Page 151 of Dirty Like Zane
At that, Zane’s face changed. For the first time this morning, a dark cloud passed over his features. Unfortunately, this was the way he usually looked when I mentioned my dad. His smile vanished. His jaw spasmed as whatever dark thought rolled through his head… though he managed to keep it tohimself.
Instead, he said, “You still lovehim.”
“You know me.” I gave him a shaky smile. “I’m stubborn thatway.”
He considered that, then put his notebook and pen aside as he got to his feet. He came over and drew me into his arms, gently. He tucked my head under his chin and held me, and I leaned into him, just relishing his strength and his warmth and his stillness as his heart beat againstme.
“You’re always gonna love him,” he muttered, almost to himself. “I’ll just have to get used to it, I guess, and suppress my murderousurges.”
“Would you, please? Forme?”
“Yeah, babe. I can do that. Only for you, though.” He kissed the top of my head, and it felt so good, the warmth of that gentle touch radiating throughme.
I hugged him tight and whispered, “I’m always gonna love you,too.”
He squeezed me back. “I fucking hopeso.”
“Put it this way.” I peeked up into his blue eyes. “You’re never gonna fuck up as bad as he has,right?”
A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think that’s possible,Maggie.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “It’snot.”
* * *
As soon asI’d gotten dressed and we’d sat down to breakfast, Zane wanted to know theplan.
“The plan?” I asked himblankly.
“Yeah.” His eyes bore into mine. “You said you’re gonna call Dizzy this morning. But what about everyone else? The band, friends, the public… How do you want to roll this out, andwhen?”
I blinked at him. “Uh…”
“And just so we’re clear,todayis the right answer to thatquestion.”
“Oh. Well, thank you for letting me know.” I tried to give him a dirty look but failed. I was pretty sure it was the first time in history that Zane wanted to know “the plan” about something before I’d even begun to figure it out. It was pretty damn cute. “You know, you’re cute when you’re gettingorganized.”
“Don’t try to change the subject. Won’twork.”
I sighed. “Yeah. I suppose we can discussit…”
“When?”
“Well… I’m assuming from the look on your face that the right answer to that question is…Now?”
“You assume correctly. So who’re we telling first? AfterDizzy.”
I took a breath and considered that. “I think… I really owe Brody the respect of telling him first. Like maybe I could meet with him alone, and let him know what’s happening? We’ll need to bring the publicists up to speed, but we should really schedule a phone meeting for that. I’ll see what Brody has to say about it. And you should really give Dolly a call so she doesn’t have to find out through themedia.”
“Dolly knows,” hesaid.
“What?”
“I told her.” He blinked his blue eyes at me. It was a rather innocent look, given that the man didn’t do innocent looks. “Last year. I’ve been talking to her about it all along. What?” He shrugged at the look on my face. “You can’t expect me not to tell Dolly. It’sDolly.”
I took that in… and once I got over the initial shock of it, I sighed and gave in, because he was right. Dolly was not only Zane’s grandma but the woman who’d raised him and the only family he had. And he definitely had a way different relationship with her than I had with my father. Much closer. I was pretty sure, from what I’d witnessed over the years, that Zane told Dolly everything. Right down to the dirtiest details of his nastiestsexploits.
The woman probably knew far more than she’d ever wanted to know about her beloved wild-child of agrandson.
