Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family) (20 page)

Literally seconds later, Jack pulled up next to us and ordered Zane to open the door.  I lowered the window and told him everything was okay and to give us a few minutes.

I turned to look at Zane who was even more pissed.

“Are we starting this shit again, Abby?”

That pissed me off even more.

“I think it’s a legitimate question.”

He ran his hands through his hair and looked at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of pain and anger.

“I’m not going to go through this again, if we are going to move forward we have to trust each other.”

“I agree with that, but I know what I saw so I want to know who you were talking to.”

Zane turned his body toward and held my gaze.

“Abby, do you trust me?”

I fidgeted as I looked down at my hands, incessantly wringing my fingers.

“I’m really trying to, Zane.”

A deep sigh escaped his lips and he gently rested his hand on my thigh.

“What can I do to help you trust me more?”

“Just be honest with me.”

“Okay, I promise I will be.”

He was silent and I was waiting, and the longer he was silent the more annoyed I got.  I finally blurted out what I was thinking.

“
Well
?”

“Oh, you want to know who the girl was.”

Now I was pissed again because I felt like he was playing games.

“Yes, I do!”

“She is my realtor, she wanted to go see a property that night.”

I sat there for a second and let his words sink in.
Did I hear what I think I just heard? Is he playing games?

“Realtor?  Really, Zane?  She wanted you to go see a property at midnight?  Do you really expect me to believe that?”

His eyes were stern.

“Yes, I do.  She’s also my…”

I didn’t give him a chance to finish, I got out of the car and slammed the door behind me.  Jack was there in an instant.

“I’m fine Jack, just give me a minute!”

It was so annoying to have a bodyguard following me around all the time. Sometimes I just wanted to be alone.

I started walking toward the gas station convenience store as fast as my feet could take me, wanting to get away from both of them.

I heard Zane’s deep voice bellowing behind me.  “Abby!  Wait a second!  You didn’t let me finish!”

I stopped, spun on my heel and glared at him.

“I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say!  I don’t believe for one second that your realtor was in your bar at midnight to take you to see a property.  I am not stupid, Zane!  This is not going to work, you need to leave!”

I could feel the tears welling up and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

Shock and disbelief were written all over his face.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, go!  You are totally trying to make a fool out of me!  I don’t want to see you ever again!”

The tears spilled down over my cheeks and I ran into the ladies room to get away from them.  I didn’t want to ride to my parent’s place with Jack, he wasn’t really my favorite and it would be so awkward.  I pulled out my phone and dialed the one man I could always count on.

His voice was deep and comforting.

“Hello?”

            “Daddy?”  I barely got it out.

            He sounded instantly alarmed.  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

            Hearing the worry in his voice made me ball like a baby.

            “Daddy, I just got into a fight with Zane and I’m at a gas station off 495.  Will you come get me?”

            “Of course sweetheart!  Is Jack there with you?”

            I sniffled and grabbed some tissue from the roll.

            “Yes, he’s here but I don’t want to ride with him daddy.  I’m too embarrassed.”

            “Okay, sweetheart.  Do you know exactly where you are?”

            I started sobbing again.

            “No, I’m in the bathroom and I don’t want to go out there.”

            “Okay, okay calm down.  Everything will be okay. Honey, I am going to call Jack and get the exact directions and I will be there as fast as I can.  Try to stop crying.  Is Zane still there?”

            I could hear that my father wanted to rip his throat out and if he saw him, he probably would.

            “I don’t know.  I told him to leave.”

            “Okay, I’ll talk to Jack and make sure he leaves so that you can at least sit in Jack’s car while you wait for me.  I’ll tell Jack to wait outside the car until I get there.”

            “Okay, thanks daddy.”

            “You’re welcome sweetheart.  I’ll see you soon.”

            A few minutes later Jack knocked on the bathroom door and told me the coast was clear; Zane had taken off.  Jack had already put my bag in his trunk and I was really grateful because I didn’t want to have to see Zane again to get my stuff.  I climbed into the back seat and lay down while Jack stood outside the car.

            I was so upset that I had opened my heart to Zane again. 
Realtor showing a property at midnight….yeah right.

            As I lay on the cool leather seats I couldn’t stop thinking about him and that what I thought was going to be something real turned out to be nothing more than something horrible.  I was even planning to pull my sister aside and tell her the story of we had made up after I introduced him to everyone because I was sure she was going to be shocked.  A tear slowly ran down my cheek and I shrugged my shoulders as I carelessly twirled my hair. 
Not going to happen now.

            I must have drifted off because the next thing I knew I my parents were tapping on the window.  They had the sweetest look of concern on their faces and I jumped out of the car and gave them a huge hug.

            “Thanks for coming to get me.”

            My dad kept his arm around me.   “Of course, honey.  Let’s get you into my car and we can talk about what happened.” 

            Once we were inside the car, my dad closed the partition to separate us from the driver and we had complete privacy.  He glanced at my mom and then turned to look at me.

            “Abby, honey, how did Zane even come back into the picture?”

            “I ran into him a few weeks ago and we started talking and we realized that we miss each other so we decided to give it another try.”

            My mom gently put her hand on my arm.

            “Abby, I thought we agreed that you would not see him anymore because he is not good for you. I thought we sat down and had a long discussion about him and you agreed with us that you would not date him again.”

            That was true.  After we broke up a few years before, and my parents saw how hurt I was, they basically forbid me from dating Zane again and they had nothing good to say about him.  That was mostly my fault because I painted a really bad picture of him because I was so hurt.

            “I know, but I can’t help that I love him.  I can’t control my heart.”

            “Abby, what happened today should prove to you that Zane is bad news and what we said about him before still stands, we don't want you to see him again.”

            Just those words made me start crying again.  My heart was broken for a second time and I just wanted to be happy.  I looked at my parents, with tears streaming down my face.

            “I can’t promise that.”

            My dad’s face was stern.  “Abby, why would you want to be with someone who makes you so unhappy?”

            My mom chimed in.  “Seriously honey, love is not supposed to hurt.”

            My crying was completely out of control, my body wracked with sobs.