Read The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club Online
Authors: J.C. Isabella
“Then I guess we’ll get wet.” I bristled. Zack’s fingers curled into the flesh of my hip as if he was prepared to keep me from moving. I felt more okay with that than he knew. I wasn’t going anywhere.
Carlos studied me, and then his cool gaze swept to meet Zack’s. “You ride?”
“Sure, my dad has a Harley.”
“He does?” I asked, never having seen it.
“Yeah, in storage. But now that we have a house with a garage, he’ll probably put it there once it’s fixed up.” Zack said.
“And you ride it?”
He winked. “Every chance I get.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“I suck at poker.”
“Sure you do.”
“Stella,” Carlos winked at her, his Spanish accent a purr now. “You want to snuggle up with me?”
“Love to,” she got off her bike, hopping up behind Carlos, and kissed the back of his neck.
I felt Max watching us, anger rolling off of him in waves as Zack steered me toward the blue bike, keeping me plastered to his side. Carlos produced a couple spare helmets from the saddlebag and we put them on.
“Chloe, hang on tight.” Zack said. He swung his leg over, waiting. I’d always wanted to ride on the back of a bike, but had never been presented with the opportunity. For my first time, to ride with Zack, it brought a smile to my face. I was practically giddy.
“Okay,” I got on and wrapped my arms around his middle.
He revved the engine. “Ready?”
“Yep,” my stomach lurched when he throttled it, zooming down the street after Carlos. I let out a squeal.
“You okay?” he shouted.
I lifted my head. “Yeah!”
It was the best rush I’d ever had. I hated rollercoaster’s, but riding on the back of a dirt bike was one thing I’d have to do more often.
We took a corner, flying over a speed table, and Zack raced Carlos to the house. Neck and neck. Zack lost by a couple seconds, because Carlos’s bike was faster. We parked in the front yard. Max sped past the house in an angry red blur.
The guys decided to take the bikes out before the storm came, while Stella and I went inside, wanting to hang out for a little while. We were both hungry, so I lead her to the kitchen to whip up a snack. I realized it was lunchtime, and changed my mind. I was in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches.
“Hey, honey.” Mom said, coming in from the garage, covered in flecks of paint. At least she remembered to wear an apron. “And who is this?”
“This is Stella. She lives down the street.”
“Hi, Mrs. Warren. It’s nice to meet you.” Stella said.
Mom went to the cabinets and pulled out baking ingredients once Stella and I had our sandwiches. “I’m making brownies. Glenn loves chocolate, and we need a desert for tonight.”
But mom didn’t get to finish, the phone rang and she had to take the call in another room. Must have been pretty important, so I handled the mixing, while Stella propped the recipe up and measured.
“I saw the way Zack pissed off Max,” she said. “What’s the problem?”
“What do you mean?” I preheated the oven to 300 degrees.
“Did you notice that they seem to be fighting over you?” she cracked four eggs into the bowl.
“No,” I beat the eggs till they were fluffy light yellow, thinking that two guys would fight over me was crazy. Fighting over Lana, who had the sex kitten vibe, or Regina, who was just easy…that seemed plausible.
“Zack is marking his territory.” Stella said. Dumping in one cup of brown sugar and one cup of white sugar.
“No, way.” I beat them, and then we added eight ounces of melted butter. I remembered to sift everything, 1¼ cups of cocoa powder, two teaspoons of vanilla, and then ½ a cup of flour to the bowl. We mixed the ingredients together until it was yummy and fudgy.
“Trust me, I know these jock types. Carlos is king. Zack is doing what any testosterone laden guy would do.”
“First men are babies, now they’re animals marking territory?”
“I like to imagine they vacillate between the two.”
“You should really think of writing a book one day.”
“Oh, I’m so there. I’ve got journal entries on human behavior, men especially.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Carlos takes me to the park, and while he plays Frisbee I people watch. It is very interesting.”
We poured the finished batter in the pan I greased and floured. I popped the brownies in the oven and set the timer for forty-five minutes.
“Zack confessed something to me earlier today. He said he liked Max thinking I’m his girlfriend.” We stood at the counter, licking batter off the beaters.
“Wow, that explains a lot.”
“But he said I’m family now, and he has this crazy idea that he’s the only person allowed to give me a hard time.”
She laughed. “He likes you!”
“No.”
“Yes. Take the spray tan, for example. Carlos started calling me bunny because he said I ate too many carrots, and they must have turned me orange. Or he ran from me when I tried to hug him because the tan would rub off.” She giggled. “But watch out, if anyone else cracked a joke about my botched tan. Pow! Into next week.”
“Hello Chloe, and Chloe’s friend.” Glenn came into the kitchen, sniffing the air. “I smell chocolate.”
I jumped in front of the oven, waving my arms. “No, they’re for after dinner.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll just snag the cookie jar.”
“So what have you and mom been up to?”
“Oh, this and that. I put in a new pool filter. Molly bought some interesting paint colors.” He found the Oreo’s and set them on the counter to get a glass of milk. Glenn was a bit of a cookie monster.
“What constitutes interesting paint colors?” Stella asked.
“Anything resembling the beach at sunset.” He said.
I grinned. “Mom must be doing a mural. Where?”
“My office,” he chuckled, “I told her as long as it’s not girly, she could have at it.”
“Smart man.” Stella said.
He nodded. “Wall color isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.”
“So, the pool, is it swimmable?” I asked, loading the dishwasher with our baking paraphernalia.
“Sure, have at it. Just keep an eye out for lighting. Although I think it’s still far enough away.”
