Read The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club Online
Authors: J.C. Isabella
Carlos rolled his eyes. Eyes so dark they looked black. And he was scary big, as tall as Zack, but double the muscle with curly black hair. He made Zack look as tame as a kitten. No small feat. “Stella means to say, we’ve never been in the house and we want to snoop around.”
I laughed. “Uh, okay. Nice to meet you, I’m Chloe Baker.”
After accepting the basket of fruit and placing it on the dining room table, where it would probably be forgotten until it started to stink, I led them into the living room. Zack was as charming as could be, even settling his magical spell over me for a bit.
“So,” Stella eyed us with confused, gray eyes. “I heard the people who bought this house had two kids…no offence, you don’t look related.”
“Yeah, she’s my stepsister.” Zack said.
I nodded. “It’s been interesting.”
Carlos sympathized, “I feel your pain. My mom remarried a couple years ago. The guy is a douche, so I moved in with my dad.”
“It is so cool to finally be in here.” Stella said, glancing around the living room, not in tune with where our conversation had turned. She was a little oblivious, but in a sweet way.
I smiled, not seeing what was so interesting about the house. “Why?”
Carlos locked eyes with me and I resisted the urge to jump. “The owners didn’t tell you?”
Zack frowned. “Tell us what?”
“This place is creepy, some say haunted.”
I was on the edge of my seat ten minutes later. Zack seemed a bit more relaxed on the outside. But I knew he was just as wound up by the way his fist kept clenching next to me.
Apparently everyone is terrified of our home.
“I don’t believe any of this.” Zack glanced around the living room.
Stella nodded, “I understand. We don’t either, that’s why we wanted to check it out.”
Carlos rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. “They say a colonel named James Lane built the house with his bare hands. One day his wife went missing, vanished. The town blamed him. Then his neighbors found him dead in the front yard two weeks later. This was about ninety years ago. And, supposedly, he’s been haunting the place ever since.”
I didn’t buy into the story either, but I had to admit, I was a little spooked.
“We haven’t experienced anything.” I said, thinking back to strange things that might have happened. Nothing stuck out as otherworldly.
“I’m skeptical too. Then I had to wonder why your parents got the house so fast, at such a cheap price? The previous owners couldn’t get out of here quick enough.” Carlos said.
Despite everything going on between Zack and me, the whole love hate relationship we had to figure out, I peeked up at his face, looking to him for something…reassurance maybe? That it was just a spooky story. I knew whatever answer I needed, he would have. Call me crazy, I felt I could trust his reaction to the situation.
“No offence, I still don’t believe you.” Zack stayed firm, not convinced in the least.
Great, that was my cue. He didn’t believe them and neither would I.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t think for myself. Ghost stories always scare me. Ever since I was little I’d had problems with the dark, flipping on every light in the house when I was alone. Scared I’d walk down a hallway and some sheet with eyes and no feet would pop out.
I could thank my dad, Vince, for that trauma. He took Halloween too seriously.
“At least you have a warning in case it is true.” Stella said.
A phone rang somewhere in the depths of the house. Zack excused himself and raced upstairs. I wanted to go with him, only because I was spooked. Not because I liked his company…
When would I stop lying to myself?
Maybe I need therapy.
“Hey, you want to have some fun?” Stella asked.
I smiled, thinking that hanging out with her would be cool, and take my mind off of Zack. “Definitely, what did you have in mind?”
“Carlos and I are going to the canal.”
“My dad has an airboat. We get to take it out when he’s not using it.” Carlos said. “Ever been?”
“No, I’m game.”
Carlos had to get going to ready the boat. Stella decided to stay. We went up to my room and I grabbed my backpack, threw my hair up and changed into a bikini with shorts and a tank.
“So, you go to school around here?” I asked.
She nodded. “Carlos and I decided to help with his family business and go to community college. We’re sophomores. He’ll take it over one day. It’s really exiting. Airboat tours, scuba trips and kayak rentals. He loves being outside. I run the office. Perez Rentals and Tropical tours. I really like it, and I get to be with Carlos.”
“That’s cool.”
“What about you?”
“Undecided. But I love photography.”
“Hey, how about Zack? Does he want to go with us?” Stella asked when I was ready to go.
Right, him. “I’ll see if he wants to come.”
Stella went to wait downstairs to wait. I forced myself to walk through the bathroom. Zack was on the computer, brushing his teeth, and texting. Talk about multitasking.
“Can I help you?” he didn’t look at me, pushed away from the computer, and went in the bathroom to finish brushing.
I rolled my eyes, feigning boredom. “I’m going out with Stella and Carlos. Want to come?”
“No.”
“Fine, bye.” I whipped around to march out of his bedroom, but Mr. Personality wasn’t finished yet.
“Where are you going?” he leaned against the bathroom doorway, arms crossed, blocking my way out.
“Does it matter?” I wondered what his grouchy, and somewhat nosey behavior was for. If I caused it…it was probably nothing I could control. The mere fact of my existence must drive him insane.
“Yeah, you’ve known Stella for thirty minutes.”
I let out dramatic gasp. “Do I hear a hint of concern?”
“You wish. I’m just doing what any stepbrother would do.” A muscle in his jaw jumped. He looked annoyed, and pissed, which was normal. I figured living with me was starting to make him dislike me even more than he already did. I wasn’t sure how much he didn’t like me in the first place. For all I knew, he could hate me with the blazing fire of a thousand suns—no matter what he told me to my face. He could wish I were being chased by a pack of hungry polar bears. Of course that is all a little far fetched. But then, so was him being concerned about where I was going.
