Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 15

  “Sorry, Mom,” he said, genuinely looking embarrassed for once.

  “I think Alex is horny,” Michael said with a smirk at his brother.

  Alex glared at him and threw a cracker across the table at him.

  “Michael, shut your mouth,” Jamie said, glaring at her other son. “And you,” she said, pointing at Alex. “Watch it with the crackers. No food fighting.”

  “Crackers wouldn’t be that hard to clean up,” Alex grinned.

  “Keep it up and you’ll be in here cleaning the kitchen by yourself,” she warned.

  “No throwing crackers,” he nodded in compliance. “Got it.”

  “What’s horny mean?” Zoe asked, looking over at Alex, even though she knew her mom probably wouldn’t let him answer.

  Jamie grinned and looked over at Carl and noticed he was trying really hard not to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” Zane asked, noticing his mom and dad’s shared humor.

  “I’m not sure we should tell you,” Carl said, shaking his head. “At any rate, it’s your mom’s choice to tell you or not.”

  “Come on, Mom. What’s the joke?”

  Jamie laughed, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think I want to tell you.”

  “Oh, come on. Why not?”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “It can’t be that bad. Tell us.”

  “Okay,” Jamie said, breathing a sigh, still grinning. “When your dad and I first got married, he used the word horny one day. I had to ask him what the word meant.”

  “Okay,” Zane said. And because he was still trying to recover from Amanda’s attack on his self-control earlier, he made a very un-Zane like blunder. “Now I want to know why Dad was using the word horny.”

  “If you don’t know why he was using the word horny, we may need to worry about you more than we thought,” Jamie said, giving her loud mouth son a smirk.

  When Zane actually turned red from embarrassment, everyone from twelve years and up started laughing and clapping.

  “Take a bow, Mom. You just shut Zane up,” Phillip said, clapping the loudest.

  Jamie stood up, with a cheesy grin. And with a flourish bowed first to the left, then to the right.

  “Mom, what’s horny mean?”

  “Sorry, Baby Girl. You’re not ready for that one,” Carl said, patting Zoe on top of the head.

  ******

  Zane had started to accept that his being alone with Amanda at his house was not the wisest thing for him. He knew if he wasn’t careful, she was going to realize just how much power she had over him, but ever since that first kiss, he had been having trouble keeping his hands to himself. There was also the fact she wasn’t exactly trying to help him be good. He was afraid if he let himself touch her too much, he would get to the point where he was unable to stop. And if he took advantage of her vulnerability he would hate himself. No matter how hard she tried to get him to. Maybe he should just not worry about this mess with Austin and ask her to marry him now. Lately, he felt like he was starting to sound like Luke back when they were dealing with Tracy Lewis, with the whole letting someone else’s crazy effect their lives so much.

  Regardless, he had decided he and Amanda were going to have to spend more time around other people and avoid as much time alone together as they could. That was why they were now at his mom and Dad’s with Mark and Jenny, James and Lisa, Luke and Mindi and Jeff and Hannah. They all seemed to realize he was feeling desperate in some way. Like they knew he was going to do something he would regret if he wasn’t careful. It was already ten o’clock and none of them were saying they were ready to leave. It seemed like they were waiting for him to decide when he was done. They had even put the babies to bed for the night, deciding they could spend the night since it was getting so late. He was feeling really thankful for all the friends and family he had.

  They were playing a game crossed between Texas Hold ‘Em and truth or dare. They had gotten bored with using poker chips, and decided they wanted some kind of real stakes. So now, when a hand was over, the winner got to ask the player with the worst hand a question and dare them to do something. The loser got to choose between the truth or the dare.

  Zane had been waiting all night to get Jeff in his cross hairs. He knew the guy well enough to know he wouldn’t cry foul. He would do one or the other. He wanted to see which one it would be.

