Out of the Ashes (8 page)

“How cool is this?” she asked me across the front seat, gathering her stuff, including her brick of a book. “Zane’s actually coming with us!”

“I doubt he’s coming with us to the actual movie, Dollybird. More like he’s dropping us off outside. We’ll be lucky if he even stops the car,” I told her seriously, muttering the last bit of my sentence.

She gave me a perplexed look and shook her head. “He’s totally coming with us. Now hurry up. You’re going to be the reason we get lumped with unsatisfying snacks,” she ordered.

So that’s how I found myself in a SUV with Zane and my daughter on the way to the movies. Not a scenario I had ever imagined myself in. It was even worse when I tried to get into the back seat, farther away from getting incinerated from the death stare. Lexie had insisted I sit in the front seat. Zane’s jaw had hardened exponentially when I had jostled in, and his face kept straight ahead as he maneuvered out of the lot. I had waved at the men, who gave me chin lifts and head shakes. I didn’t get the head shakes, and didn’t exactly have time to ask.

Luckily, bless her heart, Lexie hadn’t clocked the downright hostile atmosphere that emanated from Zane and had chattered the entirety of the journey from the garage to the movie theatre. For his part, he answered all of Lexie’s questions, limited his profanities and was actually polite in his ultra badass,
I kill puppies in my spare time
kind of way. He didn’t spare a glance at me, and when Lexie tried to involve me in the conversation, I barely squeaked an answer. I’m not a squeaker. I had my time when a man battered me down to a shell of myself and I would shrink into a corner. But I recovered. Fought back. Found myself.

I’m loud. Opinionated. And quite funny, if I did say so myself. But for this car ride I retreated back into that little shell. It didn’t help that I was also immensely attracted to the person who was radiating hostility. I breathed a sigh of relief when we pulled up at the theatre. It must have been audible because Zane gave me a hard, sideways glance.

I ignored it and clutched the door handle, restraining the urge to throw myself out of the vehicle.

“Thanks for the--” I started to say, but Lexie jumped in.

“You have to come in now, Zane, we’re right outside. It would be a crime for you to miss cinematic gold when you’re so close,” she stated firmly.

Zane didn’t turn, but he caught her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Told you, I don’t do movies. Sorry, kid.” His rough and oh so sexy voice didn’t sound very sorry to me.

Lexie widened her eyes into a look I was all too familiar with. It was the wounded puppy look that had gotten her out of multiple situations and gotten her into specific ones. Like ones at movie theaters such as this, where after such a look I found myself sitting in documentaries about global warming.

“Okay, but if you leave us here, we’ll have to walk all the way home and the shoes Mom is wearing are not conducive with walking long distances.” She shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, though—what’s a few blisters?” She feigned nonchalance.

I gave my daughter a silent round of applause for tapping into what I guessed was the only chink in this guy’s muscled and impregnable armor. Helpless women. Not that I was helpless. In these shoes, after walking more than half a mile, maybe.

There was a pause. Zane’s jaw got very hard, then his body relaxed slightly. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he muttered, unbuckling his seatbelt.

“Right on,” Lexie exclaimed. “I promise you’ll enjoy this.”

She jumped out of her seat and out the door so quickly she didn’t hear him mutter, “Not fuckin’ likely.”

I gathered this statement was not due to my enthusiastic and funny daughter, whom I was pretty sure it was impossible to dislike, but because of me. I was surprised to feel more than a little stab at this. I didn’t get time to ponder it, as I quickly realized it was just me and Zane in the truck and the air had turned charged. I took a deep breath and turned to face him, inwardly flinching at the red hot glare I encountered.

“You don’t have to come in, really. We can catch a cab home, it’s no problem. I really appreciate the ride. We’re good now. Thanks,” I finished lamely.

Zane stared at me, and the glare turned into something else. Something different. Something carnal. Something dangerous. “You want to make it into that movie theatre, babe, you’ll get out of the truck. Right. Fucking. Now!” he growled, his voice rough and gravelly.

I stared at him for a split second before ungracefully scrambling out of the truck, my wits and my hormones scattered.

I expected the SUV to skid off in a cloud of smoke, but to my utter and complete amazement Zane stalked out of it and rounded the hood. He didn’t even glance at me. I continued to stare as he strode towards a grinning Lexie, his mouth a hard line. I frantically tried to understand what the fucking hell—I think that moment needed an f word—just happened. My brain couldn’t catch up. But my ovaries were standing to attention.

“Mom! You actually have to go into the theater in order to see the movie and consume the delicious, delicious snacks,” Lexie called to me, jolting me out of my haze.

I turned to see her and Zane waiting at the entrance, her with a smile, him with a look that made me feel like I had just run over his dog. And insulted his mother. And was responsible for world hunger.

Despite this, I hurried to join him and Lexie, ignoring the pulse between my legs.

“Okay, we’ll have three large popcorns, one bag of M&Ms and some Reese’s Pieces, please,” I said to the guy at the snack counter.

By some miracle, we had time for not only the previews but for snacks also.

“You’re not getting Milk Duds?” Lexie asked from beside me.

I looked at her. “Well, I thought Reese’s were a better choice,” I explained.

“Yes, but Reese’s are hugely similar to M&Ms and I’m not suggesting we rule out either of those—I’m simply saying we need more variety, and we need variety in the form of Milk Duds,” she reasoned.

I nodded. “Duly noted.” I turned to the kid at the counter, who was standing patiently—I think—waiting for us to decide. “Add Milk Duds onto that,” I requested.