Once the brownies were out of the oven, hidden in the microwave incase Glenn tried to sneak one, Stella and I grabbed a few towels and headed for the pool.
We brought magazines with us and lounged on the cool deck under partly sunny skies. The rain didn’t seem to be much of a threat and we weren’t in any danger of being burnt crispy. It was a very nice afternoon.
The pool sat a ways away from the house, more alongside it, and on the opposite side of a few trees. Nice, secluded, and temptingly private.
If Lana were here she would have ditched her top. I’m not Lana, but since the chances of anyone coming to bother us were slim, I asked Stella, “I’m not an exhibitionist, but I’m thinking about taking off my shirt so I don’t have tan lines on my arms.”
“Me too, not that I tan much.”
We took off our shirts, and I realized that my pink bra covered more than my bikini, so it didn’t matter. It was the same for Stella in her sunny yellow one. But hers actually looked more like a bikini, since it was solid. Mine had a lacey back.
I stuck on my sunglasses, rolled onto my stomach, and opened a magazine to find what season best fit my personality.
“Apparently, I am a spring, and pastels suit me.” I said, letting one of my feet dangle into the pool. “Eh, not too sure about that.”
“Bangs are making a comeback again…they seem to be a little late in reporting that.” Stella wrinkled her nose. “My quiz is wrong too.”
“Really, about what?”
“I’m best described as a flirtatious vixen, prone to hitting on guys who are in committed relationships, and one night stands.”
I laughed. “Let me see that…no way. This quiz is a load of crap.”
After taking the quiz, I tossed the magazine into the pile between us.
“Which one did you get?” Stella asked.
“Oh, just the drama queen. I need to be the center of attention, I have problems giving up control, and I scare the good men away.”
“I wonder who makes those up.”
“Must be a fun job.”
I stuck my hand in the pool, debated jumping in. But I got a weird feeling. It felt like I was being watched. Behind me the coast was clear, except ahead of me in the marsh, that heavily treed area at the back of the property, I thought I saw something move. I squinted, frowning at the green leafiness. Probably just a bird.
“Hey, Baker!” so we weren’t alone.
Zack and Carlos came down the lawn through the trees.
“God, what did you get into?” Stella sat up and eyed Carlos. His feet and legs were caked in mud, the front of his shirt spotted with black. His shorts dripped with murky water, and a funky, moldy smell wafted around them.
“Just little puddles, nothing too juicy…until we hit the last one” He kicked off his flip-flops, and tried to scrape some of the gunk off with a stick. It stuck to him like glue.
Zack used his hands to sloth mud off his legs, flicking it into the grass. “We didn’t even try to go in the house. Molly would kill us. Where’s the hose?”
I pointed to a spigot attached the side of the house.
“I’m glad we stayed here.” Stella sounded relieved. “No telling what kind of crap they’re covered in.”
I shrugged, “I don’t know, I think it might be fun as long as it stays out of my hair, and we avoid that last juicy puddle.”
Zack, now mostly free of mud, went to the deep end of the pool. “Dare me?”
I raised my eyebrows. “To jump in?”
“Sure.”
There had to be a catch. “Uh, okay.”
He peeled his soaking wet, t-shirt off and tossed it onto the deck. I had to keep my mouth from hanging open. All the baseball Zack played agreed with him. He had muscles in places I didn’t know existed.
His chest was chiseled, sculpted, but not rock hard like the guys who live in the gym. He wasn’t very hairy, sporting a very light smattering of blonde curls on his abdomen. The girls who I’d heard talking about his six-pack were right.
It was marvelous.
He smirked at me and I felt my cheeks flame.
Had he caught me checking him out?
“Cannon ball!” He backed up and got a running start.
I watched him fly through the air, and screamed when the water from his splash hit me. Stella shrieked too.
Zack surfaced and swam to the side of the pool to look up at me. “Cute.”
I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes. “You planned this!”
“Maybe, come on, get in.”
“No, thanks. I’m good.” I shook my head, trying scooting away from the side of the pool.
“Okay,” he turned like he was going to swim away. Suddenly his hand shot out and closed around my wrist, yanking me in.
I dropped headfirst into the pool, and kicked my way to the surface. “You jerk!”
He laughed. “Come on Chloe, chill.”
Throwing my sunglasses onto the deck, “I’m in the pool, now what?”
He produced a little orange ball from behind his back and tossed it to me. “Basketball.”
I glanced at the hoop sitting on the side of the pool. “You’re kidding, I’ll never beat you.”
Carlos jumped in, Stella right behind him.
“Girls against boys!” she shouted.
I laughed. “This is going to be embarrassing.”
I was able to make the first shot, Stella got one too, after that we lost miserably. Carlos and Zack creamed us, and I could tell they were going easy. Unfortunately, my feet couldn’t quiet touch the bottom of the pool near the hoop, so I had no leverage. Stella’s hand eye coordination sucked.
With a bit of luck the slippery ball skittered out of Carlos’s hands and I snatched it, lunging for the hoop. Zack snagged me around the waist, lifting me out of the water. I went airborne into the deepest part of the pool. “I almost had that!”
He grinned. “Sure you did.”
I heaved the ball at him, hitting his shoulder.
The sound of a cell phone ringing brought our game to a halt. Stella slipped out of the pool to check the text. “It’s the office. Apparently there was a last minute swamp tour scheduled. We gotta go, Carlos”
We said goodbye. I told Stella that we should go shopping next weekend. She said knew where the best shops were.