  It had taken long enough, but Zane was finally going to get his chance. When Zane looked up the table at him, he could tell Jeff knew he was in trouble by the look in his eyes. He always got really intense when he knew Hannah was about to be involved, and he was burning a hole through Zane from several feet away.

  “Get to it, Zane. What do you want?” Jeff asked, nearly snarling.

  “Well,” Zane said, taking a dramatic pause. “You can either tell us all why you don’t date. And I don’t want the, I just don’t want to answer, because I know differently.” When his eyes slid to Hannah, she was looking at Jeff instead of him, so she didn’t notice. But with his next words, her head snapped around, and her eyes had bugged out of her head. “Or you can kiss Hannah. But, if you choose the kiss, understand, you have to really kiss her. No small peck on the lips is going to do it.” He already knew his younger sister wouldn’t object to the kiss, regardless of how shocked she was at his making the dare.

  At that exact moment, if looks could kill, Zane would have been ashes, never mind six feet under. Jeff sat there for a few minutes like he was trying to decide what he was going to do. Zane was really hoping he would go with the dare. He wasn’t as much concerned with the why, as he was with getting him to openly admit he wanted her. Finally, Zane cleared his throat. “Today, Jeff. Decide.”

  Jeff, finally looked over at Hannah, who was still staring at her brother like he had lost his mind. She was wondering if he had something other than sugar and milk in that coffee he was drinking. When she heard Jeff’s chair legs scrape across the floor, however, her eyes got even larger and her head turned to look back at him. He stood up and walked around the end of the table.

  At first, he stood there looking down at her, like he was unsure how to proceed. “Don’t forget what I said. You have to really kiss her.” Jeff looked back up at Zane with that same burning expression, causing him to laugh. He had taken the bait, just like Zane had wanted him to.

  When Jeff pulled Hannah’s chair out, she sprang out of it like she had been shot from a cannon. She spun around and looked at him like she was unsure what to expect. When he reached out and lifted her up by the waist to sit her on the table, Zane heard her whisper, “Oh boy.”

  When she looked up at him, she got caught in his gaze and felt the same jolt she felt the first time she had looked in his eyes. He stepped closer to the table, placing himself between her knees. She felt like he was in slow motion, and she was getting more nervous by the second. When both of his hands came up and cupped her face, she gasped and closed her eyes.

  At first, he was thinking he could keep it short. Just enough to get Zane off his case. But when their lips touched, for some reason she was kissing him back and he forgot why they were doing this to start with.

  All the sudden it was more than he could contain, and he yanked her off the table and into his arms, holding her tight against him. When she wrapped her legs around his waist and wove her fingers in his hair, he groaned and pulled her tighter to his body. He knew he was losing it, but he couldn’t seem to get himself back under control.

  “What in the...” Jamie stopped mid-sentence and stood there staring the same way everybody else in the room was doing.

  When he heard Jamie’s voice, it had snapped him back to reality, but he still wasn’t able to put her down yet. He buried his face in the curve of her neck and worked to slow his pulse. He knew he needed to sit her down, but his arms weren’t cooperating yet. It took another full minute before he was able to let her go.

  He tried really hard not to look too closely at all the faces around him, but he noticed
a few open mouth stares, like they were all just as shocked by his behavior as he was. It was all he could do not to turn and run out of the room.

  “I think it’s time for me to go home. See you all later.” He sounded like he was starving for air. He turned and walked out of the room, not waiting for a response. And most certainly, not looking back at Hannah.

  Once Jamie heard him start his truck and pull out of the driveway, she looked over at Hannah. “What was that about?” She sounded like she was still recovering from the shock.

  All Hannah could do was shake her head. She couldn’t find the voice to answer. Thankfully Zane came to her rescue. “It wasn’t her fault.”

  Jamie shook her head. “I didn’t ask whose fault it was. I’m not mad. Just... stunned.”

  “We were playing a cross between Texas Hold ‘Em and truth or dare. He took the dare. But I had no idea it was going to be quite that revealing.”

