Chapter 26 - Zandra
TWENTY-SIX
Zandra
At first, I didn’t notice the extra car parked beside my dad’s SUV when I pulled up. Too many other distractions were taking up space in my head.
The new info from Teller Landry had been anticlimactic. Far more momentous was the dinner thing. Almost like Callum had been asking me on a real date.
We’d eaten dinner together plenty of times now. He’d joked about the cooking lesson being a date, just because Callum joked about everything. But he’d never formally asked me to dinner.
It had felt…different.
But I was being ridiculous. Just last night, he’d bent me over the edge of his mattress and fucked me like a rough rider subduing a bucking bronco.
Then he’d cuddled me and been sweet and funny all day today.
His usual. That was just Callum. It was how he’d always charmed women into his bed.
But he never held on to them for long. There was no way he’d meant to ask me on an actual date.
Yet even the possibility had my heart dancing hopefully.
I had to shut that down right now.
The gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into the area my parents used for overflow parking.
Every window of the house was lit up like they were having a photo shoot.
As I marched toward the front entrance, I did a double take, noticing the black Maclaren 720S Spider.
A car I unfortunately knew all too well.
What. The. Hell. Was he doing here.
Mom, you didn’t.
The front door opened, and Mom stepped out, a huge grin on her face. That was all the confirmation I needed.
I stopped on the bottom step. “He’s here?”
“Come in, Zandra. Gladys was just setting out some appetizers, and your father uncorked a lovely bottle of red.”
I didn’t take one step closer. “I know Ian’s here.”
She rolled her eyes like I was an unreasonable toddler. “Fine, yes. He is. This misunderstanding between you has gone on long enough.”
“Misunderstanding? He’s a liar. He was horrible to me.”
“So dramatic. But lovers’ quarrels can be that way. Just come in, Zandra. Give the man a chance. He drove all the way here from Chicago.”
“In the most absurd car possible.” How can he even afford that thing if he’s in so much debt? I wondered to myself.
Oh, no. Was he here to ask my parents for money? Would they actually give it to him?
“Mom, please—”
She came out farther onto the porch. “Enough. I know we argued last time, and I am sorry about that. I only want what’s best for you.
Just come in and have dinner. Ian was your partner for six years, and he meant a lot to this family.
Even if you decide not to take him back, at least give us all some closure. ”
Wow. The guilt voyage had already set sail and was heading straight for the iceberg. Mom had dangled exactly what I wanted. The chance to close the book completely on my past with Ian.
If I didn’t say yes to this, I would never hear the end of it.
“Fine. I’ll come in to talk. But I’m not staying for dinner.” I walked up the steps, and Mom swept an arm around me, guiding me through the doorway.
“Of course you’re staying. I had Gladys make that complicated food for you.”
I kind of hated myself for feeling a surge of gratitude, even though I knew I was being manipulated.
I was going to need backup for this, and as much as I didn’t want to bring Callum into the crossfire of my family drama, I didn’t know what else to do.
Stopping in the entryway, I took out my phone. My thumbs flew over the screen.
Ian’s here. They ambushed me. Please come.
My breath held as I walked into the living room. Dad gave a glass of wine to Mom, nodding his head when he saw me as if this was a normal dinner invite. “Hey, sweetheart,” Dad said. “Look who’s here.”
Bracing myself, I turned to face the other man in the room. “Ian.”
“Zan.” Ian was dressed in one of his tailored suits, hair slicked back like he was ready for a board meeting. He opened his arms as he came toward me. One hand slid onto my hip, and he leaned in to kiss my cheek.
“Do not touch me,” I said through clenched teeth. “Why are you in Silver Ridge?”
“Zandra,” Mom scolded. “Be civil.”
For a good ten minutes, I swallowed my fury and sipped red wine while my parents and Ian made small talk. All the while, biding my time. I can do this, I thought. I can be the grownup in the room.
But when Ian touched my hip again, like he owned me, I jolted away.
“No. You know what? I’m not going to stand around pretending everything’s okay.” I stood back, facing them across the living room while smooth jazz played on the sound system. “You said this was about closure. So let me be clear for you, Mom and Dad. Ian and I are never getting back together.”
Ian sighed, looking into his wine glass. “Can’t we discuss that later in private? There are things I’d like to say.”
“You don’t even want me back. Did you tell them you’re really here for money? Did you ask for a loan yet?”
“Zan,” he hissed. “I’m here because I care about your well-being.”
“My life is not your business.”
