Page 15 of Journey To Sunrise (Protectors of Jasper Creek #6)

Chapter Eleven

Chloe

Zarek was on one of his twenty-four-hour shifts. I’d dropped him off at the station so I could use his truck to go to my appointment. Hell, I didn’t even have to be tricked to go anymore, I was beginning to look forward to my time with Dr. Michaels. He didn’t even seem short anymore.

It was like a cloud was lifting and I could see the world a little more clearly.

But in some ways, it made things suckier.

Eventually I would need to leave Dallas, get a job, deal with my family.

It was that last part that made me shudder.

Maybe I would move away from Tennessee. I had always wanted to move North, maybe to Montana.

As soon as I thought that I discarded the idea. Too cold.

I wandered around Zarek’s house, Slayer following me.

He had his leash in his mouth. Couldn’t be more blatant than that.

These days I could actually trust myself to walk around the neighborhood without a panic attack.

Of course, having a dog that weighed more than I did definitely added to my sense of security.

“Come on boy, I’ll take you out.” I swore I could see him smiling under all his hair. I attached the leash and took him out the front door. This time I only had to check twice that the door was locked.

Progress.

I decided to go toward the small park so we could take a mild run around the swings.

Slayer loved that, and God knew I could use some exercise.

I’d lost a lot of muscle mass with my weight loss, so a little bit of a jog and then some of Zarek’s protein powder should help me out.

When Slayer figured out where we were headed, he pulled at the leash in excitement.

“Hey, not too hard.” As soon as I said the words, he immediately came to my side. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with apology. Would Zarek allow me to take his dog to Montana? I bit my lip. I didn’t just want Slayer to go with me, I wanted Zarek to go with me too.

I got to the park and gave the leash more play so that Slayer could run with me following him. He kept me running, so I didn’t have time to think, thank God.

“Okay, done boy.”

I sat down on one of the swings, breathing hard. I tried not to think about anything but the pretty Texas day. It sure was a pretty state.

No, must consider Montana.

Slayer barked. I looked at eyes that were level with mine.

“Okay, is it Miller time?”

Slayer barked again. Apparently, it was. I got up from the swing. We could both use some water. I should have brought some with me. What was I thinking?

I took a sedate pace back to the house, talking to Slayer the entire way.

“So, what do you think? Does Montana sound good? You’ve got a mountain of fur, you’d probably love the snow. Now that I’m feeling better, I’m not cold all the time.” The idea of winter six months out of the year did not sound good anymore.

Slayer barked three times.

“Well, I guess you’re in agreement.” He barked some more, and that’s when I looked up and saw another car in the driveway. “What the hell?”

The garage door was open. I fumbled for my phone and pressed in Zarek’s number. He answered on the first ring.

“Somebody’s at the house.”

“I know, Cupcake. It’s me. You’re outside with Slayer, right?”

“Yes, I took him for a walk.”

“Stay outside. I’ll come out in a minute, okay?”

He sounded pissed off.

Before I could respond, he hung up.

What the hell?

Well, time for the old Chloe to step up.

I sure wasn’t going to just stand outside with my thumb up my ass.

Something was up. I peeked inside the sedan and saw the paperwork for the rental car agency in the backseat.

I’d bet my bottom dollar that it was one of my family who was inside with Zarek.

He was mad because I was being ambushed.

But I could handle Zoe—this was my sister and my problem, not his. I looked down at Slayer. “Come on, boy. Time for you to meet my twin. Let’s see how you handle two of us.”

I went through the garage and started opening the kitchen door when I heard angry male voices.

I winced and took a step back.

“You’ve put us off long enough.”

“If she wanted to see you, she would have called.” Zarek’s voice was icy.

“Look, Post, if she were getting better like you said, she would have reached out to one of us. The fact that she hasn’t proves that you’re just letting her hide out and wallow.

I know about PTSD. She needs a doctor. She needs a support system.

” Even though Drake was practically yelling, I could hear the desperation in his voice.

My heart melted at the amount of caring my big brother was showing.

“Drake, I’m not going to argue with you. You’re her brother. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but we haven’t. You’ll have to trust me that she’s getting better and she’ll tell you what she wants, when she wants.”

“Zarek, you have to understand why we’re here.” That was Evie talking. I gripped the doorknob so hard I thought either the brass would dent or the bones in my hand would break. “We have to see for ourselves. We love her.”

