Keep (Seaside Pictures 2)

My face flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh, she did!” Mom crossed her arms as if she was proud that I knew how to put liquid into a cup. “And she always brought the best snacks.”

“I want snacks,” Zane said under his breath in a voice that made me want to slam my mouth against his.

“I bet if you get past third base she’ll give you a snack.” Demetri said in a completely bored tone, his wink toward Zane was the only indication he meant a different type of snack than my mom was referencing, more of the sexual snack not the carrots and peanut butter variety she was currently sharing with the group.

“First base is always the hardest,” Jay piped up out of nowhere.

“Really?” Alec joined in. “I always thought it was more rounding second.”

“Hell, no.” Lincoln rolled his eyes. “It’s trying to slide into home.”

Jay growled in his direction while Dani blew her brother-in-law a kiss.

“What’s so hard about slamming a ball into the field and making it home?” My dad wondered aloud. “Son, if you need help with your bat, just ask, I used to be quite the slugger, right Stella?”

My mom blushed.

Demetri’s grin widened. “I would love to hear tales of your glory days.”

“Okay!” I clapped my hands gaining everyone’s attention before my dad started drawing diagrams about baseball and the guys started deciphering it as sex advice. “So it looks like I’m going to shave Zane’s head.”

“Not the whole head.” Zane jerked away from me. “Half the head, like a quarter of the hair.”

“Here.” I shoved a bag of marshmallows against his chest and laughed while he bit down hard on one of the mallows like I was about to perform a surgical procedure. “Remember, you can’t swallow.”

Demetri choked on a laugh. I ignored him.

The razor buzzed loudly as I quickly ran it above his left ear.

Zane kept his eyes closed.

Demetri had his phone out, documenting the entire thing.

Wavy black hair fell against Zane’s shoulder, and some of it floated to the floor. My heart sank a little.

But it wasn’t about the hair.

It was about the man.

“Very brave,” Demetri teased. “You do realize she’s legally blind.”

“Hey, I’m wearing my glasses. At least I think they’re mine.” I squinted around the room, enjoying the looks of abject horror on some of the faces. I settled my gaze on Zane and smiled. “And I think I did a good job!”

Alec whistled. “I’m trying to figure out how he looks better with half his hair gone, asshole.”

Zane smirked while Linc and Alec shared confused looks, it was true though. Somehow, he’d gone from looking just sexy to dangerous sexy all because I cut off a bit of his hair.

“Now trending on Zane watch,” Demetri said in a low voice. “Saint cuts off his hair like Samson. The question is, has he lost his strength or gained it? Details to follow.”

“You clearly missed your calling as a newscaster.” Lincoln laughed. “If you ever lose the ability to sing you could work for TMZ!”

“I have many callings. Many talents.” Demetri high fived Lincoln while my mom knelt down by Zane’s feet and picked up the hair stuffing it in a napkin.

“Uh, mom?” I frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Please tell me you’re selling it on eBay.” Demetri pleaded.

“Oh.” She shrugged and patted Zane on the shoulder. “I just thought, you could keep it as a memento. You’ll look at this hair, well I mean not all of it, but the part you keep, and you’ll remember the day you and your friends courageously faced scary circumstances together, as a family, and came out on top.”

Mom was simple like that, she didn’t think before speaking, she wasn’t passive aggressive or meticulous in her thoughts, she said what was on her mind which roughly translated into her being proud of Zane.

I wasn’t sure if I needed to tell him that or if he gathered it from the way she beamed at him as though he was about to save the world.

“Knock-knock.” A feminine voice interrupted the moment. A tall woman in her mid-forties walked into the room. She had a beautiful smile, and long, dark hair that was pulled back into a tight braid. And pink fingernail polish. I don’t know why that was important, but it brought me an odd sense of comfort when she introduced herself. “I’m Dr. Thomas, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Zane.” She was looking at him, not through him, I liked her already.

He held out his hand.

When she took it, she flipped it over and frowned at his calluses. “Guitar player, and here I thought you favored the piano.”

He grinned. “I like both.”

“Well.” She pulled her hand back. “Then we’d better remove that pesky aneurysm so you can get back to it.” She went over the protocol for surgery. All in all, it wasn’t a very long procedure. I mean, it wasn’t the safest surgery, but she made it seem like she could do it in her sleep. Small incision, insert metal clip across the bulge where it rose from the blood vessel, sew him up, and ride off into the sunset.

“Alright.” She rubbed her hands together. “My staff will be by in ten minutes to prep you for surgery. Let me know if you have any more questions.” She breezed out of the room.

Ten minutes.

That’s all I had with him.