Before he could do just that, the door opened, and a very pretty woman looked his way, but she didn’t smile. It was obvious he was the one she was searching for because he was the only person in the room. Zane pushed up from his chair and headed toward her.

For the next forty five minutes, the woman practically tortured him and definitely not in a good way. Between the strange stretches, that damn machine that shocked the shit out of him, making his muscles tense and release, and the fact that she seemed almost pissed off, Zane was ready to bolt. And never come back.

Just when he thought he was going to get out of there without a confrontation, the woman actually had the audacity to follow him outside.

“Zane!”

He turned to see her heading toward him like a bull charging a matador. He braced himself for the impact.

“Can you give Sawyer a message for me?”

Oh, fucking hell. He kept his eyes level with hers, knowing she was going to tell him no matter what his answer was.

“You tell him that I don’t appreciate him never calling me again.”

He didn’t smile. He actually didn’t react in any way. This wasn’t the first time some strange woman walked up to him and insisted he give one – or more – of his brothers a message.

“Oh, and you let Braydon and Brendon know that I don’t appreciate them either.”

What the fuck? Three of his brothers? God, he hoped not at one time. This woman couldn’t have been more than five feet tall and maybe one hundred pounds soaking wet.

“That’s all.”

This time he did nod, and then he turned and double timed it to his Jeep. He certainly would be giving those three a piece of his mind. How the hell did he always end up getting tortured for their mistakes?


“What’s up little brother? How was the first PT session?” Sawyer laughed when Zane walked into Walker Demolition half an hour later. He was stiff from the crazy therapist’s idea of Walker brother punishment, and he was more than ready to give Sawyer a piece of his mind.

“Does the name Miranda Holmes ring a bell?” Zane asked.

Sawyer had the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself, but that didn’t last long.

“Oh, hell,” Sawyer laughed uncontrollably. “She was a physical therapist, wasn’t she?”

“Yes. And the woman has a fucking hard on for you. In a bad way.”

“Shit.” Sawyer’s laughter died down somewhat, but he still grinned like an idiot. “Sorry about that.”

“Could you start having your little liaisons somewhere outside of the county? I think it’ll be in my best interest.”

“I think it’s too late for that,” Kaleb chimed in as he came through the back door. “He’s already gone through the available women in Coyote Ridge, so you’re doomed no matter what you do. And heaven forbid you need to go to the grocery store.”

Zane laughed, as did Sawyer, both of them watching Kaleb as he moved over to the coffee pot.

“What’s new with you?” Kaleb spoke as he glanced back over his shoulder.

“You mean aside from being physically assaulted by a little blonde girl for the better part of an hour?”

Kaleb laughed.

“Have either of you seen Ethan today? I wanted to stop by and talk to him, but he wasn’t at the garage when I drove by.”

Zane had intended to take Ethan to lunch so they could discuss Zane’s plan for hiring someone to replace him as Walker Demo’s mechanic, but his brother was nowhere in sight.

“He mentioned something about needing the day off today,” Sawyer offered.

The news surprised Zane. Ethan never took time off. Ever. He was always covered in grease and grime, and most of the time he could be found at the shop, elbow deep in one of the engines. But then again, that was what people used to say about Zane too. Now, he couldn’t even bring himself to stop in to see if Ethan needed help. He wasn’t looking forward to jumping back in to help for the time being, although he knew that’s what he should be doing.

“You talk to Mom and Dad lately?” Kaleb asked when he moved toward his desk carrying a coffee mug and a newspaper.

“Not in the last few days, no. Why?”

“You need to go by there.” Kaleb tilted his head and looked at Zane as though he were studying some sort of extinct species.

He knew he needed to go by and talk to them. His mother left a couple of voicemails and Zane returned the calls, but he never gave in to her requests to come by. Hell, they weren’t far away from where he sat right then, but he just hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it. His mother was worried about him still, but with his father’s interference, Zane was trying to keep his distance. The concern in her voice when he talked to her on the phone, had worried Zane. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go by and see them. He just knew what they were going to say when he did. He wasn’t quite ready for another lecture on being careful and watching his back.