“If you loved and respected your sister, you would have given her the time and space she wanted.”

“She would have been in my face if the positions were reversed,” Evie said quietly.

“I would not,” I yelled from the kitchen.

Three heads swiveled towards me. Evie and Drake rushed forward and Slayer immediately jerked against his leash, barking like crazy. Drake halted, his hands in the air. When Evie continued moving forward Drake grabbed her.

“Settle!” Zarek commanded. He said it again, and this time Slayer must have heard him, because he immediately stopped barking, and sat down. Zarek took the leash out of my hand. “You did good, Cupcake.” He dropped a quick kiss on my forehead, right on my scar.

He turned his attention to the dog. “Come, Slayer.” He took him to the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. “Out.”

“Zarek, he needs fresh water,” I said. “I ran him pretty ragged at the park.”

“He can wait a few more minutes. We still have a family reunion to get through.”

“That dog is a menace.” Evie said.

“Actually, Evie, he’s really well-trained. In his mind, we descended on his mistress, and he went into protection mode. He responded perfectly.” Drake defended Slayer.

I smiled at my big brother, then looked at Zarek for confirmation.

“He’s right. Bouvier des Flandres are highly devoted to those people they consider theirs and will go down fighting to protect them. I was happy for you to have that added layer of protection.”

“Well, she’s definitely protected with that dog around. You’re right to name him Slayer,” Evie admitted reluctantly.

Drake and Zarek laughed.

“I really didn’t want you to come,” I said quietly. I looked at the floor, unable to look at either of my siblings.

“We were just discussing that,” Zarek said. “I asked you to stay outside and let me handle this.”

Finally, something besides my family to focus on.

I rounded on him. “I don't need you fighting my battles.” I turned back to my brother and sister.

Zarek lifted his hand towards me, but I jerked away like his touch would burn. “Chloe, I didn't want you upset.”

“Well, it's too late for that.” The words came out sharp, cutting. “Poor little broken Chloe is upset again.”

“Hey, that's not fair?—”

“Fair?” I whipped around to face him fully, my voice climbing. “You want to talk about fair? Nothing about any of this is fair!” My hands were shaking now, and I clenched them into fists. “But I'm not some fragile doll you need to wrap in bubble wrap!”

Zarek's jaw tightened. “I never said you were.”

“You didn't have to say it. You did it.” I gestured wildly toward Drake and Evie. “Standing out there, playing gatekeeper, deciding what I can and can't handle.”

“Because I care about you?—”

“Then let me fight my own battles!” The words tore out of my throat.

I turned back to my siblings, my chest heaving. Drake looked stricken, but Evie... Evie was watching me with those careful, calculating eyes she got when she was trying to solve a problem.

“I'm not mad at you,” I said to Zarek, my voice dropping to barely above a whisper. The fight went out of me as quickly as it had come. “I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that.”

“Sweets, your voicemail has been full for weeks,” Drake said gently, like he was talking to a spooked animal. “I wasn't even sure my messages were getting through.”

“The texts got through.” My voice was flat now, emotionless. “Two a day. Every day. Like clockwork.”

“And mine?” Evie's voice was deceptively casual, but I could hear the steel underneath. “Did those get through too?”

I flinched before I could stop myself, and I saw the moment Evie caught it. Her eyes sharpened.

“It would have been fine if it was just Drake, wouldn't it?” There was no accusation in her voice, just tired resignation. “You could have handled seeing just him.”

My throat felt like sandpaper. “Slayer needs water.”

I turned toward the sink, but Evie's voice followed me.

“That's it, isn't it? You can face Drake, but not me.”

I gripped the dog bowl so hard my knuckles went white. “Drop it, Evie.”

“Like hell I will.” Her voice was getting stronger now, more like the sister I remembered. “Zoe told me what you said to her. If you feel that way about her, I can't even imagine what you think about me.”

The bowl was trembling in my hands, water sloshing over the sides. “I said drop it.”

“No.” Evie moved to block my path as I tried to walk past her. “We're not shoving this under the rug. We're not pretending everything's fine when it's not.”

Water splashed onto the floor. “Look what you made me do!”

“Talk to me, Chloe.”

“No!” The word came out strangled. “Just... just leave it alone. Please.”