Broken Pieces (Cape Isle, #3): A Cape Isle Novel (10 page)

He readjusts himself and shakes his head, with a smile. “Grab the cupcakes, Angel.”

Hopping out of the truck, he makes his way over to my door and I grab the box off of the back seat and take his offered hand.

“Thank you.” I smile over at him, as he leads up the front steps.

When we get to the front door, he doesn't bother knocking. I follow him inside and smile when the overwhelming scent of my childhood knocks me in the face. It's so funny to me how everyone's house has a particular smell. Joanna's house smells like fresh linen. It always smells like she just got done hanging clothes out to dry, when I know that's not the case, it's just her scent. It makes me wonder what my house smells like.

“Mom, we're here,” Zack says, as we walk through the living room and into the kitchen. Joanna is standing at the stove but turns to smile at us as we make our way towards her.

“My two favorite people,” she says, with a big smile.

I smile in return and speed up my pace so I can get a hug first. She has always been like a second mom to me. When she pulls me into her arms, my face instinctively goes to her hair and I breathe in her scent. I'm weird, I know, but it's comforting.

She lets me go and takes my face in her hands.

“I swear you get prettier every time I see you,” she murmurs. She's done this for as long as I can remember, but she's one to talk. Joanna is absolutely beautiful. She never remarried after her and Zack moved here and, as far as I know, she never even dated. I asked her why once and she told me that she loved Zack's dad with every inch of her being and that no man could ever come close to him, so there was no sense in trying.

“Hey, can I get a hug,” Zack teases from behind me.

Joanna rolls her eyes and kisses my check before letting me go. I turn to watch Zack pull his mom into a hug and kiss the top of her head, as he winks at me.

“What have you kids been up to?” She asks, returning to the stove.

Zack rolls his eyes at me and I giggle. She will always think of us as kids, no matter how old we get.

I hop up on the island and swing my legs back and forth. Catching Zack staring at them, I give him a hard look, mentally telling him to cut it out, before I look back at his mom. She is still looking down at whatever she is stirring, but she has a smirk on her face, which makes me wonder if she isn't totally clueless to that little exchange.

“Just working. Summer is still on her honeymoon, so it's just me and Jenna holding down the fort.”

“I've been meaning to get by there, but I've been so busy lately.”

“With what, mom?” Zack asks, as he dips a carrot into the ranch dressing, sitting out on the counter. I go to grab one for myself, but he hands me his and I smile. I turn back to Joanna to see her smiling at us.

“Mom?” Zack questions, drawing her attention back to him.

“Nothing really,” she waves him off. “How is it going at the fire station?”

Dammit! We've been so busy the last few days, mostly having sex, that I completely forgot to ask him that. I'm such a bad friend.

He sees me frowning at him and shakes his head. “Stop it,” he says softly before turning back to his mom. “It's going great. I'm really liking it.”

“Good. I worry about you.” Now it's her turn to frown.

“Well, don't. I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. Why do you look so tired, mom?” He asks.

I study Joanna's face and I wonder how I didn't see it before. She still looks beautiful, but she has dark circles under her eyes and she looks really pale.

“I'm fine,” she says in tone that leaves no room for argument.

Zack looks unconvinced, but she is grabbing plates and telling him to set the table, before either of us can argue. I stay behind and study her a little more. Her hands look like they are shaking, her eyes are sunken, and she looks like she's lost a lot of weight. How in the hell did I not noticed this? I just saw her at Summer's wedding.

Before I can ask her what's wrong, she turns and pins me with her penetrating gaze. The carrot stops halfway to my mouth.

“So, have you finally realized that my son is in love with you?”

Shit.

Part of me thinks about running.

When Zack and I would get in trouble as kids, I would run home before his mom could yell at me. Sometimes I didn't make it and I would have to stay and listen to one of her ‘life speeches’. I have a feeling that's what's coming and I'm scared shitless. Yes, I do realize that I am a grown woman, but she is like a mother to me. There will be no talking back. Anyone that was raised in the south knows what I'm talking about.