“That’s sweet, Zack. I don’t need you looking out for me.” I said, wondering what his motive was.
“Uh-huh, sure babe.”
“I’m confused.”
“I want to know where you’re going.”
“Why?”
“Curiosity.”
“Killed the cat.”
“Come on Baker, just let me have it.”
I told him about the airboat, mumbling the entire time so there was a chance he didn’t understand me. But that didn’t work. His enthusiasm for an invitation to go airboat riding through a swamp was a verging on giddy. Then I remembered he was a guy. There was a boat with a giant motor involved in this activity, and the potential to come face to face with carnivorous reptiles capable of drowning a cow. It was only natural for him to want to come.
“I’ll meet you downstairs.” And I marched down those stairs with emphasis, hopefully showing him that I was just as pissed at him…for some reason.
I don’t get it.
Zack, mean and grouchy and glaring, called me babe!
And to top it all off, he wants to know where I’m going, as if he is concerned.
Like he actually gives a damn about what happens to me!
Was I missing something here?
In the living room I found Stella sitting on the couch and soon forgot about the grouch upstairs, mostly. She was cool, not judgmental or snippy like Lana. I’m not looking to replace my friend, but I’m glad I found someone to hang out with who was Lana’s opposite…and a little ditzy in an endearing way. It turns out Stella was experimenting with sunless tanner, until she turned orange. She tried covering it up with a different brand of tanner, ended up looking like an Oompa Loompa. So she was really embarrassed.
“How long do we have till Carlos is ready to leave?” I asked, eyeing her blotchy skin.
“An hour, maybe a little more.”
I grinned. “Perfect.”
So last year my mom did the spray tan thing and she turned orange too. A friend told her that a combination of warm water, sugar, and lemon juice would exfoliate her skin and get rid of the icky tan. I grabbed all the necessary ingredients from the kitchen and dragged Stella out into the backyard. She was wearing a bikini under her sundress, so her modesty wasn’t an issue.
“I thought you were crazy when you suggested this, Chloe.” She scrubbed the concoction on her arms and legs. I took care of her back, and after a few minutes the orange tanner faded away.
“I learned my lesson when I saw what my mom looked like.” I laughed, slathering it all over.
“I can’t wait till Carlos sees. I’m going to act like nothing happened. Maybe he wont notice, or think he’s hallucinating.”
Someone whistled and we glanced up to see Zack poke his head out the backdoor.
“Do I even want to know what you girls are doing?” he wandered over and sniffed the air. “I smell lemonade.”
“I made a lemon exfoliating scrub to get rid of the tanner.” I said. Pleased with the way Stella’s skin looked. She was pale, more porcelain than I expected.
Zack raised his eyebrows, grinning. “Aw, now you ruined my fun.”
Stella giggled. “Must be a guy thing.”
“I agree.” I grabbed the hose, aiming it at him. He ducked back inside. Since I lacked a target I sprayed Stella, careful of her hair, and couldn’t help but smile because of Zack’s antics. “He wasn’t being a pervert.”
She nodded. “He’s trying to get under your skin, just like Carlos does to me. He likes it when I get mad at him. Half the time I forget that I’m pissed and we end up making out.”
I never thought arguing could be a turn on with a guy. But now that Stella brought it up, I guess all that adrenaline and excitement had to go somewhere.
It was kind of exhilarating to yell at Zack.
I couldn’t kiss him.
I didn’t want to.
But even if I did, I couldn’t kiss my stepbrother.
Chapter 14
By the time we were cleaned up and Stella was her normal color, Carlos had come back to see what was taking so long. We found him and Zack in the living room watching the news and talking cars.
“Hey, we’re ready.” I announced. Carlos shot off the couch, jaw on the floor.
“Stella, you’re not orange!” it was possible I’d just made him the happiest boyfriend on the planet.
She skipped across the room and twirled. “Thanks to Chloe.”
He sent me one of those knee-knocking grins that were very good at melting anyone with female parts. “You rock.”
I blushed. “Oh, it wasn’t brain surgery.”
“No, definitely not that.” Zack laughed.
On our way out to Carlos’s jeep, Zack was kind enough to explain how I got the fake tan off, and the way he described it made Stella and I roll our eyes.
So Carlos lived in the swamp. His dad had a big property that backed up to a canal, which led right into the everglades. There was a fence up around the whole place…to deter the alligators.
Nothing says good morning like going to get your paper and finding a gator.
Zack jumped out of the jeep, which was missing doors and a roof—it was the safari edition, complete with snorkel—and pulled open the gate. We drove up to the house. It was big, brown and ugly. It blended in so well with the swampy surroundings, it looked like it’d been there forever.
The car stopped at the back of the house next to another mean looking jeep. This one with a giant spotlight attached to the top bars. There was another wide rolling gate leading down to a dock where three people were waiting.
One of those people had a soggy middle and shaggy brown hair.
I groaned, wondering if I was doomed to deal with Max for the rest of my week in the swamp.
Zack looked unfazed, offering me a hand as I was figuring the best way to get out of the backseat. I stared at his outstretched arm for a second, and then jumped down next to him.
I smiled.
He scowled and went back to ignoring me.
I just don’t get him.
“Something wrong?” Stella asked, blocking me from stomping after him.
“I have no idea. Zack has been acting so weird. Ignoring me, avoiding me. Then he’s nice to me, like he was never annoyed. And he wants to know where I’m going, like he cares.”
“Could the problem be that you’re living with your boyfriend?”