Page 85 of Karma
“And how do you know it’s not a pipe bomb?” Lucas asks. “That would be instantaneous in death than the beating he delivered before. Is that the level of better he’s doing?”
“It’s not a pipe bomb,” Zane says as he walks into the house. “Sorry, I’d knock, but I wasn’t sure if you’d open the door. Plus, I heard everything from the porch.”
When Lucas shifts in front of Lex, she has to move to the side to see around him. The growth spurt really hasn’t worked in her favor.
Seeing Zane wearing the Drifter leather again cuts like a knife. Her club chose him over her. Again. He may deserve a second chance, but it still feels like treachery.
“No, we wouldn’t. At least the loyal ones in the family wouldn’t,” he says, shooting an angry look at Colt. “You’re not welcome here.”
“I don’t blame you for feeling that way, but please, can I talk to you? All of you?”
Glancing back, Lucas wavers and makes Lex smirk. He nods but says, “Fine, but anything that I perceive as a threat willhave me putting you out of your misery. I’m not taking another chance with an uncle.”
Zane’s eyes widen, but Lex just shrugs. “He’s my protector.”
“And what am I?” Colt asks.
“Gone a lot,” Lucas says without missing a beat.
Laughing, they move into the living room. “I guess he told you, baby.”
“You may be tall, but you ain’t too big to put over my knee,” Colt threatens.
“You won’t do that,” he says without even glancing at him.
The look Colt shoots Lex makes her laugh despite her brother’s presence, and she links her arm with Lucas’s on the couch. He’s definitely a mama’s boy.
“So, what is this?” she asks. The sooner they talk, the quicker he leaves.
Zane lets out a deep breath but won’t meet her eyes. “I don’t want you to give up on me. Or let go. Whatever it is you feel you have to do with me.”
“You don’t have the right to want anything when it comes to me. What I wanted never mattered to you, so why do you think what you want matters to me now? That’s a bit entitled, don’t you think?”
Staring at Zane, Lucas just nods his head in agreement. Her hype man is ready to jump in at any moment, and Colt has a strange look on his face she can’t read. That bothers her even more than her brother being in front of her. She can always read Colt like a book.
“I don’t think it means anything. It’s a plea, Lex. I fucked up, and I’m going to do whatever I can to prove that I’m not a mistake.”
“That’s what you think of me, remember?”
His hand runs over his face, and he still won’t meet her eyes. “I felt like our father traded my mother for you and yours, and Iblamed you both for it. It’s not right, and it’s not logical, but as a kid who missed his mom, it was hard to be rational.”
“The anger lasted longer than just being a child, Zane. The only times you’ve been relatively decent to me is when you needed me. Like when I kept Lane here with you.”
She’s baiting him. If he’s not sincere, this sets him up to call her out for not keeping Lane here with him when she made Lex her power of attorney.
“I know. I’m sorry, Lex. I wish there was something else to say, but that’s really what it comes down to.”
Leaning back, she releases Lucas’s arm and crosses hers over her chest. “This all for the doc?”
“What?”
“Is that why you’re here? Does she have a problem with the club, and now that you’re back in, you want me to help smooth things over with her like I did with Lane?”
“What? No.” He finally looks up and locks eyes with her. “No.”
Zane’s almost believable. Almost. If she hadn’t been on this merry-go-round before, she’d blindly trust him.
“Anne doesn’t fully understand the club life, but I think she wants to. I think she will, but it’ll take some time to adjust. Plus, if I can keep her, it wouldn’t hurt to have a trauma doc on hand for us.”
