Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2) (13 page)

Oh, my
God.

He was
amazing. I texted him through blurry eyes.

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 5:36 a.m.

Me: OMG I
don’t know how to thank you…

“You okay,
sister?” Grammy asked from where she stood at the stove frying her
usual two eggs sunny side up for herself then she’d scramble four
for Lane.

I took my
toothbrush out of my mouth and went to the sink, still sobbing like
a baby. After rinsing and spitting, I grabbed a hand towel off the
hook and dabbed at my eyes. “Zeke fixed Jezebel.” I started crying
again.

“I see that,”
she said, using the spatula to put her eggs on her plate. “Also
talked to him.”

My head jerked
up. “What?”

She nodded as
she buttered two pieces of toast then sat at the table. “Yep.
Shoulder was aching and woke me, so I got up. I heard a noise
outside while waiting for the coffee to brew, looked out and saw
two good-looking guys in the drive, so I went out to see what was
up.”

My eyes got
big. “Grammy, please tell me you weren’t wearing what you’re
wearing,” I begged.

She frowned.
“What’s wrong with what I’ve got on?”

“Well,
nothing, I guess… unless you put the hood up.”

“Of course, I
put the hood up. Chilly out there this morning!”

Oh, lord.
Another thing about Grammy was her crazy sense of humor. She was
wearing the green Yoda robe with bell sleeves and hood that Lane
and I had gotten her for Christmas. We’d thought it perfect because
she was so wise (and she loved
Star Wars
, so win-win), and
when she’d opened it, Lane and I had said in unison, “With you, the
Force is strong. Like or like not. There is no return,” and she’d
cracked up then put it on immediately. And now she’d gone outside
to see my hot guy not-yet-boyfriend with the hood up that had
pointy ears.

“What?” she
asked as I stared at her. “They said it was cute, so I told them
they were cute.” When I brought my hand to my forehead she
chuckled. “Go get ready before you’re late.”

Shaking my
head and snorting out a laugh, I bent and kissed her cheek then
left the kitchen, passing Lane in the hallway.

“Hey, bud,” I
said as he shuffled to his room from the bathroom. He groaned
something unintelligible then closed his door behind him. Kid was
as bad as Jay in the morning. In the bathroom, I put my toothbrush
away then texted Jay that I didn’t need a ride. I was already
dressed in jeans and a work t-shirt so I put my hair up in a high
ponytail and after applying some blush, mascara and lip gloss, I
heard my phone ding.

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 5:47 a.m.

Zeke: Already
told you I’ve got some ideas…

If his ideas
involved us being naked, well, I couldn’t say I was opposed. Yep.
Fix my car and I turned into Insta-slut. Jeez.

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 5:48 a.m.

Me: Would love
to hear them ; ) Gotta get to work. Talk later?

Text
Message—Thurs, Feb. 26, 5:48 a.m.

Zeke: Later,
babe

I sighed as I
left the bathroom loving the way my day had started. And, damn, I
had this flirting thing down now!

“Lane! I’ll be
back an hour and a half to pick you up!” I yelled as I went by his
room.

“Keys are on
the counter,” Grammy said as I came into the kitchen.

“Thanks! Bye,
Grammy. I’ll be back in a bit,” I answered, grabbing the keys then
my jacket off the hook and heading out to the drive. A piece of
paper was on the seat which I snatched up as I got in and started
my car. Unfolding it, I saw it was a note from Zeke.

Oh, the
possibilities…

—Zeke

A shiver went
through my body and I drove to work with a huge smile on my
face
.

“Go, Lane!” I yelled
from the stands
.

It was almost
halftime and he’d been doing amazing, having scored sixteen points
and holding the league’s leading scorer to five. Garfield was up by
twelve with three minutes to go in the quarter and Lane was
dribbling the ball down the court. I watched as he made a move,
driving forward and when his defensive man dropped back, Lane
stepped back behind the three-point line and shot the ball,
swishing it.

“Yeah!” I
screamed, jumping up and down and clapping.

“He’s good,” I
heard Zeke say as he made his way across the bleachers toward
me.

He’d texted
earlier and told me he had a workout but would be here as soon as
he finished and now here he was and I smiled so big it almost hurt,
and, boy, did he look good, his hair still wet from the shower he’d
just taken.

