Chapter 6 Zach
SIX
ZACH
It was all too much.
Victor being back. My bakery truck gone. Dare taking me away from my apartment. It was all too much, happening too fast. I just needed time to slow down and give myself time to process everything. To figure out the best next move.
Though admittedly, was there a better next move than holing up with an ex-Navy SEAL who could protect me against the likes of Victor?
I glanced at Dare, who was too focused on driving to notice me and bit my lip.
I’d never, in the past year, seen him be so angry, so possessive.
So masculine. Not that he wasn’t, but he always appeared to me as this soft teddy bear who could do no harm.
This side of him was different but not bad-different. Just different.
It was slightly intimidating, because the last man who’d shown these kinds of traits was the man I was running away from. Yet I knew deep within me that Dare didn’t have the capacity to be that evil. I didn’t think many people in this world did.
As intimidating as this macho energy was, however, it was also much more attractive on Dare—something my mind tried to refuse, to laugh at, to protect me from, but my body was a traitor.
Because it wanted nothing more than to crawl up in his lap and stay there forever surrounded by his big grizzly bear energy.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a deep tone that sent shivers down my spine, and I flinched and looked away. Outside the window, the houses of Mayberry Holm were giving way to massive undeveloped fields.
“Yeah. I’m…I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“Are you cold?” he asked and immediately pressed a button that had the vents roaring to life.
I wasn’t cold. I wasn’t hot either. I was numb and that was probably worse, but I thanked him anyway and focused on the road.
I’d heard so much about the blueberry farm, but I’d never had the pleasure of seeing it.
I’d always planned to visit, to pick fresh blueberries myself and to make something delicious with them, but work had gotten in the way of that.
Work and shyness. Any time I thought of suggesting it to Dare on his daily visits, something caught in my throat, and I couldn’t do it.
As if he’d think I was suggesting that he bend me over backwards and not something innocent like picking fruit.
Yet in my brain it was one and the same.
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
I never said I’m not.
How was I going to share a space with this mountain of a man and keep myself in check when I’d known him for so long already and still couldn’t be fully myself around him?
And how long would I have to do this for?
A day? Two days? A week? A lifetime? How long would I have to stay in hiding before I could resume my life?
Would I ever be able to go back to the semblance of a life I’d built here?
To any kind of life beyond Victor and the fear of his presence?
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. It was the only thing I could do. The only thing I had any control over.
Just breathe, Zach. Breathe and take it one step at a time.
“Hey,” I felt a nudge on my shoulder, and I tried to open my eyes, but my lids felt heavy and impossible to lift.
“Wh-what happened?” I muttered as a big yawn overcame me.
A chuckle—his chuckle—gave me goosebumps that woke me right up.
“You dozed off,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get inside. We’re here.”
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms and sat up in the car seat to look out the window, and I had to blink several times before I could believe what I was seeing.
We were surrounded by trees. I didn’t know the type.
I was entirely clueless on anything to do with flora, but I was sure if I’d asked Teddy’s boyfriend, Wesley, he’d know.
What I did know however was it wasn’t every day one saw colorful trees.
While some brandished more traditionally fall colors like orange and red, others had purple and pink foliage, though even those seemed to be changing as well.
Despite that, they were beautiful and they gave the small house they surrounded an almost fairy-tale vibe.
“This is your home?” I asked as Dare offered his hand to help me out of his Chevy truck.
“It is.” He smiled and when he did, he fit right in with the background, like a bear shifter out of a paranormal romance novel who appeared in the protagonist’s life and offered an escape from reality and its woes.
“Wow,” I said and managed to pry my gaze away from him and toward his house. “I can’t imagine what it’s like waking up with this view every day.”
Dare turned to me and smirked. “Well, you don’t have to imagine from now on.”
It hit me again that I was staying here, and that I was going to wake up to this view tomorrow. And maybe the day after.
How long exactly did he plan on keeping me here?
“Right,” I said, and he unlocked the front door only for a beast to pounce on him.
“Hey, buddy. I missed you too,” Dare scratched the dog behind its ears but then the brown and white pitbull set its sights on me.
“Uhm…” I said and took a step back before I could help it.
“Don’t be scared. Lookah is the friendliest goofball you’ve ever met. He just wants to be your friend and play.”
I stilled and braced myself for impact, but it never came.
The beast stopped short in front of me and stared at me with big brown eyes, wiggling his butt and tail at a dizzying speed, and waited.
His tongue lolled from his mouth, and I raised my hand to touch him between the ears, making his tail go even faster.
It wasn’t long before he was making circles around me and cute little excited jumps every time I petted him somewhere new.
“Wow. He…he’s such a baby.”
Dare belly laughed and Luca turned to him for a scratch but quickly came back to me.
“He’s definitely a baby. A big baby who’s too cute for his own good. Aren’t you, Lookah?”
Hearing his name made the dog go back to Dare and he walked in with him. I followed.
“Luca, huh? Where did the name come from?”
Dare shook his head and got down to his knees and grabbed Luca by the face and shook him side to side.
It was cute the way he cooed at his dog. Gone was the big burly SEAL protector, replaced by an even cuter version of the bear I knew and had a crush on.
“Not Luca. It’s Lookah. As in, he’s a lookah. Because look at that face,” he said, and I took in a deep breath to save myself the embarrassment of moaning like a pathetic horny man.
“He’s definitely handsome,” I chuckled.
And so are you, I thought to myself.
“Sorry, come in. Come in. Make yourself at home. Are you thirsty? Hungry? Have a seat, I’ll fix us some tea.”
He pointed to the sofa next to the front door and I took a seat. As Dare walked to the kitchen opposite the small living room, Lookah climbed on the couch next to me and nuzzled up by my side, belly up, and I obliged the adorable creature with some belly rubs.
