Chapter Six
A few days had gone by and Zuri was still keeping residence at Chaz’s cabin. She’d finished The Sun Also Rises and watched all the local TV she could handle. She was constantly trying to numb her mind but nothing really worked.
Chaz had slept on the couch since she’d arrived and she hadn’t protested about taking over his bed.
On Wednesday she was due back at work. Chaz had left early that morning but she heard the roar of his motorcycle as she stood out on the small back patio, looking into the dense trees behind his house in the afternoon light.
“I brought some more food,” he said as he walked in with a few bags hanging off of his arms.
Zuri walked back into house dressed in the clothes she’d been wearing Saturday night.
“Going somewhere?”
“I have to go in to work tonight.” She tried not to look at him but she couldn’t help noticing the look of reluctance on his face.
“Oh, I also found these for you.” He reached into one of the bags and pulled out a stack of three books. Zuri walked over and took them from his hands. Another Hemingway novel, Dickens, and Faulkner.
“Where did you get these?” She looked up at him.
“A friend.” He looked away and set himself to the task of unloading groceries in the kitchen.
Zuri let her hands trace over the covers of the books. They were new. They weren’t from a friend.
“Thank you,” she said softly. It was surprisingly thoughtful and she was certain that Chaz didn’t make a habit of thoughtful actions.
“I have some good news,” Chaz said from the kitchen. “We have a promising lead. I’m investigating tonight but…it looks good.”
Zuri put the books down on the kitchen table and walked closer to where Chaz was in the kitchen.
“That’s great.” She desperately wanted to pepper him with questions but she knew now that he told her as much as he wanted to tell her.
“I’ll drive you into town, to the Smoke Stack, and I’ll have someone else drive you home…” his voice faltered. “Back here I mean.”
Zuri nodded. “Maybe I could go back to my apartment to get some clothes?”
“Sure, I’ll let my guy know.”
Zuri took her new books and put them next to the queen bed. Could she ever get used to living in a place like this? She looked around herself, at the solitary nature of living on the outside. Quickly she relinquished the thought.
That night she went in to the Smoke Stack to find a large section of patched wall.
“How are things?” Zuri asked Greg as she walked behind the bar.
“Not good. There was full on fight here the other night.” He gestured to the damaged wall. “And Sandy never showed for her shift yesterday, can’t get ahold of her, just a plain no show.”
“Sandy?” Zuri stopped. “You’ve tried calling her?”
“Of course I’ve tried calling her. Left messages, I even sent Kevin around to her place but she didn’t answer.” Greg knocked over a glass and it shattered on the ground. Zuri bent and started picking up the pieces without thinking about it.
Could Sandy have been taken as well? When was this going to stop?
“Here,” Kevin dropped down to the floor with a brush and dustpan. Kevin was the other bartender. He was older than Greg, with salt and pepper hair and a gruff attitude toward everyone, but Zuri knew he was a sweat heart despite his demeanor. It had probably been Kevin’s idea to go check on Sandy, not Greg’s. Zuri trusted Kevin.
“Sandy hasn’t come in?” Zuri asked Kevin from the floor.
“Nope,” Kevin didn’t seem too alarmed.
“I’m worried. A girl was taken from my building the other night.” Zuri looked at Kevin, his eyes rose to meet hers. “She was taken by the Ukrainians.”
“The wolf shifters?” Kevin’s brow furrowed. “They’ve started coming in here.”
“And Greg just lets them?” Zuri questioned.
Kevin nodded a little. “He says it’s good for business.”
“There’s something really wrong going on.” Zuri whispered. Greg had moved out of the way but was coming back over.
“I’ll ask around, see what I can find out,” Kevin said thoughtfully.
Zuri stood and tossed the large shards of glass into a bin with a loud clank.
As the night began Zuri noticed a few new faces and the faces seemed to be watching her. They were definitely Magus, she decided.
“Hey big Joe.” She set a beer in front of the man before he asked.
“How are you?” He looked Zuri over.
Zuri tried not to notice the eyes on her. “I’m okay. Why do you ask it like that?”
“I heard Chaz is keeping an eye on you—that’s all.” He drank some of his beer and gave Zuri a suggestive look.
“It’s nothing like that,” Zuri said seriously. She did not want to be a part of some rumor mill.
One of the men who had been watching her all night came up and sat by Joe. He was good looking in a young wild sort of way.
“What can I get for you?” Zuri asked.
“What do you have to read?” The younger man asked her. She blushed.
“We don’t have books, this is a bar…in case you didn’t know that.” She felt her voice grow tight. So this guy and probably the others who had been watching her so closely all night had been asked to stand guard over her? They’d been talking to Chaz?
“This is Cade,” Big Joe gestured toward the wild looking man.
Zuri wiped her wet hands on a bar towel. “Nice to meet you Cade. I’m Zuri.”
“I know,” Cade said with a twinkle in his eye.
She nodded, of course he did.
“He’ll have a beer,” Big Joe said when Cade didn’t ask for anything. Cade nodded a little.
The door opened and Zuri looked up. Chaz walked in, up to the bar and sat down next to Big Joe. It was strange to see him walk into her bar that way. Like he belonged there. She thought of his plans for that night, the lead he was following and her hopes rose.
