Bad Son Rising (13 page)

“Are you busy tonight?” he asked, hopeful that maybe this time with her wouldn’t end, that he could extend the day, make their time together endless.

Looking up, she shook her head no.

“Want to go for a walk or something later? The moon’s going to be full tonight.”

Looking up at him through her lashes, “A full moon, huh? Will I be safe with you?”

Furrowing his brow, he gave her a look that said,
Oh please!
“You’ll always be safe with me.”

Nodding, as she tried to repress a grin, “Sure.”

Elated that the day had just turned into night with her, Zac couldn’t help but laugh that he had just invited a girl out for a walk. Was this totally the lamest thing he had ever done? Or maybe the most romantic? The thought that occurred to him was that Liz would be doing a fist pump with a resounding, “Yes!”

“I’ve had a really great day,” Zac yearned to reach over and run a strand of her silky, caramel hair through his fingers.

Under the full moon on the lake’s shore, they both reclined on a blanket, propped up on their elbows, enjoying the sky full of stars and the soft sound of the water lapping to shore.

“Me too,” she turned to him, “a really good day.”

If it were any other girl lying on the blanket next to him, Zac knew he would’ve rolled over and pulled her to him, kissing her deeply as he unzipped her jeans. But it wasn’t any other girl. It was Liliana Castillo. Every fiber in his being wanted to turn to her and touch her face, kiss her lips very softly and pull her head down onto his chest to count the stars.

With his eyes trained on the water, “So do you think we can be friends?” he asked, his voice huskier with emotion than he wanted to let on.

He felt the fingers of her left hand behind her, thread with the fingers of his right hand. Surprised, he involuntarily could feel the corners of his lips being tugged into a small smile and tightened his fingers around hers as he turned to look at her.

“I think we already are friends,” she replied earnestly.

Smiling, he nodded and looked back out at the moon’s light shimmering on the water.

Never before had Zac Moore so deeply wanted a girl. Never before had he so deeply wanted a girlfriend.

Early the next afternoon William arrived back in camp pleased to share the news of his successful trip and the seven figure donation he had secured from the Hollywood couple. Knowing how far those funds would go to ensuring villages would be outfitted with functional pumps gave Zac a good feeling. No one needed to know about his role in it. He knew and that was good enough. William never mentioned anything to him about the conversation that he’d had with the couple from his dad’s health club. Zac wasn’t surprised and filed it away under the category of “You don’t have to even the score, you just have to know the score.” He clearly knew the score with William Bray.

Sitting with Matt and Jake at dinner, Zac faced the doorway, his stomach tight with anticipation. He was halfway through the meal by the time she came through the door. She was usually never late for dinner, so he had started to worry. Although they generally didn’t eat together, he was always keenly aware of her whereabouts and the schedule she kept.

Their eyes immediately met as she entered the room. He knew he was holding his breath, but it didn’t matter, because there was no air left to breathe in the surrounding area as he silently begged,
Come to me, Lily. Come to me.
She stood there for, what in a nanosecond, felt like an eternity, and he could see the deep conflict and ambivalence. She opened her mouth as if to silently tell him the past forty-eight hours hadn’t been a dream, their eyes still intently locked, each conveying a message the other did not understand. And then her head snapped to the left.

William had loudly called out her name and was waving at her, “Lily, over here,” as if he sensed the precipice upon which she was standing and in one swift, jerking motion pulled her back from the edge by the scruff of her neck.

Zac didn’t release her stare and she bit her bottom lip nervously, her brow furrowing deeply as if her turn to the left caused pain. He wasn’t sure if it was his pain or her pain she was feeling as she walked toward William’s table.

Gutted, he pushed his tray away, trying to will away the rising wave of nausea that was cresting in his throat.

By dinner’s end, Katje and Anneliese had joined Zac’s table and things seemed just as they always had been. But nothing would be as it ever had been. Sticking his hand in his pocket, he slipped the ring over the tip of his index finger. He could only push it down as far as the first joint, where he rubbed his thumb over the symbols as he pretended to listen to the various conversations at the table.

He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would be having sex with either Katje or Anneliese that night. The thought repelled him, but not quite as much as he was repulsed by himself. He would be taking the perfect weekend and finishing it off the way he always finished things off, by marring it, proving to himself, once again, that he was not capable or worthy of having a normal relationship.

