A Billionaire in Shining Suit (TBB 4)

Independent

Chapter 15 - Independent

ZACHARY DANVERS

Zach stood at the beach, the water lapping at his feet.  He looked down at his feet and shook his head.

He had no problem meeting his mother during her reunion Sundays. Zach came and went before anyone even knew that he was there.

He'd usually fly in Sunday morning. Take Cass on a brunch at her favorite café. She loved those little cupcakes they made. Even Zach had to admit that they were kind of cute.

They'd chat and then Zach would spend an hour or two with George in his library, smoke a cigar and then leave as everybody started to come. He'd bring George's favorite Cuban Cigars.

But Zach refused to meet his mother when the Hunt siblings were around.

Zach couldn't care less if she came here. He would love to show his mother how much he'd grown.

But he didn't want her acknowledging him in front of Logan or Sean or Daniel.

Sydney had figured it out pretty quickly since she knew the Hunt siblings like the back of her hand.

He shared the same hair and eyes with Sean. But the similarities ended there. Apart from a few nervous habits from the other two , or so Sydney said

Lucky me he thought wryly.

"Hey." A soft voice called out but he didn't turn around. He didn't want to, to begin with.

Dave had called him just the night before to tell that he would be coming the next day.

The guy was so excited that he already asked Zach to be his best man on the phone itself.

Zach smiled at the memory.

He had heard Tess yell at her husband about not keeping the surprise and he had to cut the call halfway through their conversation because he could hear Tessa hitting Dave and him yelping out loud.

Zach was happy for him. He had suffered enough what with him being the fall out guy for the organ trafficking that went on in the hospital he worked before.

And Tessa was a good girl. Plus, he had somehow gained a family.

Though Zach didn't like the fact that he'd somehow lost the only brother he had, he was happy for him or so he kept telling himself.

He tried to tell himself that he wasn't going back to Sydney because he had to keep Kari safe but deep down he knew that now that Dave wasn't within his reach he couldn't stay there for long. He tried. For a year he tried to live without anybody pestering him. But he just couldn't.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice when Kari had stepped up beside him.

"Hey."

He shrugged off her hand when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"You had some time for yourself. I didn't disturb you. Do me the same courtesy."

Saying that he walked away.

He knew that he shouldn't be angry at her. His anger wasn't directed towards her at all.

All his life he had spend saving an innocent woman from a drunkard. Though he was relieved to see her go, he too wanted to run away.

But he didn't.

He lost his old man. Even though he wasn't much of a father, he was family.

Zach hadn't cared much about anyone after that. Until Dave.

Dave was his uncle's son. He was, in reality, Zach's cousin. But none of that mattered. Zach had grown up being independent that he didn't know what he'd do if somebody actually took him under their wing. Not that he was the same ten year old kid anymore.

Now that even Dave had left him, he didn't know why but he felt as if he was back to the moment when he looked over his father's body covered with bullet holes.

"What is wrong with you?" He heard her yell just as he stepped in through the French doors.

"What did I even do to you? Because it seems that you're angry at me."

Something inside him seemed to snap

"Does everything has to be about you, Kari. I understand that you are in danger and stuff but not everything's about you. You're mood swings give me whiplash but I've kept my mouth shut until now. I gave you your space, I need some right now. Is that so fucking hard to understand?"

That shut her up.

 And then he felt guilty all over. He sighed.

 "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you but I need some space right now. I'm not... I 'm just tired of everything. This is getting harder and harder for me as every one of them are getting close to each other like one big happy fucking family. " He froze as he realized what he'd just said.

 "I'm sorry." she whispered

 "You shouldn't be. But let me be for a few hours. A few hours. That's all I'm asking."

 "Okay."

 He turned around and walked out the door.

 He ran as his feet hit the streets. He ran and ran and ran until he couldn't think about anything. Until the rushing of the blood through his veins was all he could feel. Until the ringing in his ears was so loud that it blocked all his thoughts.

 Stopping in his tracks, he found himself at the public side of the beach.

 The sun was setting and almost everybody had left.

 He dropped down in the sand right there  and fished out the pack of cigarettes he kept in his pocket. He hadn't smoked one since Kari had come but now one smoke was all he needed.

 Atleast that's what he said until he lit another one before he could think of stopping.

 "You could always share one with me."

 That female was downright annoying.

 "What part of space don't you understand."

 "Well I gave you an hour of it."

 "Gee, thanks."he rolled his eyes

 "Your welcome." she responded sweetly which said that she'd acknowledged the sarcasm but chose to ignore it.

  She sighed. "Look, I know you gave me my space and all but I needed the space from you. I'm scared of what I feel for you and I needed some time away from you because honey, you flash me that hot bod of yours and I'm a goner."

 He chuckled at that. He didn't let the surprise show on his face at her blatant truth about her feelings for him. This wasn't the time to talk about that.

 "You aren't in the right mind. And I wouldn't leave anybody alone. I pester my brother a lot but trust me, no one wants to be alone at this point. So here I am, telling you that I'm just going to sit beside you here, smoke cigarettes and watch this beautiful sunset."

 And she did just that.

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- Nami