Nicole Edwards: Zane

They’d undoubtedly be talking about it later, but first, he had to meet with his brothers and get that out of the way. He hoped like hell they didn’t treat him with kid gloves now that he was back in fighting form. Ok, so he wasn’t quite there, but he was working to get there. A little more physical therapy and countless hours at the gym wouldn’t hurt him in the least.

He made a mental note to call Beau and meet up with him at the gym. It was time the two of them spent some time doing something a hell of a lot more entertaining than shooting the shit at the hospital. He certainly looked forward to spending a few mindless hours with his boy.

“Well, good morning, sunshine.” Brendon’s booming drawl met Zane the moment he stepped through the door of the small office of Walker Demolition. “Glad you could grace us with your presence.”

“Fuck off.” Zane grinned, saying the words without heat.

He’d missed this too. He would be the first to admit that working with his brothers, day in and day out, could grate on his nerves like fingernails down a chalkboard, but he wouldn’t change a thing.

“Well, you look better anyway, Bubba. I have to say, there for a while, you kinda looked like shit,” Braydon chimed in, grabbing two energy drinks from the refrigerator and tossing one to Brendon. Like they needed that shit.

Zane didn’t need any more energy than they did, but he was smart enough to know better. He didn’t drink anything with caffeine in it. Or at least he tried to avoid it at all costs. Hell, he hardly drank anything other than water, which his brothers liked to give him hell about. It seemed they all had their own vices. Hell, he had his as well, but he just tried to keep those to himself as best he could.

“What the hell? You guys having a spa party or what?” Zane ribbed as he grabbed one of the empty chairs and turned it backward, straddling it and facing three of his six brothers. “Kaleb, I’m disappointed in you. Zoey’s turned you into a pussy.”

Kaleb’s rumbling laugh filled the space. “I’m not going there, man. Not gonna do it.”

“If you’re not doing your fucking nails, is this a book club or something? Why are you two here? Shouldn’t you be out on a job somewhere?” Zane turned his attention to the twins, leaning his forearms on the chair back.

“ Why did the doctor clear you to come home?” Ethan asked as he walked in the back door. “Or was it because they couldn’t take any more?”

“Probably.” Zane grinned. Despite their constant ridicule, he sure had missed this shit. “Where are Sawyer and Travis?”

“Sawyer’s on his way,” Kaleb added, glancing down at his computer screen. “Trav had to go to Dallas. He’s meeting with Luke and Logan again this week.”

“How’s the resort coming along?” Considering the ground breaking ceremony was so long ago, Zane had expected to see something happening with the construction, but when Travis brought him home last night, he hadn’t seen much of anything, other than some clearing of the land.

Apparently, Travis had brought in an environmentalist to survey and find the best place for the resort, that wouldn’t affect too much of the land. Zane wouldn’t have thought his brother would’ve cared much about it, so he’d been a little taken aback. Not that he didn’t agree, he just didn’t expect as much from Travis. His brother was a hard ass, in so many ways. Had been for as long as Zane could remember. The others had tried to tell him that Travis wasn’t always like that, but Zane wasn’t much of a believer

“We should see a lot more in the coming weeks,” Kaleb answered, turning away from his computer.

“How’s the wedding planning?”

“We’ve set the date.” Kaleb grinned.

“Again?” Zane knew that Kaleb and Zoey had pushed out their wedding until the beginning of the year because he’d been in the hospital. It still irritated the shit out of him that he was the reason they were delaying their momentous day, but no amount of arguing with them had done any good.

“We never were happy with the original date.”

His brother was lying, but Zane smiled anyway. That’s what his brothers did. They had each other’s back, no matter the reason. And, in this case, every one of them stood beside Zane during a really touch and go point in his life. And now, despite the little white lie, Zane didn’t fault Kaleb. “Bachelor party planned yet?”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Braydon stood, his restless energy palpable in the small room. “Bren and I are handling that one.”

Oh, hell . Zane laughed again, noticing how good it felt to be able to smile a real smile for the first time in a long time. “You’re a brave man leaving your fate in their hands.”

“You’re telling me,” Kaleb groaned.

“That’s ok. Wait till you hear what V’s got planned for Zoey’s bachelorette party. We’re thinking Vegas!”

“Hell no,” Kaleb barked. “No Vegas. I don’t trust you in Coyote Ridge, I damn sure don’t trust you in Vegas.”

Braydon and Brendon merely laughed at that and the look they passed to one another said they didn’t much care what Kaleb wanted.

Zane was pretty sure Vegas was in the cards.

♀♂

“I’ll be so fucking happy when I don’t have to look at another one of these again,” V hissed as she scrubbed the devil’s form of white porcelain hell. She’d rather be anywhere than cleaning toilets on her knees.

Anywhere.

“Well, only a couple more weeks and then we’ll be off to bigger and better things.” Zoey laughed from behind her.

They were doing the last bathroom at the Wilson’s house before they were finished for the day and V couldn’t wait to be out of there for good. Two more weeks were fourteen days too long as far as she was concerned.

The prospect of working for the Walker brothers wasn’t high on her list of things she wanted to accomplish in her life, but it beat scrubbing other people’s messes. Admittedly, V hadn’t set a direct career path for herself, but she was happy about the choices she had made thus far. She was supporting herself, helping her mother when she could, and she got to spend every day with her best friend. In her opinion, she couldn’t ask for much more than that.

Although, the idea of working for the Walkers was a little intimidating, V had been giving it some serious thought. When Zoey mentioned she was going to be closing her small cleaning service, V had been worried at first. When her best friend mentioned they’d be working for the resort, V had initially thought about turning down the offer. She was glad she hadn’t jumped the gun too early on that decision though. After some serious thought, she had come up with an idea that she was actually excited about. When she mentioned it to Zoey a couple of weeks ago, she was thrilled to know her best friend supported her in this little venture.

Alluring Indulgence Resort was going to rock their sleepy little town in more ways than one. When she actually sat down and thought about it, the opportunity this place presented made her head spin. With her sights set on managing the resort’s luxury day spa, V knew she needed to take the next step toward securing the next phase of her life, but she hadn’t yet presented the idea to Kaleb, Sawyer and Travis.

She was working on it though. Well, at least she was mentally mapping out what she was supposed to do next. With Zoey’s support, V knew she just needed to ask for what she wanted. She wasn’t looking forward to having the conversation with the oldest Walker brothers, but she knew if she wanted it, she was going to have to go for it. Now she was just biding her time and trying to muster up a little more backbone. They were an intimidating bunch.