Zane (Alluring Indulgence) (17 page)

“What
are you talking about?” Zane felt like he was watching a movie about his life
and he wasn’t even invited to play the role of himself.

“Jake
Sanders was back in town last night,” Travis stated, glancing over at Zane and
then back up at their father.

“How
do you know?” He knew it was a stupid question, and if he were smart, he’d wait
to talk to Travis when their parents weren’t standing right there listening,
but he couldn’t help himself.

“I
saw him,” Kaleb answered the question.

Fuck.

“And
what? You thought you’d call
Dad
?” Travis sounded downright baffled by
the idea.

“I
didn’t call him,” Kaleb stated defensively.

“He
didn’t have to. Jake Sanders was on my damn property last night. I called the
sheriff.”

Zane
didn’t say a word. He didn’t breathe, and he didn’t move. Jake Sanders dared to
come out to the Walker Ranch?

“
What?
”
Travis stood abruptly. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

“Watch
your damn language, boy,” Curtis chastised Travis, although his language wasn’t
much better.

“What
did the sheriff say?” Lorrie asked, seemingly trying to be the voice of reason.
Their mother, all five-foot-two-inches of her, was sitting on the couch, her
hands tucked in her lap, staring back and forth between all four men in the
room.

“He
wants to talk to the boys.”

Oh,
no way in hell.

♀♂

“What
do you mean the sheriff wants to talk to me?” V asked Zoey, trying to
understand what was going on.

They’d
been driving down the road, minding their own business, laughing and actually
having a good time when Zoey’s phone rang. V had been tipped off that something
was wrong because that call hadn’t sounded all tender and amorous like the
others.

Zoey
had just hung up with Kaleb, who, based on what V could understand, was at
Zane’s parents’ house. From the bits and pieces she garnered from eavesdropping,
Kaleb went there to talk to Curtis. When he arrived, Travis and Zane were there
also. While they were there, Sheriff Endsley showed up and now he wanted to
talk to
her
.

“That’s
what Kaleb said. Everyone’s at his parents’ house.”

Oh,
God.
V felt her pulse quicken, and she suddenly had trouble time breathing. “Is Zane
all right?” Suddenly, she was terrified that something had happened to him.

“Everyone’s
fine, V. Nothing has happened. They just want to talk.”

If
the sheriff were getting involved, that clearly meant
something
had
happened. V watched out the window of Zoey’s truck, not even noticing the trees
flying by as they raced toward the Walker Ranch. She had a sudden urge to go
home and hide underneath her covers. She just wanted to close her eyes, and
when she opened them, she wanted this all to be a bad dream. All of it. Erase
the last three and a half months of her life and start over.

V
was startled when Zoey shut off the engine. She glanced around and noticed that
they had already made it to Lorrie and Curtis Walker’s home. Based on all of
the cars and trucks parked in the driveway, all of the Walker brothers were
there too.

Opening
her door slowly, V climbed down from the truck, trying to suck in oxygen and
not hyperventilate. There were two county police cars parked out front.

Just
when she thought her knees would buckle beneath her, a pair of strong arms
circled her waist, pulling her close and holding her upright. V didn’t even
need to look behind her to see who it was. She knew from his unique scent.

“It’s
all right,” Zane whispered in her ear, turning her so that she was facing him.
“Everything’s fine, V.”

Obviously,
he knew she was in the throes of another panic attack, and V was just grateful
he was standing there. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her
face in his chest, taking a minute to catch her breath. Zane was ok. He was
holding her, talking to her. She had nothing to freak out about.

It
only took a minute or two for her to regain some of her composure, and when she
did, she took a step back and looked up into Zane’s beautiful face. “Why are
they here?”

“I’ll
let them tell you.”

V
didn’t like the sound of that, but she allowed Zane to take her hand and lead
her into the house. Once inside, V was overwhelmed by the sheer number of
people all gathered in the huge kitchen. Braydon and Brendon were perched on
the counter with Ethan close by; Kaleb was propped against the far wall with
Zoey standing in front of him while Travis and Sawyer were sitting at the
kitchen table with Lorrie, Curtis, Sheriff Endsley and a deputy she didn’t
recognize.

“Come
sit down, Vanessa,” Lorrie spoke quietly, pulling out the chair beside her.

V
glanced up at Zane, and when he nodded his head, she moved forward, lowering
herself in the chair Lorrie offered.

“When
is the last time you saw Jake Sanders?” Sheriff Endsley asked without preamble.

V
frowned, trying to understand what they were talking about. She hadn’t seen
Jake since the day he attacked Zane in her front yard, and she told them as much
now.

“When
is the last time you
talked
to Jake Sanders?” the sheriff asked, still
directing his questions at her.

“I
haven’t talked to him at all,” V answered, glancing up at Zane again before
looking back at the sheriff. “He’s been texting me, and he left a couple of
messages, but I haven’t actually talked to him.”

“Why
didn’t you call the police?” This time the deputy tossed out the question,
sounding oddly accusatory, and V stared back at him, confused.

“What
am I supposed to say when I call?” V felt a little defensive. What were they
getting at and why was she being questioned?

“Just
tell her what the hell is going on,” Zane barked and everyone in the room
turned to look at him, including V.

“Last
night, Jake Sanders was seen on the property. Mr. Walker,” the sheriff glanced
over at Curtis briefly, then back to V, “called to let us know. You may not
know this, but there’s a warrant out for Mr. Sanders’ arrest.”

As
there should be. V still didn’t understand what this had to do with her. She
had no idea he’d been out there, and although the thought positively terrified
her, she wasn’t sure what they wanted from her. “And how does this involve me?”

