Chapter 4 Truth Is - Tara
An Hour Later, Across Town at Club Déjà Vu
“Girl, don’t look now, but your almost ex-boyfriend is walking into VIP at this very moment,” Eva harshly whispered into my ear, leaned over from her spot in Zeke’s lap.
It was a position she’d been happily occupying since we entered the roped off section located on the top level of the three-story club.
The entire club scene already had my level of discomfort at an all-time high, and Eva’s announcement tipped me over the verge of being fully out of my comfort zone.
Stopping me before I completed my motion of turning around, she grabbed my hand.
“Didn’t I just tell you not to look?” Reaching in her purse, she handed me a vial of clear lip gloss as if my full lips needed anything more to draw attention to them.
“My lips are still sticking together. I think I’m okay.” I declined. “Are you going to tell me who in my past you’re referring to?”
“Please stop acting like you have kissed more than two men in your thirty-four years of life.”
“Zane?” I questioned, disregarding her many warnings not to turn around. I couldn’t help myself.
It had been years since I’d seen Zane Simmons, and at the mere mention of his name, my heart started beating to an unfamiliar rhythm.
It didn’t help that the moment I turned around, our eyes connected, and all the feelings I thought were dead resurfaced as if no time seemed to pass.
Suddenly, I was the eighteen-year-old girl standing before her best male friend after he kissed me and professed his love, seemingly all in one breath.
He had always been attractive, but time had indeed been good to him as he appeared even more handsome in my eyes. His honey skin was the epitome of perfection and his chiseled, yet gentle features made him a beautiful man.
“Tara, it’s been a long time,” Zane’s smooth voice stated as he took me in with his eyes. “Too long.”
I was sure he was admiring how much two children and the years away from each other had altered my body.
The slow and deliberate motion of him licking his lips was the icing on the cake to send me into an internal frenzy, and against my will, flashbacks of our first and last time together came rushing to my mind.
The night Zane told me he loved me and had always had feelings beyond friendship for me, he kissed me, and the kiss led to us having sex.
With the exception of Eva, I hadn’t told anyone because of the guilt associated with my actions.
Even though Jason and I were experiencing a rough patch in our teenage love affair when it happened, I still felt like I’d cheated on him, although I knew I didn’t.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night, or are you going to give an old friend a hug?”
Seemingly going in slow motion, I stood and approached him. It was as if everyone around us no longer existed and it was just the two of us.
Walking into his arms, I instantly felt more security and dare I say love, than I had felt in years, even considering the time where I thought I was happily married.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, slightly pulling myself away from Zane, forgetting he and O’dell were first cousins and therefore, his presence made perfect sense.
“What am I doing at my club?”
“No… Wait a minute. This is your club?”
“Yes. I’m the owner of this club. It’s one of a few investments I’ve made over the years,” he noted casually, almost as if he didn’t know how impressive it was to be the owner of one of the most popular nightclubs in North Brooke Port.
“Wow. That’s impressive, but I was asking you what you are doing back in North Brooke Port.”
“I moved back here a few weeks ago to take care of my mom. She refused to move with me, and when she said she would love for me to be back home, I made it happen,” he reasoned, shrugging his perfectly broad shoulders.
It was refreshing to see even with time he still had such a pure heart and was willing to make sacrifices for the ones he loved. Aside from his attractive and charming physical appearance, his heart was one of his best attributes.
When Eva and I ran into Zeke, I didn’t imagine I’d have the chance to run into Zane, but then again, I didn’t have a clue he was back in the country either.
“Is your mom sick?” I questioned, feeling as though I had to know without souring the mood for the night too much.
“Yeah,” he confessed as a wave of sadness washed over his charming face. “She has cancer, but she’s maintaining.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I offered, leaning in to give him another hug. It was so second nature for me to want to console him that I didn’t hesitate to wrap my arms around him.
“I appreciate it,” he stated, accepting my embrace. When we ended the interaction, I glanced up to find him looking over my shoulder. He nodded in the direction of my best friend and his brother who were so entangled in each other’s presence and mouths that they didn’t notice his acknowledgement.
“Look at them,” I pointed with a smile, happy to see Eva letting her hair down, not to say that she ever had much of a problem in that area of her life.
Eva never had a problem getting a man, but she had a habit of pushing every man away before she had the chance to see how great they could be together.
She would mention them to me, but they never made it to a point of meeting me, and they never had the chance to meet her sons.
The most I ever got from her regarding the men she entertained was a secondhand photo they had sent to her.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t fall into her same pattern with Zeke because she deserved to have someone to put and keep a smile on her face.
“I would love to catch up with you somewhere a little more private, if you don’t mind.
I need to know what Jason was thinking letting you out of the house,” he stated, grabbing a hold of my hand, skillfully examining my fingers and the lack of jewelry decorating them. “There has to be a story to this.”
“Where can we go to talk?” I asked with my eyes bouncing around the jubilant spectacle we were centered in.
“Follow me.”
Doing as he instructed, I had no problem following him wherever, whenever.