Your Exception (8 page)

Wren,

You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you.

I had fun tonight.

I’ll see you in the morning.

Zachary

I look at my phone to see it is well after midnight—no new texts or missed calls. I fold up the blanket and grab my purse and tote.

When I get up the stairs, I see Zach across the room at the front door.

In his underwear. Locking the front door.

I try so hard to avert my eyes from his boxer-briefs and stomach covered in an eight-pack, with tattoos everywhere. Holy shit. How have I never noticed that he is possibly the sexiest man on Earth?

“Uh, hey, Wren. I forgot to lock the doors. Sorry if I woke you.”

I move towards him as he opens the door back up for me.

Why does it feel so ridiculously uncomfortable right now? I mean, it’s just Zachary. In almost all of his glory. “No, you didn’t. I don’t think. Um, sorry I fell asleep. I…uh, better get home.”

I move towards the door, and when I reach him, he hesitates before giving me a hug. I am fully aware of his warm, bare skin against my clothes, and his rock solid body.

“Thank you for deciding to spend your day with me, and don’t worry about that asshole. You definitely deserve better than him.”

“Thank you, Zachary. We’ll both get our happy endings, right?”

“Eh, I’m good right where I’m at,” he says smiling down at me. I nod my head and walk out to my car.

I hope Zach can find someone good enough for him. He really is perfect.

The following morning I still haven’t heard from Logan. When I see Zach, I sheepishly grin, thinking about last night. I sneak glances at him through the glass window separating us, and I continue doing that during the duration of the morning. Seeing him almost nude was...weird, and I can’t help but blush every time I think about it.

As we eat lunch together at The Edge, we joke about the awkwardness the previous night.

“I’m not going to lie, Zachary. When I saw you in your underwear, the only thought that crossed my mind was, don’t look down, don’t look down!”

Zach laughs really loud. “The entire time I was thinking, suck it in, suck it in!”

“Please, like there’s anything that needs sucking in,” I say motioning towards his abs.

“I was caught off guard. Last I knew, you were sleeping, and then BAM! You are standing right in front of me in the dark,” he says, chuckling.

“There was lighting,” I add. “From the moon.” I recall the beauty of the moment as the moonlight shined down from the open window behind him, before the fact that he had no clothes on occurred to me.

I see Jen up at the bar glancing our way from time to time. I’ve always thought she might have a thing for Zach. She probably heard ‘Zach’ and ‘underwear’ in the same sentence and was dying to hear more.

After we finish up our meal and
pay our separate bills, we walk out to his truck since he drove today, and head back to work.

As we enter the shop he asks, “Do you work tonight?”

“Yeah, I have to work Cassidy’s shift since she covered mine for me yesterday.”

“Cool. We’re playing tonight, so I guess I’ll get to see you later.”

“Oh, awesome. That means I’ll make a fortune with the crowd you guys bring in,” I say, winking.

He smirks before he goes to the garage.

“And Zachary?”

“Yeah?” He turns around.

“Thank you. For yesterday. You really helped take my mind off of…everything.”

“It was my pleasure.”

*****

I g
et to the bar, and just as I enter the back, Connor comes out of the kitchen. “So, you and Zach?”

“What? No,” I say firmly.

“That’s not what I heard. I heard you’re definitely together and even consummated your relationship.”

Damn it, Jen
!
“Don’t listen to anything Jen tells you. She only heard part of a story,” I say, disgustedly. Jen has such a big mouth. You’d think I’d be excluded from her gossip, being I’m her niece and all, but no. “Guess I’ll have to go set her straight.”

I walk out to give Jen a piece of my mind when Logan enters through the front doors. He sees me and walks straight over.

“Hey you.”

I melt a little before I remember what an ass he is. “So nice to see you’re still alive. What do you need? A Coors Light, was it?” I say, dripping with sarcasm.

He shakes his head. “No, I came to see you. To apologize for blowing you off yesterday.”

“Well, that’s so thoughtful.” I force a smile. “It’s fine.”

“You haven’t texted me back, and you seem upset.”

“Are you talking about not responding to the one and only text you sent me yesterday? After you stood me up?”

“Listen, it was a onc-“

“Y
up, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Got it,” I say, waving my hand dismissively as I start to walk away.

He grabs my hand.

“Don’t be mad. I’ll take you to another race.”

“Wow. Because that’s what was so important. Not the fact that I wanted to spend time with you, or go out on a
n
actua
l
date, but because I wanted to see some guys riding on boards and bikes out in the heat.” I let go of his hand. “I have to get back to work.”

He watches my hand fall from his and lets me walk away. He turns around and exits the bar
.
Not that I expected him to chase after me...but it is not lost on me that he didn’t.

When Draven arrives, I smile and wave at Zach. Cautiously aware Jen is watching my every move around him. As I serve my tables
, he walks over to me. “Wren.” He smiles. “Can I get a pitcher of water and a shot of Jack?”

“Absolutely, I’ll be right back.” As I head towards the bar, Cassidy and Jack walk in, his arm around her waist.

“Hey, bitch!” she yells and wildly waves her arm at me. She’s already drunk, and he looks pretty drunk as well. I wonder who drove here. I wave back and continue walking to the bar to get Zach’s drinks.

I give Jen the evil eye. “You and I will be having a little chat later.” She shrugs and hands me Zach’s order. When I hand them to him, he winks at me.