“Hey,” he
said, leaning down and touching his mouth to mine, putting an arm
around me and pulling me in for a hug.

And, God, how
I loved it. I loved this, being with him, being someone
to
him.

“Hey,” I
whispered looking up at him still totally mystified that we were
together, as in
together
together. Me, the girl who swore
she’d never get serious with a man again until her life was in
order, was sitting next to the hottest guy on my college campus.
Would wonders never cease?

We sat down
and I saw that the teams were in a timeout.

“How’s he
doing?” Zeke asked, taking my hand in his and curling his fingers
with mine then resting them on his thigh.

“He’s got
nineteen points! The guy he’s guarding leads the conference
averaging thirty-one points a game and Lane’s held him to five!” I
kept smiling, so proud of my brother and so happy to have a
wonderful man sitting beside me.

“That’s
badass,” Zeke stated with an approving nod.

Lane’s team
ended up winning and he finished with a game and career-high
twenty-eight points. Afterward, Zeke and I waited for him in the
gym lobby. When I saw him coming toward us, I started to go to him,
but Zeke grabbed my arm holding me back and we watched as a cute
blonde cheerleader approached Lane. I giggled as I watched them,
Lane puffing out his chest eating up everything I’m sure this girl
was saying to him about how he played. At last, she hugged him
awkwardly then he watched as she bounced off. When he turned and
started walking toward us, the smirk he had on his face made me
snort.

“Guys are so
cocky,” I mumbled.

Zeke squeezed
me to him with the arm he had around my shoulders, leaning down and
whispering into my ear, “When we’re good, we’re good, babe,” which
sent a shiver through me and made him chuckle.

“Did you see
my last three-pointer?” Lane asked. “Coach said I was almost at
half court!”

“I did!” I
squealed. “You did amazing!” I grabbed him in a hug having to
tiptoe up and wondered if he’d grown another two inches since
yesterday. When I pulled back, I turned to Zeke. “Zeke, this is my
brother Lane. Lane, this is Zeke Powers.”

I had to hold
back a laugh because I thought my brother would go apeshit over
finally meeting Zeke, but I saw why the girls liked him because he
could certainly be smooth. He held his hand out to Zeke who took
it, shaking it as Zeke put a hand on Lane’s shoulder.

“Awesome game,
man,” Zeke said. “What’d the Sanders kid end up having?”

“I held him to
twelve,” Lane said, beaming. Then he looked at me and added
sheepishly, “I know I said I’d hold him to single-digits, but that
kid’s a fuc—er, frickin’ baller.”

I squinted my
eyes at my brother. “Nice save,” I said sarcastically.

“You guys
wanna go get something to eat?” Zeke asked.

“Hell yeah!”
Lane answered, immediately giving me an oops look.

“Uh,” I
muttered. “Zeke, can I talk to you for a second?” On his nod, I
walked toward the gym doors and he followed. “I can’t really afford
to go out, and I know you’re going to offer to pay, but you’ve done
enough already,” I explained when we stopped.

“Scarlett,
I’ve worked every summer since I can remember at the garage with my
dad and uncle. Gotta believe me, babe, I’ve got the cash to do
this. Wouldn’t offer if I didn’t.”

I bit my lip
because, once again, I didn’t want to disappoint my brother, who I
now glanced over to see had a throng of girls around him. “I don’t
like you paying for everything all the time.”

He raised an
eyebrow at me. “How many guys you go out with in the past
year?”

I frowned.
What did that have to do with anything? “None.”

“None.” He
nodded as if that told me all I needed to know.

I looked up at
him confused. “What?”

“Way I figure,
if you
had
dated someone, which, by the way, can’t tell you
how thrilled I am that you didn’t, if he took you out to eat once a
week, went to a movie or something, even if you helped pay for
shit, he’d have spent at least two hundred bucks. Take that times
fifty-two weeks, that’s over ten grand. So, seein’ as you didn’t
spend some loser’s money and seein’ how I’m not a loser and want to
take my girl and her brother out, you can at least give me
that.”

I frowned up
at him. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

He grinned.
“But it sounded good, didn’t it?”

