November Foxtrot (Rhythm of the Heart Book 2) (8 page)

He snorted. “What's the harm? She's seventeen! He's not! And don't you dare bring Grams into this.”

Zoe leaned back against her seat. “You were seventeen once, Calvin. It wasn't that long ago. You go in there and bust up whatever is going on and show your ass, she's never going to forgive you.”

“Huh, much like I'm never going to forgive you for not telling me?” His eyes blazed in the silvery light. “Sit in the damn car.”

Her mouth fell open and the tears she valiantly fought to keep back poured down her cheeks. “I see.”

“Good.” He stalked across the sand; the only thing visible as he moved was his pale grey sweater. Zoe waited a moment before popping her door open and sliding out of the car. With stealth precision, she eased it back closed, a soft click letting her know it had latched. Her feet skimmed across the sand as she hurried behind Calvin, staying just far enough away that he couldn't hear her movements.

He disappeared into a dusky cove and Zoe winced as she heard a shriek of panic.
Layla's voice.
Her feet moved faster across the sand as Tim's voice rose.

“Leave her alone!”

Calvin responded. “Like hell!”

She rounded the curve of the cove and grimaced at the sight she saw there. Tim stood in front of a quaking Layla, who was in various shades of disarray. He himself was shirtless, but refused to back down. “You're not going to take her, Calvin.”

“So you'd rather me call the cops, Tim? Let them know you're screwing a minor?”

“Calvin,” Tim started, his hands raised, palms out. “The age of consent is sixteen in Alabama.”

“I don't give a damn if the age of consent is twelve, Tim! You're screwing my baby sister!” Calvin's arm moved lightning fast and a fist connected with Tim's nose, the crunch blatantly audible in the hush of the beach. Tim wiped at his nose, smearing blood across his pale cheek.

“Fine, man. I deserved that, but I love her.” Tim continued to stand with his palms outstretched, begging for peace.

Layla whispered, “You love me?”

Tim nodded. “Hell yes, I do.”

“Yes!” Layla squealed breathily, throwing her arms around Tim's neck and knocking him back into the sand. “Yes! I love you too!”

Zoe stood there with her mouth agape and as Layla clambered off Tim and back to her feet, she noticed her. “You! This is
YOUR
fault!”

Calvin turned and his nostrils flared. “I said stay in the car.”

“You don't own me,” she quipped softly. “Layla, I tried to stop him.”

“Sure you did, Zoe,” she spat. “Sure. You can't be happy unless there is drama, can you?”

“I didn't want to say anything. But you were gone,” Zoe said gently, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Well, you can go back where you came from, Zoe. I don't want you here. Calvin, if she is going to be staying at Grams and Pops', then I'm staying with Tim!” Layla flounced back to Tim's side and wrapped her arm around him.

“No, it's okay. I'll just go back home.” Zoe shifted and trod through the sand to the car.

Layla rushed toward her. “You don't have a home, Zoe! Everything you have, Calvin gave to you! Remember that!”

Zoe froze before glancing at Layla. “You never let me forget.” She turned again and kept walking up the beach, past the car and along the little path. Her hand rummaged in her pocket and she pulled out her cell phone, hating to call the only person she knew would come get her. As her fingers shifted over the keys, tears fell, blurring her vision. The phone rang once, twice, three times before being picked up.

“Hello?”

“Can you come pick me up?”

* * *

Calvin stared at Tim and shook his head. “Really, man?”

“It just happened, Calvin. I didn't plan on it. But I love her.” Tim shrugged and bent to pick his shirt up off the sand before pulling it back on. Layla slid inside the car and began pulling her own clothing back on.

“She's seventeen. She has so much going for her.” Calvin rubbed his head and sighed.

“And she can do it. I'll support whatever she wants to do, Calvin. We're being safe, so no kids.”

Calvin threw his hand in the air. “Oh God, it's bad enough to think about you doing my sister. Please, no more details.”

Layla emerged from the car with her clothing adjusted. “Calvin, just deal with the fact I'm not twelve anymore. I'm grown up and this is what I want.”

He shook his head and stabbed a finger into Tim's beefy chest. “Fine. But you better understand that if you hurt her, I'll kill you.”

Tim nodded. “I know it, brother. Hey, has anyone ever told you that you throw a mean punch?”

“That broken nose is compliments of the United States Army, son.” Calvin made a mock salute and cracked a small smile. “Ah hell, Zoe.” He glanced over his shoulder, back at the car. “I really fucked that up.”

Layla sniffed. “She should have kept her nose out of it.”

“No, Layla, she did right by telling me. Regardless of if you wanted it or not. No more sneaking out. Tim, you come to the front door like a gentleman. Be prepared, though. Grams is out for blood.”

Tim shuddered. “The whole Hall family seems hell bent on injuring or maiming me in some way.”

Layla grinned, the flash of her teeth bright in the low light. “And you were crazy enough to get hung up with one. What a shame.”

“I'm leaving. Tim, get her home, please. Now.”

Tim nodded. “I'm on it. And Calvin?”

He turned. “Yeah?”

“I'm sorry for not telling you and I'm sorry you found out this way. But I really do love her and I promise to do right by her.” Tim held out his hand for a shake.

Calvin shook his head and blew out a breath. “Tim, if it was anyone else, they'd be dead right now, but it's you...I've known you since we were shitting in Pampers. I know you like you were my own blood. If you two are happy...there’s not much I can do, is there?” He reached forward and shook Tim's hand. “I gotta go repair my own relationship right now.”

He left them in the little cove and walked back through the sand, kicking himself in the ass with each step.
Everything I said to her. Shit. I was such an ass. I guess time really has moved on, my kid sister isn't so much a kid anymore...
As he stepped up to the driver's side door and opened it, he started with an apology. “Zoe, I am so sorry...”

