Between Darkness and Daylight (23 page)

In the instant he'd noticed her nearing Mr. Caseworker's woman's vehicle and realized that she didn't intend to cause any harm, he knew that she was not an ally and added another person to his list of enemies.

Enrique had tried to hide from her, but it'd been next to impossible, the girl was so nosy and eagle-eyed.

She might have caught him off-guard, if he were anyone else but Martin Richards.

Martin Richards was friendly, supportive, a teacher's teacher, and he quickly assessed the situation and danger level before the girl got within two feet of the car, then made the proper adjustments.

She shouted out his name and Enrique winced, but he quickly covered his annoyance with a welcoming smile. She said something along the lines of "funny meeting you here." How clichéd could the interfering bitch get?

But he'd remained polite throughout their little exchange. Right up until the moment when she pried her cute little nose too far into his business and off-handedly asked whether he was going into the sports center or waiting for Mr. Youngblood, too.

Then and there, Enrique decided that she'd have to be dealt with. There was no other way. She’d seen him and probably would mention it, if only in passing, to parties that simply did not need to know about his presence in the parking lot.

An inkling of regret dogged him at the thought of hurting an innocent.

The girl was young, not that much older than Ransom, and she reminded him of Angela, in a superficial way. He would have to push himself though, remember that it was because of his Angela—and Ricky and Frenchie, too—that he was doing this. He had to get rid of his enemies and those who had taken away his family in order to get them back, so that they could all be a family again. Fresh start. New beginnings.

But not until he dealt with those who had wronged him.

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* * * *

A gloomy mood followed the trio all the way home. The atmosphere in Nova's SUV was unnaturally charged, the silence stifling, making the short ride through light weekend traffic seem hours-long instead of minutes.

No one said anything all the way upstairs to the loft.

Zane felt like a convicted man on death row; he was just waiting for the repercussions, as if he had done something wrong back at the parking lot when all he'd done was what any man with a conscience would have.

Manuela's appearance at the sports center had been a surprise, but Zane had honestly been glad to see the girl. He'd worried about how she was faring since the incident at the school. She didn't deserve Ran and Nova's recriminations, and their animosity had instantly put Zane on the defensive, kicking protective instincts for his student into high gear. Did they think he'd planned the meeting? Did they think he didn't understand their fears and reservations? Hell, he'd been as shocked as Ransom and Nova at seeing Manuela, more shaken than he'd ever own, and just as confused at what to do about it.

But talking with her came naturally to him. He'd asked after her mother, to which Manuela had mumbled “doing okay.” He'd watched as she suddenly brightened to tell him about her plans for the baby, fairly gushing. As usual, her positive attitude had lifted a giant weight off of his shoulders, made him feel as if he did get something right once in while.

Unlike now.

He unlocked the loft's door and Nova hung her handbag and coat beside Ran's keys on the pegboard. Tossing his own keys on the glass dolphin cocktail table, Zane paused in the middle of the living room and faced his nephew. "Want to tell me what bug is up your butt?"

"You're so smart, you figure it out."

"Ransom—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Zane watched the boy turn on his heel and head towards his bedroom.

Nova hooked an arm through Ransom's as he tried to pass her and stopped the teen mid-charge. "Hey, hey, let's talk about this, Ran-man."

"Don't call me that!"

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Gracie C. McKeever

She frowned as Zane made his way over. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean t—"

"Who gave you the right to call me that?"

"Ransom, take it easy," Zane said.

"I'm getting out of here." Ran glared from him to Nova, jerking his arm. When she didn't readily release it, he pulled harder and just missed poking her in the eye.

"Ransom!"

Zane's shout fell on his back as he fled to his bedroom and slammed the door.

Nova turned to him and gaped. "What the hell was that all about?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"
Me?
"

"The way you two behaved with Manuela—it was shameful."

"You expected us to greet the girl with open arms?"

"I'm not saying that. I just didn't expect you to be so…so adversarial."

"What did you expect, Zane?" Nova asked, wide-eyed. "The girl's mother tried to kill you."

"Key words, Nova:
the girl's mother.
Not her."

She sighed and closed her eyes, then raked a hand through her long hair as she walked over to the sectional and plopped down in a corner.

Zane made his way over and stood beside the sofa for a long moment, silently staring at her. He wanted nothing more than to sit beside her, to pull her into his arms and kiss smooth the furrows on her brow. He wanted to immerse himself in her vanilla musk and never come up for air. But he had pressing issues to address with her and he knew that she had the same for him.

"Why do you do it, Zane?"

He frowned at the raggedness of her voice, his heart twisting as he finally sat down in the recliner catty-corner to the sectional. Nova opened her eyes to stare at him. He thought that he would drown in her dark gaze, almost forgetting the question. "Do what?"

"Take the risks you do."

"You say that like I invite—"

"You all but invited her home with us! And what was that about offering up my vehicle as her ride home?"

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"What else did you expect me to do? I wouldn't have felt right
not
offering."

"That's not the point."

Zane was confused as to what the point was but figured he'd take a shot. "You want an apology? I'm sorry."

"You don't even know why you're apologizing, do you?"

He stared at her, silent, assuming it had been his presumption.

However, the look on her face told him it was something entirely different, something much deeper. She was absolutely right—he didn't know. But it wasn't in him not to try and make amends if it was within his power to do so. His mother used to call him her little peacemaker because he was always running interference between fractious two-year-olds fighting over Nerf balls on the playground or playing the mediator between Sage and her boyfriend-of-the-moment or some girlfriend with whom she'd fallen out.

Nova sat up and leaned forward in her seat, giving him a long intense look before speaking again. "I know all about acceptable losses and risks, Zane. And I know that sometimes you have to cut your losses and not take the risk.”

