Desire ch. 19 - Stormy

[itztigress3]

Chapter 19- Stormy
POV: Emily / Zac
Word Count: 3749


August 17, 2009; Monday

I was sitting in the office filling out papers and sending the new order out. Zac was sitting at his desk staring at me.

“You could come with me, it’s not like you have to be here this week.”

I laid the pencil down and looked at him. “I could but there is no point in me being there Zachary. You and the other two were invited to take part of the charity event, they don’t want your fiancé there or they would have included me in the invite. Besides, Natalie and Nikki were not that pleased that I went with you to the retreat.”

“Taylor and Isaac both explained why. He’s only stopped calling because he can’t Emily.”

“Baby the only reason your adamant about me coming with you is because of them. Otherwise, there is a good chance you wouldn’t be pushing it.”

Isaac walked in and paused. “Am I interrupting?”

“No.” I said.

Zac just gave me the yes he is look but looked at him anyway. “What is it?”

“Casey just called, he said he tried your phones and got voicemail like four times. Anyway, he wants one of you to call him back as soon as you can. He’d like to use 3CG for a few days.”

I could see the almost elation in Zac’s face when he heard that, it was his escape from this argument and as soon as Isaac walked out he looked at me.

“He can just stay there with you.” He said.

I let my head fall to the desk, sometimes Zac was worse than my brothers when it came to protecting me. I heard him call Casey and even offered the room which I am sure he took, but Zac said my house and I wondered why; didn’t they know we lived together? He hung up the phone and smiled at me.

“He’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Babe, did you think to tell him you wouldn’t be here when you offered that room? He may not want to be there alone with me.”

“He already knew we wouldn’t be home, asked if you’d be ok with it.”

“You do know that there will be times where you have to leave me here alone?”

“Not until we figure out who is sending packages, and calling. I have siblings and you do too. There is always Craig if all else fails.”

I giggled. “I can just lock Casey up here and go home.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”

“No, but you know you won’t be here to stop me from saying anything. So, when he asks me what you like or don’t like….”

“You won’t say anything.”

I looked at him and smiled, his own smirk faltered then but Taylor came to the door before he could say anything else.

“Are you about ready Zac?”

“I am ready; she had my bag packed last night.”

“I was eager for a few days alone and he went and ruined that.”

Taylor giggled. “That might honestly be better Ems; the weather report is projecting some bad storms this week.”

“I know! I was planning to kick back and read by candlelight.”

Zac got up and shook his head. I followed them to the parking lot, Zac had picked them both up earlier to keep their cars from being here all week. I kissed him.

“Have a safe trip.”

“I will, you be safe tonight. If you don’t feel comfortable at home stay here tonight or call my sister’s or Natalie and Nikki, I am sure they’d be grateful for the help.”

“Or I can be a big girl and stay home.”

He rolled his eyes at me and got in; I watched them leave the parking lot headed to the airport. I went back to the office and finished what I was doing. I decided to stay a bit late and finish up some extra stuff. About 7 my phone rang and I answered because it was Casey.

“Hey Emily! Is Zac still there or have they gone already?”

“They are gone already; they should be in the air now or just landing. Why? Did you need something?”

“Well, my plans changed and I am currently standing outside your front door. No one answered the doorbell, are you not home?”

“I am still at 3CG actually. I decided to make it a late night.”

“Oh, well I can come there. I am starving though, have you had dinner?”

“I have not had dinner, so yeah come on down.”

“How about I just pull up and pick you up. We can visit this famous diner you and Zac talk about all the time.”

“Uh, the diner is in walking distance.”

“Emily, it’s pouring down. Driving is better.”

“In that case gives me like fifteen, I’ll meet you at the door.”

We hung-up and I went ahead and saved everything and shut the computer down. I locked up the building and set the alarm and then waited under the awning, it was defiantly pouring rain. He pulled up about 3 minutes later and got as close to me as he could, prevented me from getting too wet. I got in.

“Wow, no kidding with the rain.”

“I told you! It was pouring on my way from the airport; I went by the house twice.”

“I can understand.” I gave him directions to the diner and he went over and parked. We got out and ran inside and I noticed the looks I got when we came in. Perfect, the rumor mill would have a field day with this. I directed him to mine and Zac’s normal table and Barbra came over.

“Where is Zac?”

“He’s off working, Barbra this is Casey a mutual friend of ours.”

She greeted him. “I know what she is having, what about you sir?”

He took a few minutes and then ordered dinner; she walked away and came back with my cherry coke and his sweet tea.

“You guys come here enough for them to know your order by heart?”

“We come here about once a week, more if we’re super busy. I order pretty much the same thing every time we come here, Zac bounces around the menu though.”

“It’s a very nice diner.”

“It is. So, Zac told me you would be here tomorrow.”

He looked a tad bit nervous at me and I smiled at him, sipped my cherry coke.

“Let me guess, he called you the moment he was away from me and begged you to come out tonight?”

