Bad Son Rising (11 page)

Time for me to go to sleep. Tell Heckle & Jeckle that I miss them big time and say hi to Mia. And let Dr. Castillo know that Lily is doing just fine.

Z-man

His dedication and passion did not go unnoticed, nor did his uncanny talent to isolate a problem and immediately develop and execute a solution. Zac Moore was truly meant for this type of work. It didn’t take long before he was named Assistant Project Leader, tasked with working in an itinerant role, traveling to the different sites and projects to assess issues and work with the locals and the teams on solution plans. In another environment, people would have been grumbling that the young, good looking American was getting special treatment, but Zac had proven himself more than worthy of the promotion.

Planning a Friday night Beach Rave, Zac donated a few pairs of LeBrons and DSquared2 sweatshirts that Brian had sent to him to barter for beer and other alcohol.

“We should be able to really let loose,” Matthew smiled, lying back on his bed.

“We always do,” Zac laughed at the odd statement.

“Yeah, we do. But even more so this Friday.”

“Why? What’s going on this Friday?”

“There’s some major donors coming in country and William is going to be off with them this weekend showing them different project sites and giving them the full Project Hydrate experience. He’s leaving Friday afternoon and won’t be back until Sunday afternoon.”

Most excellent,
thought Zac.
I can spend time with Lily without having to worry about him or about retribution.

Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

Buh-bye, William, have a great trip, dude.

Finally…

The moon was almost full on Friday adding to the energy charge around base camp. By Friday afternoon, the excitement for the night’s festivities was palpable.

Walking into the administrative office earlier in the afternoon to turn in his paperwork for the week, Zac was met with an odd twist of fate.

“Zac Moore? Is that you?” a woman’s surprised voice asked.

Turning to meet his unanticipated greeter, a dirty, sweaty Zac found himself face-to-face with one of America’s highest paid models and her producer husband. The couple had been longtime members of his father’s Brentwood, CA health club location - a location Zac had worked at for several summers through middle school and high school.

“How are you, darling?” The beautiful brunette kissed him on each dirty cheek.

Sticking his hand out for the husband, the man ignored it and embraced Zac in a warm hug.

“What are you doing here is what I want to know?”

Looking down at his dirty forearms, Zac smiled, “I’m here helping out in any way I can.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see William, arms across his chest, face tight.
Damn you are an insecure little moron,
thought Zac.
I’m your ace in the donation hole, douche.

Knowing he had to play it just right, “When I had the opportunity to work with this man here,” he gestured to William, “I knew putting school on hold was the only thing I could do. You two are in for an amazing experience. What he has been able to execute for so many villages is really going to blow you away. You are going to be so proud of what your money is going to do,” he hit them with an assumptive close, “and this weekend you are going to meet the children that are going to be living to their fifth birthdays because of you.”

He paused and offhandedly asked, “How old are India and Oscar now?” The killing blow. He was just glad he was able pull those two names out of his ass.

“Four and seven,” the beauty responded.

Zac nodded solemnly, his eyes grave, “So, you know.” He continued to nod.

She nodded in agreement, her eyes already misting over.

Turning to William, “Well, I won’t hold you up anymore.” And then to the couple, “It was so great to see you. I can’t wait to tell my dad that you’re going to be a part of this. He’s going to love hearing that.”
Try backing out of this now.

With last hugs, Zac left the administration hut.
I should get a fucking Academy Award, making that douche look like a freaking hero to them and he’s going to look like a freaking hero to his boss when they write that big-assed check.

What does Lily see in that guy?
he wondered.

The moon was still massive and low in the sky as the night’s festivities hit full throttle. A cleaned up Zac was looking bad boy hot in faded, ripped jeans and an untucked button down with the sleeves rolled halfway up his tan, muscular forearms, his irreverent lock of hair slashing across his forehead.

The talk around camp was about the hot model and her rich looking husband who had left with William on the donor trip and whether or not they’d be funding projects.

“They’re from California, do you know them?” Jake asked.

Practically spitting out his beer, “It’s a big state, mate, with like 38 million people.” Zac didn’t want to let on that he knew the prospective donors.

“Well, you knew Lily, and you’re both from California.”

“We’re actually from the same town and our dads are involved in a project together.”

“Were you friends with her?” Matt joined the conversation, sweaty cold beer in hand.

“We’d only met once before, a few years ago. Our town is close to 100,000 people and I was in school 3,000 miles away for high school.” Zac tried not to be conspicuous as he scanned the crowd for her.

Arianna Grande’s
Break Free
began to play and the makeshift dance floor immediately filled up. It had been a few weeks since their last dance party and the ups and downs of failed systems, repaired systems, functional systems, head-banging how the hell are we going to fix this systems all played out in hot, grinding moves in the night. The crew danced closer together than they needed to, as if they were in a packed nightclub. The energy of their body heat was insanely sexually charged, pounding to the heavy bass of the music.