“Where do you keep the pygmy goats?” I asked, looking around the open space as Dare turned to face me.
“Ah, in here, but I keep them separate from Lookah when I leave the house. Lookah is very friendly and the goats, well, they can’t control their headbutts.”
I nodded and watched as Dare walked out of the kitchen to a corridor and when he returned he had a flock of tiny goats stalking him. He proceeded to feed them and while they chomped down on their pellets he returned to the living room with two cups of tea.
“Sugar?” he asked.
“Always,” I said and took a couple of cubes from the little bowl and stirred them in until they dissolved.
I warmed my hands with the mug and inhaled the scent of the fruity red tea before taking a sip.
Despite its sweet smell, it had a very soft flavor and was wonderfully warming.
“What do you think?” he asked, taking a sip from his cup.
“I like it,” I said.
He shrugged. “I still haven’t got the blend quite right I don’t think. It’s too light and you can barely taste the blueberry flavor. But it goes down well.”
“You made it?” I didn’t mean to open my eyes so wide in disbelief, but they flew open anyway.
“Yeah.”
I took another sip. If it was possible, it tasted better.
“Wow. I didn’t know you sold blueberry tea too.”
“Just for me, really. Even if I wanted to sell it, it’s still not there yet.”
I shrugged.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. It’s all about the right chemistry. Everything to do with food is.”
I felt his eyes pinned on mine and I froze, unable to move or I risked losing my dignity with another moan or something.
“Maybe you can help me find the right balance,” he suggested, and I gave a soft nod in response.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t want to speak because I knew for a fact whatever came out wouldn’t be words whatsoever.
We sat there in silence, enjoying the tea and watching the pygmies eat for a little while. The more I watched, the more I settled into the couch, but also the more reality sank in. I wasn’t going home after this. This wasn’t a fun visit for tea and dog cuddles before I returned to my reality.
This was my reality. And I had no idea what it entailed.
“Can…can I ask you something,” I said, putting my empty mug down and turning to Dare.
“Of course.” He smiled. “Anything.”
I held his gaze and took a deep breath before I asked with far more composure than I felt inside, “What…what’s the plan?”
Dare pressed his lips together and set his own cup down.
“I’ll be honest, Zach. I don’t quite know yet.”
“You-you don’t?”
He nodded.
“I’m kinda making it up as I go. But I know I’m not going to let that man hurt you and I’m going to do everything in my power to find him.”
“Okay. Can I help?”
“Is there anything you can tell me about him? Who is he? What does he do?”
I lowered my head and sighed.
When I left him I had hoped I wouldn’t have to talk about him ever again. I didn’t want to dredge up the past, but the past had come back to haunt me. Hell, it had come back to terrorize me, so I had to.
“His name is Victor Lombardi. He is a banker. Or that was what he told me when we first met.”
Dare narrowed his eyes.
“He did not work banker’s hours. And he carried a gun around so I’m pretty sure he was a criminal. But I have no idea what kind.”
“That’s what I feared. Does he have any connections to the island? Family? Friends? Business?”
I shrugged.
“He never talked about his work or his family. I have no idea. But I wouldn’t have picked this place if I had known about any connections to him.”
“No. Of course not,” Dare sighed. “Do you have any idea how he found you?”
I shook my head.
“I took every precaution I could to hide from him. I even changed my name—” I stopped. I’d already said more than I should have. Then again, Dare was here to help me. How could he help me if he didn’t have all the facts?
“Your name isn’t Zach?”
I smiled.
“It is. It’s my last name I changed. I should have changed it all, but God I didn’t think it would matter.” I buried my face in my hands. “Stupid. Stupid, stupid Zach.”
“Hey!” he boomed, and I felt a weight on my side as he sank into the couch next to me. “Don’t do this. It’s not your fault,” he said. “None of this is. You’re not to blame for any of it. You hear me?”
I stared at him, so close I could smell him, and he stirred up something primal in me and once again all I could do was nod because he’d rendered me speechless.
How could I speak when there were fires everywhere inside me?
Little flames that lit up my flesh and made me feel more alive than I’d ever felt in my whole damn life.
“Do you hear me, Zach?” he repeated.
“Y-yes,” I croaked without thinking.
“I’m gonna go get the guest room ready. Do you want a refill?” He pointed at the cup, and I shook my head.
“Just some water if you don’t mind.”
He smiled.
“Of course I don’t.”
He walked back to the kitchen, filled up a glass of water and brought it to me before retreating to the hallway, chased by his goats, leaving me alone with his dog, who had fallen asleep with his head on my lap.
“How can such a big dog be such a cutie pie?” I murmured and rubbed his side when my phone beeped.
As I struggled to get my phone from my back pocket, Lookah lifted his head and gave me a little tail wag. He looked like he wanted to play, but he was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open.
“How could I ever be scared of you, huh?” I said and squeezed his cheeks. “It’s going to be fun having you around.”
However long that lasted.
I sighed and unlocked my phone to read the text I’d just received.
Unknown number: I miss you come back to me
Something sunk in my stomach and the room started spinning.
“No!” I yelped.
No, no, no.
Hadn’t it been enough that he’d destroyed my truck, taken me from my home, ruined my soul? Now he had my number too?
I dropped my phone on the coffee table. Then thought better of it and picked it up, switched it off then threw it on the table again.
“No!” I repeated.
I wasn’t going to let him get to me.
Dare was going to protect me. It was safe here with him, and Lookah, and the goats and the colorful fairy-like trees in the middle of nowhere.
I was safe and sound here and I wasn’t going to let him destroy me or the sanctity of Dare’s farm with his poison.
Never again.