Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2) (7 page)

I heard Lane
suck in a breath. “Zeke Powers? Holy shit! He set the single-season
receiving record for Hallervan this year! He caught fifty-five
passes for over a thousand yards and had five touchdowns!”

Damn it. How
come everyone and their dog knew who Zeke was but I hadn’t? And how
come guys always knew useless sports stats?

“Um, wow,” I
offered. I knew nothing about football, but I’m sure what Lane said
was good since he was going nutso over Zeke’s stats. And I decided
to let his cussing go this time since he was so excited.

“Wow? Scar,
that’s, like, amazing! The guy’s amazing! And you’re going out with
him? Oh, man! Do you think I could meet him?”

Great. I was
getting ready to break my little brother’s heart. “I’m not going
out with him. We just had a few drinks. We’re only friends,
okay?”

“Aw! That
sucks. Well, could you at least get me his autograph? He’s gonna go
pro and be famous!”

“I’ll ask.
‘Kay, bud, I’ve gotta go. You get to bed, all right? I’ll be home
soon.”

“’Kay. Have
fun. And just letting you know, if you wanted to date Zeke, that’d
be cool. ‘Night, Scar.”

So… no
pressure there.

I used the
facilities, checked my face in the mirror and went back out to join
Zeke, planning to tell him I needed to leave.

When I came
back out, the beautiful blonde he’d hugged this morning was
standing with Zeke at our table and I did a stutter step. Crap. Who
was she? An ex who he still pined after? Ugh. Sucking it up, I
approached and got a huge smile from her.

“Hey! I’m
Scout!” she said, holding her hand out to me.

I took her
hand and smiled back. “Hi, Scout. I’m Scarlett.”

“This is
Gable’s woman,” Zeke explained unnecessarily.

She rolled her
eyes and chuckled. “You mean Gable’s my man.” She winked at Zeke
then looked over at the bar where Gable was helping a customer.
When he glanced at her, she pulled her hand up to the side of her
face and wiggled her fingers at him, giggling and he made a kissy
face at her before turning to make his customer’s drink.

“You two are
kinda sickening,” Zeke muttered and she smacked him on the shoulder
with a laugh.

“Don’t be
jealous. You’ll be amazingly happy too when you finally find your
reason to breathe.” She gazed at Gable watching him work and the
look on her face, one so full of love and affection, devastated me
because I knew I’d never been looked at that way before. She came
out of her daze and looked over giving me a wink. “They may be
closer than you think. It was nice meeting you, Scarlett. Zeke? Be
sweet to her.” She tiptoed up and kissed his cheek then went to the
bar, and going behind it laid a big one on Gable.

Zeke glanced
at me looking a little embarrassed. “Uh, your phone call.
Everything okay?” he asked when as we sat.

“Yeah. My
little brother checking up on me.” I chuckled then tossed a napkin
at him and dug a pen out of my purse holding it out to him. “So,
Mr. Famous Football Player, my brother, who I think is your biggest
fan and just quoted all your stats to me, wanted to know if he
could get your autograph before you go off and become really
famous.”

He grinned and
took the pen from me. “What’s his name?”

“Lane.”

“He play?”

“Yeah. He’s a
freshman at Garfield. Quarterback.” I watched as Zeke wrote out a
note in a masculine block print. When he finished, he smiled and
handed back my pen then folded the napkin and gave it to me.

I raised an
eyebrow at him as I opened it and read what he’d written.

Lane,

Remember, hard
work and sacrifice lead to good things.

—
Zeke
Powers #88

That was so
nice and honest to God I totally wanted to screw his brains out
now. I could hear Jay saying,
Damn, horny much, Scarlett?
I
smiled at him, folding the napkin and putting it carefully in the
side pocket of my purse then dropping my pen to the bottom. After
taking a drink then setting my bottle on the bar, I began peeling
the label off my bottle, a small smile still on my face as I
wondered how Zeke would be in bed (probably fabulous) and
rationalizing that since I didn’t plan on seeing him again, what
would it hurt if I went home with him tonight? I mean, I hadn’t
been with anyone since Lance two years ago.
Two friggin’
years.

“You thinkin’
dirty thoughts about me?” Zeke asked in a smoky voice.

