Nicole Edwards - Zane

“Hey, Dad,” Zane greeted his father when he walked in the back door. Curtis Walker was sitting at the kitchen table, a laptop and a cup of coffee in front of him.

He didn’t get a formal response, just a wave in the direction of the living room and a grunt. Zane laughed as he made his way past him, slapping him on the back as he did. “Good to see you too.”

Zane found his mother sitting in the living room on the couch, an e-reader in her hand.

“Mama.” He tried not to scare her, so he kept his voice low, but she jumped anyway.

Then she dropped her e-reader and flew up off of the couch, throwing her thin arms around him. His mother was the touchy feely type, unlike the men in the family. She was always hugging and kissing them, and being the good sons they were, not a single one of them gave her shit about it. She complained that she had to spend the last fifty years being the only source of estrogen in the house, and she insisted that she be granted that one reprieve.

“You’re sweaty,” she scolded him, taking a step back, but cupping his face with both of her small hands. Zane looked down, meeting those sparkling blue eyes and waiting for her to let go. No one rushed Lorrie Walker.

“Just came from the gym,” he told her, then thought better of it.

“Did your doctor release you to go to the gym?” she questioned, sounding just like she did when he was a kid and he did something he knew he wasn’t supposed to. Before he could answer, she backed away, sitting back down and patting the couch cushion.

Zane dropped down beside her, leaned back and propped his feet on the coffee table. That was one of the reprieves the men in the house had earned. They didn’t give her crap about the hugs and kisses, and she didn’t say anything about their feet on the furniture. Although, she’d probably given up on that all on her own.

“They released me from the hospital. That’s all the permission I need.” Zane had talked to his mother twice since he’d been home, both times by phone and she’d begged him to take it easy. He promised her, as much as he could promise anyone that he would try.

“How’s Vanessa?” Lorrie asked.

“Good, why?”

“Just worried about her.”

His mother’s comment got his attention, and he turned to look at her, still resting his head against the back of the couch. “Why’s that?”

“Zoey seems really worried about her,” Lorrie replied, glancing down at the floor. That was an obvious partial truth and Zane sat up, turning to face his mother.

“What’s going on?”

His mother sighed dramatically and then met his gaze. “Kaleb told your dad about the phone calls and texts she’s been getting from that Jake person. I don’t know what I’m going to do about you boys.”

Zane bit back the urge to curse. That was one thing his mother didn’t approve of and all eight of them, his father included, had a hard time controlling themselves from time to time. He wasn’t interested in being scolded, so he didn’t say anything until the anger passed.

“What’s Dad doing?” Zane knew there was a reason his father was on the computer. His father wasn’t fond of technology. At least nothing past his beloved television and satellite. The man didn’t even have a smart phone because he said there was no need. If anyone wanted to talk to him, then they would call his basic, easy-to-use, cell phone.

“He’s been emailing back and forth with Sheriff Endsley.”

“Shit.” Zane couldn’t keep that one in if he had to.

“Zane Michael Walker.” His mother’s stern tone and the way she used his full name made him laugh.

Standing up with every intention of going to speak to his father about what he was doing getting the sheriff involved, his plan was smoothly thwarted when his mother pulled him back down to the couch. Relenting, he dropped back down, huffing his defeat in the process.

“Why is he talking to him?”

The last thing Zane needed was for the law to be breathing down their necks. He’d just gotten out of the hospital, and as far as he knew no one had seen or heard from Jake, aside from Zane’s brief phone call with the man the night before.

Zane didn’t want the law involved with this. Hell, he didn’t even want his brothers involved, and now his father had gone off and invited the damn sheriff into their business.

“Everyone’s worried about her,” Lorrie stated, her face lined with concern. “And you.”

“I can take care of myself, Mom,” Zane answered a little more carelessly than he intended.

“Honey, we don’t want anything to happen to you.”

He understood that. He really, truly did. Zane was well aware of the hell his entire family went through when he was attacked. He knew they were all trying to make sure he didn’t end up dead somewhere because of Jake and his homicidal tendencies. “Mom, I’ve got it handled. Please don’t let Dad get involved.”