"Excuse me if I don't consider Manny an acceptable loss. And I happen to think she is worth the risk and not some commodity or security I can just dump or trade off when she doesn't yield a profit."

She glared at him then, and he knew he had stepped over the line. But what had she expected him to say when she was attacking
his
career choices?

"That's not fair and you know it."

"Fare is what you use to get on the train. That’s the only fare I know."

"Oh you….you!" She lurched to her feet, and for a moment Zane thought she was coming after him. The thought almost brought a smile to his face. It definitely made him anxious to hold her and bury himself inside her, his cock twitching in his pants at the idea.

"You're leaving?"

"After I say good-bye to Ransom." She headed towards the boy's bedroom.

"Sure you want to take the risk?"

"Kiss my ass, Zane."

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Gracie C. McKeever

* * * *

She knocked on the door and pushed it open before getting a response.

Big mistake.

"If you're worried about whether I'm going to blow your cover, don't."

Nova stepped into the room and closed the door, hoping the kid's scathing volley hadn't drifted out into the living room. "Can we talk?"

"I've got nothing to talk to you about."

Cautiously, she crossed the room, feeling almost like she was stepping around mines in a field. She sat on the edge of the bed beside Ransom, her hand itching to take one of his but her heart still too raw from Zane’s reprehension and scorn..

Nova glanced at Ran from the corner of her eye, trying not to blink or make the first move. She'd already shown her weakness by coming in to see about him, a tactical error, she now realized.

He sighed, flinging himself back on his bed and throwing an arm over his eyes.

She had to stop herself from laughing at his melodrama. She didn't want to belittle his feelings; she knew that the boy was in some kind of pain he wasn't talking about.

"My grandmother is the only one who calls me Ran-man."

He was still hiding his eyes behind his arm, the torn sound of his voice the only indication that he might be near tears. She didn't know what she would do if he were crying, didn't think she could take seeing him that way. "I made a mistake."

"It wasn't your fault." Ransom slid his arm up to glance at her. "You didn't know."

"I shouldn't have been so forward."

Ran shrugged. "'S'kay."

"Want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"If you tell me what's bothering you."

Nova raised a brow, jerking a thumb at the door. "You mean that out there?"

"You two sounded pretty heated."

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"We were, but that wasn't about you." She smiled at him. "Now, back to the subject, which you so politely changed."

Ransom smiled back and Nova's heart lurched. She was glad he seemed to be coming out of his funk. She didn't know how Zane handled these capricious little human beings called teens adults without putting his foot in his mouth half the time. She was sure she couldn’t do it, too afraid to put herself on the line like that with
any
human being, much less one as volatile as a teen. She’d seen more sides of Ransom in the last two weeks than she’d seen of Matt in five years.
Why do you take the risks you do?

She still didn't understand why Zane took those risks, but Nova admired the job he did, not that he'd know it from the disgraceful way she'd acted earlier.

She owed him an apology.

"So, you guys breaking up?"

"There you go again, changing the subject."

"You are the subject."

"Hmph." Nova chucked him under the chin and gave him a devilish grin. "I don't think so." When he didn't respond after a long moment, she said, "So, tell me about this grandmother of yours."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you're obviously close?"

"Yeah, she's cool."

"Hmm, a cool grandma. That sounds interesting."

"It's not really. She just…she just does things that a lot of other grandmothers don't."

Nova murmured, "Tell me about her, Ransom." And it was as if she'd pulled open the floodgates with her quiet prodding.

For the next several minutes, she listened to tales of the amalgam who was "Gramma Addie"—a senior citizen who did a better-than-fair imitation of Homer Simpson, who faithfully and fearlessly took long walks in the forest surrounding her home and was an active member in her church. She made the best coffee for St. Ramon's Bingo every Monday night and smoked cigars during poker night with the "girls" every Tuesday.

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Gracie C. McKeever

"She's just under five feet tall and loves to drive big cars. Uncle Zane used to put thick cushions on the seat for her, but you could still barely see her above the steering wheel."

Nova broke into hysterical laughter at the picture Ransom drew, hardly able to catch her breath as he went on to explain how Zane told him his grandmother didn't drive her big cars as much as she aimed them at people before almost running them over.

She held her stomach and wiped tears from her eyes. "You are too much, Ran."

"Nah, Gramma Addie is."

"She does sound like quite a character."

"She's cool."

"I'd love to meet her sometime."

"You can." Ransom brightened. "You could come out to North Carolina with us for Thanksgiving."

"Oh, I don't know if that's such a good idea…"
Help.

Zane must have heard her plea, because he knocked and opened the door at that exact moment, taking them in as they sat in cozy closeness on the teen's bed.

"Just checking to make sure you haven't killed each other."

"We're cool," Ransom assured.

"That's good to know."

Blood instantly heated her face at his scrutiny. It was hard to keep up with the changeable moods of these two males who had stolen her heart.

One minute the kid was preaching her funeral, the next he was inviting her to Thanksgiving dinner with his grandmother. And Zane…well, she couldn't even begin to cover all the ill omens for their relationship.

"Can Nova come with us to Gramma Addie's for Thanksgiving?"

"You invited her?"

"Yeah, and she said she didn't know if it was a good idea."

Zane looked at her, eyes lit with hope, but seemed to be steeling himself for a solid "no" before he said, "Nova might have plans to spend time with her own family, Ransom."

She almost sighed audibly, such was her relief. "That's right, Ran. I do have one you know." She winked and mouthed a "thank you" to Zane as
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the boy giggled uproariously and tried to get away from her full-scale tickle attack.

The cell phone on Zane's belt clip rang.

Nova hadn't even noticed him wearing it until now. Just like a doctor, always on call. She watched as he took the phone off his belt, noting the sheepish look he gave her as he answered it.