I popped my
head up, afraid that he’d read my mind, and at the lustful gaze he
was giving me, I damn near fell off my chair because it appeared he
had.

“Actually, I
was…” I answered, my voice all raspy and throaty. Fuck. Why could I
not keep myself from blurting every thought that I had to him?

His eyes got
dark as they drank me in and I could feel the air crackling with
the sexual tension mounting between us. Then I swear I think he
growled.
Growled!
And it was then that I almost—almost—made
a huge mistake in asking him if we could go to his place.

But the
realist in me stuck her logical head out and took over (but it’d
been a struggle, I tell you, because, good lord, it felt like I was
Been-Denied-Sex-For-Freaking-Ever-Hulk and was having to tame the
freakin’ libidinously frustrated beast inside).

“I think I
need to go now. Can you, uh, drive me to my car, please?”

Zeke sat
there, his eyes on me for me a moment before he nodded slowly then
reached to his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.

“Oh, let me
help,” I said, grabbing my purse and looking into it, and then he
really did growl which made me jerk my head up to see him now
almost glaring at me. Dang.

“I’ve got it,
Scarlett,” he said, pulling some bills out and throwing them on the
table as he stood. Then looking over at his brother, gave him that
guy head nod thing. I got up too and felt his hand on my lower back
as he led me to the door where he first took my coat off the rack,
holding it out for me to put on then retrieved his own.

“Thanks for
coming in,” the hostess said and I gave her a smile as we walked
out.

It had stopped
snowing, and the only sound besides cars on the highway was the
snow crunching under our feet as we walked to his truck, neither of
us talking. He opened the door for me helping me in, and as he
walked around, I felt that things had shifted somehow between us.
Not that I thought he was mad at me or anything, but maybe upset
that I’d shut down what easily could’ve happened? I wasn’t all too
happy about it either, I mean, passing up having sex with him took
a lot of restraint but I knew it was for the best. Damn it.

We drove to
campus in silence and I didn’t know what to make of it, so when we
got to the parking lot, I started to get out but he was there
already, helping me down. And now he stood between Jezebel and me
which made me shift from foot to foot awkwardly.

“Thank you for
the drinks. And the nachos. And the note for La—“ I began right
before he bent and crushed his lips to mine giving me a hot, wet,
bruising kiss, one of his hands cupping my jaw, the other at the
nape of my neck where his fingers slid under my hair holding my
head as he pressed me against his truck with that hard body of
his.

Holy
smokes.

I hadn’t been
kissed like that in such a long time, and, God, how I’d missed it,
but it was almost like I’d forgotten what to do as I stood there
stunned for a moment. But I quickly found it was like riding a bike
because I was immediately right there with him, jamming my tongue
urgently into his mouth to tangle with his as I ran my hands up
over his big biceps then snaked my arms up to wind around his neck
where my fingers dug in, grasping handfuls of hair. Then what can
only be described as a cross between a moan and a cry emanated from
my throat as I grew hot between my thighs for him.

Uh, had I said
I hadn’t been kissed in a long time?

And then there
was that magnetic pull between us again because when he started to
move away, I went right with him as my fingers literally clawed to
keep him there with me which led to another scalding kiss.

Oh, my.

Sweet Jesus,
the man could kiss.

He finally
pulled back and looked down at me, one side of his mouth pulled up
in a cocky smile.

“What?” I
asked as he continued looking at me, my chest heaving as if I’d
just run in a 5k race.

“Just wanted
to make sure,” he stated cryptically, making me frown.

I raised my
eyebrows at him, canting my head to the side in a smart aleck
manner because what the heck was he saying?

“You want
me.”

“Wh-what?
Ho-how do you know?” I sputtered. Wow, I thought I’d been the
conceited one but he was really full of himself. I mean, I could’ve
been kissing anyone, I told myself, and would have reacted the same
way since I hadn’t been kissed in forever.

He brought his
forehead down to rest against mine. “How do I know? Because your
fingers are about to tear my hair out right now. I don’t think you
want to let me go.”

He was right!
I instantly unclenched my fingers from his hair, dropping my arms
and pushing my hands against his chest as I stepped away, my face
becoming hot. “It’s just that I haven’t been kissed in forever! And
it was so good. And you felt so amaz—” Crap. I gave him a dirty
look wanting the smirk on his face to go away. “You could’ve been
the… the…” I explained, shaking my head and trying to think of
someone when I saw a janitor come out of the building, “the janitor
for all it’s worth!” I held my hand out toward the guy who looked
at me like I was an idiot because I guess I’d said that rather
loudly.