  “Great, Zane. I hope you haven’t run him off.” His mom sounded really irritated.

  “Come on, Mom. He may have retreated, but he’ll be back. He’s got way too much backbone to scare off that easily. Remember who his great grandfather is. He’s cut from the same mold as Old Harry. Which makes it really hard to understand why he won’t... Ow!

  Jenny had stomped on his foot. When he turned to give her a dirty look, she mouthed the words, “Shut up. She’s not ready.”

  When Zane looked back at Hannah, he didn’t think she really would have noticed what he had said if he had been able to finish. She looked like she was somewhere out in outer space.

  Chapter 16

  Friday, August 15

  Amanda had gone to the grocery store. Zane wasn’t the world’s best grocery shopper. He could cook anything you wanted, but he hated shopping, whether for food or anything else. He had said, most of the time he just picked something up at the store on the way home and he tended to grab the first thing that looked good. He never thought to plan farther ahead than that. Since she had been staying with him, she had taken on the responsibility of shopping. She would always plan a whole week in advance.

  She was standing at the meat counter waiting on Chris to wrap her order for her. She had her head down going over the rest of her shopping list when she heard the last voice she would ever want to hear. When she turned, she found Austin standing behind her with an almost maniacal look on his face.

  “So, here you are. For some reason, I knew if I kept coming to Sapphire Springs I’d run across you sooner or later. Funny thing, when I didn’t find you at his house, I went by your parents and the neighbors said you weren’t there. I guess your parents are on some sort of vacation,” he sneered. “The neighbors wouldn’t tell me if you were staying there or not, either. I could tell by the way they were acting they knew something, though. It doesn’t really matter. I have my suspicions about your whereabouts during the day.”

  “Austin, leave me alone,” she stated, rolling her eyes. “It’s over. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “So, is he here with you?” he went on like she hadn’t even spoken.

  “Is who here with me?” she asked, knowing for certain exactly who he was talking about. Zane had told her Austin had figured out she was living with him, she had been holding out hope he had been wrong. She should have known better.

  “Don’t play dumb. You know who I’m talking about,” he said, nearly growling at her. He reached out and grabbed a hold of her arms and started to shake her, causing her to drop her shopping list and pen. “You belong to me. Not him. You’re going to regret running off like this, again.”

  Just then Chris came around the counter and grabbed Austin by the throat. “Get your hands off her. Man, I hate bullies. What is it with people thinking they can just do whatever they want to someone because they are smaller than them?”

  “Chris, let go of him. He’s turning purple.” When she heard his voice, Amanda’s head popped up and she looked him straight in the eyes. It didn’t matter how calm he might have sounded, he was furious. Austin was actually lucky it was Chris who had grabbed him and not Zane. Zane might have broken his neck.

  “So, he was here with you,” the other man sneered. “I figured as much.”

  “You think I was here?” he scoffed. “Do you see the uniform? I’m on duty. Joe called me. All he told me was there was someone in here harassing one of his customers.” That wasn’t exactly true. Joe had been very specific on who was doing what and who they were doing it to, but he didn’t feel the need to be completely truthful with the idiot.

  “How did you get here so fast?” he asked, obviously feeling suspicious.

  “I just happened to be driving by at the right time.” Which luckily, had been the truth. He had been hanging up with Joe as he was walking in through the glass doors.

  “Whatever. I’m not stupid. I know how protective you are of her. I’ve heard rumors that hasn’t changed any in the last couple of days,” he added cryptically, drawing a confused look from Amanda.

  “You’re right,” he nodded, taking a step closer. “I am protective of her and that’s not going to change. You’re lucky I’m on duty and Chris got to you first. If you don’t stay away from her, you might not be so lucky next time.”

  “Have you forgotten our conversation from a few days ago?” the other man snickered.

  “No, but I’m not stupid and I’m not playing your game,” he growled, crowding farther into the smaller man’s space and causing him to nearly wet himself.

