Hearts on Fire (The Hunter Family) (7 page)

Even though I meant the words, I felt a twinge of dread in the back of my mind that reminded me my dad was not going to like his situation one bit.  It sounded like Zane was content being a part-time bartender and a singer in a band which he hoped would one day make it big.  His story was almost an exact repeat of Jeremy’s story and my dad would never approve.  I did my best to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach and tried to focus on how great it felt to be with him.

I could see the appreciation in his eyes as he smiled at me and then gave me a soft peck on the lips.  “Thank you for that.”

I was so caught up in us I completely forgot that Claire and Logan were sitting a couple of feet away from us. I glanced over at them and their faces were so close to each other I don’t think they knew we were there.  Zane looked over at them, glanced at me and smiled before sliding his gaze back over to them.

“Hey, lovebirds, remember us?”

Claire giggled and looked at us with a sheepish grin on her face.

“Sorry, you guys.”

We all stayed there for a couple of hours and then we had to say goodbye to the guys.  Claire and I had early rehearsal the next day so we couldn’t stay out too late, even though we both wanted to.  Zane and Logan walked us out to get a cab and as Logan was saying goodbye to Claire, Zane gently held my face in his hands and his eyes searched mine.

“I had such an amazing time with you tonight, Abby.  I’ll give you a call tomorrow night, okay?”

I smiled and nodded, my words caught in my throat as I marveled at how gorgeous he was under the New York City street lights.  He leaned down to me and I wanted to melt into him as his lips touched mine.  His tongue slid over mine and my fingers raked through his hair as I pressed my body closer to his.  I didn’t care that we were giving passersby a show because all I could think about was how good it felt to be held and kissed by Zane.  In that moment, he was my everything.

Claire and I weren’t able to make the band’s performance that Thursday because we were at the dance studio until well after 1:00 a.m., but since Zane was working at the bar the next night, I decided to surprise him and go say hi.  I thought it would be nice to do that because I hadn’t seen him all week and I missed him.  Claire had a date with Logan that night so I went to the bar solo around 11:00 p.m., excited to see Zane. 

It was super crowded and it took a while for me to spot Zane, but I eventually saw him busily pouring drinks for a group of girls who were leaning against the crowded bar.  Since there was literally no room at the bar I couldn’t go over there just yet, so I decided to walk around and check out the place.  I didn’t see very much of it on Sunday so I took my time walking around.  The space was pretty big so I was surprised that there was only one bar.  They could have easily fit another bar on the other side of the room and then I realized that must be where there put a stage.  As I was walking back over to see Zane, a sleezy guy blocked my path and gave me what I could only assume was what he thought was his sexy face.

“You are simply gorgeous, can I buy you a drink, sweetheart?”

I tried really hard not to roll my eyes at him, but I don’t think I was successful.  I plastered on a fake smile and stepped around him.

“No thanks.”

He reached out to stop me and tried to pull me back to him, and I felt my body instantly stiffen.

I looked down at his hand that was holding my arm and slowly raised my eyes to his, daggers shooting out of my eyes.

“If you don’t want to lose that hand, you better let go of me right now.”

His hand dropped away and he raised them in the ‘hands off’ position.

“Easy darlin’, I mean no harm.  You might want to lighten up a bit.”

For some reason he really annoyed me.  “You might want to listen when a woman says ‘no thanks’.”  I spun on my heel and headed over to the bar.  I hated when guys like that approached me.

I shimmied my way in between two guys near the end of the bar and when they saw who was trying to squeeze her way in, they smiled and made room for me.  It really amazed me sometimes what I could get away with because I was a pretty girl.  I smiled at them and my smile quickly faded as I saw a gorgeous blonde at the other end of the bar whispering something in Zane’s ear.  I could tell she wasn’t ordering a drink because they were both grinning ear to ear and she was in his ear way too long.  I decided to back away so he wouldn’t see me and I stood in a dark corner for a few minutes watching them. 

He was really busy taking orders and making drinks but I saw him look over at her periodically and wink at her, and she was flirting back like crazy.  A wave of sadness fell over me as I watched them. How I could have been so stupid to think that he didn’t have other girls?  I watched them for about 20 minutes and she didn’t move from her spot.  Zane was swamped but he always made time to glance at her or wink at her.  My sadness turned to anger as I thought about the time we had spent together over the past couple of weeks and all of the things he’d said to me, and instead of leaving I decided that I was going to confront him.

