The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club (29 page)

Another twig snapped. The footfalls pounded, louder, closer.

Chloe froze, squealing behind my hand, clutching my shirt. I eyed the figure coming toward us, knowing this wouldn’t be pretty, and peeled my fingers from her mouth.

“Hey, Chloe,” Max said, sounding relieved. He drew closer, and the moonlight allowed me to see the smile he flashed contradicted the black look in his eyes. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Well, I changed my mind. Let’s go Zack, please.” Chloe pulled at my arm. I didn’t move because I knew Max wasn’t going to let us walk away.

“Funny, how things turn out.” Max eyed me, sizing me up. It was going to get physical whether I wanted it to or not. And I wouldn’t be bated into making the first move, this was all him. On my end it was purely self-defense. Defending myself, defending Chloe.

“Let’s not do this, man.” I pushed Chloe behind me, and she barely cooperated. If I let her, she’d launch at him like a freaking hellcat. Which would be an interesting picture, but Max wouldn’t stand there and take it, possibly hurting her in the process.

“I told her I’d take her home, and if you let her go, I’ll do it.” He circled us, drawing closer. He was breathing heavy, like a bull ready to charge. Chloe stayed behind me. I would do everything in my power to keep it that way.

“Take her home, sure, but after what?” I turned with Max, keeping between him and Chloe, knowing that he’d lunge for her. She was a nice little package, not skinny, but easy to toss over your shoulder and make a run for it. Hell, I’d considered it.

“Shut up, Baker.” He snapped. The cords in his neck tightened, face going red. “You always were a big mouth. But big mouths are good for some activities.”

I cracked my knuckles. “You can talk to me any way you like, be smart and leave her out of this.”

“I’m going to kick your ass, Zack, for bossing me around.” He started toward me, fists raised. I gave Chloe a push, trying to keep her as far from the coming fight as possible. She screamed. Max’s meaty fist hooked for my head. I ducked, and instead of retreating, surged forward, grabbing Max around the waist. I knocked him back into the nearest tree and scrambled to once again place myself between him and Chloe. He cursed, lunging for her. This time I gripped his shoulders, sweeping my foot behind his legs. His feet went into the air and I used the momentum to shove him to the ground. I followed him down, planted my knee in his chest and twisted his left arm to the side at the most unnatural angle possible. His other hand tried to grab my face; fist knocked me in the nose. I held on, waiting for him to give in.

“Apologize to Chloe.” I applied a little pressure. He struggled, kicking his legs. It only tired him out more. Which was exactly what I wanted.

“Good.” Sounded like he meant it, so I left him sprawled on the ground. I backed up, making sure he didn’t come at me for round two.

Max rolled onto his side and moaned. He was going to be out of commission for a while. I wiped a trickle of blood coming out of my nose on the back of my hand. It wasn’t bad. I’d had worse. I glanced back to find Chloe ready to keel over.

She leaned against a tree, eyes wide, clutching my flashlight. “You weren’t kidding about fighting.”

I pulled her against my chest. My heart was thundering, hands shaking. I hugged her tight and rested my cheek on the top of her head. “I don’t joke about that kind of stuff.”

“Will he be okay?” she asked. “Did you break his arm?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. Might have dislocated his shoulder.” Max groaned again. I turned back to see he was still slumped over. “Lets get out of here.”

She nodded, taking my hand and heading for the ditch. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

“You know, I don’t know. But I’m going to try.” I said. We reached the ditch and she eyed the murky water with apprehension. “Come on, up you go.” I gave her a piggyback ride, wading through the water. Her shoes were gone, but we still had the flashlight and she lit the way as I trudged through the muck. I snagged her purse off the bank, and by the time we reached my truck, she was limp against my back, practically sliding off.

“I’m not hurt…bad.” She propped her left knee up and showed me a scrape, and I gladly kissed the bump on her elbow. “Mostly, I’m covered in mud.”

I flipped on the overhead light, deciding to check her out for peace of mind. She was right, a few scrapes, and a lot of mud. Her dress was brown, caked with dirt and grass stains. It used to be a cheery yellow. There was a thin cut on her cheek that didn’t need stitches, and a splinter in her palm she couldn’t dig out.

I protested, but she slipped out of the truck and over to the Honda, tiptoeing on her muddied feet. When she came back she handed me the keys to Max’s car. “Why don’t we toss these somewhere he’ll never find them?”