He smiled. “Begging me would have been nice; he basically commanded I get on the next plane. He said something about bad storms coming in; he didn’t want you here alone.”

I knew it had nothing to do with the storms but I said nothing to Casey. I made a mental note to bring this up with Zac when he called later. We chatted idly about what he wanted to work on and what he had been working on. Dinner was great as usual and he insisted on paying the bill. He started to take me back to 3CG but I told him to go to the house, I had ridden in with Zac so my car was at home anyway.

I let him inside the back door of the house, disarmed the alarm and once he was inside I locked and rearmed it. I walked behind him up the hallway, and he was looking around in amazement, looking at the pictures lining the walls.

“This place is huge! It did not look that big from outside.”

I smiled. “It was a good bargain. Renovations opened up walls and space that was wasted.”

He wondered around the first floor, taking in the cabinets, the table, furniture, and the pictures which included a lot of Zac’s side and family pictures. He paused at the group photo taken at George’s wedding.

“So, I recognize you and is that really Zac in a tuxedo?! I don’t know the other faces at all.”

I giggled. “That is indeed Zac in a tuxedo and I didn’t even have to beg. That is actually my family taken at my brother’s wedding in May.”

I walked over and pointed them out, gave him names to the faces.

“They all look older than you.”

“They are older than me; I was the baby of the family.”

He sat it down and then spotted Zac’s cubby if video game supplies. “Zac must spend a lot of time here.”

“Considering he lives here, I guess you could say he does.”

He nearly dropped the bag he was still holding and stared at me. “Did you say he lives here?”

“Yes. We purchased this house right after his divorce, remodeled a bit for a few months and then moved in.”

“I didn’t know that you two lived together. But, I mean, I never really asked him.”

“Yeah, not many do, we like privacy quite a bit. Follow me and I’ll show you the guest room.”

He followed me up-stairs and I put him in the one farthest from me, I did have to move the suitcase of pictures to the back bedroom though. I’d honestly forgotten about those being in there.

“Very nice.”

“We tried. Excuse any boxes that might be leftover, it really took months to unpack.”

“Why months?”

“Zac would spank me if I told you why we didn’t unpack quicker.”

He looked at me a little stunned and blushed. “I’ll use my imaginati0n I’m sure I know why.”

“Anyway, thank you for dinner but I have to be there early and I need to get to bed. Kitchen is yours if you want anything it should be stocked well. I’ll leave about 7:50 in the morning if you wanted to go in with me. Studio is open to you all week.”

“I’ll go with you, I don’t have a key and I’d rather not be here alone just yet.”

“Understandable. Have a good night.”

“Good night.”

I went down to the bedroom, closed the door and got ready for bed, Zac called about 10, and while I wanted to fuss at him for making Casey come earlier, I understood his reasons and let it go. We didn’t talk very long and I went to bed.

The phone calls had stopped when we got home from Cancun. Zac had changed my number again and this time he put a block so unknown calls couldn’t come through. But the little notes had not stopped, they arrived at the studio every few days, mostly the same thing in them, telling me he wasn’t forgetting, wasn’t giving up.

August 20, 2009; Thursday

Casey and I were in the studio; he had me listening to the track he’d just laid, which sounded awesome. He cut the track off and a few moments later I heard the boom of thunder outside, the foundation actually shook just a bit. A moment later I heard the distinct sound of the tornado siren.

“Shit! That’s the tornado siren.”

I got up to go get the employees that were present and he started to follow me. “No, stay in here, this is the safest room here. I’m bringing everyone in here.”

He nodded and I went to the main room and yelled for everyone, who came running. There were four others here and all four came, I made sure they were in the room and then closed the door. I used my phone to see why the siren was going off, turns out there was a touchdown south of us and that storm was headed right for us.

“Can we not just go home?” Stephanie asked.

“No. I am not letting anyone leave until the sirens are off. It’s not safe to drive with them on and you know that.”

She slumped down and Casey seemed afraid and jittery, like he was antsy. I laid my hand on his arm and he was slightly shaking, but he looked at me.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“I’m a Cali man, earthquakes I can handle. Tornadoes? Not so much.”

I smiled. “It will be over soon, your safe here.”

Sure enough the storm passed us and the sirens went off after an hour. I had them stay while I checked outside, apparently nothing touched down but given the weather and predictions I sent everyone home just to be safe. I had Casey shut down everything in the studio after saving and I covered the offices. I was shutting Taylor’s down when Zac called.

“Hey baby.”

“Tell me your ok.”

“I’m fine Zac.”

“The organization just came in and said a massive tornado touched down near Jenks and was headed toward you. I couldn’t get through to you and I got scared.”

“We’re all ok. In fact, I’m shutting down computers now and going home. I don’t think that was the worst of it.”

“Casey still there?”

“He’s shutting the studio down now; I’m not leaving anything plugged into an outlet at all. If the power goes out I’d rather no shorts occur.”