I marched over to the bar and slid in right next to blondie.  I wanted Zane to see me and know that I had seen him flirting with her.  I could feel her eyes boring into me as I made room for myself, but I ignored her as I waited for Zane to look in my direction.  He handed a guy his drinks then came to the end of the bar and bent down to wipe his hands on a towel, then glanced up at me and did a double take.  He nervously looked at the girl next to me and then smiled at me and kissed me on the lips.

“Hey, what a nice surprise!  I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”  I motioned to the girl next to me without looking at her.  “Who is your friend?”

Someone yelled for him at the other end of the bar because the other bartender was swamped.

“Be right back!”

He dashed down to other end of the crowded bar and blondie turned to me.

“I’m Kelly by the way, since you asked Zane.  Are you a friend of his?”

I raised my eyebrows at her.  “Are
you
?”

“Yeah, we’re friends.  We’ve been out a couple of times.”

I knew it!
 “Oh really, how long ago was this?”

She seemed a little taken aback by my tone but I didn’t care.

“A little over a month ago.  I stopped in tonight to say hi since I haven’t seen him in a while.  Is there something going on with you two?”

I turned to her and squared my shoulders as I raised one eyebrow.  “As a matter of fact, there is.”

“I thought so.  Let me guess, you guys met about three weeks ago, right?”

My pissed-offness started to subside because I wanted to see where she was going with this.

My eyes searched hers carefully.  “Yeah, that’s right.  Why?”

“Because that’s right around the time he stopped calling me.  He really likes you, um…what is your name?”

“Abby.”

“He really likes you, Abby.”

“How would
you
know?”  I know I sounded bitchy but I wasn’t going to take the word of a girl that liked the same guy I did. 

“I just know.  Have a good night.”   

She grabbed her purse off of the counter and walked out of the bar.  A few seconds later, Zane came back over to me.

“I am swamped Abby, can I give you a call tomorrow?  I still have about three more hours here tonight.”

I was pissed.  “Sure, see ya.”  I turned and walked away without waiting for him to say goodbye.  Before I made it to the door, I felt his hand on my arm and he spun me around.

“Hey, don’t be pissed.  I’m happy that you came by tonight, okay, but it’s just really busy and I won’t be able to spend time with you.”

“Zane, a little help!”  The other bartender did not look happy and I didn’t want Zane to get in trouble.

“Okay, go back to work. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

He smiled and gave me a quick kiss.  “Okay baby, talk to you tomorrow.”

Tons of emotions were swirling in my head as I climbed into bed but the thing that I kept thinking about the most was Kelly telling me that Zane really liked me.  It did make me feel good to know that he stopped calling her after he met me.  Maybe there really weren’t any other girls.  I drifted off feeling pretty good about us and I couldn’t wait to talk to him the next day.

Zane called me around 1:00 the next day and I missed his call because I was in the middle of rehearsal.  I was slightly irritated that he didn’t call me earlier since I’d made the effort to see him at work, but I called him back when I had a break.

“Hi Zane.”

“Hey there, gorgeous.  You must be at rehearsal.”

“Yeah, another long night ahead of us.”

“Oh, wow.  So, it was great to see you last night.  Sorry I couldn’t hang out with you, we’re usually swamped like that on the weekends.”

“Well, it looked like Kelly was keeping you company.”

“Abby, Kelly is old news.  We went out a few times and that’s it.  There is nothing going on there.”

“Do all of your exes hang out and wait for you at the bar?”

“No.  She just didn’t get the hint that it was over.  She’s a nice girl but I’m with the one I want to be with.  I’m not interested in seeing anyone but you.  You have to understand that there will be girls hanging around us all the time because we’re a pretty popular band.  But groupies are not my thing, and neither is cheating.  If I don’t want to be with someone I tell them, I don’t lead them on.  No games here, Abby.”

I don’t know if it was the tone of his voice or the words that came out of his mouth, but I instantly felt better.

“Okay, no games here either.”

“Good.  When can I see you?”

“We have late rehearsal tonight, but not too late this time, we should be done around 10:00.  Are you working at the bar tonight?”

“No, I have no plans if you’re free.”

“I can meet you after practice, if that works for you.”

“Yeah, that works.  How about I pick you up at the dance studio?”

“Sounds good.  I’ll call you when we’re done.”

“Okay baby, can’t wait to see you tonight.”

I went back to practice on cloud nine and the rest of the day did not pass fast enough for me.  We finished up a little bit after 9:00 that night and I rushed home to take a shower and make myself pretty for Zane.  I called him when I was almost ready and told him that I decided to go home to freshen up since we finished early.

“Okay, I will be there in 20 minutes.  Do you need to grab a bite to eat?”

“No, we took a break earlier so I’m not hungry.”