No Longer

Chapter 24

His room was filled with memorabilia from everything from Nascar, WWE, NBA, and NFL to crime shows, game shows and of course, playboy. The walls were plastered with action figures, posters and cars until you could barely make out the dark green color of the paint. Somehow, even with all those things, the room still looked mature; like whoever inhabited it was a grown man just relishing the happiest moments of his life. That, of course, was not what surprised me.

The man who stood before me looked so much like my father and my brothers that I was startled. I had a million questions running through my head like: How is this possible? Do I know him? Does he know me? When was he taken? What is his name? Wait, didn’t I already know it? Oh shit, I forgot his name! Will he like me? What should I say? Damn I must look like an idiot right now. He must think I am a complete loon. I was torn from my thoughts by the sensual sound of his voice.

“…and I am sure glad to have this to look at.” He gestured toward me. “No offense ma’am.”

“Oh, um, none taken.”

“Zane,” that’s his name, “this is Laken. Laken, this is Zane.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

I blushed. “Oh, yeah you too. But you don’t have to call me ma’am, I am not Brenda.”

“Right, sorry. It’s just that where I come from, we respect women.”

I smiled. There it was again. Another similarity between Zane and my family. How could this be?

“You have something on your mind ma’am…I mean Laken?”

Again, I was torn from my thoughts. “Ooh, um what?”

“You looked like you were in deep thought. Kinda like my momma used to look.”

Oh damn, now I remind him of his momma. This just can’t be. He can’t possibly be related to me. I mean, what are the chances? Look at him, oh God is he gorgeous! Such a chiseled jawline and those muscles…I mentally slapped myself. Laken, he could be your kin, don’t you dare think of him like that!

“Oh, I was just taking in the scenery. Your room is very…decorated.”

“Yeah, I have a lot of interests. They are all the things I grew up watching.”

“Oh.” Oh? Really?! That’s all you could come up with!? How lame. This was such a bad idea.

“What was?”

“What was what?”

“What was such a bad idea?”

Oh God, I was thinking out loud again. Damn, I really hope I didn’t say anything else aloud.

“Um, you know. It’s just that, I am, clearly, very pregnant and I shouldn’t be doing so much walking. My feet and back are starting to hurt. I think we should go back Jason.”

“No, you two just met. And plus, it’ll do you both good to get attention from someone who isn’t trying to screw you. I’m going to go report back to Marshal. That should be about a half hour or so. I’ll be back to pick her up. Oh and don’t worry. I checked and you don’t have any appointments and I marked you as unavailable. That goes for you too Laken.”

Well geeze, isn’t he a kind citizen.

“Yes, yes I am. You should really work on thinking to yourself.” And then he pushed me in the door and closed it behind me. At first, my instinct was to check the door but I knew he had locked it and plus, I didn’t want to hurt Zane’s feelings.