“And two diet Cokes,” she added quickly.

I slapped my forehead and turned to her in mock seriousness. “How could I forget the liquid, which of course needs to be diet to balance out all of the calories in our snacks?” I asked.

She patted my shoulder affectionately. “I got your back, Mom.” She turned to Zane, “What do you want to drink, Zane?”

He was staring at us with a strange look on his face. It wasn’t the glower he reserved for me, nor was it the slightly softer version of mad murderer that Lexie was treated to. This was different. The edge of his mouth turned up slightly, and if I didn’t know better I would have thought he was...amused?

“I’m good, Lex,” he answered finally.

I also liked, despite myself, how he called my daughter “Lex.” It was familiar and seemed like his way of expressing affection. I didn’t know why I should like the big, bad, biker from next door to be calling my daughter by affectionate nicknames but I did. I also liked the fact I was standing at the snack counter with the big, bad, and friggin’ hot biker from next door. I chose to forget the fact we were practically holding him hostage and manipulating him with Lexie’s puppy dog stare.

She widened her eyes at him. “You have to have a soda when watching a movie. It’s like a rule. Soda and crazy amounts of sugary snacks. It’s all part of the experience,” she told him, like going to the movies was tantamount to climbing Mt Everest.

The side of his mouth ticked up again, and this time I was sure. It was amusement. Amusement, people! The staunch, hugely scary, muscled biker had a sense of humor, deep down underneath all that muscle and menace.

“Don’t drink soda, kid.”

Lexie’s mouth dropped open at this. “I don’t usually drink soda either. With the exception of when I’m at the movies, having a movie night, or at a ballgame. It’s not good for you, but you’ve got to indulge every now and then. It’s good for the soul,” she informed him sagely, as if she was the Yoda of the soda consumption world.

“Dollybird, he doesn’t want soda. Let him be,” I told her, scared the soda pressure might make him explode right here at the snack stand.

She shrugged. “Okay, just get him a bottle of water,” she ordered. I gave her a look. “What? He’ll get thirsty from the popcorn,” she reasoned.

The kid plonked our feast down in front us. I turned back to him. “One more request and I promise, you’ll never have to see us again.” I thought on that. “So you’ll probably be seeing us next week, considering the new Bond movie comes out then.” I paused and thought again. “Actually, we’re pretty regular moviegoers, so you will actually see us again. Probably quite regularly. Just not for a week, at least.” I smiled at him apologetically as he went to get the water.

“And we’ll have the snack situation down pat after a couple of visits,” Lexie added brightly when he returned.

My smile was shocked right off me to see Zane had stepped up, like right in my space. His amused mouth twitch was gone but the furious glare had yet to reappear. He was staring at me with a hard jaw and blank expression. Apart from his eyes; they were blazing, but with what I couldn’t place. And unfortunately, I didn’t have to stare into them for a moment longer, thanks to my new friend the movie theater snack guy.

“That’ll be thirty-eight fifty,” he declared in a bored sounding tone. His eyes didn’t seem so bored as they took in Lexie leaning against the counter, gathering a popcorn and packets of candy bars in her hands.

Her hair was piled atop her head and she was clad in her usual boho chic. She was wearing a chunky sweater that dropped off one shoulder and was cropped. It met with a chiffon floral skirt, which had delicate floral designs and flowed down to her ankles. Slouchy, heeled, tan ankle boots completed the look. She wasn’t your traditional teenage “hot girl,” which was why I had enjoyed the fact that teenage boys were idiots and chased after her scantily clad counterparts. But as she was growing older and blossoming into an impossibly beautiful young woman, I had caught the looks she got. Not just from teenage boys either. Every time a man or boy cast their eyes over her, I wanted to shout at them
she’s just a baby
, and then I got the strong urge to learn how to shoot a gun.

I jumped slightly, as did Lexie when Zane banged cash down on the counter with a force that made me surprised it didn’t crack. I even peeked to make sure. Once I was satisfied he didn’t damage the fixture, I glanced back up at him.

“Zane, this was our treat, as a thank you. You can’t pay. It makes the ‘thank you’ gesture obsolete,” I informed him quietly.

“I’m payin,’” he grunted, not looking at me. His glare was back. And I wasn’t on the receiving end. Praise the Lord. The very scared looking snack food attendant was on the receiving end. His eyes were no longer roving my daughter. They were now widely regarding the scary biker in front of him. One who I was loath to argue with.

“Okey dokie,” I chimed nervously.

He didn’t look at me. “You and Lex grab us some seats. I’ll get this shit,” he declared, nodding down at the considerable array of things Lexie hadn’t grabbed.

“We can help,” I told him.

He turned his head to me and his gaze set me on fire. “Go and get us some seats, babe,” he ordered.

I swallowed, finding it hard to ignore the womb flutter I got from him calling me “babe” for the second time.

I pointed with my thumbs. “I’ll just go and get us some seats.” I snatched the tickets and grabbed Lexie’s hand. “Come on, Lexie.”

As I was dragging Lexie away, we both looked over our shoulders to see Zane having a very intense looking conversation with the snack kid, one who looked like he was about to pee his pants and was nodding furiously.

“What do you think that’s about?” Lexie asked curiously.

I smiled lightly, and was happy in that moment about the little glimmer of naïveté Lexie had left. “Probably just telling him off for not putting enough butter on the popcorn,” I lied. A warm glow settled in my stomach. I knew exactly what he was doing. Protecting my girl’s honor.