Midnight Secrets (4 page)

Striding toward them, letting them know he was now the predator and they the prey, Zach asked with a soft, growling fury, “What the hell do you guys think you’re doing?”

“We’re just having a little fun.”

That came from one of the tuxedoed pricks, the quiver in his voice an indication that he was suddenly having second thoughts.

“This ain’t none of your business, Tanner,” Clark Dayton snarled. “This is private school property and you ain’t in school no more.”

Zach cocked his head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Dayton, but didn’t you graduate last year? Though by the sound of your speech, holding you back a few years might have been wise.”

With a vicious curse, Dayton lunged toward him. Zach had plenty of time to step out of his way and let the jerk land on his face. The guy was not only drunk but also moved like a lumbering ox. Avoiding the collision never entered Zach’s mind. Dayton slammed into him, apparently trying to knock him off his feet. Laughing at the piss-poor assault, Zach caught the idiot’s whiskered covered chin in a clean uppercut. Dayton’s mouth snapped shut with the satisfying crunching sound of breaking teeth.

Not even glancing at the now semiconscious Dayton, moaning and wallowing around on the pavement, Zach focused on the three remaining. “Anybody else want to give it a shot? Come on.”

The two in tuxedoes backed away, one mumbling about not wanting any trouble. The remaining guy looked down at Dayton and then back at Zach. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“Bring it,” Zach offered softly.

A clicking sound gave Zach a second’s warning before a knife was jabbed toward his face. Jerking back, Zach threw out a kick and knocked the knife out of the guy’s hand. The guy barely had a chance to know he’d lost his weapon before Zach was on him, taking them both to the pavement. The breath had been knocked out of his opponent, giving Zach the opportunity to pin him down by holding both of his arms above his head. Then, very deliberately, he positioned his knee over the guy’s groin and pressed down … hard. Whatever breath the idiot had regained was expelled in a squealing sob.

“Next time you think about raping a girl, remember this, asshole.”

“Get off me … please.”

Taking his time, Zach got to his feet. Consumed with holding his privates and rolling around on the pavement, the guy never looked at Zach again.

Finally able to face the young woman he’d just saved, for the first time he realized her identity. Savannah Wilde. “You okay?”

Instead of nodding her head, answering yes, or hell, even running away, she did something that stunned him. With a sobbing “Oh, Zach, thank you,” she launched herself toward him. Zach had no choice but to open his arms to catch her.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held on tight.

Zach forced himself to hold her loosely, because, for whatever insane reason, he instinctively wanted to hold her tighter and feel her body pressed up against his. His mind scrambled for a noble excuse. It was a reflex from the adrenaline rush, not because she felt so damn good or because no one had ever looked at him as if he was something special.

Whatever the reason, they had to leave. She needed to get to safety and he needed to get the hell out of here before the police showed up. No matter that he had saved one of the Wilde sisters from a gang rape or even worse, Police Chief Harlan Mosby would gladly haul his ass into jail. When it came to Zach, Mosby acted first and asked questions later.

Pushing her away slightly, he said, “You okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” she answered softly.

“You have a car?”

“No.” She glanced toward the school building and then back at him. “Would it be too much out of your way to take me home?”

The question stunned him almost as much as her jumping into his arms. Good girls, rich or poor, did not get into the car with Zach Tanner. Few parents wanted to see their daughters take up with the town’s bad boy, especially one with no money or prospects.

She had to know who he was—she’d called him Zach. He knew little to nothing about the Wilde sisters, but he had heard that Savannah was “the brainy one.” So far, she wasn’t impressing him with her smarts.

“I don’t think me taking you home is a good idea. Who’d you come with?”

She glanced nervously toward the school. “My date.”

“Then what the hell are you doing out here?”

“He’s inside getting drunk. I was looking for my sister.”

The idiocy of some guys amazed him. While his date was in the parking lot close to getting raped, he was inside boozing it up. Figuring they had mere seconds before someone either called the cops or one of the guys on the pavement got up the courage to take him on again, Zach took Savannah’s hand and pulled her to his car. “Let’s get out of here.”

Savannah sank into the car seat, her relief so great she could barely catch her breath. She had no doubt what Clark Dayton and his friends had wanted to do. And Zach Tanner had been the one to save her.

The driver’s-side door squeaked open and Zach slid into the seat beside her. The heartbeat that had been slowing down sped right back up. She had never been this close to him before; he was even more handsome than she had thought.

“You live on Wildefire Lane, right?”

Too breathless to speak, she nodded.

The car shot forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clark leaning against a car. As they passed by him, he yelled out something and raised his hand, extending his middle finger in an obscene gesture.

Zach acted as though he didn’t exist, but shot her a warning look. “Dayton won’t forget this. You need to be on the lookout for him for a while.”

“I don’t plan to ever be in a position where I see him again.”

“You’re living in the same town … might be hard to avoid him.”

She didn’t bother to point out that she and Zach had lived in the same town and this was the first time they’d encountered each other. Instead she told him news that no one but her family knew. “I’m leaving for college in a few months.”

“Oh yeah, where you going?”

“Vanderbilt University in Nashville.”

A smile spread over his face and Savannah had to hold her breath to keep from gasping. She’d never seen such a transformation. Before, he’d been handsome but grim looking. His smile changed him into just short of beautiful.

“Good for you. That’s a great school. What are you going to study?”

“Law. I’m going to be a criminal defense attorney.”

Zach nodded his approval as he turned in to the drive in front of her house. Savannah couldn’t believe they were already here. It felt as though she’d just gotten into the car.

“Might want to mention this incident to your granddaddy, just to be on the safe side.”

