7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

ISABEL

I hurried from the snack bar line after I paid for my chicken wrap and lemonade, knowing I was late. There’d been a sub in the cafeteria, and the guys in line ahead of me had been trying to confuse the poor woman so that she’d mess up and they’d get out of paying for some things. I’d finally interjected, helping the lady total it up so the line would start moving again.

A glance at the cafeteria wall clock now told me lunch was almost half over, and I still had to navigate my way around the flooding sidewalks outside.

Fantastic. I might as well find someone else to eat with at this rate.

I was about to pass the gym door connected to the side wall of the cafeteria right as Lisa stepped in. I paused, hoping to avoid confrontation.

“Oh, hi, Izzy.” Lisa forced a smile that looked more like a sneer when she saw me.

Great. I tried to avoid a sigh as she continued.

“I thought you’d be with Tucker. I hope everything’s okay. ”

So, it’s the passive aggressive Lisa today. I was so sick of her. I’d kill her with kindness if I had to, and I gave her a bright smile. “Everything is great with us. Never better. Thanks for asking.”

Lisa’s smile twitched, and she fumbled with a folded paper in her hands. “Well, I wish I could say that was good to hear. Hope nothing happens.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched away.

Bitch. But she had given me an idea, and I pushed through the doors to the gym. It was perfect. I could just scarf down my food and get a few run throughs of my routine in and avoid the rain.

“Hey, Izzy!” I almost jumped, not noticing anyone at first. I hadn’t heard anything except for the rhythmic clanging of the machines in the nearby weight room, but Dinah was waving me over to where she was sitting with Noah. He pressed his lips into a thin line and shifted a little away from her as I approached. My brow furrowed at his reaction as Dinah patted the bleacher beside her, angling her knees to face me as I took a seat.

“Did I interrupt something?” I teased with a wink.

“Nothing important.” Dinah grinned and winked back.

“I’m gonna go,” Noah muttered as he stood.

“Okay.”

He paused at her dismissal, then picked up his bag to sling it over his shoulder before glancing back at us.

“Anyway,” Dinah ignored him, reclaiming my attention. “I was wondering about that move you added to our routine on Wednesday. I really want to get it right. If I can do it well enough, I want to include it in my final routine. I mean, I can’t believe we have to perform something we created ourselves for our final. ”

“Hey, Dinah?”

She looked over at Noah as if he were interrupting something important, raising her brow in mock irritation. “Yeah?”

“You wanna meet up after school? We could go to Bob’s for burgers or something.” He stared as Dinah sucked her lip in pretend thought.

“Mmmm, I really wanted to work on my routine after school.”

He nodded, his face falling slightly before he caught it. “Got it. No problem.”

“You can call me later, though.”

A grin hit his lips then as he backed towards the door. “Right. Later.”

“Seven,” Dinah called out.

He gave her a final jerk of his head and pushed out the door.

I was grinning when Dinah faced me again. “What’s going on there? Word from the guys was he’s been shifting from his pretend-to-want-to-date-a-girl move to fast-tracking his way to Tucker’s old status.”

“Wasn’t he not far off from that, anyway?” she teased, and I laughed.

“True. He does get around enough. It looked like you were throwing him a bone, though.”

She shrugged, growing more serious. “I dunno. I’ve always kind of had a thing for him, but not as a one-night stand. I kind of decided to be a tease instead. Give him a little then turn it off. I know what he’s after, and he’s not getting it anytime soon. And you gave Tucker a chance.”

“I know. I wasn’t saying it was bad. It’s actually kinda funny. ”

“It’s actually a lot of work.” She pretend-sighed. “I really want to kiss him like crazy, he’s so freaking hot. But if I let him know that, he’ll lose interest, or at least, the kind of interest I want . I just have to be careful he doesn’t turn it around and play me into thinking he really wants to date me when he doesn’t. Anyway, what about that dance move?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s pretty easy.”

“Coming from you …” Dinah grinned.

“You’re awesome, too. It’s either you or Casey that will be captain when I’m gone, so I know you can get this.”

Dinah looked down at our feet. “We’re both in heels. I don’t know about your coordination, but I’m gonna go change first. Your shoes are in your locker, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll grab them. Be right back.” She hopped up and hurried around the corner, her heels clicking across the gym floor.