I burst out
laughing. “Finance majors… lord…”

“So, that a
yes?” he asked, his grin turned to a smile now as he looked down at
me, his eyes warm.

“How can I say
no to you?” I asked, knocking my shoulder into his.

“Hopin’ you
can’t.”

I choked out a
laugh and looked up to see him smirking back. “You really are
something else, just like Grace said.”

“Grace? The
waitress?” He took my hand and we walked back toward Lane.

“Yes. I think
everyone’s in love with you at The Nook.”

He looked down
at me, eyebrow raised, as we walked. “Everyone?” At my red face, he
winked then looked where my brother stood and hollered, “Lane!
Ready, buddy?”

“Yeah, Zeke!
In a sec!”

I watched as
Lane said goodbye to his little entourage then shook my head as he
approached us with a grin.

“Got enough
girls drooling over you?” I asked as we headed toward the door,
Zeke still holding my hand and Lane at my other side.

“Always room
for more,” he said with a chuckle. “Besides, athletes get all the
hot chicks.”

“Hell yeah,”
Zeke said, reaching across me to fist bump my brother then kissed
the side of my head.

~*~*~*~

“You laid him
the fu—frick out!” Lane said to Zeke between bites of the huge
hamburger he was eating.

They were
talking about one of the football games Zeke had played in that
Lane had seen highlights of on the local news channel.

“He shouldn’t
have been in my way,” Zeke said with a chuckle.

“You tore
their safeties
up
!” my brother gushed.

It was cool
watching him interact with Zeke. They’d talked football for the
past almost hour and all I could do was smile because I knew Lane
was desperate for “guy time” and I was so grateful that Zeke was
here to give it to him.

“The one was
an All-American too. He was pissed,” Zeke added.

“Damn. That’s
so fu—frickin’ cool,” Lane said with a shake of his head, his smile
huge.

I narrowed my
eyes across the table at him.

“What?” he
asked, suddenly all innocent.

“I’m gathering
that when you’re away from the house, hanging out with your
friends, that your language is less than stellar. Grammy’s gonna
kick your butt if she finds out.”

“She won’t
find out if
somebody
doesn’t tell her. Just sayin’,” Lane
retorted.

“Well,
somebody
thinks someone else needs to watch his mouth.
Just sayin’
.”

“Did you cuss
when you were my age?” Lane asked Zeke.

I turned my
head to the side, daring Zeke to say anything other than no, which
made him laugh.

“I plead the
fifth.”

“See?” Lane
said as if he’d proven his point.

I cut my eyes
at him and saw him grin as he ducked his head knowing Zeke had
given him a look. When I flashed my eyes to Zeke, he was taking a
drink from his beer bottle, managing somehow to look innocent.

“Might wanna
straighten your halo some, choir boy,” I mumbled at him, poking him
in the ribs with my elbow.

He snorted at
this, and I watched as he grinned at Lane who gave him a
shit-eating grin right back.

“Good lord,” I
said with a shake of my head, acting appalled at their attempted
chicanery. But inside I was glowing loving that my brother was
having a good time with Zeke.

~*~*~*~

“Oh, my God,”
I breathed as Zeke cupped his hand between my thighs, his mouth at
my throat, sucking then nipping, giving me goose bumps.

We’d left the
restaurant then he’d followed Lane and me home. I’d taken him
inside to properly introduce him to Grammy even though she’d met
him this morning. They’d talked about his family background and I
learned that his family was Irish too, which made Grammy very
happy. Zeke informed her that his grandparents had come over from
Ireland in the 1950s and decided to settle in Seattle because the
weather here was much like that of their home country. His
grandfather had worked for the postal service for thirty years
before retiring and his grandmother had stayed home and raised
Zeke’s father and uncle.

Zeke then
bolstered his getting into Grammy’s good graces by agreeing to let
her do a Tarot card reading for him. The fact that he seemed to
enjoy it and asked her a lot of questions sealed the deal. Watching
him get into it, asking her questions and smiling at just the right
parts was sexy as hell which was a bonus for me (and Grammy, I’m
sure).

When she’d
finished, it was eleven o’clock. Lane had gone to bed an hour
before, still on a high about his game and how well he played and,
I suspect, in the Zeke Zone, which was where I mostly stayed so I
totally understood.