Page 17 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
Theunmistakable sound of a screen door slamming shut and heavy footsteps thumpingdown the stairs made her sag with relief in her seat. Followed by afamiliar-looking person, Zach's acute stare jumped from her inside the car toBecker standing near her door.
"Here,"he handed Becker a few folded bills before dismissing the man. "You canleave."
Beckerturned quickly away from Zach and walked to the man behind him, who she assumedwas Noah.
Rollingdown her window completely, Sana frowned at Zach. "You didn't have to payfor that," she said, despite the fact she was more than relieved heintervened. Taking the nozzle from the pump, Zach flipped open her vehicle'sgas hatch and began filling the car before coming back to lean on the windowframe of her door.
Invadingher space and forcing her to lean back, Zach fixed her with a serious stare."Did he say something to you?"
Raisinga hand, she quickly shook her head. "No, why?"
Zachgave her a heavy-lidded knowing look. "Because I could practically smellyour fear upstairs."
Laughing,she rolled her eyes. He used to say exaggerated things like that all the timewhen they were younger. She would have assumed he would have grown out of theodd habit by now. "I wasn't afraid," she clarified. "Not really,I mean, I knew you and your cousin weren't that far-"
"But?"He questioned, not letting the subject drop.
"But,"she let the word stretch out, annoyed by his persistence. "That man wasreally creeping me out. He just kept staring at me and telling me to get out topay in that creepy dark store."
Zachnodded and turned to look back to the shop where the man and Noah had gone backto. Something shifted in his golden eyes before he turned back to her with aplayful smile. "I'm going to tell Noah you think his shop is creepy,"he taunted.
"Donot!" She protested. "I have never even met the man officially; Idon’t want him thinking that I said that about his business."
Withone of her hands gripping the steering wheel, Zach reached out and enclosed hishand over her wrist, the rough pad of his thumb gently stroking the pulse pointjust below the palm of her hand.
"Yourheart rate has slowed back to normal," she heard him whisper next to her.
Howdid he do that? How did he always know exactly how she was feeling? It was atrick of his that he used on her often in their youth. Zach could always tellwhen she was sad or excited, but most of all, he could always sense her fear asif he really could smell it. Sana couldn't bring herself to turn her head backto his. She couldn't meet his gaze right now, not while he was touching her. Ifshe did, she would be exposed. He would read her eyes like a book and know allthe things she tried to keep locked away from both him and herself.
"Don'tworry about Becker," he said, finally letting go of her hand. "I willtalk to Noah about him and make sure he steers clear of you."
Ittook her a minute to process his words. "No, don't do that." But Zachwas already pulling the pump from her car and walking around to the passengerdoor. Once he was seated next to her, she continued. "I don't want it tobe weird when I inevitably have to come back here for gas."
"You'restill a worrier, I see," he quipped.
Puttingthe car in drive, she forgot about the creepy man and focused on her irritatingpassenger as she pulled back onto the highway. "And you're stillreckless."
Thedrive back to her house thankfully only took a few minutes, leaving them bothin silence but not uncomfortably so. It felt familiar—calm even. It allowed hera moment of exhalation she didn't realize she needed. This meeting she had beenavoiding with Zach since that day he gave her the keys to her place wasn't asbad as she thought it was going to be. She expected an exchange of heated wordsor a repeat of the past where he bullied her into doing exactly what he wanted,but it wasn't like that this time. Feeling confident, she felt lighter andempowered. Sana resisted the urge to throw a snarky smirk at the man sitting toher right. Her move back here was not a mistake, and no matter how much Zachhad changed, she would not be intimidated by him anymore. She could handle him.
Seeingthe red house coming up on the drive, she slowed the car down.
"Justdrive up to your house," he nodded his head in the direction of her housedown the road. "I will walk back. Noah should be bringing my bike backsoon."
Slowlyreleasing her foot off the brake, she obliged, driving the short distance toher house.
"But,there are wolves around here," she said worriedly, thinking of her big,black wolf encountering Zach on his way home.
Shecould see his head turn towards her in her peripheral. "Are you worriedfor me?" he grinned sharply.
"IfI was, I immediately regret it," she replied dryly, putting the car inpark near the porch stairs.
Openinghis car door just as she opened hers, he waited for her to circle the carbefore following her up the porch steps. "Don't worry, if anything, I'mthe big bad wolf to be afraid of."
"Ididn't think it was possible for your ego to have gotten any bigger," shemurmured as she pulled out her separate house key from her purse. "I guessI was wrong."
Helaughed deeply, a sound she suddenly realized she hadn't truly heard in years."It's not ego if it's the truth."
Unsurehow to process the sudden, painful longing in her chest, Sana turned back toface the door looking away from his handsome, scarred face."Goodnight"