“We
don’t know that it does, but we want to make sure that everyone is on the same
page here.” This time the sheriff looked around, making eye contact with each
of the Walker brothers individually. “I don’t need any renegades in my town.
That means that I don’t want a single one of you boys involved in this. If Jake
is back, we’ll get him. I expect every one of you to be diligent, but I don’t
want to hear you’ve taken the law into your own hands.”

The
sheriff’s eyes hovered on Travis and Zane the longest, and V finally understood
what he was trying to say. She couldn’t agree more. If Jake was back in town,
she wanted to keep Zane as far away from him as physically possible.

Not
that she could control any of them, but she was damn sure going to figure out a
way to keep Zane safe.

Even
if that meant tying him to his damn bed.

“Where
are we going?” V asked Zane when they got in his Jeep half an hour later. After
the sheriff had reiterated his point – several times – they’d been told they
could go. Zane hadn’t wasted a single second before he had dragged her out the
back door.

“We’re
going to get some of your stuff from your house. You’re staying with me for a
few days.”

“No!
Please! I don’t need to go to my house.” V didn’t want to go home. She didn’t want
Zane taking her there. Especially not after learning that Jake was in town
again.

“Sawyer
and the twins are behind us.”

V
glanced in the side mirror and noticed Sawyer’s car, as well as Brendon’s truck,
weren’t too far behind them. She managed to relax a little, refusing to argue
with Zane about staying with him. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice. She
could either stay with him, or perhaps drive to her mother’s house in Buda.

Although
her mother wasn’t that far away, V didn’t relish the idea of even visiting her
at the moment. Not to mention, she wasn’t even sure she could leave Zane now
that his life might possibly be in danger again.

Thankfully
the entire trip didn’t take them long. V managed to force her legs to work when
they got to her house as well as when they were leaving, not wanting any of
Zane’s brothers to see her panic. It was unfortunate enough that Zane had been
privy to her mental breakdowns; she didn’t need an even broader audience.

When
they finally pulled up to Zane’s house, the sun had already gone down, but the
headlights from Sawyer’s car lit up the front of the house after Zane shut off
the Jeep. V climbed out without Zane’s help while he went to talk to his
brother. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but she wondered
whether Sawyer actually would be scoping things out for the night. V had no
clue how Jake had managed to get on the property, but she only prayed that the
cops were going to do their job tonight and make sure he didn’t come back.

Once
inside, Zane moved about the house as though nothing at all had happened. He
didn’t mention Jake or the cops, or anyone else for that matter. V watched him
until he disappeared into the bathroom, realizing as soon as the shower came on
what he was doing.

While
he showered, V went in search of food. What she found was little to nothing
that would sustain her much less a man Zane’s size. Then she remembered that he
hadn’t been there for several months, and he hadn’t had time to go to the
grocery store. She was still rummaging through the cabinets when the water shut
off.

“Hungry?”
Zane’s voice startled her, and V jumped, turning to face him. She couldn’t help
but smile, despite the fact her heart was in her throat.

With
his hair spiked all over and still damp, Zane was so cute, it made her heart
ache. Yes. Cute. He was so ruggedly handsome most of the time, and downright
sexy as hell when he was wearing his cowboy hat, but standing before her in a
pair of jeans and no shirt, his hair in disarray and a day’s worth of stubble
on his chin, he was quite adorable.

“Starving,”
she answered, hoping he didn’t ask her what she was thinking. V was pretty sure
Zane wouldn’t take too kindly to being called cute or adorable. Although he was
both.

“Beau’s
on his way. He’s bringing food.” Zane ran his hands through his hair again,
sending the last remaining drops of water spraying around him as he grinned.

V’s
heart thumped hard in her chest at the mention of Beau Bennett. He was on his
way over. Bringing food. If that were the case, then why the hell did she feel
like she was about to pass out? For some reason, she doubted it was from low
blood sugar.

♂♀

Zane
watched V as she processed what he’d just told her. The first time that the
three of them were together honestly was unintentional. The second time it was
planned. And now, the third time was also planned, but more than that, it was
inevitable.

Based
on the longing he saw in V’s whiskey brown eyes, Zane knew how much she wanted
this.

He
knew many people didn’t understand threesomes, they didn’t understand why one man
would want to share his woman, or vice versa. In Zane’s case, it was the
heightened sexuality, the thrill of pleasuring a woman in ways he couldn’t do
by himself. He wasn’t even sure how his first threesome had come about, but he
knew he’d been in high school. His senior year if he remembered correctly. In
fact, Zane was pretty sure it hadn’t been his idea, or even Beau’s, but they’d
both been onboard with the idea.

However,
that time didn’t even remotely compare to his first threesome with V. When he
and Beau had ended up with her, Zane had been blown away by her passion. Beau
was painfully shy around women, and maybe Zane’s presence helped ease his
social anxiety, but no matter what, there’d never been a woman who had
complained.

V
had somehow managed to draw out a side of Beau that Zane didn’t even know
existed. She’d also managed to solidify Zane’s dominant nature. Something
inside of him changed that night with her. He had decided to take a chance and
try and expose her submissive tendencies. It’d worked like a charm and the
three of them would likely never be the same again because of it.

Zane
would admit to having doubts before that first time, but that was because of
his reaction to V. She wasn’t like any woman he had ever known. The various
emotions she pulled from deep inside of him were foreign to him. And although
he’d had his own insecurities that very first time, they’d been eliminated when
she’d given in fairly easily to the passion that roared from a small flame to a
wildfire in just seconds when the three of them got together.