“Thanks, babe.”

I can’t help but smile a little.

The place is at full capacity tonight. Draven is the biggest thing around here, so the dance floor is packed and, oh look, boobs. Someone is flashing the band. As I start to look away, I take a second look. Not at the boobs, but what is definitely Holly’s face. I see the butterfly tattoo on her arm that I’ve come to hate
.
Great
.
I’m still pissed off at Logan, and now Holly is here, and she’s working on sleeping with the members of a new band.
My
band. I notice Kate is next to her, staring up at Zach.

At the end of the night, as I’m washing down tables, I notice Zach is in a back corner with Kate, and having a conversation that looks anything but friendly. Zach looks up and sees me looking at them. He quickly says something and storms away to finish tearing down his gear. She watches him the whole time as he leaves.

There is no way two people can have a conversation like that if they didn’t already know each other, or have some type of history.

Kate looks over at me and starts heading in my direction. I grab what I have in my hands, tossing it in the trash, and practically run into the kitchen. No way is that girl going to try and get
more information out of me. As I hide back there in the dark, I keep going over the heated argument I’ve witnessed between Zach and Kate. I silently wish Connor was still here, and the kitchen hadn’t closed at ten. As I make my way back out, I come face to face with Holly. This bitch is drunk.

“Wreeeen! Where have you been all night?” She stumbles to the right and leans against the wall.

“Working,” I say flatly.

“You’re such a whore,” she sneers.

“Excuse me?” Who does she think she is? What gives her the right to call me a whore after she just flashed her tits to the entire band and everyone else in the bar?

“You heard me. You’re fucking Logan and now Zach. At the same time? I knew you were a whore,” she slurs.

“You don’t know anything. Get the fuck away from me.”

“Stay away from them. Both of them. Zach is Kate’s. He’s been in love with her way too long, and now that she’s divorced, Zach can finally have the family he’s been dreaming about.”

My mouth falls open
.
How did I not know?

“And as for Logan, he’s mine.”

“You’re so full of shit,” I spit with venom.

“Am I? Why don’t you ask him why Jack and I broke up?” With that, she pushes herself off the wall and stumbles away.

Fuck m
e
. Could this day get any worse?

The second I get home, I call Logan. He doesn’t answer.

He’s probably still upset about earlier.

I call him again, not caring if I come across as a crazy stalker. We have things to be discussed, and I can’t wait until tomorrow to get this resolved.

After the third time, he finally picks up.

“We need to talk. Now.”

“I’ll be right over.”

As I hear Logan’s motorcycle approaching, I open the front door. He doesn’t try to kiss me as he enters my home. Cassidy isn’t here, but we silently climb the stairs and go into my room. I sit down on my bed, and he follows.

I get right to the point. “What is going on with you and Holly?”

He makes a face. “Nothing. I wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot pole.”

“Now, but what about before?”

“Before when?”

I sigh. “Holly says you’re the reason her and Jack broke up.”

He looks pissed. “Jack and Holly were throwing a party last summer
when I was in town. She came on to me and tried kissing me. I was pushing her off when Jack walked up and saw. He watched me push her off of me. He knew it was all her. So, no. It was not me who broke up her and Jack. She did that all on her own.”

I hang my head. Why does it always seem as if someone is trying to tear us apart? “Okay. Thank you for coming over and explaining it to me. She bombarded me at the bar, and she really got to me.” I fell right into her trap. “She wants you, you know.”

“She’ll never have me,” he says, reaching over and pulling a lock of hair from my face.

“Are you happy?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you happy with us?”

“Yes, everything is great. I’m happy. You’re wonderful, and I’m so fortunate that I get to be the one with you,” he reassures me, but I get the feeling he wasn’t fully convinced himself.

He starts kissing me, and I let him, hoping he can convince me this way.

And he does.

***
**

Saturday morning we sleep in, have more mind blowing sex, and eventually decide to get some breakfast.

“So what are your plans for the weekend?”

“Um, not sure. We’ve got a gig in Westmont tonight.
I’ll probably hang out with Josh tomorrow and play video games or something.”

I’m kind of sad. No mention of him wanting to spend time with me. He didn’t even ask if I’m coming to his show. “Oh. Okay.”

We exchange a limited amount of words until he says he’s got to get going.

I’m left confused and wondering what to do next. I don’t want to be annoying and make him tell me what he’s thinking, but I also don’t like this uneasy feeling I have in the pit of my stomach. I decide I’ll just let him be for now
. But I don’t hear from him the rest of the day, or the next day.

By Monday morning I’m going out of my mind with concerns, so I recap everything that happened Friday night when he came over
,
I was pissed, so I called him on it, and we talked and worked it out
.
It was just a misunderstanding, nothing more. He told me he was happy, and then we had amazing sex. Several times.

So, why isn’t he talking to me? Is he wondering why I’m not talking to him? Something felt amiss at breakfast on Saturday, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I should have trusted my gut that something was wrong. I should have pushed harder to try and make everything better, but I didn’t want to risk pushing him away. It appears that’s what happened anyway.

When did I become this person with such lack of confidence? I’m starting to feel like I did at the end of my relationship with Alec. What a horrible feeling.

This can’t be good.

*****

I’ve cried myself to sleep the last two nights.

Am I so unlovable?

Since I’m hell-bent on not being
that girl
,
I don’t chase after him.