Safe at Last (Slow Burn #3) (16 page)

He didn’t know what Sterling’s issue was, but his insinuation that Zack had been purposely responsible for Gracie’s beating? What the fuck? Zack couldn’t even see straight, his vision was so clouded with red rage.

“No, the
hell
we’re done,” Sterling said. “Where is Anna-Grace? What did you do to her?”

Zack looked at Sterling like he’d grown a second head. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“She’s disappeared, but that shouldn’t be news to you. Coincidentally, she disappears the day after you show up in my studio, harass her and scare the living hell out of her. It doesn’t take much effort to connect the dots here. But you fucked up this time, Covington. Maybe she had no one who cared about her then. But she does now. She’s important to me. And I
will
protect her even if it means taking you down for good.”

The roar in Zack’s ears was nearly deafening. He was tired of Gracie’s—and now Sterling’s—hints of some past horrific event. He was tired of being found guilty for something he knew goddamn well he hadn’t
done
.

He’d
harassed
Gracie? Since when did wanting to know if the woman you loved more than anything in the world was okay constitute harassment?

And now this polished, prissy motherfucker was going to threaten him? Take him down? What the
hell
?

“I’ve about had enough of this dancing around the issue shit,” Zack growled. “Someone is going to tell me what the
fuck
it is I supposedly did to Gracie twelve years ago. Because looking at things from my side? I got dumped. Not only did I get dumped but I didn’t even get the courtesy of a ‘have a nice life’ or ‘goodbye.’ Not even a ‘fuck off, I never want to see you again.’ I got nothing. So for twelve years—
twelve fucking years
—I’ve thought the worst. And believe me when I say I have a rather vivid imagination. Then I finally locate her, only she’s not hurt. She doesn’t need anything. She’s happy. Started a new life. But the icing on the cake? She acts like I’m some kind of goddamn monster. Like I’m going to hurt her when she knows it’s the last fucking thing I’d ever do. I would have given her the entire world, but she pissed that into the wind when she disappeared, leaving me to think the absolute worst.”

Sterling stirred and looked very much like he wanted to start round three. Zack bristled, every muscle in his body tensing in readiness. Sterling wanted a fight, and Zack was spoiling to give him one.

“Damn it, you two!” Eliza exclaimed. “Swear to God, the next one to throw a punch is going to get shot. I wouldn’t even be prosecuted. They’d consider me to have saved the world from Dumb and Dumber here.”

“You are
not
helping, Eliza,” Zack said through his clenched jaw.

“Listen up, because we don’t have a lot of time,” she said in a brisk voice. She pointed her finger—the one not curled around the trigger of her pistol—at Sterling, irritation evident in her eyes and words. “You’re coming with us.”

“No—!”

The automatic denial was said simultaneously by both men. Zack shot the other man a glare and then turned his glare on his current pain in his ass.

“You’re right. We don’t have a lot of time, which is why I’m not wasting it on his sorry ass,” Zack said, gesturing toward Sterling.

“The only place I’ll follow you to is hell,” Sterling bit out. “Just to make sure you stay there.”

“Shut up! Jesus. And they say women never shut up,” Eliza grumbled. “Now get in.
Both of you!
”

She gestured with the gun, indicating that Zack and Sterling should both get into Zack’s SUV.

“You drive, Zack. Don’t give a fuck where. But long enough that I can have a little chat with our friend here and so I can keep a gun on him in case he decides to do something really stupid like pissing me off even more.”

“You’re serious?” Zack asked in clear astonishment.

“Do I
look
like I’m joking?”

Sterling didn’t look any more pleased than Zack but it was clear he had a healthy respect for the gun Eliza held.

Eliza yanked open the door to the backseat and pointed her gun at Sterling, then whipped it sideways, motioning for him to get in.

Sterling emitted a string of curses and Zack could swear he heard the other man mumble something about crazy-ass women with guns. If this weren’t such a what-the-fuck moment, Zack would laugh at the other man’s bemusement. It was always fun to watch people’s realization that Eliza wasn’t a harmless ball of fluff. She was always underestimated, a fact she’d told Zack had benefited her on more than one occasion.

