Chapter 20
twenty
Nev
My phone alarm is ringing from somewhere in the house. I open my eyes into the brightness. It's the light from the kitchen. I never turned it off. The aroma of popcorn hits me along with a faint scent, a scent I know too well. It's the smell of Zander's soap. I'd know it anywhere.
I sit up groggily and rest back on the couch cushion. Nana's hand-sewn quilt has somehow moved from my bed to the couch. I pull it up to my chin to block out the cold in the room. The open wine bottle and drained glass are sitting on the coffee table where I left them.
I stand up from the couch and instantly feel where his hand had been.
Zander and I had crossed a line that I didn't think would ever be crossed.
I started it. I kissed him. I jumped into his arms and invited him to carry me to the couch.
And from there it was all him, but I encouraged it, but we really only went as far as two awkward teens might go.
Was it second base? I never knew the parameters of that stupid rating system.
But it was incredible and something told me I'd spend the day in a heated blush just thinking about it.
I apparently fell asleep right after, selfishly offering no reciprocation.
Would it have happened if I stayed awake?
Would we have slept together? Something tells me it wouldn't have been as easy and simple as that.
I pick up the wine bottle and hold it up to scowl at it.
"All your fault. You should have cut me off after one glass.
You know I'm a lightweight." The wine bottle has no reply.
Its clear liquid contents slosh back and forth as I carry it back to the refrigerator where it will probably remain untouched until I have another one of my strange days.
It started with the stranger outside the shop and then morphed into something even weirder with an unexpected kiss from Zander.
His brisk, stuttering apology for kissing me hurt my feelings, and I acted coolly, dismissively afterward.
But when I saw him again at my door, I was just glad he wasn't angry.
I was so relieved, apparently, I opened my thighs for him.
Yep, it was the weird day and the fucking wine.
My phone is still prattling on from somewhere in the room.
I follow the sound to the kitchen where my phone is sitting next to the uneaten bag of popcorn.
I pick up the popcorn, and the moment when Zander held my hand under the water returns.
It was such a simple gesture, yet it felt so intimate I ended up kissing him.
I give the greasy bag a shake, and more popcorn aroma fills the air. "You're just as much to blame as the wine," I say and drop the cold popcorn into the trash.
I silence the phone alarm. I'll be late for work, but if I hurry, it won't be too bad.
Besides that, I'm the boss, I remind myself.
Kinsley's door is shut. I was out cold last night and didn't hear her come in.
I quietly open her door just to make sure she did get in.
She's an adult, but I still can't let go of my big sister duties of checking in on her.
Kinsley is sitting up in her bed as I crack open the door. "I made it home, and I thought I'd get to sleep late, too, but your alarm went on forever."
I step into her room. "Sorry about that.
I fell asleep on the couch." There's no way in hell I'd tell her about what happened on that couch.
Kinsley, like everyone else in our social circle, is always insistent that Zander and I haven't found anyone else because we are destined to be together.
And just as often, I remind her that Zander Wilde can have any woman in town, and nerdy Nevada Mason isn't ever going to be enough for him.
"Thanks for bringing out my blanket. It got cold last night," I say as I'm leaving her room.
"You were already cozily tucked in by the time I got home. Wait, so you didn't carry out your own blanket?"
I freeze and turn back to her with an even more frozen smile. "Uh, wait, maybe I did. Just had too much wine and I forgot."
Kinsley throws off her covers and crawls to the end of her bed to sit, hanging her legs off the edge.
"Oh no, I know that look, that hesitancy in your tone.
You had a visitor. A visitor who left you sleeping on the couch and sweetly tucked you in with the quilt from your bed.
" Her eyes round. "Was it Dane? Are you back together?
I thought you might end up fixing what broke. He's awfully cute and rich."
"You change your opinion like I change my socks.
It wasn't Dane. What is broken can't be fixed there.
We aren't a match. Not that he hasn't shown up at the shop a few times with flowers.
And that's part of the problem. I made it clear that I'm allergic to most flowers.
I even provided the train of sneezes to prove my point, yet he still brings me damn flowers.
He was in the shop yesterday at noon, but I told him he should probably find a different sandwich shop.
He left angry, but I think he finally got the hint. "
Kinsley laughs. "Hint? You basically hit him over the head with your rejection by telling him not to come to your shop. I'm sure he'll move on soon. Besides, he's got other problems."
"Oh, what's that?" I ask.
"Well, Indi swore me to secrecy—" she says and ends the declaration with a yawn. "You and your stupid alarm."
I'm usually the last person to latch onto gossip, but I prod her for more information. "Secrets don't count when you're sharing with your sister," I say.
Kinsley tilts her head like a puppy. "Um, not sure I've ever heard that rule."
"That's because I just made it up. But fine, if you don't want to tell me—"
"All right, I'll spill."
I knew reverse psychology would do the trick. I should have started with it. "So, what other problems?" I ask to remind her where she left off with her big secret.
"Zander and Jameson expected to be paid yesterday.
It's like the second payment in the contract, and Dane said he didn't have the money.
So clearly, Mr. Richie Rich is having financial problems. Jameson and Zander think he's doing something shady on the side, something that has him nervous and cagey. "
I sigh. "Poor guys. And I think they're right.
A few times when I was with Dane, he got a phone call, and the calls were always filled with tension and then he'd be in a shitty mood.
He never explained what the calls were about, and I didn't ask.
I guess that's because I just didn't care enough about him or his life.
" Another sigh. This one was forceful enough to blow a strand of hair off my forehead.
"I've got to stop dating just for the sake of dating.
I'm an independent businesswoman. I don't need a man to complicate and screw up my life. "
Kinsley scoots back to her pillows and tucks her legs back under the quilt. "So … you gonna tell me who tucked you in last night? And I know it wasn't you. You never sleep on the couch."
I shrug. "It's a secret, and I'm far better at keeping them than you."
"Mean big sister." She heaves a pillow at the door as I'm leaving.
I shower and dress in record time. I'll wait until I get to the shop for some coffee and toast. Kinsley's room is quiet, telling me she went back to sleep. Our chat reminded me just how glad I am to have cut ties with Dane.
I'm having an impossible time trying to block last night from my mind.
Zander's kiss left me stunned and disoriented, but what happened on the couch has left me walking around almost as if my head is not attached to my body.
I'm in a fog of confusion, and my emotions are all over the damn place.
A busy morning at work will do the trick, I say to myself as I walk out the door.
I walk out to the driveway and reach my car.
An ocean breeze seems to be bringing in a cold front.
I shiver, wishing I'd pulled on a sweater.
Once I get to work, I'll warm up. I lift my key fob to open the car and someone grabs me.
My scream is short-lived and instantly muffled by a large, grimy hand.
Another person wraps a blindfold tightly around my eyes.
I'm grabbing at the hands and arms, but they outnumber and outmuscle me so much I don't have a chance.
I hear a car's engine and the sound of a van door sliding open.
My feet leave the ground. I kick out once before two hands take painful hold of my ankles.
I'm immobile and blindfolded. I'm temporarily freed from restraints as my body is chucked into the back of the van.
Before I can scream or grab the blindfold, something sharp hits my head.
I watch the gritty floor of the van come closer before losing consciousness.