I looked down, spotting my untouched chicken wrap, and started to open it when I realized the clanging in the weight room had stopped. Weird. No one else came through here. Maybe they were still packing up. I shrugged it off and dug into my lunch, eager to use the extra practice time.

Taking a long drink of my lemonade, I headed to the opposite bleachers to toss my trash, the half-full drink making a loud thud when it hit the bottom of the empty can. But the voice a few yards away resonated far more pronounced in my ears.

“Izzy.”

I tensed, reminding myself to breathe. Why did I always have to be alone when Zane appeared ?

Deciding to ignore him, I started walking towards the doors, not caring that my stuff was still sitting on the bleachers at the other side. I could get it later. Right now, I needed away from him , and anywhere else was better than here.

“Izzy,” Zane called louder this time, the rhythm of his steps speeding up behind me.

The doors are close. Just a little further .

“Wait,” he demanded, my pulse starting to speed with how near he was. I reached for the door handle, but he stepped in front, cutting me off. “Talk to me.”

“Why?” I snapped, mad that he’d cornered me. Again.

His eyes flared as I knew mine had.

“Damn.”

“What?” I stupidly asked, hating the way his stare grew intense.

“That look of yours just always gets to me.” His teeth pressed into his bottom lip as he leaned in, robbing me of my space and my air.

“Don’t even think about it, Zane.” I nearly growled through my teeth as I stepped back.

“Why?” He moved closer, stepping around so that as I backed away my back found the wall. “Don’t you want to feel again? Don’t you feel the chemistry between us? We were fucking amazing before. Don’t you want it back?” His voice came husky and hot mere inches from my lips, and tightness pulled at my chest.

His smell, one that I’d committed to memory, was mixed with perspiration, and it swirled around me with his proximity. It had always been subtle before, but now that I was alive, living again, it hit me so strongly my stomach rolled. At least, now I knew who’d been working out.

I looked to the side, giving him my cheek and taking in whatever breathable air was nearby. His smell had never bothered me like this before.

Or maybe it wasn’t his smell. Maybe I was just sick of him . Sick of this . Sick of feeling my stomach clench in fear every time he found me alone. Maybe this was my body telling me I’d had enough.

“No, I don’t want you, Zane. Go find someone else to obsess over,” I managed to spat out.

“Can’t,” he replied, his breath along my neck as he leaned closer, pinning me in. I shivered, fighting the way the room threatened to dim at the edges, his presence too much. “I want you, and you want me. Somewhere down in there, you do. Let me show you. I remember exactly where to kiss and suck to make you arch into my arms. Let me help you live…feel…”

I jerked to the side to gain space, freeing myself of the encroaching reaction my body had to him as a trigger, and I narrowed my eyes in a glare, refusing to let him win. Not after all I had gained back.

“I lived and felt plenty with Tucker this past weekend, thank you very much, so your services won’t be needed.” I pushed past him to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and yanked me back in front of his solid, massive form. Again, the edges of my vision dimmed, but I blinked it away, forcing myself to stay present.

When had he grown bigger than Tucker? And I didn’t mean height. They must have been well covered in his tux the other night, but his arms and chest were huge . Intimidating. Able to crush me huge.

Tucker’s size was almost as large. With strength that knew how to cause damage but that also knew control. That provided protection.

Zane wasn’t a protector. He was my predator.

Heat seemed to radiate from not only his dominating form but from his dark eyes as well as he locked them with mine. His stare felt like ice in my veins, freezing me in place as he put it together.

“No.”

There was no disbelief there. That tone was anger. Anger I was terrified to face the consequences of again. But there went my mouth…

“Yes. Tucker did an amazing job of it, too. It was definitely a night neither of us will forget. Rocked my freaking world.” I said it right in his face. “Maybe you should hold out another week. Wait and see if there are any vacationers that need reviving. You were pretty good at that last summer.”

Good Lord. Was that really my attempt at getting him to leave me alone?

I’d lost it. I was officially mental.

A muscle began to tick in Zane’s jaw as it set. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” he growled. “No matter how many times I say I’m sorry.”

“You’ve never said you were sorry.”

He ignored me. “No matter how obvious it is that Tucker can’t measure up to what I can offer you. No matter what I say. No matter what I do. No matter how many hours I spend trying to make you see that. You’re always going to choose him,” he accused .

Finally. Finally he was getting it. Wait. “What have you done other than get Tucker hurt during that basketball game?”

