching the sky, which had turned a shade of cool gray as if sensing my mood.
It even looked like it was going to rain.
I breathed in and out and closed my eyes, steadying my emotions and my body.
Feeling overwhelmed by dread and exhaustion wouldn’t fix anything.
Propping the window open slightly helped a bunch as the chilly fall air whooshed in and caressed my skin with a numbing cold that reached down to my very core.
“What am I going to do?” I sighed, my voice the steadiest it had ever been when asking myself the same question over the years.
My precious truck was gone, burned to ash, and Victor has found me. Those two simple statements should be enough to make me break down in tears, but I wasn’t going to let them fall. Not now. Not yet. I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.
My head throbbed threatening to give me a headache, my mind’s way of telling me to act, to go, to run away, get away from that man and every dreg of memory of him that had resurfaced in the past week since I caught wind of him.
But my heart, it was a stubborn bitch. It refused to let him win again.
Not when Mayberry Holm had become something I hadn’t had in a very long time: a home.
But how could I stay after everything he put me through?
How could I stay when he’d taken my dream business from me?
How could I stay when I knew for a fact he’d be coming back for more?
“Enough,” I muttered and shut the window, having every intention of returning to the living room when I saw something outside.
Something that gave me chills even though there was no longer a breeze in the apartment.
Dark short hair, dark shades, dark clothes. Victor. It was him. There was no denying it. He was there, outside my apartment block, leaning against a wall, smoking. And what was worse, he was looking up at me.
I stepped back so fast I knocked myself against my dining table and the coffee spilled out my mug, wetting the floor in front of me, but I didn’t care. I put the cup down and ran to the door. Had I chained it shut? Had I locked it? I needed to check. Fuck.
He’s found me.
He found me at home.
I wasn’t safe here. Not anymore. I wasn’t safe.
I needed to go.
I needed to pack.
Yeah. Pack.
Pack up everything and go and hope to God I can run far away enough this time that I never had to see his face ever again as long as I lived and breathed.
I turned the key in my front door twice then took the key out and put it on the table next to the entrance then ran to my bedroom and opened my closet.
Too much stuff. I’d gathered too much. I’d gotten lax.
I’d gotten too comfortable. Hence why my closet was full to the brim.
I couldn’t make that mistake again. I couldn’t.
For now, I’d have to make some sacrifices.
Just pack what I could carry and leave everything behind.
Maybe when I was far enough I could contact Teddy to ask him to donate the rest or something.
I was out of breath before I’d even opened the gym bag, but I couldn’t let that deter me.
No matter how my hands shook I put clothes inside, whatever I could fit. Whatever was light enough. I’d have to wear my thickest coat even though it wasn’t that cold yet because how the hell did I know when I’d get a chance to stop and regroup again?
“Fuck!”
I need to book a ferry ticket.
Shit.
What if he got on the same boat as me? What if he followed me to the port? What if he got to me before I’d even gotten the chance to taste freedom again?
Why did I pick an island?
“I’m trapped.”
I was fucking trapped.
I stumbled back into my bed and tried to bring the shaking under control. I had to. I had to try. Just like I had to try to run away even if I failed.
“My phone,” I mumbled.
I need my phone.
I pushed myself back up and went in search of it. It was on the coffee table in the living room. I reached for it.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I jumped, screeching ungracefully and turned to the door.
What was that?
I reached for my chest as if that would calm my racing heart and watched the door as if it had turned into a living creature all of a sudden.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
It was him. I knew it was. It had to be. Who else would knock on a door as if intending to bring it down?
I took a step back and tried to keep my gaze steady even though my eyes had started to sting.
I’m trapped. I’m fucking trapped.
“Zach! Zach are you there?” a loud voice boomed from the other side, and I whimpered.
My throat tightened. I gasped for air, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
“Zach, please tell me you’re inside!”
I stilled myself and closed my eyes.
Wait a minute. That…that didn’t sound like Victor. No it didn’t sound like Victor at all.
I tiptoed to the door as quietly as possible and peeked through the peep hole.
“Dare?” I asked as if to confirm what I was seeing.
“Zach? Oh my God. Are you okay?” His shoulders and chest dropped as if sighing in relief and he put a hand on the door frame.
I reached for the key but immediately felt light headed so when I opened the door for Dare I all but stumbled back.
Before I collapsed, I felt a hand wrap around the small of my back and another around the back of my neck. When I opened my eyes I was pressed against hard muscles and the musky scent of him made me woozy all over again.
“Zach? What-what’s going on? Are you okay? What happened?” he rumbled, and I felt it reverberate deep into my bones.
“I…I’m…fine,” I mumbled but before I could even finish my sentence I felt the floor disappear from under my feet and I was swung in the air.
I blinked only to realize Dare had picked me up in his big, strong arms. His dark blue eyes fixed on me as if I was the only thing that mattered.
His pink lips only a breath away from mine, looking softer and more inviting than they’d ever looked.
I found it hard to breathe but it wasn’t out of fear this time.
It was out of sheer shock and need. The times I’d dreamt of burying myself in his arms, of being held close, of being claimed by those same lips and letting go.
I must be dreaming.
Dare laid me down on my couch and I immediately missed his touch. The way his grip made me feel safe and sound. The way his gaze put me at ease.
I blinked and he disappeared from my view.
Had I…had I actually dreamt that?
Before I could question my sanity though, he reappeared with a glass of water in his hands, and he helped me sit up so I could drink.
“Th-thanks,” I mumbled in between mouthfuls.
“What’s wrong Zach? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said, crouched down in front of me, another thing I dreamt a hundred times, only in much steamier circumstances.
“I…I…it’s nothing,” I said.
“It’s not nothing. I spoke to Autumn. I know your ex burned down your truck.”
I shivered.
I didn’t like hearing him mention Victor. I didn’t like him sullying his mouth with that monster.
“We don’t know that for sure,” I stuttered and Dare glared.
“Your truck burns down just when your ex comes to town? Yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure,” he said, and I didn’t know if I’d ever heard him curse.
It was…strange. It was a different side to him I hadn’t seen before. But also he sounded very protective when he cursed, which made me all fuzzy in the chest.
“What happened? Where is Teddy?”
“He…he went to get photos and speak with the fire department.”
“Why would he leave you alone at a time like this?” he growled.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I said and put a hand to his shoulder.
My fingers zinged at the brief touch. I hadn’t touched him before. Not like that. Not with such…familiarity.
“I told him to. I was fine when he left. Well…as fine as I could be.”
“Then what happened?”
I instinctively glanced at the window and Dare followed my gaze too.
Before I could say anything, he rushed to the window and looked outside.
“Who is that? Is that your ex?” he shouted.
I swallowed in lieu of a response and Dare’s face twisted.
“I’ll be right back,” he grumbled and ran out the door before I could stop him.
Before I could warn him.
What if Victor hurt him too? I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to Dare.