Niles and one of his guys appeared with a small generator and what looked like a framed frosted glass panel with lights mounted on the bottom. Heading over to where the burly Brit was squatted next to his equipment, Zac went to check out what he was up to, stopping along the way to bring him and his helper each a cold beer.

“Hey, what’s this?” Zac squatted next to him.

“As soon as it gets a little darker, all will be revealed.” He focused on his beer.

“Looks like we’ve got some kind of light machine here,” Zac continued to check out the gadget. “You’re totally turning this into a rave, dude.”

“I’m trying.” Niles began to nurse his second beer, his spirits definitely on the lighter side than usual. “Ahh, they’re playing my song,” and he shuffled onto the dance floor as Afrojack’s
Ten Feet Tall
began to play, his huge frame lumbering awkwardly with total abandon.

As Zac watched the burly redhead, all he could think was,
tonight is going to get awfully strange.

He felt her and smelled her before seeing her. When he looked down, she was standing silently by his side watching the raucous mess on the dance floor, an amused look on her face. Without saying anything, he stepped away, leaving her there. Turning back, the look on her face said, “Why are you leaving me?” Very reminiscent of the look on his face after their dance at his father’s wedding. He smiled and held up a finger indicating for her to wait a minute, returning soon with two cold beers.

Handing her one, “To a fun night,” he toasted.

She clinked her bottle against his, “You’re all about fun, aren’t you?”

Bending down to hear her, he laughed. “I’d prefer to have fun than not have fun.”

She nodded and gave him a half smile.

At the song’s end, Niles came back to where they were standing and approached his machine. “It’s dark enough. Let the show begin,” he announced to Zac and Lily.

As the first strains of Coldplay’s
A Sky Full of Stars
filled the night, Niles flipped the switch on the generator and a collective “Ooooooo” rose from the crowd as the entire party area was bathed in thousands of tiny points of red and white twinkling lights. Lily looked up at Zac, an amused grin on her face.

Grabbing her free hand, Zac pulled her out onto the dance floor, “How could we not dance under the stars?” he asked.

Nodding, Lily began to dance as she drank her beer. Looking around, she was transfixed on the magic of the lights. “It feels like Christmas,” she yelled over the music.

Zac put his hand on her shoulder as he bent down to hear what she was saying. He nodded, yes.

Play a slow song next. I want to dance with her in my arms again.
But the mix tape gods weren’t listening as a Shakira song was up next.

Katje and Anneliese made their way over to Zac and Lily and joined in the dance. As Anneliese began rubbing up on him from behind, it wasn’t her motion that he felt, it was the look on Lily’s face that hit his senses first. She wanted to run, he could feel it. The singer was daring the man to kiss her on the dance floor and before the Germans decided to act it out, Zac grabbed Lily by the hand and pulled her into him. Her reflex action was to pull away, but he held on tight and shook his head telling her not to go. With eyes locked on hers, they stood just inches apart. Both had stopped dancing.

Leaning forward, Zac yelled into Lily’s ear, “I need a beer. Want one?”

She nodded and he grabbed her hand and pulled her off the dance floor.

“You didn’t have to stop dancing because of me.”

Without answering, he handed her a beer.

“I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from your friends.” She flung her long hair back. Her body language had become tense.

“Aren’t you one of my friends?” he challenged, eyebrows arching over his smoldering blue eyes.

Licking her lips, more in a nervous than a sensual manner, she shook her head, no. “No. Not really.”

Nodding, his eyes held hers tight, challenging her to look away. “Well, maybe you’d rather be with someone else.” The muscles in his jaw twitched.

He began to walk toward the lake.

“Zac,” she trotted to keep up with him, “I didn’t mean it that way.” Putting a hand on his arm to stop him, “I just meant we don’t really know each other. We haven’t spent a lot of time together talking.”

He nodded and continued walking. Standing at the shoreline, watching the moon’s golden glow shimmer on the water reminded him of staring at the moon’s trail on the ocean at his family’s beach house on Fire Island. He looked up. It was the same moon, but nothing else was the same.

Silently, Lily stood beside him, staring at the moon’s light reflecting off the water. Besides the moon, she was the only thing from his old life. He clanked his beer bottle against hers and smiled down at her, “To becoming friends.”

She nodded and almost smiled, but it appeared to turn into a grimace. “Yes. To becoming friends.”

Rising early Saturday morning, he knew there was no point in staying in bed any longer. After spending hours tossing and turning, Zac tied his Adidas sneakers and did some preliminary stretches to ready for a run. The dining room wasn’t going to open for another hour, so there was time for a run and a shower to clear his head.