Next to Me (5 page)

“You want to play hide and seek?” Whitney asked.

“What, behind the trees? You can’t hide anywhere.”

“Close your eyes and watch me.” Whitney ran away from him to find a good hiding place.

Zane hated that someone had hurt Whitney. His friend was in a bad place and some crazy girls had come to make her feel even worse. He meant it that she needed a man like him. He would take care of her. Part of him even thought she might clean up for him and stop doing so many horrible things to her body.

Tonight was one of the first nights they’d hung out where she didn’t seem high. It was nice to have her just being herself. He waited until he didn’t hear her running anymore and spotted her immediately because she’d climbed up one of the trees and her blond hair stuck out in sharp contrast to the brown tree. He pretended not to see her, though, walking around and around, scratching his chin.

When she least expected it he grabbed her leg, and she jumped down out of the tree on top of him, knocking him to the ground and laughing. She sat up and he sat beside her.

“Why would you try hiding in a tree?” he asked.

“You didn’t find me forever, so it was obviously a good hiding spot.”

He gave her a look that said it wasn’t and reached over to pull a small branch out of her hair. Letting his fingers brush across her face and watching her wince, he leaned over and kissed her softly on the bruise. She just looked at him for a minute, so he leaned over and kissed her on the lips. He brought his hands to both sides of her face and pulled her into him.

Her lips were soft and she tasted sweet. For a minute she kissed him back and even put a hand on his arm. Then she pulled away and stood up really fast.

“No, Zane.”

“What’s wrong, Whitney? I love you, you know that.”

“I love you too, Zane, just not the way you love me. This can’t happen.” She gestured between the two of them and then headed toward the truck. He sat stunned on the ground for a minute before shaking his head and following her.

“I’m sorry, Whit. I guess I read the mood wrong. I won’t ever try to kiss you again and that’s a promise.” He was hurt, but he was good at not showing it. She sat and didn’t talk as she drank from her flask. Taking her home, he didn’t get out of the truck to come in. It was time to end the evening.

“Zane, we just wouldn’t work as anything but friends. Please understand me,” she said and walked in the house, leaving him to punch the steering wheel really hard and then drive back to his house.

Zane woke up a little later on Friday than he usually did. Even though they were going to go out on Wednesday night, his dad had a bad spell so they postponed it to Thursday. They had gone out to dinner and then stayed up talking. It had been a great night and something he hoped they could do regularly. He had noticed an improvement in both his dad’s motor skills and his ability to remember. The doctor had said some things would start to get easier for him, and that he just needed to keep his mind stimulated. There was always the fear in the back of Zane’s mind that something would go wrong, or he would have some sort of relapse or another stroke, which would be horrible.

When his dad had gone into the hospital, it had been the scariest time of his life. Whitney had been there for him when she could, and a lot of nights he had just slept in the intensive care waiting room just passing the time between visiting hours. He knew it was a miracle his dad was even alive after the ordeal and was just glad he was slowly getting back to being himself after two years in recovery. Sometimes he would get down on himself because he couldn’t remember something, or do something he used to do, but for the most part Dustin kept his spirits up. This was why he was Zane’s hero, and why he really wanted to get this job to make life a little easier for both of them.

Going to work now was a promise of something better. He was catching hell from the other workers for getting special treatment, but he thought it was mostly good-natured. His crew knew how hard he worked, and they knew about his situation.

“There he is, the golden boy.” Cole was waiting outside the office to give him a hard time when he got there. Cole was the opposite of Zane with light brown hair, tan skin, and a deep southern drawl. He was a self-proclaimed ladies’ man and loved his truck more than anything.

“Now, now, Cole, don’t be jealous just because I have it and you don’t.” He clapped his buddy on the back and made his way into the trailer.

“Let’s go out tonight and celebrate. I’ll buy you a beer or two, and we can check out the ladies at that new bar just outside town. It’s in Stanley County.” Zane thought that sounded like a plan and the two worked hard until lunchtime when the rest of the crew showed up and everyone sat around eating their sandwiches.

“Don’t forget us when you make it big, buddy. Remember the people who got you there.” Marco, one of his longest working crew members, pointed at him with his sandwich.

“You guys act like I am leaving the company. I will more than likely still be over your job too. You can’t get rid of me that easy.” It made Zane feel good that his crew was happy for him and wanted him to keep in touch.

As Marco went back to the job he couldn’t resist one last jab. “When you’re top dawg big man don’t forget where you came from.” He tapped on his hard hat and went back underneath the bridge while Zane and Cole went to do their daily inspections. When five o’clock rolled around they decided to go home and shower then go back out. They would meet up around nine, because the bar wouldn’t really be busy until after then.

Friday night in downtown Ruftin wasn’t really a happening place, but since there was so little to do most people went to Stanley County or another surrounding area to have fun. The bar was starting to get full when they piled in, and since ladies got half off their drinks on Fridays, Cole determined it would be a good night to find some company for them.

Almost immediately he had the whole crew surrounded by pretty girls wanting to know what their story was. Cole never missed an opportunity to embarrass him and tonight was no different.

“My man here is about to get a huge promotion, and that means he’ll be rich. He can buy you ladies all the Jimmy Hues and Coco bags you want.” The girls laughed at his version of Jimmy Choos and Coach bags as he continued. “You should all buy him a drink, because soon he will buy you all one.” Cole stood up in his chair. “Or maybe he will buy the whole bar!”

