Zenith in Love (Zenith Series #5) - Leanne Davis Page 0,73
criminal and his entourage was comprised of idiots. I used to think they were pathetic and they deserved what he gave them. But later, I realized they were lost and desperate souls and he cruelly preyed on their vulnerabilities. They sought answers and hope from the wrong places. They mistook the devil for a friend and paid him for the pleasure.”
“What happened? I mean, how did you…” She was overwhelmed with all the questions and queries she wanted to ask but didn’t know where to start. She found it so hard just to comprehend his past.
“I ran away when I was thirteen. I just left. First, I was Jim River. Then Jim Lake. Jim Winter, and so on. Being young, I just picked the name according to whatever I was looking at.”
She jolted off the bed from her slouch. “Oh, my God, Jim, I had no idea. Where did you go? What did you do to survive?”
“Whatever I had to. I found stuff to do. Slept various places. We were living in rural North Dakota then. So I wasn’t on the streets like it sounds. Mostly lost in the corn fields. I did manual labor in barns or picked crops in the field and earned my room and board. Then I worked for the Zavarians.”
The name he finally chose permanently. She’d wondered where it came from. He was weaving a tale that could turn out to be an epic movie storyline. “Zavarian. They gave you the name you eventually kept?”
“Yes. They let me stay with them the longest and later adopted me. That was mostly to cover the health insurance for me, rather than love. But they provided a solid, decent home for awhile…” His voice drifted off along with his gaze. There were all kinds of bad going on here. She wondered how it tied to whatever she found last night, but it had to somehow. Jim’s life story wasn’t at all like anyone could have suspected, especially Kayla. Considering he was engaged to her sister, a story of that much interest and titillation would have been repeated to her if Kathy’d only known.
Overwhelmed suddenly, she jumped to her feet. “I have to pee. I’m not going yet. But let’s take a little break.”
She raced to his bathroom where she peed and started the shower. She needed to think about this but in a way she could handle. Dialing the shower to scalding hot, she peeled her clothes off and got in. She tried to relax and let it caress her neck muscles and massage some of the stress knots out. Already she hurt for him and Jim was just starting. She washed with his soap and sad, dollar-store shampoo without conditioner. She’d have to fix that or never shower here again. It could go either way today. She was seeing the man he was, analyzing what they were doing, and deciding where that left her emotionally. That was why the urge to shower overcame her. She needed to face this with a clearer head. It would be a hard day; of that she was sure.
Stepping free of the shower, she dried off with his pathetic, small, threadbare towel that was hanging on the towel bar. The only one. One look at the skimpy material and she almost laughed. Then she was ready to cry. He lived with such austerity. Did he want more from life? Did he care about anything earthly? Would she be able to accept it if he didn’t like the same things she valued? Was it a sign of higher intelligence? Maybe he wasn’t completely against materialism. What was he thinking? She needed to know and find out.
Releasing the towel, she worked on her hair as best she could before slipping her clothes back on. She felt a bit better as she threw her wet hair over her shoulder and opened the door. Jim was still sitting on the floor with his head hanging and his wrists on his knees. His hands hung free and looked limp the way his fingertips pointed to the ground.
He lifted his head when he heard her. “I thought you were just peeing.”
“I needed to wake up. Refresh. I sensed a lot more to come and I had to regroup. Why don’t we make some coffee first? I think you have some bread left. Let’s make some toast too. You can’t feel too well.”
“You want to get more comfortable?”
“Yes. I do.”
He eyed her, and his face looked dull and neutral.