She nodded absently, biting her lip in indecision. While she’d been in the midst of those hideous boys, a thought had flashed through her mind of how safe and staid her life had become. She was eighteen years old and had never done anything remotely exciting or risky. Here was her chance to do something different, be someone different. Her mind whispered,
Take a chance!
For some reason, she felt changed, as if her life had been altered. She didn’t want to go back to the same boring Savannah. Taking that chance, Savannah blurted out her thoughts: “Would you like to come in and meet Granddad? I’m sure he’d like to thank you for basically saving my life.”

Zach snorted and shook his head. “You really are an innocent, aren’t you? Your granddaddy would probably lock you up until it’s time for you to leave for college if he saw you with me.”

She didn’t bother to ask him why he felt that way. She knew what the gossips said about him. Having been the victim of many of those same gossips, she knew better than to believe their lies. What they said didn’t faze her. Nor would it her grandfather.

“Granddad isn’t one to believe the gossips. He said you have to look beneath the surface to get the true measure of a person.”

Instead of arguing with her, he gave her another sweet smile. “Your grandfather sounds like a good man.” He glanced at his watch. “But I need to get going.”

Of course he did. He’d probably had a date tonight and was heading home. Or maybe he was just now going out. Since he was older, he didn’t have to worry about curfews and stuff like that.

“Would you come for breakfast in the morning?”

Though he didn’t move a muscle, she could tell she had startled him. His words confirmed the thought. “Excuse me?”

“Come for breakfast in the morning. We sit down at eight. It’s really informal.… I know my granddad would be very excited to meet you.” Before he could answer and give her the rejection she expected, she added, “Please, don’t say no.”

He opened his mouth and she was sure that was exactly what he would do, but instead he said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Letting it go at that, she opened the car door and then looked at him again. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“Just be careful from now on. Okay?”

“I will.” And before her newfound courage deserted her, she leaned over and quickly kissed his cheek, loving the tingling feel of his five-o’clock shadow against her mouth. “You’re my hero.”

Before he could say anything or she could do anything crazier, Savannah jumped out of the car and raced toward the house.

Chapter

Three

Barely eight hours later, calling himself seven kinds of a fool, Zach stood on the front porch of the Wilde mansion. He had no good reason for being here and sure as hell didn’t belong here.

In his whole life, he’d never had anyone refer to him as a hero. He’d been sneered at, laughed at. Had people call him everything from bastard and sleaze to the town slut’s son. Had even seen people cross the street to avoid him. The very idea that even for a moment someone as pure and sweet as Savannah Wilde could consider him a hero amazed him. The temptation of experiencing that feeling again was hard to resist.

Of course, the moment Daniel Wilde, Savannah’s grandfather, saw him, he’d be told to leave. His stomach grumbled and he shrugged philosophically. If nothing else, maybe they’d give him a biscuit or something before they kicked him out.

That might be humiliating for some, but Zach had long ago gotten over being prideful. Taking care of his family for so many years had made pride a useless emotion and one he couldn’t afford. It’d been a while since he’d had to steal food or depend upon the kindness of others. Once he’d found a few folks willing to give him a chance to earn some money, he had stopped stealing. And though he could still go to the food pantries at some of the churches and get free groceries, he had stopped that, too. Food hadn’t been as plentiful once he had started paying for it, but it had tasted a damn sight better than stolen food or charity.

And now that Leonard had come into their lives, there was plenty of money for groceries, but Zach would never allow himself to forget the gnawing ache of hunger. He was still as frugal as ever, but instead of spending all of his earnings on the necessities, he saved as much as he could.

Braced for rejection, Zach pressed the doorbell and waited to be told to go home. Seconds later, Savannah opened the door, and her brilliant smile of welcome was like a blast of bright sunshine after a long, dark night. Her long, wavy hair was pulled back by some kind of barrette, and she was wearing a pale pink sleeveless dress covered in butterflies.

“You came!”

She seemed so pleased to see him, Zach took a step forward before he remembered he hadn’t been invited inside. Stopping abruptly, he cleared his throat and said, “I only came to make sure you were okay.”

Yeah, okay, that was lame. But he figured giving her an out would save both of them the embarrassment when Daniel Wilde ordered him to leave.

Instead of accepting his words, she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. “Nonsense. Granddad’s so excited to meet you. Breakfast is ready. Hope you’re hungry.” She tugged on his arm again. “Come on.”

Zach barely heard the door close behind him as he gazed around in awe. Never in his life had he seen anything so grand or clean. The closest thing was when he was a kid, he’d gone on a school trip to tour the governor’s mansion in Montgomery. That had been larger, but this, in his opinion, was nicer.

The floor was polished mahogany, so shiny he could see his reflection. The walls, a light lemony color, were covered with framed art and all sorts of family photos. A giant curved staircase seemingly miles away from the entrance spiraled up to the second floor. A balcony overlooked the first floor. The mansion appeared big on the outside but he hadn’t imagined how immense it really was. Long past believing that anything could intimidate or impress him, Zach felt rooted to the floor and speechless. The gulf between his upbringing and Savannah Wilde’s was like night and day, beans and apple butter … heaven and hell.

“Come into the morning room. That’s where we have Saturday breakfast. Sammie and Bri are excited to meet you, too.”

Barely comprehending that his feet were moving, Zach followed slowly behind Savannah, more intimidated with each step he took. Every room they went through reinforced the fact that he didn’t belong here. He was about to come up with another excuse to leave when she led him to a large sunny room with a table laden with the best-smelling and most delicious-looking food he could ever imagine. What amazed him even more were the three smiling faces of the people surrounding the table.