Nicole Edwards: Zane

Of course, it appeared Jason and his crazy bitch wife were back for good, but Zoey didn’t seem to care. And V wasn’t about to bring it up. That man was in the past, and V was happy to celebrate Zoey’s future with her.

After all, it seemed to be the only future worth celebrating these days.

♂♀

By the time the twins and Ethan left, leaving only Sawyer, Kaleb and himself, Zane was more than ready to get on with his day. While the rest of them were razzing one another relentlessly, Zane managed to text Beau to see if he could get away for a bit and meet him at the gym. Unfortunately, Beau was busy and said he’d catch him the next day.

At first Zane had been disappointed, but after overhearing Kaleb’s phone conversation with Zoey a few minutes ago, he’d found something else to look forward to. According to what he heard, Kaleb was meeting Zoey and V at Moonshiners later, and Zane had invited himself to tag along. He wasn’t going to miss his chance to corner V again. It seemed that might be the only way he would get to spend some time with her.

He didn’t bother her that morning like he wanted to, mainly because he knew how skittish V was. She reminded him of an abused animal. She wanted to trust, but she wasn’t quite to the point where she would open herself up yet, but she was noticeably getting better. She needed space. And after Zane managed to get her to commit to allowing him to pursue her, he figured he’d back off. A little.

He found it amusing that she still wanted to reiterate that whatever this was between them was just sex. Sex with her was certainly on his agenda because what red blooded man wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to have V wrapped around him like a fucking blanket. Shit, Zane had never known anything quite like it, and he wasn’t about to let go of it if he had a say in the matter.

“Awww, shit. Another one bites the dust.” Sawyer’s sarcasm broke into Zane’s thoughts. He glanced over to see his brother smirking at him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He dared to ask the question.

“Fuck, bro. You’re sitting over there grinning like a fucking girl in love.”

Zane glowered at his brother, but then he broke into a smile. It was harder and harder to get irritated with his brothers at this point. He had just missed them so damn much while he’d been in the hospital. He had enough anger and hatred boiling deep in his gut from the assault that he couldn’t find it in him to let anything else get to him at the moment.

“Do you really want to go there?” Zane questioned, laughing. “I’ve heard some stories about you and a pretty little Sheriff’s daughter that we could relive if you’d like.”

Sawyer’s eyebrows darted downward, a frown replacing his smirk. There was clearly something going on between Sawyer and Kennedy Endsley, but Zane only knew as much as he’d heard from his brothers and Beau, which honestly wasn’t much.

“Are you planning to return to work soon?” Sawyer redirected the conversation, clearly wanting to change the subject.

The question caught Zane off guard, and he tried to get a read on Sawyer’s intentions. Did his brother want him to go back to work? Was Ethan having problems managing the shop while he’d been away? He hadn’t heard anything, but that didn’t mean they weren’t keeping secrets from him. But this was also exactly the opening he needed.

“I’ve been giving that some thought.”

Sawyer’s eyebrow cocked as though he was waiting for the rest of Zane’s explanation.

Zane hadn’t prepared for this conversation yet and he had a hard time finding the right words... “I want in on the resort.” Well hell. That wasn’t what he had in mind.

“What do you want to do?” Again Sawyer asked the question while Kaleb looked on.

“Don’t know. What do you need me to do?”

“I thought you liked being a mechanic,” Kaleb interjected, frowning before he continued. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s terrific that you want to be involved in the resort, actually. We never thought to talk to you about it because you always seemed married to your job.”

Married to his job? That was funny.

Yes, Zane enjoyed working on cars and trucks, but that hadn’t necessarily been his long term goal. As the youngest Walker, he’d had to fit in with his brother’s goals because Walker Demo had been started long before he was old enough to work.

With Travis being ten years older, the oldest of them all, Zane didn’t have much of a say in what he started out doing. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it. Being a mechanic had been all he needed, but thanks to the recent road bumps he’d stumbled over, he was ready to move forward. And it wasn’t like Ethan didn’t have some buddies who would be able to help him. In fact, Zane knew of one person who would be perfect for the job.

“Who’s going to manage the clubs?” Zane asked, glancing between his two brothers.

“I’m planning on taking one of them,” Sawyer explained, “but we don’t have anyone for the other yet. I thought maybe Travis would be interested, but he’s more interested in managing the actual hotel.”

“I’ll take the other.” That was easy enough, although Zane didn’t have the slightest idea what managing a club would entail. He was smart enough that he’d be able to figure it out. He noticed Kaleb and Sawyer and the look that passed between them. “What?”

“Do you have any idea what type of club we’re talking about here?”

Zane had a relatively good idea. After all, he’d spent the last couple of months cooped up with a laptop and too much time on his hands. He knew from all of the stories on the internet exactly what Travis had in mind. “I wasn’t thinking country club if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sawyer smirked at Zane’s comeback. “Definitely not.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Kaleb offered. “In fact, I think you and Sawyer would be the most logical choice anyway.”

“Not the twins, huh?” Sawyer laughed.

Holy shit . Zane couldn’t imagine Braydon and Brendon managing anything, much less a club. There were a lot of things to consider when it came to the club, including the liquor license, the entertainment – and hell, Zane didn’t even want to know what the twins’ choice in entertainment would be.

“What do you think Travis will say?” Zane knew that Travis was the one person he might have to convince, but with everything the man had going on, he didn’t think it would take much.

“I think his only concern will be whether you and V will be able to work together,” Kaleb stated in that matter of fact voice that grated on Zane’s last nerve. His brother was making reference to what happened at Anderson Croft’s house and the way Zane had gone off on Jake Sanders.

“That wasn’t out of jealousy.” Zane felt the need to convince them.

For months, he’d been defending his own actions considering the repercussions. He’d had to explain to both his mother and father exactly what happened and why. Of course, his mother hadn’t been too happy with him, but his father had understood. Throughout Zane’s childhood, he’d been taught to defend others. Bullying was not tolerated in the Walker household, and, despite this extreme incident and what Jake had done to him, he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

“We didn’t think it was. That doesn’t mean there won’t be other fuckheads who treat women like shit,” Sawyer added.

“You would’ve done the same fucking thing.” Zane’s anger was escalating. Granted, maybe Jake’s retaliation was the worst that any of them had seen, but Zane knew, for a fact, his brothers would ruthlessly defend a woman from a fuck up like Jake.