“What’d you think of the club?” Zane asked Sawyer, ignoring Kaleb’s grim expression.

“It was interesting.”

Interesting? That was the best Sawyer could come up with? “How so?”

Sawyer grinned sheepishly, and Zane didn’t need to ask any more. Apparently, his brother must have gotten better acquainted with the club than Zane and V had. He hadn’t seen much of any of his brothers while he was there, especially Travis, but then again, it wasn’t like he’d been keeping tabs on any of them either.

“Did it help spark any ideas for either one of you?” Kaleb inquired as he sipped his coffee and powered on his laptop.

Zane glanced over at Sawyer before looking back at Kaleb. “I’ve got some ideas. I’ve drawn up a couple of ideas that I’m hoping to run past Travis later this week. What about you?”

Sawyer stopped what he was doing on his computer when he realized Zane was talking to him, and he looked lost in thought for a couple of seconds. “I like the idea of the fetish club.”

And?

Shit, Sawyer was being more elusive than usual, and that was saying something. “Is that your plan?”

“I don’t know yet. Did you get a chance to talk to Mistress Serena?” Sawyer closed his laptop lid and resting his forearms on his desk, seemingly giving Zane his full attention.

“Nothing more than a brief introduction, no.” He had met the extremely intimidating woman, and, at one point, he’d even wanted to ask her a few questions, but she had been arguing with one of the guys who had come in with them – Trent something or other – and Zane didn’t feel like interrupting.

“She runs the place.”

Zane knew that much. When he and V were introduced to her, he got the impression she wasn’t keen on the idea of so many people trampling through her domain, especially not the Walker brothers. He had no idea why that was, nor did he question it.

“How’s V?” Kaleb asked a minute later when Zane started to fidget in his chair.

“She’s good.” He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to that. Aside from the fact that he insisted she stay at his house for the time being, she seemed to be doing fine. They had stopped by her house and grabbed some clothes when they made it back to town and surprisingly she hadn’t put up much of a fight.

Ever since the encounter with Beau, she’d been acting strangely aloof, which was saying something for V. He and Beau had moved on with life, just like he knew they would. What happened, happened. Zane wasn’t much for regrets. He didn’t do things he might regret. However, it would appear V wasn’t handling it nearly as well.

Her days were spent cleaning houses with Zoey because this was their last week of doing so and she didn’t come back until late at which point they didn’t do much more than sit on the couch and watch television. They’d somehow lapsed into a fairly comfortable silence when they were together. Unless, of course, they were in bed. Then the woman was definitely not quiet. The thought made him smile.

“Zoey questioned me again about what I talked to you about the day you called to get a replacement window.” Kaleb didn’t look at all happy as he spoke.

“Did you tell her?”

“No.”

Good. Zane didn’t want V to know what happened. Not yet. He fully intended to tell her at some point, but not until he was certain what the next step was in getting a handle on Jake Sanders and what the man was brewing up. Zane had the feeling that something was in the works. He didn’t know what it was exactly, but he couldn’t shake the feeling.

“All right. I’ll leave you two alone so you can do whatever it is you pretend to do here.” Zane stood from his chair and flipped it back around to face Travis’ desk. “I’ve got a date with the gym for a couple of hours.”

“Stop by and talk to Mom and Dad, would ya?” Kaleb threw the question out there, although Zane knew he wasn’t asking as much as he was telling.

Nodding his head in agreement, he left.


♀♂


“How are things going with Zane?” Zoey asked as they sat at a booth in the small restaurant, sipping sweet tea and waiting for their food to be delivered.

They’d managed to finish the two houses they had for the day early and decided to sneak over for dinner together. V had been surprised when Zoey asked her to join her because usually these visits included Kaleb these days. She was grateful for a chance to talk to her best friend alone for a little while. Although she wasn’t all that fond of the topic Zoey had selected.

“Fine,” she replied briefly. Actually, things couldn’t be better. They were acting like a regular couple, hanging out at his place and watching television, or cooking dinner, or sitting on the back deck and watching the creek slowly trickle by. It was almost too normal for V, but she didn’t complain. Not to Zane and certainly not to Zoey.