Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1) (17 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Z
ach hated Deke’s.

He disliked clubs in general—the whole shoving people together to dance around and socialize and pretend you aren’t trying to get laid. It always seemed fake and a waste of time to him. And Deke’s, well, there were just too many memories there.

So why was he there?

Fuck if he knew. All he knew for sure was that the air was getting thick like it always did a day or so before a big storm, and that made him antsy. Normally he could cure that itch with the ham radio or in the workshop, but tonight the second Hannah and Maddi drove off, he called Eli to go have a beer with him. Eli was probably wondering what the hell was going on, too. The last time they’d gone anywhere together that didn’t involve a funnel cloud or a family event, Zach had still been in his twenties.

“You still come here?” Eli asked as Zach handed him a beer.

“Nah,” Zach said. “Haven’t been here in a few years. Just felt like getting out.” No he didn’t.

“I think it’s been close to ten since I’ve been in here,” Eli said, looking around him. “And it’s like a damn time warp.”

Zach laughed. “No shit.”

“Still feels moldy,” Eli said.

“Same furniture,” Zach said.

“Same carpet a million different people have puked on,” Eli said, taking a long swallow of his beer.

“Yeah, good times,” Zach said. “Hannah’s supposed to be here.”

Eli took in the room, how it curved around the dance floor in a U, his eyes landing quickly on a nearby table.

“She’s right there,” Eli said. “With—” He sighed with irritation. Yeah, that was just a matter of time. “This is why you dragged me here?”

Zach’s eyes followed the rays of disapproval all the way to where Hannah sat facing him and Maddi sat with her back to him. The kick to the gut was becoming commonplace. “I wanted to grab a beer with you,” he said. “Why do you have to school me every second of every day? Can’t you relax for one night?”

“Don’t you see her enough?” Eli said.

Zach narrowed his eyes. “Is that a no?”

“Jesus, you’re screwed up,” Eli muttered, walking toward the girls.

He laid a hand on Maddi’s shoulder as he came up behind her, and she jolted like he’d shot her. Till she looked up and saw it was Eli and laughed and hugged him. Zach was pretty sure she wouldn’t laugh and hug
him
if he came to the forefront. Better to stay back and not crowd her. And kick himself in the ass for coming there in the first place.

Hannah knew. It was why she’d mentioned it to him, he knew that. She was testing him to see if he’d be able to stay away, and he’d failed miserably. But the thought of Maddi coming here, all decked out and sexy, when she’d left the house in her pajamas—he just couldn’t stand it.

He could barely stand this, either. Zach hadn’t seen Maddi’s face full-on yet, but the view from the rear was killing him. She was wearing a blood-red top that fell off one shoulder, revealing half the skin on her back. Her dark hair fell in casual curls just past her neck, bouncing as she talked. And she had on red boots.

Zach had no damn business being there.

“Hey, Zach,” Hannah said, pointing to the empty table next to them. “Feel free.”

Maddi didn’t turn around, so he knew she knew he was there. “Nah, we didn’t come to crash your party,” he said with a grin. “We’ll find something else. Just saying hey.”

Hannah nodded like she knew he was full of shit. “Uh-huh,” she said. “Hey.”

Zach shook his head and headed to the buffet table as the band set up and started doing their mike checks.

“Y’all ready for a little
love
tonight?” one of the band members drawled, making the crowd hoot and holler.

“Fuck me,” Zach muttered, spearing a shrimp.

Maddi had never felt so split in half in all her life. She was so hyperaware of Zach sitting on the other side of the dance floor, it felt as if her insides were pulling her in that direction.

Zach and Eli had snagged a table next to two women—that wasn’t lost on her, either. It was a strategic move on someone’s part. And evidently she was now an adolescent girl.

Hannah left in search of the ladies room, and Maddi’s pretend confidence had a chance to rest. She pressed her palms together and took a deep breath. This had been a bad idea. This place—Zach being here—it was too familiar. Too much.

“Shit,” Maddi said under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Such language,” said a male voice to her left, making her nearly fall off her stool.

“Gah!” she yelped, then laughed and jumped up to throw her arms around the perpetrator. “Monroe, you just took thirty minutes off my life.”

“Just breathing the air in here will do that,” Monroe said, squeezing her tight and kissing the top of her head. “How is it still smoky in here?”

“Decades of it soaked into the walls,” she said, gesturing to an unoccupied stool.

He pulled it up and sat, leaning back to study her. Too closely. His trained eyes could always pick her apart, and she was in no mood for picking. She just wanted him there.

“You look good,” she said, flagging down the waitress. Maddi patted his torso. “Put on a little weight, did you?”

It was a joke, as there wasn’t a visible ounce of fat on his body. Monroe was disgusting that way. Ate healthy, lived healthy, owned a hard-core workout facility so he always looked like a cross between a professional wrestler and a runway model. He’d always turned heads with his face, as he had a pair of blue eyes that could stop time, but his body now guaranteed it. His three tours in the Marines made his body hard and sometimes his eyes even harder, she thought, but he always had a grin and a hint of mischief for her.

He ordered a beer and sat back. “So where is he?”

“Eli?” Maddi asked flippantly. “Over there,” she said, pointing.

“Really?” he asked. “That’s how you’re gonna play it?”