“I like the way you think, Baker.” And once we reached the end of the road, I rolled down the window and lobbed the keys into a trashcan sitting outside of a house. Then I called my dad and told him what happened. He called me back five minutes later with good news.

Max wouldn’t need to worry about finding a ride home.

There was a cop on his way to pick him up.

Chapter 31

Chloe

When we got home our parents stared at us in shock, well, mostly me. I looked pretty bad. Covered in mud, my knees and arms scraped up. Like something Kirk dragged through the doggy door.

A couple police officers came to the house. Zack and I gave the whole story, not leaving anything out…except the party. One of the officers told us the cop who went to pick up Max found him trying to hotwire his car. Apparently he cussed out the officer and tried to run. Which was enough cause for the officer to arrest him.

“I’m so glad you both are alright.” Mom hugged me after the policemen left, and then she went to Zack and kissed his cheeks, spreading the motherly love.

Glenn hesitated, patting me on the shoulder. “Yes. You know, I don’t think I’ve been so worried, not in my entire life.”

Without hesitation, I hugged him. It took him a couple seconds, but he hugged me back.

“I feel weird calling you, Glenn.” I said, letting him go, since he wasn’t used to the warm fuzzy stuff. But he was getting better at it. “Would…would you mind if I called you, dad?”

Glenn…I mean, dad, made a comment about pressing charges, and I told him I didn’t think it was necessary as long as Max learned his lesson. Then I changed my mind and told him to do his worst. I have to say, my new dad never looked so pleased with me.

Mom hovered over me for a while, but it was late, and I wanted to immerse myself in soapsuds and scrub all the crap from my body and crawl into bed. At any moment I was sure my legs would melt out from under me.

“I’m okay, I promise.” I only got halfway up the stairs before mom ran after me. I turned, took her by the shoulders, and met her eyes, “I. Am. Fine.”

I went to my room and shut the door. Debated locking it. Then into the bathroom and plugged the tub, pouring bubbles under the faucet. It was full and ready. I reached around to unzip my dress. It didn’t budge. I tried pulling it over my head, but the waist got caught under my boobs. Pushing it down didn’t work, because I had hips and a butt.

I groaned, thinking about finding a pair of scissors and cutting myself out of it.

My arms were tired, and my mom was now in bed. If I went to get her, I wouldn’t be able to get rid of her this time. Not that I didn’t love having her around. I was hoping Zack and I could talk. We couldn’t have a conversation with my mom in the room.

Since I didn’t have any scissors—mom would hear me if I went to the kitchen to get them—that left only one person to ask for help.

Before calling for help, I gave the zipper a final tug. It didn’t move.

“Zack?” I knocked on his door and cracked it open. He was at the computer. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, I was just telling Kyle what happened.” He eyed my dress, removing the icepack from his nose. It was looking pretty good, considering. Not broken, just swollen and a little pink. “I thought you were going to shower.”

“Bath, actually. I think it would feel good to soak.” I sighed. “But the zipper on my dress is stuck…would you mind helping me?”

He grinned. “You want me to undress you?”

“Please.” I said, going back into the bathroom. He was on my heels in a flash, hands sliding around my waist to pull me back against him. “If you get too close you’re going to smell like the ditch.” He’d changed clothes.

“I’ll take my chances. Besides, I could use a shower too.” He kissed my shoulder and shut the doors. “Just in case. I’m not in the mood for company.”

“You’re so predictable.” I let it fall to the floor and stripped the rest of my clothes off. With a groan I sank into the tub, my body sang with relief. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” He moved to the shower and turned it on.

“So, tell me when you stopped being mad with me.” I scrubbed every inch I could reach. “A couple hours ago you looked like you wanted to rip my head off and lob it out a window.”

At first I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pour out every secret I kept. But once I started, it was easier than I expected. I told him everything. About the crush I had and the game I started during recess. More about spying on him for fun than hero worship. Then I told him how he hurt me when he took my streamers, and that I decided to hate him forever. I finished by telling him the last meeting I attended was to stop the girls. Not just because I was suddenly afraid he’d discover my secret, but because I really liked him. It felt wrong to let them invade his privacy.

He was very quiet. The shower shut off and he wrapped a towel around his hips and sat on the side of the tub.

I was still getting used to parading around naked in front of each other. The first time I saw Zack in the buff, fully, was a few days ago in the dorm room. I covered my eyes and stammered an apology. He just waited until I got the nerve to peek.