“Umm…” I look towards the kitchen doors and pray that Zack will walk back in.

“Alexis Sinclaire.”

I look back over at her and I think I actually wince. I'm really not good at stuff like this.

“Joanna, I think we are still figuring stuff out,” I respond quietly.

She smiles. “So, did you finally get your head out of your ass?”

Just when I thought it was safe to eat my carrot, she says something like that. I start coughing, she starts laughing, and Zack comes running into the kitchen.

“What in the hell?” he asks. He looks over to me sitting on the counter, waving a carrot around, while choking, and then back to his mom who is standing at the stove laughing.

“Mom, are you just going to let her choke to death?” He walks over to me and pats my back until I finally get control of myself. I hop down off of the counter and go get a glass of water. I glare at Joanna over the rim of my glass.

She smirks at me. “You know I love you, darling girl. I just had to give you hell.”

“I love you too.” I smile.

“What is going on?” Zack still stands beside the island, his hands on his hips, and he looks at us both like we are crazy.

“Nothing,” we answer in unison. We both laugh and he gives us one more long look, before walking towards the dining room, shaking his head.

“What do you need, Joanna?”

She gives me a strange look before pointing to a cabinet.

“I need a lot of things, sweetie, but how about some bowls for right now,” she says, with a wink.

* * *

“What does my house smell like?” I ask Zack as I open my front door later that night.

“It smells like you,” he mumbles coming to stand behind me. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls my body back into his.

“Yeah, but what do I smell like?” I'm trying to stay on track, but his mouth is doing delicious things to my neck.

“Sunshine.”

I turn in his arms and look up at him. “Sunshine?” I ask, with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugs his shoulders looking sheepish and it may be the cutest things I've ever seen. He's embarrassed by his answer.

“Yeah, Angel, you smell like sunshine.” I place my hands on his upper arms and lift up on my tip-toes, touching my mouth to his.

“I like that.”

“Me too,” he whispers.

His fingers dig into my hips and my hands run through the scruff on his face. I would really like to feel that between my legs again, but right as I'm about to lead us to my bedroom, my phone rings. This is the tenth time tonight. When we were at his mom's house, I put it on vibrate, but you can still hear the buzzing. He pulls his mouth away from mine and I frown at the loss. I want his mouth back, dangit!

“Do you need to get that?” he asks.

“No.” I try to pull his face back down to mine, but he isn’t moving.

“What if it's important?”

“It's not.”

“How do you know, Lex? You didn't look.”

Now I'm frustrated. I let go of his face and turn to start walking towards the kitchen. I toss my purse onto the counter, as I make my way to the refrigerator. “It's probably just Jared.” I say, over my shoulder.

It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I grab two beers and turn to look at him. His body is drawn tight and he looks pissed.

I slide his beer over to him and cock my head to the side. “What's the problem, Hulk?”

“This is not a joke, Lexie.”

“Who is joking? I'm just wondering why you look like you are about to go nuclear.”

“Maybe it has something to do with your ex-boyfriend stalking you.”

I watch as he picks up his beer and gulps half of it in one drink. Impressive.

“He is not stalking me. It is just phone calls and texts. I've already told you this and I'm not going to argue with you about it again, Zack.”

He runs his hand roughly across his jaw.

“I know,” he says with a sigh. “I just really don't like it.”

I take a sip of my own beer and study his face. There has to be something else going on here. Yeah, it's annoying that Jared won't get a damn clue and leave me the hell alone, but I'm not in any real danger. “Want to tell me why?” I ask.

He looks into my eyes for what feels like forever, before setting down his beer. He walks over to me and wraps his arms around me. He gently picks me up and sets me down on the counter. I open my legs and he steps between them, as he gently runs his fingers across my cheek.

He brushes his lips against mine briefly before pulling back.

“I was at the hospital with Grant when Summer got hurt. I watched him completely lose his shit and all I could think about is what I would have done if that was you.”

“But it wasn't me. We are not them and Jared is not Ryan,” I reassure him.

