Razed (Barnes Brothers #2)(68)

More than a decade later, and she still carried that guilt.

But she knew why.

Eyes closed, she lifted her face to the ceiling while the memories slammed into her.

She was still fighting with them when the phone rang a few minutes later.

She didn’t even consider ignoring it. She couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in her head if she didn’t have to.

“Keelie!” Zach’s voice was a rush in her ear. “Look, I’m desperate. Javi is sick—some bad chicken—that’s what he says, I bet he’s hung over, but he has an appointment today and I need your help.”

She opened her eyes, something that might have been relief slipping through the knots that bound her heart, her throat. “Zach . . .”

“It’s somebody from the base. They ship out to Iraq at the end of the week. He wanted to finish the tattoo first. I can’t even come close to Javi’s style. You can. It’s important to the guy, Keelie. I tried to explain, but . . .”

Slowly, she turned to look back at the mess she’d sent flying to the floor. “I’ll be there. What time?”

“You’re my favorite person right now. Thank you. Appointment is in an hour and a half,” Zach said, his voice heavy with relief. “We have the pics, the coloring they’d wanted to go with. This was the last visit. Thanks. Thanks a lot. You’re the—”

She disconnected and stood up, walking away from the memories that seemed to mock her.


*

The sight of Keelie had Zach wincing.

Okay, Javi had sounded rough.

Keelie looked worse.

She was pale, her eyes glinting like chips of glass in her face and she pushed past all of them without saying a word. If he was a smart man, he would have gotten out of her way.

Like Anais did—she clearly was smart.

She’d given Keelie a wide-eyed look and then turned away. Clearly, she wanted no part of this.

The new artist he’d hired recently, Rusty—a giant of a man with dark red hair and a bass grumble instead of a voice, beat a fast retreat.

But Zach wasn’t smart. Slowly, he made his way down the hall and peeked into Keelie’s work area. She was leaning against her counter, staring at the wall.

Her gaze whipped to him.

“What’s wrong?”

Keelie looked everywhere but at him.

“Nothing.” Her shrug was jerky, erratic. And her voice was thin, almost ghost-like.

“Yeah. You really look like nothing is wrong.” He hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. She looked . . . dangerous. Sharp. Edged, like if somebody got too close, they’d find themselves bleeding and might not even understand why. “You didn’t have a fight with Zane, did you?”

She cut him a look, the pale blue of her left eye turning to ice. “If we did, you’d have a reason to celebrate, right?”

“No, I . . . shit.” He clamped his jaw shut on the words that automatically jumped to his lips. He probably deserved that. Waiting a few more seconds until he knew he could be level before he answered, he said softly, “Both of you matter to me. He’s my brother. I love him. You’re like a sister to me and you know I love you. So if you’re happy, that’s all that matters. Keelie, something is wrong. I just want to . . .”

She sighed and turned, resting her hands on the counter. The muscles in her narrow back, her shoulders went tense, tight, so tight they started to tremble.

A harsh gasp left her and for one awful, terrible moment, Zach thought she might cry.

No. No crying, he thought desperately. Everything in him told him to flee.

But he couldn’t.

His movements awkward and stiff, he crossed to her. Reaching up, he touched her shoulder. She jerked away—or tried.

“Don’t,” she said, her voice harsh. “I just need to be alone right now.”

He sighed and tugged harder, pulling her into his arms. It bothered him to realize she felt fragile. Completely fragile. “No,” he said quietly, tucking her head under his chin. “You don’t. You spend too much time alone anyway.”

“Zach—”

“Stop. If you don’t want to talk, don’t talk. But something is tearing you up and we both know it. You don’t have to be alone with it.” He’d spent too many years around Abby not to know what he was dealing with.

A broken sound escaped her and then abruptly, her arms clamped around him.

Zach held her tighter as she started to tremble. “It’s going to be okay.”

He didn’t know what else to say.

Something moved outside the corner of his eye and he looked up, saw Anais. Because it felt like the only answer, he mouthed, Call Zane.

She stared at him blankly for a moment and then she nodded.

Sighing, he held on to Keelie as she refused to let herself fall apart.


*

The morning dawned too early, and too bright.

Zane shoved his head under the pillow and tried to ignore it.

He could have done that happily except his phone started to ring.

After staying out too late, grabbing some night shots that turned out to suck, he’d put in a good three hours on the website he was building for Zach and Keelie.

Now, the last thing he wanted to do was answer his phone.

But it might be Keelie.