Read The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club Online
Authors: J.C. Isabella
He brought back the toy and I threw it three more times.
Finally, on the forth throw, he got bored and galloped downstairs, probably to eat.
Chloe mumbled. She was on top of me, draped limply over my chest, her legs between mine. I was content in ways I’d never imagined. Her breasts pressed into my chest, hair spilling over my shoulder. Her back was smooth and silky, with a faint tan line. I carefully slid out from under her and stretched. Grabbed some jeans from my room, used the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Chloe was squinting at me when I came back.
“Chloe Ann. How did you sleep?”
“Really good,” her cheeks tinged pink. “For a second I thought I’d dreamed up everything.”
“No,” I bent over her, climbing onto the bed and kissed her. “But there is one small problem.”
“What?”
“We’re going to have to work out sleeping arrangements.”
She laughed. “I’ve created a monster.”
“I’m serious,” I said, threading my fingers through her tangled hair. “How can I sleep, knowing you’re,” I glanced at the bathroom, judging the distance, “less than thirty feet away?”
“Is Zack Warren a fan of slumber parties?”
“Uh, if it involves you, occasionally topless, yes.” I kissed her again, and we jumped apart at the sound of the front door opening.
Chloe bolted out of the bed and grabbed a pair of pants off the floor. The sight of her hopping around in a pair of pink underwear brought me to a screeching halt.
“You’re such a guy.”
I grinned, hooked on her in ways I never thought possible. “I am the happiest man alive right now.”
She slipped a shirt on just in time.
The sound of feet coming upstairs echoed in the hall.
“Chloe?” Molly’s shrill voice broke my less than noble thoughts as it echoed in the room. She looked tired. But her expression was one of disbelief.
I knew what this must look like to her. Chloe was standing in the middle of the room, flustered, shirt on…but inside out and backwards. I was shirtless, but I at least had jeans on.
My dad poked his head in. I figured if Molly convinced him I slept with Chloe, which I did, sleep, but I would never kiss and tell, I’d be seeing less of Chloe in her inside out backwards shirt, and more of my dorm room.
“So, what’s going on?” Molly asked, crossing her arms, leaning in the doorway.
Dude, if looks could kill…
“Yeah, you two look, uh…for lack of a better word, cozy.” My dad said.
Chloe sighed. “We’ve been in here talking all morning, because we feel guilty.”
Our parents waited, eyebrows raised, and so did I.
She wouldn’t actually tell them what happened, would she?
“Last night I got locked in the attic because Kirk found a rat.” Chloe sounded very convincing and informative.
I chimed in, realizing her angle. “It was funny, until we realized there wasn’t a key.”
“And Zack had to get me out somehow.” She made a face. “So he kicked down the door. Then we chased the rat outside.”
My dad burst out laughing.
Molly simply turned around and marched down the hall, no doubt needing proof, and the relieved expression on her face when she came back brought my worry down to practically nothing.
“How’d it go with Helga?” I asked, taking the silence to change the subject.
“Oh, fine. The baby came early this morning. Six hours of labor for the poor thing.” Molly said. “Dino is a healthy seven pounds, eight ounces.”
My dad looked nervous, rubbing his head absently, all signs of amusement gone. “You might want to sit down for this.”
Chloe sat on the bed next to me, keeping space between us. “What’s the matter?”
Dad shoved his hands in his pockets, staring at the floor and hid a smile. “To be frank, I didn’t know I had it in me.”
Molly laughed uncomfortably, “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Had what?” Chloe asked.
“Molly’s pregnant.” Dad said.
This I was not expecting. My jaw dropped.
“I-I know this is a surprise, but I’m thrilled.” Molly had tears in her eyes. “I found out at the hospital. All that talk about babies with Helga, I started to think I was imagining it or that it was PMS. But I talked a nurse into doing a test, and turns out I was right.”
Dad added, “I don’t think we should say anything to Vince and Helga. Let them bask in parenthood for now.”
Chloe leapt off the bed to hug Molly, “I’m so happy for you, mom.”
“Really?” dad sounded skeptical, and I had to agree with him. Babies cried, keeping you up at night, requiring an arsenal of accessories, and they smelled funny. Not that I didn’t want kids one day…they might be nice, when I was well past thirty.
I studied Chloe.
Or babies would be beautiful and have snappy senses of humor.
“Yes,” Chloe gave me a look that dared me to contradict her, “Zack and I are hardly around anymore. You’ll have a baby to distract you while we’re gone.”
My girlfriend was a quick thinker, and I couldn’t agree more. Babies were a distraction. From what I’ve seen with kids at the mall and parks, parents barely had time to eat.
I was going to make this official with Chloe the first chance I got her alone. She was what I’d been missing. I had good grades, sports, friends, but the girlfriend had always been tricky. There were few girls I knew who wanted to be with me, like Regina. But I didn’t walk a certain way down the hall to see any of them smile. Or keep an eye on them to make sure they got to the dorm safe. And I didn’t deter the bad guys for them.
I’ve done all that for Chloe, and I’d do more.
Molly and dad went downstairs, talking about names and baby stuff. I shut the door. Chloe dropped back onto the bed.
“My mother is a mess.”
I chuckled, crawling over her on the bed and kissing my way up her neck to her lips. “Why?”
“They’ve been married for about two weeks.” She wrapped her arms around me, twining her legs with mine. “It takes a month, sometimes more to realize you’re pregnant.”
“So?”