And right then
I could hear Jayla saying, “’The lady doth protest too much
methinks.’” Ugh.

But in truth,
I did know I was lying. It was all Zeke that had made me throw
myself so fervently into those kisses but the smug look on his face
was a little irritating so I’d tried to save face a bit because I
didn’t want him to know how much friggin’ power he had over me,
which was very perplexing.

He now
grinned. “Goodnight, Scarlett. I’ll see you in class Friday.” He
bent and touched his lips to mine then waited while a
still-befuddled and scowling me dug my keys out of my purse then I
got in Jezebel who decided she wanted to be a picky little thing
and took a moment to get started. I glanced out the window to see
Zeke frowning a bit in thought at my car then giving him a little
wave and what I’m sure was still a baffled look, I backed out and
took off for home.

“It’s
eleven-thirty!” Jay answered her phone with a squeal. Um, great.
Keep the cryptic messages coming.

“What does
that mean?” I asked, the irritation of what’d just occurred between
Zeke and me making my scowl grow bigger. Not the kisses, mind you.
The kisses were spectacularly hot. I was just miffed because of the
way he made me feel, all needy and want-y and desperate-y
(whatever) for him.

“It means it
must’ve gone well with Zeke!”

I sighed. “It
went too well, if you must know.”

“What? Are you
gonna get laid?” she asked breathlessly. “
Dex! Scar’s gonna bang
Zeke Powers!”
she now shouted.

“No! I’m not
gonna bang anyone. God!”

“Then what?”
was her innocent reply.

“I just… like
him…”

“
Dex! Scar
likes Zeke!”

Good God.
Could Dex not ever be in the same room with her so she didn’t have
to yell at him?

As Jayla and I
talked, I glanced in my rearview mirror several times and thought I
saw Zeke following me. What in the world? Every time I turned, I
saw what I thought was his black pickup turning too. It had to be
him.

“I think he’s
following me!” I told her as I kept my eyes on the mirror. “What do
you think he wants?”

“You!” she
answered with a snicker.

Well, that was
something new. It’d been ages since someone had wanted me. And how
sad was that?

I turned on my
block and watched as the truck turned too. “Do you think he’s a
creeper?” Then I remembered our talk at The Nook. “Oh, God! Maybe
he really is a serial killer!” Just my luck. And I’d led him
straight to my house. Great.

“I guess we’ll
find out.”

“Gee, thanks.
Okay, I’m hanging up. If you don’t hear from me in five minutes,
call 911.”

I pulled into
the drive and got out quickly, stomping to Zeke’s truck that’d
stopped at the curb. When he rolled the passenger window down, I
snapped at him, “What do you think you’re doing?”

My favorite
grin appeared on his beautiful face, damn it. “Just making sure you
got home safely, Scarlett.”

“Oh…” That
knocked the wind out of my sails. “Well, that was nice of you.
Thank you.”

“I want to see
you again,” he said, those damned amber eyes of his steady on
mine.

I huffed out
an agitated laugh. “I already told you I don’t have time to date
anyone.”

“What’re you
doing tomorrow night?” he asked, undeterred.

“I’m busy. My
brother has a basketball game.”

“Friday?”

“Busy.”

“Saturday?”

I sighed.
“Busy.” We could keep this up all night and my answer would still
be the same even though I wished it wouldn’t. C
’est la vie
and all, right?

“October
14?”

I couldn’t
help but laugh seeing how it was January. “Pretty sure I’ll be
busy.” And now I was starting to feel like a huge bitch. “Zeke, I’m
sorry but I can’t.” I crossed my arms over my chest and bit my lip
as I looked down at the ground feeling like a real jerk for being
this way, but I’d made my rules and was going to live by them. When
I looked up at him, he was looking at me so sweetly with such
understanding in his eyes that I shook my head, feeling tears sting
the backs of my eyes. “I had to drop out of college for two years
trying to help my Dad. I’ve lost so much time. I just can’t lose
anymore. And I’m afraid you’d be… a… distraction,” I whispered.