And just as quickly as the words left his lips, he realized he was completely alone.

* * *

Zoe sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Can you take me to Mobile?”

Derek shot a quick glance at her from across the cab. “Why Mobile?”

“Calvin is furious with me.”

“Oh?” His foot eased off the gas. “Do tell.”

“Don't be so enthused, Derek. It doesn't change anything.” Zoe looked out the window. “Just take me to Mobile.”

“And why doesn't it change anything, Zoe? You need me. You called me, didn't you?”

“You were the only person I could think of, Derek.”

“So you gonna bounce between me and him the whole time? I'm not too keen on getting his sloppy seconds. Or wait, he got mine, didn't he?” Derek smirked.

Zoe groaned. “Forget Mobile, Derek. I'd rather walk the whole way than listen to your he-man bullshit anymore.” She rubbed her belly absentmindedly. “Ow.”

“What's wrong?”

“She's kicking really hard tonight. I mean – the baby is kicking really hard tonight,” she grimaced and stared out the window.
Shit.

Derek picked up on her mistake. “She?”

“I don't know.” Zoe whispered.

“You're lying and you've never been good at it, Zoe. You forget, I know you.”

“You don't know me at all, Derek.”

“Yes, Zoe, I do. I know how you like to be kissed. How that little spot right behind your ear is so sensitive you moan when even a fingertip brushes across it. I know how your nipples tighten when my mouth barely kisses them. I know that you hate
Dr. Pepper
and love
Coke
, and that you eat jelly with your sausage and ketchup with your eggs. I know that you hate to be alone and hate being in crowds. You're an enigma to some, Zoe, but to me, you're the girl I always wanted, even though I screwed up sometimes. We all make mistakes, but now that you're carrying my daughter, I want to make things right.” Derek's hand found hers and his thumb brushed across her knuckles.

She pulled her hand away and sighed. “Derek, I don't know what to make of you. You swing from he-man to barbarian to Dr. Phil and back in the space of a breath. Can you stop this ride? I want to get off. I'm getting whiplash.”

He chuckled. “You're right. I am trying hard to do right here, Zoe. I want to raise our daughter.”

“You forget that there is a chance she's not yours.” Her phone buzzed in her hip pocket and she shifted on the seat to pull it out. Calvin's name flashed across the screen and she frowned.
Oh buddy, you can't forgive me for not telling you about your sister. I don't really want to hear your bullshit right now.
She hit end and slipped the phone back in her pocket.

“Maybe she's not, Zoe.”

“Like you said, Derek, you don't want to deal with someone's sloppy seconds. I just want out of the truck, please.”

“I'm not dropping you on the side of the road, Zoe.”

“Fine. Then take me home.” She crossed her arms across her belly.

“To Calvin's grandparents?” He eased on the brake. “I need to know where you want to go, Zoe.”

“I want to go home. To my house.”

Derek threw the truck in park. “Zoe,” he started, turning to look at her. “The bank owns that.”

“So? Is someone living in it? I just want to go there. Please, Derek.”

“Woman, you're killing me! I'm not driving all over hell and creation tonight!” He slapped the seat of the truck.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...”

“Damn it, Zoe! You bring out the worst in me.”

“Just take me home, Derek. I just want to go home.”

* * *

Calvin flagged Tim down as his car rolled past on the road. He rolled the window down and yelled, “What's up, Calvin?”

“Zoe isn't here. She isn't picking up her phone.”

Tim frowned. “Where the hell could she have gone?”

“In the space of a few minutes, not far, I'd imagine. She doesn't really have anyone to call who could come pick her up.”

Layla leaned forward, angling her head to glance up at Calvin. “Sure she does. She has Derek. You know, the other potential baby daddy.”

“God damn it! You don't think she'd actually call him, do you?” Calvin paced in the sand, rubbing his forehead as he thought.

Tim shrugged. “I don't know, man. If you acted with her in any way like you acted when you came into the cove, I could see her calling someone, anyone to get away from you.”

Calvin groaned. “I was a total asshole to her. I said I'd never forgive her for not telling me.”

“Wow, way to go, genius.” Tim rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, man, I know. If it was your baby sister, you'd overreact too.”

“You're damn right I would. But you don't need to stress her... especially now.”

“What am I going to do if she loses the baby?”

Layla whispered, “Grams said that when she was fairly early the baby wasn't measuring right and they thought she was going to lose it. Zoe told her just a few days ago. What if something happens?”

“Damn, are we just the family of secrets? Bout time you started thinking about someone other than yourself, Layla!” Calvin scrubbed his hand over his eyes. “Where would Derek take her?”

Tim pursed his lips and tapped a finger on his chin, a look that at any other time would have been comical with his busted nose. “I doubt he would take her to his house.”

“Do you think he would hurt her?” Panic clawed into his throat at the thought.

“No. I don't think he would hurt her on the off chance, well, that the girl is his.” Tim pondered for another moment and the realization of what Tim said hit Calvin full force.

“The girl?” he squeaked, doubling over and clenching at his stomach. “She's having a girl?”

“Yeah, man I thought you knew? Oh hell man, don't puke on your shoes... Ah hell, too late, isn't it?” Tim grimaced as he attempted to wrinkle his nose. “Ow.”

“Missed the shoes. Let me call her again.” He dialed her number again and frowned with each ring that she didn't answer. “She's not picking up.”

“Want me to get Layla home? Then I'll ride out with you. We'll find her. I'm sure she's fine, Calvin.”

“I'm going. I'm not going home,” Layla huffed.

“Do you have Derek's number, by chance, Tim?” Calvin asked, completely ignoring Layla and her outburst.

“No, man, I don't,” Tim shrugged apologetically. “We never were great friends.”