As soon as we left the warehouse I said, "Did that go the way you expected?"
He crossed the street to the car, my car this time, one that wouldn't look out of place in a neighborhood like this, and said, "I got exactly what I wanted. It's the beginning."
"And what are you going to do once you get the intel you are looking for? Swoop in like some masked superhero?" I couldn't help myself.
"I'll do what needs to be done."
I didn't think he was prepared for that, but I kept my mouth shut and slid into the car. When he was riding in my car, I wasn't his driver. He slid in beside me.
"We'll see where it goes," I said as I drove off.
There was a lot of that going on lately.
Willow
The sun woke me up first. The warm beams shining down through the windows and onto my face were the first thing I was aware of as I stirred and reached for Zach.
He wasn't there. Then I remembered that he went to work last night and was probably still there.
So I stood up and thought about going for breakfast, but then my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see all the rooms he'd remodeled. I wanted to see the projects he was in the middle of. I opened the door to the hallway and started down it, inspecting each room. I hoped that they would tell me something about him. Anything.
The first one I found was his library. It was nothing but books and a couple of chairs. I took a deep breath as I entered the room. The smell of old books filled my senses as I walked up to the bookcases. Book after book, each one a different topic. Most of them were old, leather-bound. The kind of books you would expect to see in an archive or a library. Some of them had to be first editions, I was sure of it.
When I closed my eyes and tried to picture Zach, I couldn't see him reading all of these books, but I could tell by the open book on the oversized chair that he was reading this book.
Damn. The idea of him on the chair with a book open and reading glasses on made me all but salivate. It would've been a sexy image indeed.
After nosing through the books, I wandered from the library into the next room. It was of similar width of the last room but the length was stunted. It was a simple gym with a power cage, a salmon ladder, weights, and a bench, but in the back it had a door.
A part of me knew I shouldn't have gone back there. I shouldn't have tried the door, but I did anyway. I expected it to be locked. I expected there to be something in place to keep me from it, but there wasn't. The door swung open, and my mouth gaped as I saw all the things it contained.
Guns, knives, vests, computers. It looked like a scene from a movie for a spy or a hired gun. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking at but I knew it was all deadly. Deadly and dangerous, and it was all Zach's.
In the middle of the room on the wall, I saw one thing that didn't belong. A single solitary picture framed and hung up of him and his mother. She was sick, her hair gone, and he was practically holding her up, but the smile on both their faces was genuine. He was wearing his football uniform and I knew when that was. It had to have been the game that led them to the playoffs. The one that ensured that we went on to the state championship.
I knew that must've been it because it was the last time she ever came to a game. Everyone knew that the star running back's mom was dying of cancer. Everyone knew when she went into the hospital and never came out. It was when he quit playing. When he stopped even teasing me and whatever it was we had fell away to nothing.
When he cost our team the championship no one blamed him. Not for one moment. He didn't get any scholarships for football; he didn't turn the head of any scouts because he quit.
He knew he was going into the military. That was his life. This was his life.
I closed my eyes and bit back any tears that threatened. I didn't want to cry about everything that happened ten years ago. I didn't want to stand there in that room bawling like a baby. So I shook my head and took a moment to clear it.
"What are you doing?" a deep voice asked, anger brewing. He was angry. Of course he was.
I was snooping.
I turned to face him, the blazing fire in his eyes all that I needed to see. "I was just-"
"You were just what? Sticking your damn nose where it doesn't belong?" he asked. "What the fuck, Willow? Did I tell you that you could come in here? That you could break in to my personal store?"
"It wasn't locked," I added.
"That doesn't matter. Don't step foot in this damn room. It's dangerous. Don't touch anything. Just-just leave." He pinched his nose like he was biting back the words, but I stood there, frozen. "I said leave!"
That lit a fire up under me and I turned away from him and raced down the stairs.
It didn't matter that I was in last night's clothing, or that I couldn't find my damn coat. I got the hell out of that house and started walking. My place was about a mile away, but I knew it would do me good to get the fuck out.
I didn't want to be near him. I didn't even want to see his face. All the tears I fought earlier streamed down my face as I stormed off towards my house.
I took a deep breath and hoped that none of my students saw me. That they didn't realize it was me if they did happen to see me, but the worry in my gut only intensified with each step I took. By the time I was down the block, it had spiraled into an irrational fear. I was too busy worrying to hear the car come up behind me until Zach honked the horn.
"Get in the car, Willow," he commanded, his voice so much more controlled.
"No," I said as I kept walking. Maybe my house was about two miles away, actually. I started to falter. My shoes were great for teaching in and standing in, but they were not walking shoes. My feet would hurt by the time I got home.
"It wasn't a question. Get in the damn car and let me drive you home."
I glanced at him from the side of my eye then grabbed the car door and slid in. I wasn't happy about it, but I did it.
Silence loomed over us as he drove, a cloud of frustration and anger overwhelming me as I fought not to look at him. I tried to stare right out the window but my eyes kept dragging back to his face.
He was angry too. I could tell by the way he clenched his jaw, and I knew that no matter what I tried to say it wasn't going to end well. So I didn't say a word.
"I shouldn't have yelled," he finally said as he gripped his hands around the steering wheel. "I should've made sure it was locked, and I should've told you."
"I don't need to be screamed at. I don't need to feel threatened. Not by you, not by anyone." All the pain of my past bubbled over into my words. "I've been down that road before, Zach. I've been the girl who got screamed at and worse. I don't need that in my life again. I don't know what this thing is, but if that is what it is going to be, I don't need it. I don't need any of it." I crossed my arms and let out a breath.
His face changed. There was no anger in it. Instead, there was sympathy and pain.
He knew. He knew about my past.
Fucking Ruby.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
I held up my hand. "No, I don't need your pity. I don't need your apologies. I just need you to understand where we stand."
"I would never hurt you." He growled the words, and I wasn't so sure I believed him.
"You have a temper." It was dangerous, and if it was anyone else, if it was Elijah, I wouldn't have said anything.
But this was Zach and I had to know if I could trust him.
"I would never hurt you. Not like that, Willow. You have to believe me. I can't promise I won't yell, that I won't be an asshole, but I'll never hurt you." He looked at me then back at the road, and I knew that he was sincere. But not everyone did what they sincerely thought they would.
How did I know that he would stay true to his word? He wasn't the only person who had made that promise to me. And the first one broke it.
I clenched my teeth and tried to think of what to say. How to say it. But instead, I just nodded and looked him over.
"I'd kill any man who touched you," he said. "Any man who hurt you. Do you understand?" He grabbed me and pulled me into him. "I'm not that guy, Willow."
I breathed him in and I knew that he wasn't lying to me. He meant every word he said. And despite the pain and anger that Elijah caused, I wanted to trust Zach.
I wanted more from Zach then even I thought he could give.
So I just nodded and curled into his body and let myself breathe. Falling in love with a man this soon was probably a stupid decision, but when he wrapped his arms around me I didn't feel afraid.