She gave him a look. “Yes, he’s over there, too,” she said. “Don’t make a scene.”

“No scene to make,” Monroe said, taking a drag off his beer. “I have no beef with a man who plans to marry my sister, leaves her alone on her wedding day, lets her leave town an emotional wreck, and then never comes to check on her.” He shrugged. “Why would I have a problem with that?”

Maddi widened her eyes dramatically. “You weren’t even there, babe. You were still deployed.”

She had taken root in her brother’s unused rental house, not leaving for two whole weeks after she got there. Ordering takeout and washing and wearing the same pajamas was all she needed. She figured he’d given her a key for a reason—emergencies. That felt like an emergency to her. By the time his duty was up, she’d found her own place.

“You told me he never came to see you, did you not?” he asked.

Maddi was feeling itchy, finding herself in the uncomfortable position of defending the person she didn’t want to defend. “I did.”

“Well, there you go.”

“I’d told him it was over,” she said.

“Wouldn’t have stopped me,” he responded.

“So, talked to Dad lately?” she asked, smiling.

The look he gave her was icy. “Nice deflection.”

“And?”

“No way!” Hannah said from behind her. “Monroe Hayes.”

Monroe winked at Maddi before his eyes landed on Hannah, and the smile that tugged at his mouth was way past relief over a subject change.

“Hannah Chase,” he said, getting to his feet in one slow, fluid movement.

Maddi looked from one to the other as they commenced a silent mutual admiration society.

“Okay, then,” Maddi said under her breath. “Have the names down.”

“Wow,” Hannah said, struggling to find her tongue for the second time that night. She laughed and hugged him. “You got—um—”

“Tall?” Monroe offered, a flirtatious glint in otherwise serious blue eyes. “Ugly?”

“Yes, that’s definitely it,” Hannah said, pointing. “You got ugly.”

Monroe laughed. “Well, it was bound to happen.”

She wrinkled her nose in mock sympathy. “You feeling okay about it?”

He nodded. “I muddle through,” he said softly.

Hannah laughed and took her seat, and Maddi saw her flush—for the second time that night.

“You’ve certainly grown up since I saw you last,” Monroe said. And there went number three. Hannah was having a banner night. He dropped his gaze to her left hand. “No ring?”

Hannah’s eyebrows raised slightly as she said, “No date?”

Monroe smirked. “Just here with my sister.”

“So am
I
,” Hannah said. “What’s wrong with us?”

“You know I’m still here, right?” Maddi said, holding up her hand.

Monroe laughed heartily and upended his bottle. “We’re just messing around.” He jutted his head toward the other side of the room. “I’m gonna go see what the boys are up to.”

“Not nearly as much fun as the girls,” Hannah said.

He smiled at her. “No question about that.”

“Monroe, be nice,” Maddi said, feeling the tinges of panic at what he might say.

“Not everything’s about you, little sister,” he said, not quite pulling off innocent.

“Uh-huh,” she responded, watching him part the crowd as he walked away.

“Jesus Christ, Maddi,” Hannah said, slamming a hand on the table.

“What?” Maddi exclaimed, jumping.

“What?” Hannah echoed, wide-eyed. “You didn’t tell me your brother had turned into—that!”

“That?”

“Don’t play,” she said. “You know exactly what I mean.” She picked up her coaster and fanned herself with it. “I’m sweating. He actually made me sweat.”

“Well, talking about my brother in terms of hotness isn’t the first place I go,” Maddi said. “You should understand this.”

“True,” Hannah said, turning to try to find Monroe in the crowd.

“And also you weren’t talking to me before tonight,” Maddi added.

“
Okay, okay,” Hannah said. “I get—”

She turned back around just as Jonah walked by on his way to the bar, and her words disintegrated into the air. Her gaze dropped along with the coaster. Her demeanor changed. All the flirty fun she’d been having a few seconds ago buried back down again when she put eyes on Jonah.

Maddi looked to where Monroe was now sitting with Zach and Eli, all three men kicked back, at ease with themselves. Zach had one arm slung on the back of his chair, and one of the women at the next table had maneuvered her way in.

Maddi looked away and took a deep breath of stale, stagnant air, grabbing what was left of her beer and finishing it off. She looked up to see Hannah smirking at her.

“What?”

“We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

Hannah and Maddi talked and laughed for another hour, not that Zach was paying attention to the time. He was engrossed in the droning on and on of the woman from the next table named Valerie, who had managed to move her conversation seamlessly to their table without anyone really noticing the move. She was a pretty redhead who had eyed Eli from the second they’d sat down, and now an hour later, she was only inches away from sitting on him.

Eli didn’t appear to mind as he gave her his full attention and the hint of a smile. He liked redheads, always had, and this one had it all going on. Zach figured they’d want to cut out of there soon, and he’d have an easy excuse to leave. Except for the newest addition of Monroe Hayes to the party. He and Eli had caught up, told some stories, thrown a little testosterone around for Valerie, and then Monroe had gone into quiet mode. Zach didn’t know if he was lying in wait to finally tear into him about Maddi—after all, he’d never had the chance. Or if he was just enjoying the peace. Whatever the case, Zach was about to crawl out of his own skin. Coming to Deke’s was a stupid idea. And one he couldn’t seem to leave. Why?