Shaking his head and having his own sour thoughts about women—a particular woman—with guns, Zack climbed into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine.

“Where we going, Lizzie?” Zack asked in resignation.

He absolutely believed she’d shoot one or both of them. She wouldn’t kill them, but she’d certainly do some minor damage. She was a crack shot and could hit a target the size of a dime smack in the middle. So if she decided to permanently rearrange a guy’s balls, he knew she was absolutely capable.

“Don’t care,” she muttered, obviously still aggravated. “I need a few minutes and then you can drop him back off a block from here and let him walk back to his vehicle. By then the cops will likely be here.”

“And I’m supposed to explain how I arrived on foot at an apartment complex I don’t live in, to my vehicle that is parked there?” Sterling snapped.

“That’s your problem, not mine,” she said sweetly. “I’m sure you’ll have no interest in talking to the cops, seeing as you assaulted one of the tenants. A night in lockup might do you good, although you’d be sprung in under an hour, I’m sure.”

“Thirty minutes,” he snarled. “And so help me, you little wench. This isn’t finished, nor will I forget it.”

“Yawn,” she said, dragging out the word as if she had indeed yawned.

“So speak, Lizzie,” Zack said impatiently. “We don’t have all night.”

There was a pause. Silence filled the interior of the SUV and then Eliza finally spoke.

“Zack is getting pretty damn tired of the jabs about some mysterious event that transpired twelve years ago. Hell,
I’m
tired of it and I’m sure he’s hit his head against the brick wall more often than I have.”

That was the fucking truth. And then he realized what Eliza was doing. He’d been so focused on getting into and out of his complex that Sterling’s reference to what had happened twelve years ago had bounced off him and hadn’t been followed up on. Damn it.

His fingers curled around the steering wheel, the skin over his knuckles stretching thin. He was careful to make no sound. His respirations even shallowed as he strained to hear whatever it was Sterling had to say.

“You’re kidding, right?” Sterling asked in disbelief.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” Eliza ground out. “Start talking, Sterling. Either that or I’m going to start shooting, and in these close quarters, I can’t guarantee I won’t hit anything vital, although I’d really prefer not to have to clean up your blood from all over the inside of the vehicle. Blood makes me sick.”

“Unbelievable,” Sterling murmured. “I wonder, has he got all of you believing this innocent-victim act? Are you supposed to feel sorry for the asshole? Has he been telling you that Anna-Grace walked out on him without explanation, without a word, and he never saw her again?”

“I want to hear
your
story,” Eliza persisted. “We know Zack’s story. Now we want yours. Or what you
say
really happened. Cough it up.”

Zack went completely silent. Hopefully Sterling would get over his issues with Zack long enough to give them the information he so badly wanted—needed. But at the same time, he braced himself, holding his breath, because it had to be bad.

Instinctively, he knew it wasn’t something minor. It had to have been huge to send Gracie running. Away from him. And twelve years of silence? Of thinking he had betrayed her? Zack had always made it clear that Gracie could come to him for anything. He’d thought she always did. But it seemed when she needed him the absolutely most, she’d turned away from him and left without a word.

“Christ,” Sterling muttered.

“Just say it, for fuck’s sake,” Eliza pressed.

Zack knew that tone. Knew she was fast running out of patience, and if Sterling didn’t start talking soon, she would likely lose her temper and start doing bodily injury to the man.

“He had her
raped
,” Sterling said in disgust.

Zack slammed on the brakes so hard the SUV fishtailed, swerved left and right before he wrestled the steering wheel enough to screech to a halt on the shoulder of the highway. He whirled around in his seat, the seat belt flying as he disengaged it.

Rage smoldered through his veins and he fixed Sterling with the full force of his wrath.

“What the
fuck
are you talking about? You better not leave a goddamn word out and you better have a solid goddamn reason for even suggesting such a thing. I
loved
her. I fucking
adored
her. She was my entire
life
! I worshipped the ground she walked on. I would have killed the bastard who laid hands on her. Tell me it isn’t true.
Tell me she wasn’t raped
.”