“Dude, sit down.” Zane hated all the attention, but one of the girls was already practically in his lap. She was pretty, a little brunette girl who looked to be around twenty-two and dressed conservatively compared to her friends.

“Let me buy you a drink, rich man.” She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. It turned out she really enjoyed football, which was not something he ran across a lot, so they got along well and had just started to play a game of pool together when his phone rang. The time said it was almost midnight, and the number was Whitney’s. He ignored it thinking she was probably just drunk dialing him to talk about how great the party was.

Lila, the girl who liked football, had taken a first incredible shot sinking the solid three ball, and then immediately sinking two more solids.
Who is this girl?

After he scratched on his first try, his phone was ringing again. He excused himself to the corner and answered in an irritated tone.

“What is it, Whitney?” The voice that greeted him was not hers, but Sophie’s, and she sounded concerned, which automatically put his nerves on end.

“Zane, I’m sorry to bother you, but you need to come and get Whitney from Lisa’s. She is making a complete ass of herself and falling down drunk.” Zane started taking deep breaths. Whitney sure knew how to pull him out of a good time.

“Where is her biker boy? I’m kind of busy.” He was tired of rescuing her every time she needed it.

“That’s why she is so drunk. He stood her up. Zane, there are guys here I don’t know, and she is wearing a dress. She just keeps falling over and showing them everything. I’m worried and need to leave because I don’t feel comfortable here, but I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“I’ll be there soon.” Zane sighed and looked at Lila, who had stopped playing to watch him curiously.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” She actually pouted, which he thought was adorable.

“I have to. A friend of mine, she’s my best friend actually, is in a bad situation at a party.” Lila’s face sank as she heard the word she. Zane knew it sounded bad. “Give me your number, though. I will make up for cutting this date so short.”

He realized he may have jumped the gun calling it a date when he’d just met her, but something about her made him feel relaxed for the first time in months.

A little of the light returned to her face, and she took his cell phone, putting her number in and giving it back to him. “You better call me.”

“I promise I will.” Zane dreaded telling his buddies he was leaving. “I gotta go, man.” He walked up behind Cole as he was preparing to do a body shot off a couple of busty coeds.

“No, this is your celebration. Besides, I thought you were hitting it off with that little hottie.” He smiled at Lila as she made her way back over to the dance floor to find her girlfriends.

“I was and I got her number, but Whitney’s in trouble and I have to go get her.”

“Sometimes a pretty face isn’t worth all the trouble, man. She needs to find someone else to clean up after her,” Cole said.

“She’s my best friend, man. We’re always there for each other.” He hated defending himself for her, partly because he knew Cole was right.

“No, you are always there for her, and she needs to fall on her face. Have a good night, man.” Cole turned back to the body shots, and Zane went outside to call a taxi to take him to Lisa’s house and then texted Sophie to get the address.

“Here I come, Whitney.”

Whitney had too much to drink and she knew it. After she hadn’t heard from Walter all day on Thursday or Friday, she was not very happy. She couldn’t help but think it was because of the way her face looked. To top it Hannah had made her working in the kitchen the past two days, so she’d made no tips, and Tina had continued to taunt her every minute she could.

Once Walter hadn’t responded to a text message on Friday morning, she had called Thor to bring her a bag. When Walter finally did respond with an,
I’ll call you later
and didn’t, she started in on the bottle. By the time she arrived at Lisa’s she was well on her way.

Knowing she was the only one hammered, she had been sitting in a chair on the side of the room with two odd guys who kept feeding her shots. When she had gotten up to go to the bathroom she had fallen down and flashed the whole party, and didn’t know where her cell phone ended up, but it fell on the floor.

Sophie had grabbed it to call Zane, but she didn’t know that. All she knew was she really had to pee and started banging on the bathroom door and yelling until Sophie opened it and showed her it was unlocked. Now she was back in the chair, listening to the two guys tell her about their plans to start a marijuana operation when it became legal. The room was starting to spin. If only Walter hadn’t stood her up.

One of the guys offered to help her to a bedroom to sleep it off and she thought that sounded like a good idea. She didn’t know if she could trust him, but lying down would be the best thing ever. As she was being led to the back by random weed guy she felt someone grab her arm and pull her in the opposite direction. She was being lifted up into the air while the random guy still had her arm. She didn’t want to see the spinning, so she didn’t open her eyes, but she wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck, glad he came to get her.

“Dude, she was coming with me,” random guy said. Whitney heard Zane laugh and started walking with her toward the door.

“Not a chance, buddy, back off.” She heard him say and then everything went black.

Zane felt like he’d gotten there just in time to stop Whitney from being taken advantage of. Sophie brought him her phone and he thanked her for calling him. He knew he had arrived just in time to stop her from making a mistake. He walked outside with her and put her into the cab, crawling in beside her. She immediately lay down in his lap and he stroked her hair as he gave the driver her address.

Once he got her inside, he made his way to her bedroom and placed her there, covering her up and going to sit on the couch. Duchess was in his spot looking like a stuffed kitty, and he sat beside her with Whitney’s laptop, checking emails and reading the news.

He had been sitting there for around three hours and was watching a documentary on foxes when she came out of her bedroom. Not having time to react to her, he watched as she pulled her shirt over her head and rushed over to him. She straddled him quickly and pressed her lips to his, kissing him urgently. He pushed her off despite her groans and she sat on the couch beside him with a pout.

This wasn’t the first time a drunk Whitney had turned to him when her options ran out, but he would never allow her to try and do anything while she was drunk or high.