Sell Me Sunset

SMS Chapter 7

"Zac! Calm down, it's still me." I said, lightly grabbing his arm after setting the flowers down on the counter. "If you calm down and go sit I will explain to you. Please." I added, with a pleading look in my eye. He looked at me suspiciously and turned to go into the living room. I grabbed the small red box I had in one of my cabinets, and went to sit beside him. I turned to him and settled in for a long story...

"When I first started working with orphans, there was a situation with a foster family, in which I had to remove the child on allegations of abuse. I also had to remove the family's own children for their safety, which turned out to be a good thing. One night, I was returning to my apartment from a long shift working to get these kids placed in better homes. I walked in and none of my lights were working, so I went to call the building maintenance man and grab a flashlight. Suddenly I was struck on the head and knocked unconscious. When I came to, the father of the kids I had taken was there and very drunk, and I was tied to one of my chairs. He was holding a gun to my head and threatening to kill me if I didn't get him his kids back. So I had told him to give me a phone and I would make the call to my assistant to place them back with him. I dialed 911 and.." I looked to Zac who looked like he had seen a ghost. "I can still remember the exact words I used, begging them to understand that I was in trouble...

'Nancy, it's me... Hey, I desperately need your help. Yeah now. I need you to have the paperwork to transfer John Keaning's children back to him shipped to my house immediately. Yes he is dangerous...ly handsome, but can you just get them sent right away? Tell the messenger my address is 5436 West North Avenue, apartment 5G. And please tell him to put a rush on it, he is desperate to get his kids back and I'm dying to help him. Thanks.' An hour later the cops arrived, and John fled the scene out my fire escape. But not before leaving me with these..." I opened the box so that he would see the three bullet shrapnels inside. " This one went in my arm, this one went in my leg, and this one went in my shoulder." I stopped as Zac took my hand and closed the box. He reached his hand up to my face, to brush away the tears I hadn't known I had been shedding.

"Tell me they caught him. Tell me he's not out there still." He said with fury in his eyes.

"They shot him on the fire escape, because he still had his gun aimed at me. He died." I began to sob and Zac immediately wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. I don't know how long I cried for, but I do remember that he smelled like leather, manly and rugged. Eventually I pulled away from him, only to have him put his arm around my shoulders and pull me to his side. Shocked, I looked up at him, and saw that he was looking at me with tearstained eyes, like he had been crying for me. I continued the story, still looking at him in awe.

" After that I moved to this building, because it has the best security in the city which didn't seem to help me in your case, and I started wearing a blonde wig to work. I figured maybe then my clients wouldn't recognize me if they saw me on the street. It worked, and now it's just kind of habit to wear it when I'm not at work." I finished.

The look he was giving me started to make me uncomfortable with how close we were, so I got up and walked into the kitchen to warm up a plate of food for each of us. I poured two glasses of wine and when I turned to put it away, Zac was standing in the door watching me. He hadn't said anything since I finished the story, and I desperately wanted to break the silence.

"Thank you for the flowers, they're lovely."

"I thought you could use some color in here. It's too cold looking, mechanical, you know?" He asked, never taking his eyes off me, as if he thought I could disappear at any moment. The microwave dinged, signaling that our food was done, and we both stepped forward to open it. When we reached for the door our hands touched and I jumped back, as did he. It had felt like a jolt of electricity had passed through my hand, and into my body. I looked at him in shock. What the-

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