Zane (Alluring Indulgence) by Nicole Edwards

some
manner and she’d managed not to shrug him off. Mainly because she was enjoying
it, although, it still made her a tad uncomfortable. She only could imagine
what other people thought when they saw the two of them together.
    “Well,
I think we really need to get going. I’ve got to get up early and meet the
contractors at the house before I come pick you up,” Zoey stated as she pushed
her drink away.
    “I
really should be going, also,” V proclaimed when Kaleb maneuvered out of the booth
and back on his feet.
    “Stay,”
Zane’s voice was low, but V knew the others could hear him.
    “I
can’t,” she lied, grabbing her purse from the spot beside her.
    “Then
I’ll take you home,” Zane insisted, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to argue
with him. Considering she and Zoey had ridden together, she didn’t have much of
a choice. From the look in Zoey’s eyes, she had much bigger plans for Kaleb
anyway.
    “Thank
you,” she replied, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
     
    When
Zane pulled up in front of her house a short while later, V knew she wouldn’t
have the luxury of sitting in his Jeep and trying to figure out just how she
was going to force her legs to move up those steps and through the front door.
    What
if Jake was hiding in the shadows?
    She
absolutely had no intention of letting him know just how panicked she was, so
as soon as he pulled the emergency brake, she grabbed her purse and reached for
the door handle. She was out in the crisp night air with her feet planted
firmly on the ground before she could think about what she was doing, but not
before Zane was rounding the front of his Jeep moving briskly to her side.
    “I
don’t need you to walk me to the door,” V stated, her nerves erupting as she
instinctively began looking around, waiting for something dreadful to happen.
“Please, just go.”
    The
sound of metal crushing bone echoed in her ears. Make it stop!
    “I’m
walking you in,” he demanded, and she heard the insistence in his tone. When he
took her elbow, she forced her feet to move. They hadn’t taken five steps
before the shaking began and V knew she was on the cusp of freaking out. This
was becoming a frequent thing, and she didn’t want Zane to see her like this.
    “Please,
just go,” she told him, ripping her arm out of his grasp and forcing her legs
to move faster.
    God,
please don’t let them hurt Zane again. Please. Please.
    Zane
didn’t seem to care what she was saying because he was right there beside her.
When she tried to push her key into the lock, she couldn’t get the damn thing
to line up because she was trembling like a leaf in a windstorm.
    Need
to get inside! Must get inside. Please don’t let Jake be close.
    Zane
stilled her hand with his, taking the key and dexterously inserting it into the
lock. Once he had the door open, he took her hand and led her inside before
shutting it behind them. V efficiently locked the door, but she didn’t move.
She couldn’t move.
    “What’s
the matter, V?” Zane asked, his tone low and soothing.
    The
images played like a horror movie that she couldn’t erase from my memory. The
grunts and growls of grown men hitting one another, iron striking bone, Zane
falling to the ground, not moving. Oh God!
    She
couldn’t get any words out, and she was immediately overwhelmed with a cold
chill that raced down her spine. Without meaning to, she dropped her purse on
the floor, her arms wrapping around her body while she tried to hold herself
together. She was shaking, her teeth chattering, her mind whirling with
memories she so desperately wanted to eradicate from her mind.
    “V?”
Zane’s voice was no longer soothing. He was visibly worried, and she couldn’t blame
him.
    Here
she was falling apart, and he had no idea why, but she couldn’t bring herself
to tell him. Hell, she didn’t know why, other than the fact that she hated
coming back here. Hated remembering that day when Jake Sanders brutally
attacked