Chapter 6
A dinner to remember
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Most cynics are really crushed romantics; they've been hurt, they're sensitive, and they're cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, dear part in them that's still alive. - Jeff Bridges
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Zak glared at Justin who still had his hand on Ana arm.
-"There is no problem. My fiancée and I are just talking, isn't that right Ana?" Justin replied with a wide, fake smile.
Ana wrenched her arm from his grasp and rubbed the spot on her arm that he had held.
-"Something like that."
Justin's cold eyes stared at Zak.
-"You are that guy that was looking for Ana yesterday. Who are you?"
-"Zak." He put his hand out and shook Justin's in a firm shake.
-"Justin Malory." He was silent for a moment. "You're on TV aren't you?"
-"Yeah ..." Zak shrugged casually.
-"You have some sort of fake ghost show ..." Justin baited snidely.
-"Ghost Adventures ... and it’s all real."
Justin laughed loudly.
-"Yeah, whatever dude. I am in TV too, I'm a field journalist. I do real news."
-"Sweet." Zak nodded; he really did not care what the hell this guy did or what he thought of him. Zak looked at Ana. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Not giving her a chance to answer, he grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the backyard.
Once outside on the terrace Zak took a couple deep breaths, he was lucky he had kept his temper in check. Lately he had been on edge, probably some residue from his last investigation. It wasn't uncommon for this to happen to him, and he usually just waited till it passed but it was a bit hard to do that right now. Ana was really playing with his emotions. She had looked so lost and scared when she had been cornered by that jerk. It was like she was begging to be rescued; the problem was he just wasn't the type to rescue people.
He dared to give her a glance. She stood looking out at the acres of land that lay out in front of them biting her lower lip anxiously.
-"Thanks ..." She said quietly.
Zak gave a sharp nod.
-"If you hate the idea of marrying him so much why don't you just end it?"
-"I've tried ... “She sighed. "Justin doesn't take no for an answer and neither does my mother ..."
He certainly could see that. He had only just met Diane and she was not someone he wanted to mess with, he got that much from the cold stare she had given him. Zak wanted to put his arm around Ana and tell her it would be alright. That something good would come of this in the end and things were always the darkest before they got brighter. But he wasn't sure he believed that either. So he just stayed quiet.
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I was so grateful that Zak had come to interrupted Justin and rescued me, but I am not sure how much good it did. I knew I'd have to face him again eventually and Zak wouldn't be there to help me.
As I stood in my mother's yard I had never felt so alone in my life. Maybe I just wasn't meant to have that happy ending. Maybe I was going to have to settle for what seemed best.
Just then Aaron and Cathy came out.
-"Are you alright?" Cathy asked in a low tone as she came to stand next to me.
I nodded, not daring to speak, afraid my voice would give away that I was not alright.
-"That dude is an ass, Ana, I saw him on the news last night, total tool. You should ditch him and marry a nice guy, like someone who is into ghost or something like that." Aaron said with a grin.
Zak glared at him and poked him hard in the ribs.
-"Ouch! What the hell!" Aaron gasped in pain.
I watched both guys curiously but my thoughts were all to soon interrupted by my mother telling us dinner was served.
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In the large dining room, it was the typical setting for when my mother had company. The lavish table was decorated with a lovely cream tablecloth, along with matching dishes and silverware. Large candelabras with light yellow candles were burning brightly. The rest of the table had several ornate bouquets of flowers.
I quickly sat down where I usually sat and to my dismay Justin sat next to me. Cathy sat opposite of me with Aaron next to her. Everyone filled in the seats, until the last seat left was on the other side of me, Zak sat in it. I felt myself shrink slightly at the thought of the two men who were on each of my sides.
Once everyone was seated my mother stood and cleared her throat, waiting for silence to fall. She gave the room a wide smile.
-"Before we eat I wanted to thank you all for coming. I also wanted to say thank you to all of you, who in this time of need have been so supportive." She sniffled and grabbed her napkin to dab her eyes. "This has been a trying time for me, with my daughter." She gave a dramatic sigh. "But I still love my darling little girl and we shall try this wedding a second time, and I promise you all it will memorable."
Suddenly wishing I could crawl under the table and disappear, my mother ended her speech and the guest all nodded in agreement while some clapped politely. Several people turned an angry glare towards me and I silently prayed I could just die, right now. Thanks mother, I thought to myself bitterly. My face heated and my stomach churned like an angry bee hive was swarming.
With my hands on my lap I wrung them anxiously until I felt a wonderful warm hand, gently stilling my fidgeting hands. I looked to my left, where the hand had come from. Zak's face was hard, he looked so angry that his stare could stop anyone in their tracks. He gently wrapped his big hand over mine and slowly rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand, sending chills of pleasure down my spine. I felt his warm ring on his thumb brushing against my hand every time he went over my skin.