“I know that, Angel, but this guy seriously has a fucking screw loose if he thinks it’s okay for him to call and text you as often as he does. You haven't even responded since sometime last year, right?”

“Yeah, I finally just stopped telling him to go fuck himself when I realized that he wasn't really listening.”

He sighs again and kisses me gently. “I just want you to be safe.”

“I'm fine,” I say, against his lips. He moves his head to deepen the kiss and my phone picks that moment to start ringing. Oh for Christ's sake!

He pulls back and stares daggers at my purse before reaching for it. He looks like he is about to blow and I know this is not going to go over well.

Chapter Twelve

Zack

I
PULL
L
EXIE'S PHONE OUT
of her purse and see that asshole’s name flashing across the screen. I take a deep breath and step away from her before answering.

“Why in the fuck are you still calling her phone?”

“Who in the hell is this?”

“I asked you a fucking question. Why are you still calling a woman that obviously doesn't want you?”

“Zack, my man. Is that you? Hell, I'd know your voice from anywhere. She was always hanging around your ass. Guess that hasn't changed.”

I think I actually growl into the phone. “What in the fuck is wrong with you man?”

“Nothing is wrong with me. Tell me, is her pussy still as sweet as I remember?”

My eyes flash over to Lexie. She is still sitting on the counter. She has a worried expression on her face and when her eyes meet mine, hers widen. I guess whatever expression I'm wearing right now is not a good one.

I quickly make my way to her back door and shut it behind me. “You listen to me right now, you piece of fucking shit. If you ever talk about her like that again, I will personally drive to Virginia and tear you limb from limb.”

“Oh, I guess she is still good in bed then. Man you wouldn't believe the ways I fucked that girl. Amazing set of tits. Am I right?”

I know he is just trying to rile me up and it's working. If he were standing right in front of me, I would probably fucking kill him. “You need to stop calling her, stop texting her and leave her the fuck alone. Do you understand me?”

“Or what?” I can hear the slight slur in his voice.

“Or shit is going to become really bad for you,” I say in a low voice. Lexie is my world and has been for as long as I can remember. I would do anything in my power to protect her. Right now it's just phone calls and text messages, but what if he crosses that line. His next words stop me cold and make me wonder if it's already too late for that.

“Sure, man. But tell me this first, were y'all fucking all along or did that just start the other night? Just a little something for you to think about.”

He hangs up before I can get another word out. I lower the phone and stare at it for a second. This cannot be happening. When I look back up, I see Lexie walking towards me.

“Everything alright? I'm really sorry about that,” she says gesturing towards the phone.

I ignore her apology and shake my head. “Let's get inside.”

“Hey, while you were outside talking to douche canoe I was thinking… Is your mom okay? Was it just me or did she not look like she felt good?”

Is she seriously rambling on about this right now? I slide her phone in my back pocket and lock the back door behind us. Walking to her refrigerator, I open it and grab another beer. She hops back up on the counter and stares at me.

“Are you going to speak?”

“We are getting you a new phone.”

“Yeah, I already planned on that,” she says, cocking her head to the side.

“Tomorrow. We are getting you a new phone tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she says, drawing out the word.

I take another gulp of my beer and shake my head, as I run my hand across my jaw.

“Zack, what's going on?”

I walk over to her and step between her legs. “I think he's stalking you, Lexie.”

“I just don't think he would go that far. He's just being annoying. What did he say?”

I debate my answer for a second. She does not need to know all of the crude things he said, but I'm also not going to lie to her. “He said a lot, but at the end he asked me if we had been fucking all along or if that just started the other night.”

Her eyes get wide. “But how would he even know that?”

“I have no clue,” I say with a shake of my head.

“Maybe we are over reacting. There is no way he could know that. It had to have been a lucky guess, right?”

Okay, she's starting to freak out. When Lexie gets nervous, she talks with her hands. I always thought it was cute, but right now it's breaking my heart to see her freak out over this guy.

“Angel,” I say trying to get her attention.