Chapter 20
In all the times Zander snuck up to this spot as a teenager, he’d never encountered a cop.
So it was just his luck that one was here now, when he was about to strike gold under Penny’s dress. And whoever this guy was, he had a bone to pick with Zander.
Zander helped Penny to her feet, still keeping her behind him. “Hey, man,” he called, shielding his eyes. “Can you turn off the headlights? You’re blinding us.”
“Step over here please.” The cop motioned to the side of the car. “And move slowly.”
“Jesus Christ,” Zander muttered. He kept contact with Penny as they followed directions. “We were having a picnic, not committing international espionage.”
Penny pushed out from behind him and stomped ahead. “Brad, what the hell? Why are you being such an ass?”
“Penny, geez.” The whining wasn’t too far off from how Winter sounded when Zander told him to eat his vegetables. “Will you just cooperate and show some respect?”
Out of the glare of the headlights, Zander had a better view of the guy.
He was tall and thin, his gray uniform pants cinched by a leather belt.
His pinkish skin looked pallid in the glow around the car.
When Zander made eye contact, the guy stood taller.
“I’d say it’s nice to see you again,” he said with a sneer. “But it’s not.”
“I’d say it’s nice to see you again,” Zander replied. “But I have no idea who you are.”
The cop scoffed, disorientation flashing across his face.
Penny’s fingers brushed Zander’s between their bodies. “It’s Brad Jeffries.”
“Brad?” Zander squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I thought we already encountered Brad.”
“This is the other Brad. He and Brad Preston hung out together, and everybody called them—”
“The Brads. I remember now.” Skinny Brad Jeffries was always trailing after his friend, talking a big talk and thumping his chest. But he’d run off as soon as Zander punched his buddy.
“Enough.” Brad stalked toward them, keys jingling. “I heard you were back, Zander, and I knew it was just a matter of time before you were up to the same old shit. I’ve been keeping my eye on you.”
“Keeping your eye on me?” Zander shook his head, disgusted. “There aren’t kittens you could be saving or old ladies to help across the road? Maybe innocent motorists to profile?”
Penny grabbed for his fingers. “Hey, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. This is total bullshit and he knows it. But fine—” Zander threw up his hands. “We’ll pack up and get out of here, okay?”
“ ’Fraid not.” Brad shook his head dismissively. “I think considering you’re trespassing, and acting suspiciously, I better take you in for questioning.”
“Excuse me?”
“In fact, there’s been some weird stuff happening around town. Trash cans knocked over and such. Could be an act of vandalism by someone with an old axe to grind.”
Penny stepped forward. “Cut the shit! You know that’s the raccoons. Everybody knows it’s the raccoons.”
“Come on, Penny.” Brad gave her a sleazy grin, the kind that deserved to be wiped right off his face. “Don’t jump in trying to help. I think a guy like Zander Bouras can take care of himself, don’t you?”
Zander made a move forward, but Penny cut him off, nearly blocking his view of Brad.
“Of course he can!” she shouted, hands balled in fists at her sides.
“Of course he can take care of himself! He’s been doing it forever.
He was taking care of himself when other people should have been doing it for him.
He was taking care of himself when your mom was whining to the parks commissioner just so you wouldn’t get benched in Little League games! ”
Brad’s face went red. “She did not.”
“She did and everyone knows it,” Penny spat. “You sucked at baseball! And you suck now, using your power to try to intimidate us, to poke at Zander just like you all used to. He’s a grown man. It’s embarrassing, Brad, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Zander stepped beside her. “Penny, you don’t need to—”
She spun on him, face pink and twisted in anger. “I’ve got this, so please just shut up.”
And this really wasn’t the best time, but her fury—for him—had Zander half hard again.
“This is how it’s going to go,” Penny said back to Brad, her finger in the air. “We’re going to pack up our picnic and drive away. And not only are you not going to take Zander in tonight, you’re not going to say a single word to him for the rest of the summer. Do you understand?”
Brad sputtered and stepped back, staring at Penny with his jaw hung open. “Why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell Jenny about all those trips you make to the Red Garter outside Lewisville. What do you think the odds are that when your wife hears your paycheck is going into those backroom poker games, she’ll cut you off from her parents’ money, hmm?”
His eyes went double wide. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would. And I’ve got plenty more material if I need it. Sometimes there’s a benefit to having a mother who needs gossip like it’s oxygen.”
Brad Jeffries gaped like a suffocating fish as Penny turned on her heel to pick up their blanket.
Zander followed silently, taking items as she passed them over and stowing them back in the basket he’d found at an antique store on Main Street.
Penny shook out the blanket and bundled it up, her hands shaking just enough for Zander to notice.
Without acknowledging Brad, Penny stalked to Zander’s car.
A minute later, they were heading back down the dark road.
Zander counted passing trees through the silence as his head swam.
“I’m sorry,” Penny said quietly, a different woman from the fierce warrior who’d stared down Brad. “I shouldn’t have spoken for you. I just got so angry, and—”
“Penny.” He closed a hand around her knee. “Do you think I’m mad?”
“I don’t know.” She worried her lip as she looked at him. “You’re not saying anything, so I guess I assumed—”
“No one has ever stood up for me like that, ever. So it’s a lot to wrap my brain around. Not to mention.” Zander tightened his fingers on her knee. “You were so sexy laying into him, I am using all my self-control to keep from pulling over right here and fucking you in the back seat of my car.”
“Oh.” Her leg shifted beneath him. “You could. I have a condom in my bag.”
Jesus ever loving—
“Don’t tempt me, Penny.” When the dirt road approached the asphalt, Zander slowed to a stop and turned to her, tipping her chin up with his finger and staring into her blazing blue eyes.
“When I fuck you, you’re going to be naked and in my bed, and I’m going to touch and taste you everywhere until you’re begging to have me inside you. ”
She blinked and swallowed as Zander’s chest swelled with satisfaction. Penny Becker liked dirty talk, and he liked giving it to her.
“Not to mention,” he added, “our friend Brad will have to come back down this road soon, and I’m not about to give him a show.”
“Oh yeah.” She peeked behind them, where the road was blessedly dark. When she looked back at him, she swiped her bottom lip with her tongue.
He wanted to kiss her. But odds were low he would be able to stop, so Zander eased the car onto the larger street. “You really tore him a new asshole.”
Penny barked a laugh. “Oh my god, the look on his face!”
“I thought he might pee himself when you mentioned the poker games.”
“You know the best part? I wasn’t even sure. It was just a rumor, but I went for it.”
Zander joined in her laughter. “In that case, I’d say you just garnered a confession. Did you really have more dirt on him?”
She shook her head. “No. But I assumed there was more dirt, because he’s one of the Brads.”
“And the Brads are the worst.”
“The worst!” she shrieked.
And then they were both cracking up, Zander gasping for breath as Penny wiped tears off her cheeks.
“I’ve got to hand it to you, Zander. I’ve never had a date quite like this one.”
“Likewise, Penny. Likewise.”