I suddenly had the most erotic image of Zak's hands caressing my arms down until he reached the hem of my shirt and lifted it over my head. Hearing his breath quicken as I watched his eyes light up with passion. His lips moved with lightning speed to my neck. My arms slipped under his shirt feeling his hard chest. He groaned and lightly bit on my neck.
With a hard jolt I was all too soon back to reality as I felt Justin's hand on my shoulder. He stood behind me with his clasp tightening down. I blinked a few times and tried my best to calm my rapid breathing. I dared a look to my left. Zak sat motionless but held a cocky smirk on his face, as if he knew where my thoughts had gone. I quickly looked away and tried to concentrate on what Justin was saying.
-"Thank you for all your kindness mom, well you are not mom to me yet, you should have been." Justin gave a bright smile and a laugh at his joke. "Anastasia and I are very pleased that you are all so willing to reschedule our wedding, isn't that right Ana?" Justin's hand squeezed hard on my shoulder until I found myself nodding just so he would let go.
Justin bent over my shoulder and placed a chaste kiss on my cheek. The room lit up with an approving hum as he sat down.
Dinner arrived moments later, but I had no appetite. Between being mortified by Justin and my mother and having what I guessed was a flashback to the night Zak and I shared. I felt very conflicted.
Dinner was the typical lavish ordeal my mother prepared with several courses. I merely picked at my food, not enjoying a single bit of this silly event. It was just another way my mother had found to humiliate me and as per usual, I had sat through it, not saying a word. Being stuck between Justin and Zak also did not help my nerves, although Zak had not touched me again through the rest of the meal. Actually no one had even spared me a glance or a word the entire dinner, giving me a chance to unwind and do what I did best, become a wallflower.
Being ignored gave me the opportunity to consider which excuse I should make to go home. At least until dessert came. To my surprise it was one of my favorites. Black forest cake. I practically moaned when the large slice was set in front of me. I wasted no time to dig in, forgetting my sour stomach. Forkful after forkful I ate with gusto, until I recalled I was not at home alone.
Pausing, I glanced down at what was left of my cake. To my horror, it was practically gone while everyone else had not even started eating. I glanced to my side, Zak was watching me carefully.
-"I don't think I have ever seen anyone enjoy a piece of cake so much."
He smiled widely and I felt myself blush. With mortification I hoped I had not moaned ... Chocolate was a true weakness of mine and it would seem I had eaten like an animal.
Zak, still laughing grabbed his napkin and wiped the corner of mouth.
-"You had frosting." He grinned.
-"Oh god ..." I groaned. "Can you just kill me now?"
-"Oh stop, it's just frosting." He laughed. "It could be worse."
-"How could it be any worse than scarfing down a cake like pig?"
-"Well you could be Aaron ..." Zak motioned his head in Aaron's direction.
Aaron seemed to share my weakness for sweets as well. He had his cake finished, along with a large dab of frosting on his nose. Cathy let out a loud laugh while the other guest gave her a scornful look. Unable to resist I joined Cathy's laughter.
-"What?" Aaron asked looking around confused, causing Cathy and I to laugh even harder.
-"Dude, you got a little something ..." Zak smirked and touched his nose.
Aaron wiped his nose with his hand finding a large dab of frosting. His face turned a dark shade of red but he merely shrugged giving us a grin.
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Zak was smitten. He couldn't believe how beautiful Ana was when she laughed, which was something he had not seen until now. Although it was a miracle that Ana could find any reason to laugh. Now that Zak had met her family he was rather surprise she seemed rather normal. Her mother, Diane was not a nice woman at all and he wondered how someone like her ever decided to even have a child. There was nothing maternal about her at all.
Since the moment Zak had stepped foot in the house he had known Ana's mother was watching him like a hawk. Diane was a smart woman and Zak was sure she suspected there was more going on between him and Ana.
The room soon quieted as Diane cleared her throat.
-"So tell me, Zak," her cold eyes locked on to him. "What is it that you do?"
Zak returned the same stare, not the least bit intimidated by this woman.
-"Aaron and I have our own television show."
-"Oh, do you?" Her eye brow rose slightly.
-"Yep." Aaron answered casually "I usually film."
-"And what is this show?"
-"It's just some silly network dribble." Justin piped him snidely.
Zak glared at him.
-"It's called Ghost Adventures. We investigate haunted locations and give people answers that they hope to find about a location." Zak said proudly.
Diane was quiet for a moment but she soon curled her lips into a cold smile.
-"Ah ... I believe I have seen shows like yours. A useless waste of time if you ask me."
Aaron laughed loudly.
-"Not for the millions of viewers we get each week. We just got back from touring the southwest." Aaron said proudly. "We were asked to go overseas to do some investigation."
-"Millions of brain-dead people if you ask me." Diane folded her hands on the table, her eyes narrowed on Zak. "Tell me, how did you meet my daughter?"