  Austin took a step backwards and started stammering. “I want to press charges against him,” he said, pointing at Chris.

  “No, he can’t do that. Chris was defending me,” Amanda said, taking a step closer and shaking her head vigorously. “Austin had a hold of my arms, shaking me. Chris was protecting me,” she added, unconsciously rubbing her arms where there were bruises already forming. She was shaking from fear, but there was no way she was going to stand there and let Chris take the fall like that.

  Austin glared back at her, taking a menacing step toward her, until Zane stepped between them. “She’s lying. I never touched her,” he grumbled, taking a nervous step backwards.

  “Amanda doesn’t lie. Besides, the security cameras will tell the whole story. Did you forget about those?” he smirked, watching the blood drain completely from the other man’s face. “This is how it works. If I arrest him, I also have to arrest you,” he said, taking out his handcuffs. “And since I know which one of you will resist, I’m going to handcuff you. Chris can just walk out with me. Unless you want to change your mind.”

  “Yeah, I’m okay with that,” the blonde behemoth nodded, knowing he’d be cleared before five o’clock that evening. “Joe has served as butcher a few times. He knows how to do it. I’m sure he’s already saw the footage and knows what’s going on.”

  “I don’t need to see any footage,” they heard grumbled from the bread aisle. “I’m right here.”

  Chris jumped and turned to see his boss standing behind him. “I hate it when he does that. You would think he could make just a little bit of noise.”

  “No, I’m not wearing a cowbell,” Joe stated dryly.

  “Are you sure? I’d buy it for you,” Chris smirked.

  Austin shook his head at the exchange, thinking the two were a couple of morons. He glared first at Chris, then back at Zane. He was shaking but was determined not to let them see his fear. He knew he couldn’t take either one of them on their own, much less both of them at the same time. “Is she going to press charges against me?” he asked, not even looking back at Amanda. He was afraid if he did, Zane would take it as a threat.

  “That’s up to her,” Zane answered, looking over at Amanda for a split second.

  “No, not if you’ll just leave me alone.”

  “Fine,” he snapped. “Can I leave now?”

  Zane took a step back and looked at the other man as if to say, ‘Well, why are you still standing there? Get moving.’. He watched as Austin
literally ran for the door, then turned back to Chris. “Thanks, Man. I would have killed him if he had hurt her.”

  “I know,” the man replied, finally turning to look at him. “But are you sure this is over.”

  “No, it’s not over,” he grumbled. “Not even close. He’ll try something else. It’s the when and the where that are in question.”

  “Are you still staying with his mom and dad during the day?” Joe asked, giving Amanda a very concerned look. She nodded before turning to walk into Zane’s arms.

  He pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded her head, whispering, “I am now.”

  Zane wrapped an arm tightly around her and lifted her chin with his other hand. “You don’t have to press charges, but with the security footage, you can get a restraining order, if you want.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, with a shrug. “Maybe.”

  “Amanda, I think you need to. I don’t think he’s going to leave you alone.”

  “You need to listen to him, Sweetheart,” Joe added. “This is what he does for a living. I know there’s a strong desire to bury your head in the covers and hope it will all go away, but that’s not going to keep you safe.”

  ******

  Jamie had decided to have as many family meals as they could manage. She wanted to keep an eye on Zane and Amanda. She had a good feeling, if they were left alone too much, Zane was going to do something about his sexual frustration before he realized he was truly in love with her. She still wasn’t entirely convinced he knew, despite what Carl had said. She had been wondering if maybe she should talk to Luke about it.

  Regardless of whether he knew or not, they were now sitting down, getting ready to eat, waiting for Carl to finish praying over the meal. When she heard Carl’s last line before he said amen, it was all she could do not to crack up.

  “What was that for?” Zane asked, shooting his dad a scowl. “What do you mean, help Zane grow a brain?” Carl shook his head at him, doing his best not to chuckle.