“Too late for that, boy,” Curtis’ voice boomed through the living room, and Zane closed his eyes and dropped his head. This was the last thing he needed.

Just when Zane was going to chastise his father for getting involved, the screen door opened and then slammed shut, and Zane turned around to see Travis storming through the kitchen.

“What the hell is going on?” Travis barked the question and Zane had no idea who he was talking to. From the look on his mother’s face, she didn’t either. Surprisingly enough, his father looked sheepish, but true to form, he crossed his arms over his chest and stood up straight. At six-foot-five-inches, he was a formidable man, even at sixty seven.

From the look on Travis’ face, he didn’t care much for whatever their father had to say.

“I’ve got the fu – uh... the damn sheriff breathing down my neck. What did you do?”

Luckily, Travis saw their mother sitting on the couch before that little word got loose. It would’ve earned him a palm to the back of the head by their father. Even as grown men, Curtis still took to smacking them upside the head when they did something to show disrespect to their mother.

“What are you talking about?” Zane asked Travis, standing so he could face his brother. He was so damned confused about what was going on. Seriously, a couple of phone calls and texts shouldn’t have caused this type of uproar. They knew Jake wasn’t around, so at this point, it wasn’t a direct threat.

Before Travis could answer, the screen door slammed again, and the sound of footsteps stomping across the tiled kitchen floor had echoed in the house.

Kaleb.

Great. This should get good. Zane was tempted to fall back onto the couch and watch the show, but he had already gotten himself riled up. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew one thing: his family was keeping things from him.

“Sit down, all three of you,” Curtis demanded, moving back to allow Travis and Kaleb to come into the room. “I want to know what’s going on, and I want every detail.”

Zane peered over at his father before dropping back to the couch. He felt like a fucking whack-a-mole with all the up and down. He also felt like a damn child being punished for doing something wrong. He watched as Travis and Kaleb moved to the opposite side of the room and took seats on the other couch, neither of them looking at Zane.

“I want to know why the sheriff’s knocking on my door asking questions about Jake Sanders,” Travis demanded, although his tone had cooled significantly since he walked in.

“I emailed him,” Curtis answered, not bothering with taking a seat and crossing his arms across his thick, brawny chest again as though he were daring Travis to argue with him.

“For what?” This time Kaleb asked the question. He actually looked genuinely confused.

That made two of them.

“He needs to know what’s going on. If Sanders is back and he’s terrorizing Vanessa, I want him arrested. He damned near killed my boy.”

“We’ve got it handled, Dad. We don’t need you and the sheriff interfering,” Travis replied, still not bothering to look at Zane.

“What are you talking about?” Zane felt like he was watching a movie about his life and he wasn’t even invited to play the role of himself.

“Jake Sanders was back in town last night,” Travis stated, glancing over at Zane and then back up at their father.

“How do you know?” He knew it was a stupid question, and if he were smart, he’d wait to talk to Travis when their parents weren’t standing right there listening, but he couldn’t help himself.

“I saw him,” Kaleb answered the question.

Fuck.

“And what? You thought you’d call Dad?” Travis sounded downright baffled by the idea.

“I didn’t call him,” Kaleb stated defensively.

“He didn’t have to. Jake Sanders was on my damn property last night. I called the sheriff.”

Zane didn’t say a word. He didn’t breathe, and he didn’t move. Jake Sanders dared to come out to the Walker Ranch?

“What?” Travis stood abruptly. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

“Watch your damn language, boy,” Curtis chastised Travis, although his language wasn’t much better.

“What did the sheriff say?” Lorrie asked, seemingly trying to be the voice of reason. Their mother, all five-foot-two-inches of her, was sitting on the couch, her hands tucked in her lap, staring back and forth between all four men in the room.

“He wants to talk to the boys.”

Oh, no way in hell.

♀♂

“What do you mean the sheriff wants to talk to me?” V asked Zoey, trying to understand what was going on.