She didn’t choose him. The vibe between them, he concluded, had all been in his head. Letting himself think anything else had been a foolish, foolish mistake.

Zac Moore left the dining hall that night, just as he had predicted, not alone and loathing himself.

Manual labor and long hours helped. Katje and Anneliese simultaneously helped and made it worse. Figuring out how to avoid her made it better, although stealing a glance when she didn’t see him was oddly comforting. He chose work sites that were the farthest away so that his time at camp would be minimized.

Intellectually he knew that the feelings of betrayal were unjustified, she wasn’t his, she hadn’t betrayed him. Yet, he couldn’t wrap his head around what had gone down and how off-base he’d been with his assessment of what was going on between them. Here he’d been, calculating his every move, planning on stealing her away from the other guy and he got played. The only thing that was stolen was his heart.

And that’s exactly where the rub appeared. Finding himself smack in the middle of a playing field he’d never stepped foot onto before, playing a game he had no familiarity with and learning rules on the fly, Zac Moore was involved in a heated competition where he had no game. The master had become a blindfolded neophyte.

Nearly two weeks had gone by and he had gotten himself into a work groove that demanded his focus, isolating issues in a system that had been left in a dire state of disrepair and needed a lot of hands-on TLC to once again become functional. Lying shirtless on the hard ground, face down, with his arm submerged in a hole as he felt for fissures in the line, the scent of Piña Colada suddenly wafted about his face. Breathing in deeply and getting a nose full of dust, he cursed his mind for haunting him with memories of what he missed.

Attempting to reach deeper, his shoulder cramped, “Son of a bitch,” he mumbled.

“Not having a good day?”

Shocked, he pulled his arm out of the hole in a jerking motion and looked up. Squinting into the bright noon sunlight, she appeared almost shadowed until his pupils adjusted and she came into focus.

“No, I just got a cramp in my shoulder,” he explained, shocked that she was there.
What the hell is she doing here?
he wondered.

“Let me help,” she sat down cross-legged next to him and began to massage his right shoulder. “Do I have the right spot?”

“A little lower and to the left.” He didn’t know if he couldn’t breathe because of the sharp pain in his shoulder or because her fingers were kneading his muscles. She was there and she was touching him.

“Ouch,” he tensed, “you got it. It feels like there’s a knife in my shoulder.”

“Just relax.” She continued to work the spot.

“Not likely that’s going to happen.” He could feel himself tensing with every knead of her hand.

“Try,” her voice was soft, but her touch remained firm.

Zac took a few deep breaths. “What are you doing here, Lily?” He turned to look at her.

“I’m going to be doing trainings in this village.” Lily’s specialty had become working with local villagers, teachers and clergy on safe water collection techniques and disinfecting, so that water sources did not continue to become recontaminated.

Zac just nodded, closing his eyes as she continued to work on his shoulder.

“I’m really looking forward to working with you, Zac.” She was now working his shoulder with both hands. “I’ve missed seeing you.”

“I’m sure William has kept you plenty busy, Lil.”
You chose him,
he screamed in his head.
You were supposed to walk away with me.

“Yes, there’s so much to do.”

He wasn’t sure if she had intentionally ignored his barb or if it had just gone over her head.

“I’ll be here working with you for at least the next few weeks.” She continued working on his back, but had now moved to both shoulders, massaging them gently.

In that moment, it occurred to him that she had spent the last few weeks being very strategic in her behavior and had set this up. She was aware of what would have happened if William had thought she and Zac had hooked up that weekend. Between her going straight to William’s table that night and Zac being so scarce the last few weeks, Lily could make her move and she had.
The girl has game,
he smiled to himself.

As he turned to her, she stopped massaging his shoulders.

“It’s good to see you, Liliana.”

Her right hand remained on his back and he loved that she was still touching him.

“I’m glad we’re going to be spending time together, Zac.” Her eyes were locked in on his.

Finally, with a smile, “Me too. Really glad.”

And for the first time since that awful Sunday night, Zac felt the hope return that whatever it was between the two of them was real, that she felt it too that weekend and had done what she needed to do to make it possible to be with him.

The path to the backend of the worksite was not only a prettier route, but also cut about fifteen minutes off the walk than taking the main dirt road into the village.