Nicole Edwards - Zane

♂♀

Three months later...

Zane was pretty sure the weather had been handpicked for this very day. There was absolutely no way they’d have been able to come up with a good enough reason to duck out on Kaleb’s important day. As if the penguin suits they’d donned just a few weeks ago hadn’t been punishment enough, Zane and his brothers had been summoned to help Kaleb and Zoey move into their new house. The man was racking up a shitload of IOU’s, and when those get multiplied by six, Zane was pretty sure Kaleb was going to be in their debt for quite some time.

“What the hell are you doing?” Travis’ irritated growl erupted from just outside of the moving truck. Zane didn’t bother to turn around.

“Lift,” Zane instructed Beau who had also been wrangled to help out – by Zane directly. There was no way he was going this alone. As it was, V was already inside helping Zoey unpack boxes just as quickly as they were being delivered.

Zane backed down the ramp, one end of the heavy sectional couch hoisted up to his chest in order to keep Beau from having to lean down. Once they were on the ground, Zane continued toward the house, Travis following close behind.

It wasn’t that he was purposely ignoring his oldest brother, but quite frankly, the man was beginning to get on his nerves. Ever since Gage disappeared about two and a half months ago, apparently off on one of his super-secret jobs, Travis hadn’t been himself. It spoke volumes about the man, although after witnessing what he had that one day, Zane wasn’t about to say a word. None of his business. He still wasn’t sure why Travis was in such a lousy mood. It wasn’t like he and Gage got along on the best of terms when the man was in town anyway.

Ever since they actually started breaking ground on the resort, Travis had been directly involved with the resort and almost completely stepped out of the Walker Demo business altogether. That’s where their cousin Jaxson came in. He’d stepped up to manage the business side of the demolition company since Kaleb and Sawyer were both splitting their time between the two.

Once Zane and Beau made it up the front steps, Braydon was directly behind them holding open the screen door so they could maneuver the oversized furniture inside. Two minutes later, they had it situated where Zoey instructed and were heading back out to the truck.

“He’s on his way back,” Zoey was saying to Kaleb, but Zane tried his best to ignore their conversation. Truthfully, he just wanted to get this truck load emptied so he could sit back on the rest of his day off with a beer and maybe a little relaxing time with V.

“When?” The voice that interrupted Zoey’s conversation belonged to none other than Travis, and that made Zane smile.

The man had a serious hang up with Gage Matthews. It was comical actually. Considering Travis had been visiting Dallas more and more frequently these days, Zane was beginning to wonder whether the man actually was involved with someone up there. Based on his reaction to Gage’s whereabouts, that might not be the case.

“Ready to finish this off?” Zane glanced over at Beau as they headed back down the front steps toward the moving truck that was thankfully about three quarters emptied at this point. That didn’t seem like nearly enough since they’d been going at this moving thing for the better part of four hours now. Even with Braydon, Brendon, Ethan and Blake helping out, they didn’t seem to be going as fast as Zane had hoped.

“You up for a beer when we’re done?” Zane asked Beau as he walked up the sturdy metal ramp that ended on the wooden floor of the twenty six foot moving truck. He still had no idea where the hell Kaleb had kept all the shit he’d managed to fill inside the truck. There were only two of them, yet Zane had moved enough furniture to fill a four bedroom house.

“Can’t,” Beau answered, lifting one end of a hulking wooden dresser that Zane had never seen before.

Hefting the other end, Zane glanced over at Beau. “Why the hell not?”

Thankfully, their relationship hadn’t changed at all, even after that one night of experimentation. It hadn’t happened again, not so much as a hand job during their threesomes, but Zane could feel Beau starting to pull away. He hated that it was like that, but he just didn’t have the same feelings for Beau that his best friend seemed to have for him.

“Date,” Beau smiled, and Zane almost stumbled right out of the truck.

“With who?” He didn’t mean for so much disbelief to lace his words, but as far as he knew, Beau hadn’t dated anyone in quite some time.

“Not saying.” Beau smiled.

“What the fuck? You’re going on a date, and you’re not even going to tell me who you’re going out with?”

“Not yet. I’ll see how it goes, then I’ll let you know.”

Zane wasn’t going to push him. Right now, he didn’t have the energy to do much of anything except make it up the steps into the house for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He was dripping with sweat even though the brisk breeze and sixty degree temperature should have been keeping him cool.

After lugging the damn dresser up to the second floor, Zane was once again descending the stairs, his thighs and back screaming in agony from all the moving. The sight of his beautiful fiancé took his mind off of his worries almost as quickly as they’d come on.

Damn, the woman just got more beautiful by the day. Today she was sporting a pair of short jean shorts and one of his sweatshirts, her hair piled into a haphazard mess on top of her head, and she looked so fucking gorgeous, he wanted to sneak her up to that extra bedroom the twins had been working to set up.

Before he had the chance to make the suggestion, the front door opened and in walked Gage Matthews. The room suddenly went quiet, all of the movement silenced immediately as everyone turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. It wasn’t like they were all that surprised to see him.

No, that wasn’t it at all.

Zane was pretty sure everyone was more interested to learn exactly who the stunning blonde on his arm was. He noticed that her facial expression went from surprise to murderous in three seconds flat. Now she looked like she was ready to take his head off with her bare hands.

“Sonuvabitch.” That one word growl pierced the eerie silence and had everyone turning to look directly at the man who spoke. The one who looked more pissed off than any of them had probably ever seen him. And that was saying something. Travis looked like his head might just explode right off of his powerful shoulders.

Zane just wanted to make sure he was nowhere in the near vicinity when that happened.

“Travis?”

Zane’s head shot back over to the doorway, along with several others in the room. Why did it sound like that blonde woman not only knew who Travis was, but there was something else in her tone. Something way too familiar.

“Fuck.” That was Travis’ only response.

Well, that probably said it all.

♂♀

Gage stared blankly at Travis, ensuring his face remained expressionless. The recognition in the man’s eyes was exactly the response Gage was going for when he made the decision that morning to come back home to Coyote Ridge.

One thing he prided himself on was his ability to do his job. Not only could he protect those he cared about, he also had an uncanny ability to uncover dirt that other people tried desperately to hide. Travis’ dirt was hidden better than most. In fact, it had taken Gage almost a month, but he’d finally accomplished what he set out to. Gage had finally found what Travis apparently didn’t want anyone else to know about.