“I called him.” Mom lifted her chin. “But even before that, you were his business. Six years together doesn’t just vanish into thin air.”
“He forfeited any rights when he lied to me and destroyed our company.”
“I can acknowledge I made some mistakes. Okay?”
“How big of you.”
Ian turned to my parents. “Javi, Eliza, I’m sorry about this. Please excuse me and Zandra for a moment.”
“I have nothing else to say to you.”
But he’d grabbed my elbow and was leading me back to the entryway. Ian knew the layout of my parents’ house well from his visits over the years.
As he led me into my father’s study, I shook him off. “I’m not doing this with you.”
“I know you’re mad. But I’m just here for a chance. We’ll be better this time around. Stronger. What we went through was just bumpy road on the way to our future.” He dropped his volume. “Help me with the loan I need, and you can come back to Chicago with me. We’ll be a team again.”
“And there it is. The truth. This is about money. It’s always been about money with you.”
“Part of the loan could be for an engagement ring. You know how happy that would make your mom.”
This man disgusted me. Standing this close to him made my skin crawl. How had I ever been foolish enough to give him my heart? “We are not a team. We have no future. There will be no loan, no ring, nothing that involves us. There is no us.”
He sneered. “You think you can do better than me?”
“Yeah, she fucking can.”
Callum stood in the doorway to my father’s study. Neither of us had heard the front door, but I guessed I’d been yelling loud enough that Callum had followed the sound.
How fast had he driven to get here? Had to be some kind of land-speed record.
He was wearing his ripped jeans, a Hearthstone Brewing T-shirt, and his backward cap. Looking more gorgeous than I’d ever seen him, like a low-key avenging angel who did not give one shit what anyone else thought.
Callum walked over to stand beside me, his fingertips resting on my arm with gentle reassurance. But the next words out of his mouth were nowhere near subtle. “We talked on Z’s phone weeks ago, Ian. I told you what would happen if you didn’t leave her alone.”
“You can’t seriously be with this guy, Zan.”
“I’m in his bed every night. I think that speaks for itself.” No matter where things stood between Callum and me, I wasn’t ashamed of anything we’d shared.
“I told you weeks ago, Ian,” Callum went on, as if there’d been no interruption, “that I’d have to make you cry.”
Ian’s mouth dropped open.
Callum took a few menacing steps toward Ian, making a low, threatening sound.
“Is he growling at me?” My ex’s incredulous eyes focused on me. “This is who you’d pick over me? Some Neanderthal?”
Defensiveness rose to gather in my throat. How dare he talk about Callum that way? “He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known. You don’t even rank.”
Ian held up his hands, a cruel smirk on his face. “Your parents are right. Your judgment is way off. Keep this up, and nobody with any standards is going to want you.”
Callum growled again.
“You might want to run now,” I said lightly. “I’m not sure he’s had his shots.”
Ian flinched. “I won’t be treated this way.”
“Good,” I snapped. “Then get back in your penis car and keep on driving.”
Callum grabbed Ian’s wrist. Twisted it behind his back. Ian made a small, high-pitched keen as Callum marched him toward the front door and opened it.
With his eyes watering, Ian stormed off, passing my mother in the entryway, who looked shocked and bewildered. I wondered how much of that she’d heard. We hadn’t been quiet.
“You’re going, Ian?” Mom asked, and he didn’t even respond. Just scurried toward his Maclaren, slammed the door, and gunned the oversized engine.
“We’re leaving too,” I said. Callum was right behind me, his hand resting on my back.
Mom reached for me. “Zandra, please don’t go like this. I didn’t know—”
I couldn’t even look at her. “Mom, I can’t right now.”
“You can try calling her later, Eliza,” Callum said in a soothing yet firm voice. “It’s up to Zandra if she decides to answer.”
Outside, my fingers shook as I tried to unlock my car. Callum took the keys from my hand. “Ride with me. We can come back for your car later.”
My heart was going a thousand miles an hour as we drove away.
A couple miles from my parents’ house, Callum pulled onto a quiet dirt road and parked. When he switched the headlights off, the night closed in around us, quiet and comfortable. “Wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
I was probably supposed to say yes. Shrug off what had just happened and make a joke. Callum wasn’t my boyfriend. When this benefits thing ended, we’d still have to work together. No matter how wonderful he’d been to me, we didn’t have a future as anything more.
But I couldn’t hide what I was feeling. I wiped my face roughly as a tear escaped down my cheek.
“Sunflower,” he whispered. “I hate to see you cry, baby.”