I want to remind him how I felt about him? Absolutely not. But it didn’t seem like I had a choice anymore, damn it. “For having feelings and making things weird, but I promise I already talked to Boogie, and I was going to tell you that there’s nothing to worry about because I’ll get over it in no time.”
“Get over it?”
Why was Zac sounding choked?
My cousin smirked, then snorted and turned, saying over his shoulder, “Bianca was saying earlier that she’s going to get some dogs or cats and be a cougar someday. You’re on your own with that. Thanks for dropping by for a whole minute to see me. You’re a real friend.”
That had Zac snorting all over again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Whatever you say.” My cousin laughed once more, going straight for the lane again, shaking his head.
“What was that about?” I muttered to the one still holding my forearm, confused. “Who beat the shit out of you?” Had he… started dating someone? Had he started seeing someone in the last two weeks?
It was Zac’s turn to laugh as he tugged on my arm, taking a step back. The dark circles under his eyes were more apparent as he tipped his head down to look at me, another big smile on his face. “I was talkin’ about you, kiddo.”
For a moment, it felt like I fell through time and space before I croaked, “Me?”
He nodded, tugging on my arm to follow, and I did… mostly because I could barely feel my legs and I was beginning to question whether this was real or not. “Yeah, you. Who else?”
He was leading me toward the exit, which I guessed wasn’t weird or unheard of. He just wanted some privacy? To talk to me about…
Hold on.
I repeated some of the word choices they’d used during their conversation and thought about them some more as Zac pushed through the doors, holding one open for me before letting it shut behind us. I’d been so worried about them being upset with each other that I’d been mostly focused on each word they used rather than the whole message.
But now….
“Zac?” I asked as he led me toward his car.
“Yeah?”
He beeped the locks and opened the passenger side door too. I stopped beside the car, tipping my head up to meet those blue-blue eyes that seemed to sparkle even under the streetlights. He was smiling down, slowly and lazily. He didn’t look nervous or even that tired anymore. Zac looked… well, he looked alive and bright and… determined and relieved.
“What was the inevitable you were talking about?” was the first thing I managed to ask.
His expression—that one that made me feel like there was nothing in the world that could ever be that bad if he was near—went nowhere as his hand took mine once more. Possessive and protective and steady, he took the whole thing. He tilted his head to the side, that very Zac smile making me rise up to the balls of my feet in anticipation. “You, kiddo, what else?”
I almost fainted.
And he noticed my almost faint because he laughed all rich and perfect. “Come on. Get in the car. We gotta have a chat.”
I got in the car, mostly because I wasn’t sure my knees would hold me up much longer. Also because I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t swoon, smack my head on the side mirror, and forget everything that had just happened. At least the parts I could comprehend.
And this fool was still smiling as he shut the door after I got in, and he was smiling as he climbed behind the wheel and turned on the car. All while I reeled. Stricken. Stuck.
Amazed. Terrified. Confused too.
Mostly confused.
He… he….
I took a breath in through my nose and put my thoughts in order as he turned on his car and turned toward me.
“Zac?”
He looked so earnest. “Yes, darlin’?”
I couldn’t look at his face while I asked this, so I focused on the screen of his console as I asked in a steady voice, “Do you… do you…?” I could barely think the words, much less say them out loud. “Were you…?” I couldn’t fucking stop stuttering. Because I couldn’t comprehend what he’d been trying to imply.
He made a soft sound in through his nose. “Did you steal my damn heart, run off with it, and say I’ll see ya later? ’Cause the answer to that is yes.”
I really was on the verge of passing out, and it took everything in