Sterling’s brows drew together and he looked at Zack in confusion. His gaze flickered as he continued to study the seething man. The air in the SUV crackled with electric tension. Zack had never wanted to take someone apart with his hands more than right now.

Was Sterling telling the truth? Had Gracie been raped? And what the fuck was he saying
he’d
had her raped? He was near to exploding and Eliza must have sensed it because she hurriedly intervened, putting her hand up to squeeze Zack’s hand that gripped the back of his seat.

“Don’t you leave a fucking word out,” Zack said around his clenched jaw. “So help me God, if you fuck me around on this I will make your life a living hell.”

Sterling continued to stare at him and Zack could see the wheels turning in the other man’s head. And Zack was beginning to grow antsy under the other man’s scrutiny. Almost as if Sterling was passing judgment over Zack. Fuck that. He didn’t need this goddamn pansy-ass bastard’s approval or his belief. He didn’t give a fuck what Sterling thought. The only person Zack needed to get through to was Gracie.

“Jesus Christ,” Sterling breathed, finally responding after his intense analyzation. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

“Didn’t do
what
?” Zack yelled. “No one will
tell
me what the fuck happened! I’m tired of everyone speaking in riddles. Just tell me what supposedly happened twelve years ago.”

Sterling rubbed a hand over his face, sagging back against the seat.

“Jesus,” Sterling muttered. “Anna-Grace is convinced you betrayed her. It’s not something she merely suspects. She knows without doubt that you orchestrated the entire sordid mess.”

“So why do you not think Zack did it now?” Eliza asked curiously.

“No one can fake that kind of reaction,” Sterling said in a low voice. “That kind of shock and surprise. Fuck. He didn’t even know about it. Am I right, Covington?”

Zack gave a clipped nod.

“But
you
know what happened,” Eliza pressed. “She confided in you.”

“Finally,” Sterling admitted. “It took a long time. I mean I knew something bad had happened to her. She was so fragile. And sad. There was so much sorrow in her eyes that it hurt to look at her at times.”

“Christ,” Zack said, nearly choking on the knot forming in his throat. “She thinks I did that to her? That I set it up?”

He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. What the hell could he have done to ever make Gracie think he would do such a thing?

“Did she say why she thinks Zack was behind it?” Eliza asked curiously.

Sterling shook his head. “I asked. I mean from the way she described your relationship I found it hard to believe myself. But she was so adamant. Said she knew without a doubt that you’d horribly betrayed her. And after that one time, she never spoke of it again. She refused. I could tell it still hurt her even after twelve years.”

“Duh,” Eliza muttered. “Women don’t get over shit like that overnight.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” Zack said, his voice rising. “You can’t think I’d do something like that, Lizzie.”

She squeezed his hand again. “No, I don’t think so at all, Zack. But she does. And she’s the most important person in this equation. It doesn’t matter what I think. She’s the one who is convinced you fucked her over. Until you can convince her otherwise, nothing changes.”

“I have to get back to her,” Zack said resolutely.

His gaze flickered over Sterling.

“We’ll dump him back at his car and then we have to go.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. So you
do
have her,” Sterling said with a frown.

Zack sighed and quickly brought Sterling up to speed on the events of the last twenty-four hours. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped viewing Sterling as the enemy—a competitor—but it was clear the man cared about Gracie. Gracie had confided in him something she likely had never confided in anyone else. So whether Zack liked it or not, it would appear that Sterling was an important figure in Gracie’s life. Perhaps her only friend and ally.

“Son of a bitch!” Sterling spat out. “Who the fuck beats up an innocent
woman
just to send a message?”

“Cowards. That’s who,” Eliza said, her features wrinkling in distaste.

“How is she?” Sterling demanded. “I’d like to see her.”

Zack hesitated. The very last thing he wanted was for Sterling to have access to Gracie. But then again, perhaps allowing it would go a long way in rebuilding her trust in him.

“Just what is between you and Gracie?” Zack asked carefully.

He wasn’t agreeing to anything until he had a clearer picture of Sterling’s relationship with her.

Sterling studied him for a long moment. “It’s not like that,” Sterling began. “I’m her friend. Her only friend. I care a lot about her. She’s like a little sister to me.”