Wait For Me

Chapter 13.

ZACH

Fire surged through my veins and a bitter sweet ache rippled through the muscles in my arms as I hauled myself up to the cold metal bar until it was level with my chin. After a few more reps, I found myself desperately gulping breaths of air to fill the tightness in my lungs as the grip of my fingers became loose and I dropped to the floor.

A hand with a sun-kissed tan reached out in front of me.

"Towel?"

Noah smiled but it did not quite reach his eyes; I was ashamed of myself but it was a different seeing the disapproval reflected in the eyes of a friend. I had well and truly fucked up this time.

"Thanks," I muttered as I grabbed the towel and swept away the sweat from my brow, "Thought you'd have gone back up to Jane and the little one by now."

He sighed. "This problem isn't just going to go away. Either I stay and help drag you out of this mess with the Burbanks or I watch you go down and everything we've got will go with it."

Unfortunately for my ego, Noah was right. Whether he stayed or not, my mother would not relent until I agreed to the pending engagement. "I need a plan."

"Is cutting Lou out of your life again part of your plan?"

His words stung and I gritted my teeth. "I'm giving her space."

"You left her for four years, Zach." His brows lowered into a frown. "Four. Fucking. Years. I think that is more than enough space."

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You do now," Noah said as he sat down on a nearby lat pulldown machine, "She thinks you didn't wait. More importantly, she thinks she waited for nothing. Are you really that full of yourself to think she's going to wait again when you're giving her the silent treatment while you figure this out?"

I had no answer. Instead, I scooped up my water bottle from the floor and guzzled a mouthful of the cold liquid down my throat.

"What about that Lachlan," Noah continued and hearing the name from his mouth made my heart lunge forward in my chest, "He looks like he really likes her. Maybe she'll take him up on his offer. Maybe they'll be happy together. Who knows?"

He was trying to goad me - it was not going to work. I let out a scoff. "The Scot? Yeah right." I detested the way I sounded - like a poor attempt to convince myself as well as my prying friend.

"Whatever you say." He shrugged. "Look, Lou loves you - it's obvious. But if you keep pushing her away and putting your wall up it is never going to work and someone is going to be there when you aren't. You need to explain yourself. Tell her you're going to work out a way around the Burbanks, tell her you're not going to up and leave when shit gets difficult, tell her about the drinking..."

My blood ran cold and stood still like thick ice in my veins. "Don't."

"You need to tell her, Zach. Or whatever this is that you have with each other, it's going to break. Whether Karen is fucking around with you and the Burbanks or not."

"I will," I said with a sigh, "It's not the right time, not with everything going on."

"There never is a right time," Noah said and he pushed himself back to his feet from the machine, "You're right, though. We need to get this engagement cancelled. We have to get Karen off your back. You know, I hear Gabriella isn't too keen on this engagement either."

A small glow of hope sparked in the crevice of my chest. "You think we can get Little Miss Burbank to fuck this whole thing over from the inside?"

"We both know she's not the type for settling down, even for the infamous Zach Caldwell. She is pretty much the ultimate conquest in New York with her brains, beauty and a confidence that has shattered the pride of countless men in the city."