Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“Tell them I’m okay,” I said dismissively. “I can take care of myself,” I added over my shoulder as I turned to deal with Davis. The last message had been more for Zach than my fathers.

Davis once again picked the worst timing. “This a friend of your dads? What, they’re sending their goons to check up on you or something? Jesus, Lucky, when are you going to grow up? The stupid nickname, your daddies’ short leash… do you still need them to change your diapers too?” he snarked. “You better not have told them about me!”

Zach made a move toward Davis. “Or what?” he asked. The barely leashed anger in his voice had my insides going all warm and gooey even if they shouldn’t have.

Davis rolled his eyes, but I knew him well enough to know he was doing all he could not to piss himself. He was far too soft to ever be able to hold his own against someone like Zach. The soldier was solid as a damned rock and tough as nails.

“Just go, Davis,” I said with a sigh. “I told you it was over and I meant it.”

Davis’s eyes bore into mine but I barely noticed because Zach was practically pressed against my back. I couldn’t help but inhale the combination of masculine sweat and woodsy shampoo coming off Zach’s body. So help me, if I let out even a whimper of need, I was going to beat myself silly or find someone to do it for me at the gym.

“It’s far from over, Lucky. We’re going to fix this,” Davis promised.

His empty promises no longer had any impact on me. And something about having Zach at my back reminded me why messing around with Davis had been such a monumental waste of time.

“Maybe fix it with Natalie instead,” I suggested with more anger than I’d intended. “Since she’s the one carrying your fucking baby.”

So maybe I hadn’t stayed as calm as I’d hoped. The last thing I needed was for Zach to report back to my dads that I’d made such a big mistake. But the words were out there, and clearly Zach had heard since his entire body went rigid at the word “baby.”

“I told you there’s no baby,” Davis said before taking a breath and pasting on a reptilian smile. “It’s all a big misunderstanding. You’ll see. I’ll text you, babe.”

This time there was no verbal warning. Zach merely reached past me to grab Davis, causing the other man to jump back in fright. I bit my tongue against a laugh as I put my arm out to stop Zach from snagging my idiot ex.

“Go, Davis. My arm is getting tired and my daddies’ goon seems extra irritable today.”

As my stupid ex-boyfriend—if you could even call it that since we’d never gotten past me giving Davis furtive hand and blowjobs when my roommate was at work—bolted to his car, more memories of the last time I’d seen Zach pinballed through my brain. The brief taste I’d had of him was as fresh now as it’d been then, and it was all I could do not to pull his arm around my waist and lean back into him. I could practically feel his broad chest supporting me as I tilted my head back in invitation…

The squealing of Davis’s tires as his car screeched out of the university parking lot brought me back to the present and I quickly stepped away from Zach and turned around to face him. I was about to lay into him for having intervened in the first place when I saw a familiar figure striding toward us.

“Oh shit,” I muttered as I recognized the unleashed fury in my best friend’s eyes. Min, or Minna as she was known to everyone else, had clearly seen most, if not all, of what had happened. Her expression of outrage was much like the one she’d worn two years earlier after I’d run to her house to hide out from my parents and uncles after my run-in with Zach on Christmas Eve. I felt like I was right back there in that crowded closet full of my best friend’s familiar oversized hoodies and hiking boots, lamenting what a fool I was and what horrible luck I had with men.

Minna raised an eyebrow and glanced at the tall soldier standing next to me, the man I hadn’t seen since that humiliating night.

“You going to introduce me to your guard dog?” she asked as she took a step toward us. I wasn’t quite sure what she was playing at since she knew exactly who Zach was. They hadn’t officially met but she’d been at the Christmas Eve party. She’d even helped me come up with my stupid plan to seduce the older man.

“Minna Pedersen, this is Zach Warner, Jake’s brother,” I muttered.