“So your dad knocked up my mom before they tied the knot. It’s like my mom is incapable of procreation inside a marriage.”
“If that’s true, they won’t have anymore kids after this.”
“Maybe.” She sighed, opening her mouth to let me slide me tongue along hers as we kissed slowly, lazily.
“They’d have to get divorced, have sex, and get married again.”
“Now that would be funny.” I laughed.
My cell chimed. I fished it out of my pocket, propping myself on my arms so I didn’t have all my weight on Chloe. She didn’t seem to mind my lounging on top of her. Her fingers trailed up my arms, sliding down my back. It was amazing to feel her hands against my skin.
“Kyle is throwing a party next Friday night. His parents are out of town again for his mom’s job.” I rolled my eyes, tossing the phone on the bed next to us. “Perfect.”
“Not a party person?” she grinned, wiggling to let her legs fall open. She wrapped them around me and kissed my chin.
It suddenly became very hard to concentrate. “The mood hits me now and then. But his parties always end up being more trouble than they’re worth.”
“Why?”
I shook my head. “Kyle likes me to keep the peace.”
“Ugh, that doesn’t sound fun.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I guess we could go.”
“I think it would be fun. Just tell Kyle that I’ll be pissed if I can’t spend the evening with you. No peace keeping, unless it’s dire.”
“No problem.”
“Oh, and we’ll go as long as I don’t have to see Max. Or Lana.”
I texted Kyle to ask if Max and Lana were coming. “Max is not invited, and Lana might be there. He’s not sure. But I’ll only go to the party on one condition.”
“Yes?”
“You have to answer a question.” I rocked my hips into her, swallowing her startled gasp with a kiss.
“Okay.”
I smiled, framing her face with my hands and looking deep into her hazel eyes. “Chloe, will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes!” she hugged me. We ended up lazing around for a few more minutes, kissing. We eventually came to the decision that our relationship would be kept from our parents for as long as possible.
If not, maybe we could plead our case.
Because one thing I knew for sure.
Nothing could keep me from being Chloe Baker’s boyfriend.
The phone chimed again. “Damn.”
“What?” Chloe glanced at the screen.
“Kyle says Lana is staying with him.”
“So, she always stays with him.”
“Not at school.” I grimaced. “Apparently she moved out of your room a couple days ago.”
“Is she crazy? She can’t share a room with you and Kyle.” Chloe nibbled her lips. “What are you going to do, kick her out?”
“I think that would be a bad idea. I’ll see if I can crash with one of the guys from the team until this blows over.”
She smiled. “What about me? I’m short a room mate.”
“Are you sure?”
She kissed me. “Positive.”
Chloe and I drove back to Eckerd later that evening. We chilled most of the night with Tobey and a few other people from the team. It was a pretty quiet. No word from Kyle, except a text telling me that he and Lana would be driving back to school the next morning.
I went ahead and spent the night in my dorm, even though Chloe wanted me to stay with her. I had stuff to pack up so that I wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth, but I also wanted to give her the chance to change her mind. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be with her, I just didn’t want us to go to fast. I wanted to do this right, make a relationship.
I knew I was going to have sex with Chloe. I just wasn’t going to rush it. I might not be a genius at dating, but I knew I could ruin things between us if I wasn’t careful.
During classes the next day I covertly texted Chloe. She’d cleared a part of her room for my stuff. I dropped off my bags and we made our way to the cafeteria for lunch. Kyle and Tobey sat at the table with us, and Lana was nowhere to be seen.
“So, you and Zack?” Kyle winked at Chloe.
“Yeah.” She blushed, picking at her food. That clued me in. Something wasn’t right…the other was the odd feeling that we were being watched.
I glanced around the cafeteria and noticed a few people, mainly girls, were staring.
I put my arm around Chloe and eyebrows raised.
That was a first.
“The field is clear this afternoon if you want to practice.” Tobey dug into his first of two hamburgers. He was trying to gain weight, but it wasn’t working.
“I’m done with classes for the rest of the day.” I said.
Kyle nodded. “Me too.”
I glanced down at Chloe. “Do you want to come with us?”
She leaned into my side and shook her head, pushing her plate away. “No, I have humanities.”
Kyle winced. “With Lana.”
Ah, so that was why Chloe looked green. “Could always skip.”
She sighed. “I have to see her sooner or later. Maybe next time.”
“Okay,” and I swept my eyes around us again, only to be met by more quizzical stares of disbelief and shock from girls. It was weird.
Chloe stood, nearly tipping over her seat and hastily grabbing her things. “I have to go. I’ll see you later.”
I didn’t have time to say anything. She was out the door.
Kyle eyed her tray. “Chloe never leaves her chocolate chip cookie.”
I stood, worried. As silly as I felt for letting a cookie be the catalyst, it was. She ate lunch with Kyle and Lana everyday. He realized something was wrong to. My only question was, what? “I’ll be back.”
I went outside and started down the sidewalk. There wasn’t anyone around. I crossed the narrow drive and wove between parked cars. No Chloe. She couldn’t have gotten far. So I took out my phone and texted her.
She didn’t answer.
I kept up my search until I reached a large grassy area by the water. There were a few trees for shade and lawn chairs for students to relax.
“Hey.”
I turned around to find Chloe behind me, sitting at the base of a tree. “What happened back there?”
She shrugged, wiping her eyes. “Nothing, just something stupid.”
I sat down across from her. “Babe, is it about seeing Lana?”