Zak stiffened but didn't hesitate to answer.
-"We are friends. Why the hell does it matter where we met?" He replied back.
-"I am sorry; I don't mean to sound like I am invading your privacy." Diane laughed lightly, but Zak wasn't fooled, he knew she was a viper and was waiting for the right moment to strike. "I am curious, because my daughter is wasting her time on writing a ghost book, and here you are, an expert on ghost. I want to be sure you are aware her book is a waste of time."
Zak furrowed his brow in confusion.
-"What?"
He had no idea what Diane was referring too. He knew Ana was writing a book, but a book on ghost?
-"Anastasia is writing," Justin made quotation marks in the air with his fingers at the word writing, "a book on ghost." He laughed as if he had made a funny joke.
-"I didn't ..." He looked at Ana. "You're writing a book on ghosts?"
-"I-I ..." She stuttered looking at him pleadingly.
He had enough of this; he was going to get answers from the source. He stood up.
-"Mrs. Collins, I assure you, my interest in Ana is beyond her book, we met in Vegas and the more I come to know her the more I am enjoying her company." He turned his gaze to Ana who was gaping at him. "Ana, how about we blow this awful dinner party and go do something fun?" Zak's chair made a loud scraping noise against the wooden floor.
Keeping his eyes on Ana, he silently dared her to say yes. To entice her even more he put his hand out and waited. Her face was a flood of emotion and he could tell she was struggling with what to do.
-"Come on ..." He whispered.
She gave him a small secret smile and to his pleasure she grabbed his hand and he tugged her along, out of the room and hurried out of the house. Leaving loud outrageous gasps behind them.
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As I ran to Zak's car I felt a giggle escape from my lips. I had never done anything like this. The look on my mother's face said it all. I would pay for it dearly later but at the moment I just didn't care. I felt so exhilarated and free, nothing seemed to matter, except for the man tugging me in for a ride.
Zak's hand held onto mine with a tight grip, as if he were afraid I would escape. But he was not the only one holding me tightly, I held onto him with just as much grip.
No one had ever stood up for me like that. Not since my father anyway, the only man who refused to let my mother walk all over me.
When we both got into the car, Zak put the car in drive and took off with speed down the gravel driveway, kicking up dirt and dust behind us. Reminding me that no one did something nice for someone else without wanting something in return.
-"Why are you being so nice to me, you don't even know me." I asked, feeling braver then I felt. The sky had grown dark and I could only see the outline of him from the dashboard lights of the car.
-"I beg to defer ... I know you quite well." Zak gave me a side grin, his eyes roaming my body.
I felt my face burn and turn red. I couldn't believe he had just said that. Seeing my discomfort Zak laughed.
-"I don't remember." I said firmly, quickly changing the topic. "Where are we going?"
-"Nowhere right now, but I do want to hear more about this book of yours." Zak turned the car out of the driveway but instead of accelerating down the road, he parked the car on the side of the road and turned off the ignition.
-"It's nothing ..."
-"Oh come on, you can tell me." He twisted his body so he could look at me better.
-"It's stupid ..." I didn't like to talk about my book. Justin had often made snide comments about it or teased me, so I had kept it to myself since.
-"If it's important to you it can't be stupid." Zak said sincerely.
I was quiet for a moment; I kept my eyes on my lap.
-"After my dad died ... weird things happened to me. Nothing major at first, just like radios and TVs would be on when I thought I turned them off." I exhaled loudly. "Then ... it was things being moved, and voices ... I could hear people talking. I was alone at work or at home, and I could hear these people, but when I would look around, there would be no one. So I started to do my own research. I went to this house that I drove by every day to work, it looked like it had been abandoned for years ... " I trailed off, not sure how much Zak wanted to hear, but he nodded for me to keep going.
"I was driving home one night and I swear I saw my dad standing on the porch of that house! I turned the car around but by the time I got back there was no one there. So I stopped and went inside ... the place was spooky but there was really nothing there. I left and the next day at work I looked up the house and it turned out my dad grew up there. I contacted the owners of it and they said the place was locked tight, they had just been there that morning, and there was no way I could have gotten in ..." I shivered remembering my experience.
"After that day I went back to that house at least once a week for the night, I documented sounds and voices ... I don't have any of the technology you guys have, so I just wrote down what I would hear and experience." I trailed off after daring to look at Zak. I waited for him to laugh or say how ridiculous I was being.
But it never happened.
-"Can I see the book?" He asked.
-"Err ... Sure." I answered surprised.
-"Awesome! Let's go." Zak turned the car back on and took off.
-"Right now?"
-"Well yeah, why not?"
I nodded and gave him directions to Cathy's apartment. I was feeling rather anxious to show him something so personal to me; along with the fact that we would both be alone ... Nothing good could come of that.