Hope glittered in those dark as sin eyes once again. Why did I encourage him?

He chuckled, low and deep. “Do you really not know? Have you been that out of it that you couldn’t see?”

“Um…” Apparently?…

Zane clenched his arms, bulging his muscles without tightening his grip. He looked down at his chest and back at me. “Improvements.” He smiled. “You don’t need a man that’s weak. You need someone strong. Someone forceful. Someone that can take care of you and give you what you need.”

I barely caught myself from gaping. “You did this ?” I asked, taking an uneasy glance along the expansive muscles I’d just been wondering about. “For me ?”

Doubt flickered over his expression. “Of course. I wanted to be stronger so that you’d run into my arms. So you’d only have desire in those fierce, sexy-as-fuck eyes when you look at me.”

“You thought turning your body into a mountain of solid muscles would make me want you? That I’d find it attractive ? I’ve seen and felt what your muscles can do, before you turned them into this. I’d rather you have less.”

Hurt was evident before the rage. I’d been alone with Zane enough to know the signs of when something struck him.

“And be weaker than Pierce ? Never,” he growled.

Shoving my fear down my throat, I said what he needed to hear if he was ever going to get past his delusions. “It doesn’t matter, Zane. I love Tucker more than anything. There’s no one else as long as he exists. He’s been my rock through everything, and he was willing to change his whole life for me and our daughter. That’s real strength. You’ll always be weaker in my eyes. I’m not broken anymore. I know what I want, and I don’t want you. I don’t love you, and I never will.”

My regret was instant, his grip growing so tight on my arms that I thought they might break, and my muscles beneath his long fingers screamed in protest as Zane lifted me clear off the gym floor to shake me brutally back and forth.

“I’m not weak!” His voice boomed out around us as he shook.

Shock gripped me with disbelief as I tried to reach out, to pull my arms away from his tight hold, but his grip pinned them against me. It was all I could do to keep my head from rattling back and forth just as violently as my body.

I screamed for him to stop, but it was like yelling into an angry void, his rage completely taking over. I began kicking, aiming for the one place I had a chance of reaching that could make the torture end as I screamed, praying someone might overhear.

I kicked again and again, missing my mark over and over until my heel got caught in the pocket of his shorts.

My world grew dizzy.

“ I changed for you! I love you!” he shouted as he shook me senseless.

“PUT HER DOWN NOW , HERNANDEZ!”

Never in my life had I been more glad to hear or see a teacher.

Teachers .

There were two of them.

Coach Larson started prying my arms from Zane’s death grip as Ms. Teiger held me up from behind, keeping me from dropping to the floor.

“Dinah, stay back!” I vaguely registered Ms. Teiger yell when someone tried to untangle my foot from the shorts. “Go hit the button to page the office!”

Did they mean me?

Everything spun.

Coach Larson managed to free me then, and I fell back into my teacher’s arms, my legs unable to support me even with both feet beneath me again.

“Are you okay, Izzy?” Ms. Teiger asked when I finally had my weight halfway balanced on wobbly legs.

“Against the wall, Hernandez!” I heard Coach Larson order from a few feet away.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay upright as my head spun a million different directions. “I think so. Just dizzy,” I admitted when I felt myself sway.

“What’s this?” I heard the coach ask.

“Nothing,” Zane barked, and when he tried to lunge, Coach Larson stepped in front, blocking him from anywhere near me.

“Here, sit for a moment.” Ms. Teiger used a gentle hand to guide me over to the bleachers, but the room spun harder.

“I need to sit. Now.” My voice came out mumbled, and Ms. Teiger helped me to the floor. I worked to focus on my surroundings, desperate not to pass out as I ignored my turning stomach.

“Doing drugs, Zane?” I heard Coach Larson, and Zane scoffed.

I blinked, trying to process that as I laid my body against the gym floor, watching, everything spinning as Coach Larson held up a baggie with pills he scooped from the ground. His other hand was held up, telling Zane not to move, and his brow shot up as he inspected the contents. “Steroids. Now, that explains a lot.”

Steroids! Zane had been on steroids. The guy whose strength had already cost me so much had actually used steroids to get me to like him? If I hadn’t lived through worse, I’d have thought the stress would do me in. But my stomach didn’t quite get the message. Seconds later, chicken wrap and lemonade covered the floor.