Chapter Seven
Ellen frowned down at the edge of Zane’s sink. She grabbed a paper towel, wetted it, and scrubbed furiously at the small bit of grime that dared to deny her total victory in her cleaning war.
She smiled. Victory was hers. Everything was so clean Zane could have a real estate agent hold an open house now if he wanted.
Ellen had tried to relax in the small house but instead found herself falling on the old standby of cleaning everything in sight. It was something she’d always done as a child, and as the years progressed, the coping habit had only worsened.
It wasn’t uncommon for her to rearrange the whole house until she collapsed from exhaustion at the end of the night.
But the crazy cleaning sessions always helped. She burned off all her unnecessary worries and instead sunk them into something productive.
Now every inch of Zane’s kitchen was sparkling clean as well as the large bathroom off the bedroom and his living room. She scrubbed around the base of the refrigerator and stove, along with the baseboards, plus made sure to run cleaning cycles on both the clothes washer and the dishwasher.
She even took the time to rinse the dishwasher’s filter. There was a surprising amount of gunk on it.
Still Ellen had to hand it to Zane. Even though she was running around like a demented super-maid, she didn’t collapse in a spent heap at the end of her session. The truth was the place was already pretty clean even without her help. It was just that he probably didn’t have free hours each day to clean his place.
It was clear that Zane liked to keep his space tidy, and she could tell that he put a lot of effort into accomplishing that. It was something she could appreciate in a man, even if it gave her less to focus on during her current little attempt at relaxation.
She only hoped that he wouldn’t be too annoyed that she’d invaded his space. It had taken everything in her not to head into his closet, even though it would have helped her probably burn off another half-hour or so.
Color coding was sort of her thing, and his clothes were just begging for a good sort. She couldn’t even understand how he found anything efficiently with the disorganization in there. Everything was hung up neatly, but she just didn’t understand his system.
Now that she was finished with the cleaning she thought Zane might tolerate, she didn’t really have anything to occupy her time. She was too distracted to try and watch anything on television or browse the internet.
If anything, she was worried about seeing something else that would upset her. She couldn’t really take much more bad news.
That left only waiting, which was almost worse.
With a big sigh, she sat down on the couch and stared at her phone. Zane had to call soon, or at least she hoped he would.
It had been nearly four hours and still no word from him. Ellen wasn’t really sure what to expect considering she’d never been in a situation like this, but not knowing was killing her. Both with Zane and her sister.
The last thing she wanted was to bring all this trouble to him, but she really didn’t know where else to go. There was no one else to go to, and if he was right, the police were out of the question. She might not even have called him if she hadn’t heard that he was involved in security work.
Guilt stabbed at her. Maybe she had no business getting him involved. If he ended up getting hurt, she could never forgive herself.
Ellen had never imagined she could end up in this sort of trouble. She kept a low profile and didn’t put herself in dangerous situations, yet now she was on the run from the mob. Just bringing a box to her sister shouldn’t have led to all of this.
Zane didn’t seem to mind helping her though. He was always hard to read, but that morning he seemed more like the boy she’d grown up with: stuffing his face with French toast and joking with her.
It was strange after all this time she still felt that same pull she’d always felt with him, like the five years had only been five minutes. Ellen supposed that a crush like that always stayed with a person.
Maybe it was something to do with first crushes. Whatever it was, she’d be glad when she could get back to her normal life and didn’t have to worry about the mob, Zane, or her sister.
Zoe.
Had she really gotten away?
Ellen’s stomach knotted.
The question echoed in her head over and over. The Russians might try and hurt Zoe, maybe they even blamed her for bringing a witness.
Then again, Zane’s comments, no matter how disturbing, couldn’t be dismissed. Zoe had obviously known those men were hurting someone and was willing to ignore it. Ellen had to face the very real possibility that her sister wouldn’t be hurt by the gangsters because she was too close to them.
She sighed. Maybe it was wrong to be so suspicious. Zoe might have just been trapped. At least, Ellen hoped so.
There were so many things that could have happened, and she only prayed that Zoe had the good sense to escape before things got too bad.
Of course, those thoughts only brought on a whole different set of irritations. If Zoe had bailed because she knew it was dangerous, that meant that she’d left Ellen’s stupid ass behind to be shot at. It sucked either way.
Ellen turned the phone over in her hand.
One call. Just to see if Zoe was okay. Surely that wouldn’t be a big deal.
She slid her finger across the face and tapped her sister’s name.
Ellen’s breath came in small puffs as she listened to the phone as it continued to ring. Just when she was about to hang up, the other line clicked, and she sucked in a deep breath.
“El,” Zoe said, somewhat breathless.
“Thank God,” Ellen said as she let out the breath she’d been holding.
Her sister was an adult, but there was a part of Ellen that felt responsible for her. A duty to keep her safe in their mother’s stead.
Not that she was doing all that great a job at it. Her sister was dating a mob wannabe and hooked on drugs. Yeah, real mother of the year results there.
“It’s good to hear from you,” Zoe said.
Ellen could hear the hollow sound in her voice, like she was going through the motions with the call. As if they hadn’t just talked yesterday before all hell broke loose.
“I’d say so, considering your boyfriend’s associates tried to fill me with holes.” There was no hiding the anger in her voice now.
Zoe sighed. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating. You can get so dramatic at times.”
Ellen huffed loudly. “Exaggerating? My fucking car says otherwise,” she nearly shouted. “I can’t believe you. I called to check on you because I was worried, but you don’t even care that I was shot at. You don’t care that men tried to kill me.”
The tears stung Ellen’s eyes as she spoke. All the anger and frustration she’d been holding onto welled up until she felt her chest tighten with all the tension.
“Well,” Zoe said and breathed hard into the phone. “You’re fine now, so maybe you should just calm down.”
Ellen froze. She knew the breathing and the tone. She’d heard both often at the hospital.
“Are you high right now?” Her voice was low and barely held in check by the rage that bubbled just under the surface.
Zoe gave a soft laugh on the other end of the line, and Ellen could feel the hold she had starting to slip. She’d nearly died yesterday, and her sister was off getting high like it was no big deal.
“I can’t talk to you while you’re like this,” Ellen said over the line. “I just… can’t.”
“Please, don’t be so high and mighty.” Zoe snorted loudly over the line. “Like we do when I’m not?”
The question pierced Ellen square in the chest. Zoe wasn’t wrong. Ellen didn’t call, but what was there to say? They were never going to see eye to eye on Zoe’s recreational choices and boyfriends. Dean was the only one that was able to bring them all together, and currently he was serving in the military on the other side of the world.
“Whatever,” Zoe mumbled. “I’ve got a date with a designer. There’s a big party here tomorrow at the casino, and Billy wants me looking my best.”
Ellen could feel herself gag, but managed to keep the sound to herself. Zoe only cared about her drugs, partying, and boyfriend in the end.
“Bye, Ellen.”
She opened her mouth to say goodbye, but the line was already dead.
For a few moments, she just stared at the screen, not even sure how she should feel. She loved her sister but hated her choices.
Ellen wished her mother were still around. No matter what, she always knew what to say to make things right. And then she was gone, and they were left trying to figure out things all on their own.
Sometimes life really fucking sucked.