ZANE?

Chapter 4

Skylar's POV

I waited until he left for work the next day. I heard the front door close. His car pulled out of the driveway, and I counted to sixty before I moved. Then I slipped out of the house and made my way to Hot Dishes.

I waited for about an hour at the same spot I had sat the previous afternoon, watching the door every time it opened.

Mara didn't come.

Why was she taking so long? Had she forgotten about me? My pulse quickened. I dialed her number. It rang once, twice, and went to voicemail both times. I set the phone face down on the table and stared out the window.

I smiled weakly and walked to the women's bathroom.

I didn't want to go back home. I didn't want to face Jason, or his mother, or another day of existing in that house like a piece of furniture nobody needed. 

I sat on the cold tile floor, back against the wall, and the tears came quietly at first, then all at once. Every cruel word, every dismissive look, every night I had lain awake waiting for a man who wasn't coming home, it all pressed down at the same time. Everything blurred.

Then the door opened and someone rushed in. I couldn't see their face clearly. I could only feel myself drifting, the edges of everything going soft and far away. But I could tell it was a man from the voice calling my name over and over.

Skylar. Skylar.

I woke up to blinding rays of sunlight coming through the windows.

When I raised my hand to shield my eyes, sharp pain hit me so suddenly I dropped it back to the mattress. I tilted my head slowly and let my eyes adjust. Then I saw clearly, the beeping machines, the IV drip running into my arm, the white walls. My hands were bandaged.

What was I doing in a hospital?

The door opened and a nurse came in, her soft-soled shoes quiet on the floor.

"You're awake, honey. How are you feeling? Better?"

I nodded. My throat was too dry for words.

"That's good. You'll be fine." She adjusted the drip and checked something on her clipboard. "Your husband brought you in."

"My husband?" I managed.

"Yes, honey."

Oh no. This was going to be bad. If Jason had brought me here, I was in for something far worse than anything that had come before. He wouldn't show concern. He would show it off, spin it into a story about what a burden I was, and I would owe him for it for years. I'd rather lose consciousness again than see his face walk through that door.

"Are you alright?" The nurse looked up from her clipboard.

The door opened again before I could answer. "Oh…your husband is here. I'll leave you two." She stepped out with a small smile.

When he stepped in, I squeezed my eyes shut and silently prayed to drift off again.

"Skylar. How are you feeling?"

His voice was different. Quiet and tender, nothing like the voice I had been bracing for.

I opened my eyes slowly.

It wasn't Jason. It was the man I had brushed shoulders with at the restaurant the day before . The one with the steady gaze, the suit, the dark eyes that had looked at me like I was actually worth looking at.

He smiled at me. "Who are…" I stopped myself. "Zane?"

He smiled again, wider this time.

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life." He leaned forward slightly, elbows on his knees. "I thought you didn't recognize me. I would have been so hurt."

"Why would I ever forget you?" Something loosened in my chest. "You were so childish back then."

He smiled at that. Then a brief silence settled between us, comfortable in a way I hadn't expected.

"Did you see my phone?"

I started to sit up.

He pressed me back gently, one hand light on my shoulder. "If you're worried about your husband, you have twenty missed calls from him."

My eyes widened. I had never told Zane I was married. But twenty missed calls was its own problem. A storm waiting for me on the other side of this hospital room.

"Just focus on your health, okay?" He settled back in his chair like he had nowhere else to be. "I want you to get better. I'll stay until you fall asleep."

"No, it's okay. You can leave."

He shook his head. "I'm staying. You deserve that much. You saved me once, remember?"

I smiled weakly and closed my eyes. The machines beeped steadily. Outside the window, the city moved on without me.

When I woke up, he was still there. Gray eyes watching my face closely, like he'd been doing it for a while.

I nearly jumped.

"Calm down. No one will hurt you here."

I sat up slowly, piecing myself back together. The pain had lessened, but unease sat heavy in its place. I had no money. Nowhere to go. No plan that didn't end with me walking back through that front door.

And I could not go back. Not after seeing clearly the kind of monster Jason had become.

"Come home with me," Zane said.

I looked at him. He said it the way people say things they mean.

"No. It's fine. You've done enough already. You brought me here, you stayed. I'm already embarrassed by how much trouble I've caused you. I wouldn't want to stress you further. I'll find a hotel or something."

"Hmm." The corner of his mouth lifted. "You're really something, Skylar. I know you have no money and nowhere to go. Stop resisting. Let me do this."

"Did you just call me broke?" I feigned offense.

"No. Absolutely not."

We laughed. It surprised me. The way it came out naturally in the middle of a hospital room, like something the day hadn't earned but gave us anyway.

The next day, he came by again with flowers and food. We cleared the discharge papers and walked to his car. He held the door open for me, waiting without impatience while I settled in.

Something Jason had never once done.

"Thank you," I said quietly as I slid in.

During the drive, we talked about small, easy things. The city slid past the windows and I realized I couldn't remember the last time I'd sat somewhere without my shoulders pulled up to my ears.

He pulled into a driveway and I looked up.

I was almost blown away.

The building rose clean and tall, all glass. The kind of place that appeared in magazines. I turned to him slowly. "You live here?"

He nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt like it was nothing.

Inside, I turned a slow circle and stared. The ceilings were high, the furniture was precise without being cold, and floor-to-ceiling windows opened the city out like a painting. "Oh my God, Zane."

"Please, you're making it look larger than it really is." He waved me off. "Let's get you bathed and changed."

"I'm not a baby."

He smiled and led me in anyway.

For a long time, I hadn't felt this good. When I was done, he had set out fresh clothes. The right size, no comment about how he'd known. We sat in the foyer sipping hot cocoa. He said alcohol could wait, for my sake even though he was clearly a devoted fan of it. I could tell from the liquor cabinet running half the length of the wall.

"So what do you do these days?" I asked.

"You haven't heard of me?" He raised an eyebrow with mock offense. "I'm the CEO of CZ Watches."

My hands rose to my lips. "That brand? I've heard of it. I just didn't know you were the CEO." I shook my head slowly. "It seems I keep running into stinking rich people these days." My mind flashed briefly to Mara.

He smirked but didn't ask what I was doing for a living. I noticed. I knew it was deliberate. A small act of kindness that cost him nothing and meant everything.

I took another sip. Then my phone buzzed on the cushion beside me.

My heart stopped when I saw the caller ID.

Jason.

Zane's hand covered mine before I could reach for it. "Don't answer it."

My hands were shaking. "What should I do…"

"Hey." His voice dropped, low and steady, cutting through the noise in my head. "Princess. Look at me."

I turned to face him fully.

Then his lips closed over mine.