“Nothing,” he said in answer to the question she hadn’t asked. He had no good or bad news about Ava. Nothing to report. Zuri felt her heart sink.
“He’ll have a beer too,” Big Joe said, gesturing to Chaz.
Zuri took out a glass and filled it, then set it in front of Chaz. Chaz looked at Zuri with a nod of thank you. His eyes were burning and she felt like they were about to burn right through her.
“What happened?” she asked leaning closer. “You said you had a lead.”
“I can’t talk about it.” Chaz looked into his beer.
Zuri stared at Chaz. “You need to tell me what happened.”
Chaz moved the top of his shirt to reveal a large purple bruise.
“Zuri is a pretty name,” Cade said too loudly.
Zuri turned to look at Cade for a second before returning her focus to Chaz. “What is going on?”
“I told you, I can’t talk about it, definitely not here, not now,” his voice was firm.
She held his gaze for a long moment until she knew he wouldn’t budge. Zuri shifted her attention back to Cade and smiled a bit. There was something about Chaz refusing to talk to her that made her feel just a bit more reckless. A bit less cagey than normal.
“Thank you, Cade. It was my grandmother’s name. I like it myself.”
There was a signal from one of the tables and Zuri started piling together another round of drinks for them.
“Your grandmother must have been beautiful, unless you inherited that from someone else.” Cade had a lopsided smile.
Zuri felt herself smirk. It was funny, she would normally shut this sort of thing down fast but tonight she let it ride. She looked at Chaz quickly before flicking her gaze back to the drinks in front of her.
“My grandmother was beautiful,” Zuri said flippantly.
“I’ve always liked curvy women,” Cade continued.
“Hey,” Chaz broke his silence. His torso was large and taut. He looked ready to send Cade outside.
“Its ok,” Zuri said quickly, “I like my curves too. Nothing wrong with that.” She gave Chaz a slightly reprimanding look and shot a quick smile and wink to Cade.
What had made her do that? She’d never winked at any man in the bar before, certainly never flirted out right or smirked.
Zuri loaded up the drinks and walked them around the bar top. She felt her hips moving a little more than usual. She settled the drinks onto the table then began back around.
“Lovely,” Cade’s hand whipped out and smacked Zuri’s ass. Zuri was about to turn and shut him down but Chaz was there before she had a chance. Chaz’s hand clasped Cade’s and he turned it quickly, bringing Cade’s face flat on the bar with his arm twisted uncomfortably behind him.
“Sorry,” Cade cried out. Zuri saw Greg move in the corner of her eye. She was about to interrupt Chaz to tell him that she could take care of herself. But before she could move between them, Chaz let go of Cade’s arm, turned, and with her mouth still open ready to say a million things, Chaz pulled her to him and kissed her.
The heat of Chaz’s mouth on hers knocked any words away. She was so surprised by the movement and gesture that she didn’t pull away but gave in to the kiss. Her body melted towards his.
She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The heat of Chaz’s body clung to her and for a long moment she didn’t want to let go. She wanted to stay in the heat, to stay in the safety and strength of Chaz’s body.
Big Joe whistled and laughed as Chaz pulled back and Zuri tried to regroup. She looked around her, displaced, unsure of her surroundings and her own presence.
Zuri turned, stopped, and then started again.
She turned again once back at the bar, looking around her for something to do.
“I should go,” Chaz said the words quickly without looking up at Zuri again. She watched his own broken movements and could see the same break she felt with reality. “Joe you’ll…” He looked at the big man who nodded with a smile. “Thank you.”
Then Chaz left.
Zuri watched the closed door for a long moment then looked around at the faces staring at her. Greg, Kevin, all the men in the bar, both Cade and Big Joe.
“Ok, nothing to see here,” she said, trying to gain back some of her usual coldness.
Greg laughed and shook his head and the rest of the men turned back to their drinks and conversations.
Zuri took a shaky breath, pressing her palms down on her thighs.
“You must have some magical powers,” Big Joe said with a laugh.
Zuri lifted her head with surprise. “What do you mean?”
Big Joe shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I’ve never seen our stone-cold brother quite like this before. You must be casting a spell on him or something.”
A heat flooded her face and she still felt the tingle of Chaz’s kiss on her lips. She moved her hand to touch them, then thought better of it.
Zuri’s end of the bar had never looked so clean and well organized as it did that night.
Her mind was rolling a hundred miles a minute as she worked and she barely noticed if someone actually said something to her.
As the night wore on her thoughts turned back to Ava. What was really being done to find her? Chaz hadn’t looked optimistic when he’d come in earlier. What if they never found her? What if they were focusing on the issue of the Ukrainians as a whole and Ava got lost in the mix?
As she grabbed her bag at the end of the night she worked her way back to Kevin.
“You leaving?” he asked, looking up.
“Just about.” Zuri pushed her weight from one foot to the other. “Did you happen to find out anything?”
Kevin looked around him. Greg was counting cash in the corner and no one could disturb him once he was engrossed in that task.
“I heard that the Ukrainians were seen in Devil’s Head a few days ago. There are reports of other missing girls too…but that’s it.” Kevin looked at Zuri keenly. “You won’t do anything stupid? No going off on your own?”
Zuri shook her head and raised a hand, “I would never.”