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“Are you ready to walk or what, Catori?” the woman asked stiffly. “I don’t have time to do this, but I am. So let’s get this done.”
Catori, the woman with the bun on top of her head that still hadn’t taken her eyes off of Zach, gestured to the woman. “Belle, look at that man right there. Isn’t he hot?”
Another burn started up in my gut at them ogling him.
I wanted to shout, ‘he’s mine!’ but knew that to be the falsehood that it was.
Even if I wanted him to be, he would have to want to be back, and yeah… wasn’t happening.
“What’s with that face?” Belle, the one with the great body and the black hair, said. “You really need to get your libido under control.”
Catori laughed and gestured at the track. “Let’s go. Maybe if we get into the first lane, he’ll have to go around us and we can get a better look at his ass.”
I winced.
Zach made his fifth such pass just as the ladies set off in the first lane.
Zach went around them, but not before I watched as he visibly checked out both girls’ asses.
Shit.
Grunting in effort as I stood, I gathered my things and made my way out of the track.
Who the hell was I kidding here?
I was nothing.
I was ugly.
And I was so far out of Zach’s league that it was comical.
I didn’t bother to wait for him to walk home, either.
Luckily the track was only about three-quarters of a mile from my place, and that meant that it was a very doable walk.
What wasn’t doable were the thoughts going through my head as I walked home.
They were… everywhere.
Focusing on every single thing that was fucking with my life right now.
The least of which was a man who I was starting to have feelings for that didn’t have the same feelings back.
Yeah, it was time to focus on the important things.
Starting with a few that I could at least handle right now.
One of those would be finding someone to help me work at the store.
Another was calling Six to beg her to help me find a date.
Because there was no way in hell I was going to go to that wedding on my own. Not without backup.
CHAPTER 7
Don’t expect any new year’s resolutions from me. I plan on staying an asshole.
-Zach to Crockett
ZACH
“Hello?” I answered, placing the socket wrench down onto the rail of the car in front of me and dropping my head to stretch out my neck.
“Hey,” Sin said into my ear. “You got a minute?”
I straightened my head and stared out at the neighborhood beyond my garage.
“I got two,” I said. “What’s up?”
“You have a neighbor,” he said without preamble. “Little girl and a woman. They came into my place a couple of hours ago. I didn’t have the time to help with her case, but I sent her to a buddy who I thought would help. He wouldn’t help and sent her on her way. She’s in an abusive relationship. The girl and her are abused on a regular basis. Something of which I found out only after sending her to the friend. She needs… help. I don’t know. But when I called her back to help her, to give her another number of a guy that I think would help her and her kid, she refused to talk to me.”
My eyes automatically went to the house next door. To the little girl’s window where I could so often see her staring out of it and watching the neighborhood with eyes that had way too much knowledge in them at such a young age.
“Zakelina?” I asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “She’s six years old. Mom’s a tall blonde. Dad’s an executive somewhere. But he has a heavy hand despite pushing papers all day.”
I clenched my teeth upon thinking of that little girl receiving any such treatment that was harsh.
She was cute as fuck.
“He abuses her?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Rage suffused my body as I thought about anything touching a hair on her head.
I’d seen Zakelina a handful of times since I’d moved into my place, and of those handful of times, she’d never looked abused.
But the mom, on the other hand…
“When you say abused, do you mean physically? Verbally?” I asked, requiring clarification.
“From what I understand, he’s physical only with the mother. The daughter generally gets left out of the punishments. However, he is verbally abusive to both of them. Have you heard anything?” Sin asked.
“Nope,” I said, my eyes straying to another house on the block that had caught my eye. “But I’ll definitely keep an ear out. And an eye. If anything happens, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you,” Sin said. “You coming to the party at Crockett’s in a few days?”
“Party?” I asked. “First I’m hearing about a party.”
“Word may not have made the rounds as of yet,” he said. “Something about a pre-wedding food tasting thing. Crockett is trying her hand at catering a wedding in about four months. To make sure she has enough for everyone that’s going to be at the wedding she wants to test it out. Six and Wyett started it, and then Beckham, Swayze, and Blaise got into it, and now it’s a big thing. Though Crockett said that the more the merrier because she’s not sure on how much to actually cook.”