“Understandable. Our flight leaves early, so I should be home tomorrow about six.”

“Ok. But, we’re ok Zac. Everyone’s and everything is ok.”

“You know I’m paranoid.”

“I do. Natalie and Nikki ok? I hear Ike and Tay in the background.”

“Yeah, they were at Tay’s house for a play date actually. Jessica sent us a text saying there all ok as well.”

“Ok.  I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, be safe.”

I hung-up as Casey came in. “Studio is down and everything is unplugged. I hit the break room and the main floor also. I assume Zac called.”

“He heard a tornado touched down in Jenks.”

“One touched down that close?”

“Yep.”

I unplugged the computers and moved on to our office and shut it down. I then double checked that the doors and windows were secure and that the alarm and back up alarm were set to come on in case the power went out. I made sure the main door was secure when we left. It wasn’t raining currently, but it was very windy and the sky looked black still. We had driven in, so I drove back and parked in the garage, I double checked to make sure the garage door closed before going inside. I set the house alarm as well.

When I got things settled at home I sent Christopher a message and asked if he and Craig were ok. They were both in Jenk’s at the moment, he replied with they were both ok, his place was fine and that the tornado hadn’t been big and didn’t last long, I was grateful for that at least.

“So, what do we do now?” Casey asked.

“I’m going to fix dinner actually, I mean I know it’s only three but everything is electric and if the power goes out then we won’t be able to fix anything.”

“Sounds good.”

He helped me fix the soup, something easily fixed and before it was even done the bottom fell out again. We ate in the kitchen and I put the left over on the counter just in case we wanted some later. We sat down in the living room and I could watch from the couch as the rain beat the house and the thunder and lightning raged on. Casey seemed so nervous and afraid.

“You don’t like bad storms?”

“Not really, I’ve been through a few but they always make me jittery.”

“The first time I experienced a Tulsa storm it was a tornado too. Super bad storm and I was terrified. But, now I’m pretty use to them.”

He smiled some and we settled in to talk and wait, the lights flickered at 7 and by 7:05 they were out. The whole block was down and just about everything around us as well. I made the call to report it; made sure the doors and windows were locked and sat down with the candles and we talked.

We talked about everything but his crush on Zac and sex. Those topics were never brought up and everything else was. Casey reminded me some of Zac, he was dorky at times but smart and knew topics well.

“I guess we should catch up on sleep.” He said.

I looked at him. “I won’t sleep in this. I am going to read if you want to go on to bed that is fine.”

He ended up staying with me but before Zac called at 9, he was asleep on the love seat. I told Zac when he called Casey was like him, able to sleep anywhere. Although, he and I did not talk long; I needed to save the phone battery as much as possible in case the power was out for a long period of time. I read for another hour after we hung-up but between the sound of the rain pounding on the house and the darkness, I dozed off about 10:30.

-Zac-

I had repacked after talking with Emily and was steadily listening to local weather, praying the storms didn’t get very bad again. I absolutely hated being away from her and not being close enough to do anything. I was however glad Casey was with her and he would protect her even if he had no idea why. At 11:45 I laid down to get some sleep, we had a few short radio interviews early and then our flight was at noon, we should be home before six. I was almost dead asleep when my phone went off, it was not a familiar number but the ringing woke me up anyway. I finally answered to silence which confused me. But a few moments later I got a text message.

You should be at home Zachary, protecting your fiancé.

Who is this? My fiancé is well protected with or without me.

Really? Are you sure?

The next message was a picture message of Emily asleep on the couch, there was a candle beside her head and the clock behind her head read 1:11. I glanced at the clock; it was just after 1:30 Tulsa time. Another message came in of her and Casey both asleep in the living room she was on the sofa, book in the floor and he was on the love seat where she said he’d fallen asleep, the clock read 1:12. Then several of Emily came, all taken within a few minutes and she was asleep in every one of them. That scared me because the message were coming from a number I didn’t know and they were asleep.

So, I called her phone repeatedly until she answered, groggy and confused but I didn’t care.

“Zac? What is it?”

“Are you ok?”

She was quite for a moment. “If you woke me up to just ask that, I may go buy a paddle today.”

“No baby, I woke you up because someone sent me pictures of you asleep, taken like twenty minutes ago. Is the alarm not on?”

“No, the power’s still out. It’s actually still storming.”

I waited because she was just waking up and sometimes it took her a moment to register and really process what I had said.

“Wait, you got pictures of me?”

I forwarded the images to her. “Yes. Mostly of you but with Casey too, the time baby is not long ago.”

I heard movement and knew she was checking the doors. “All of the doors are locked and the windows are too.”

“Is anything else out of place? It’s unlikely they got those from outside.”

“No, there was no candle that close to my head.”

I heard the small gasp. “Emily?”

“There’s a while box on the table…it’s the same type as Texas.”

That wasn’t good, that meant someone actually was inside the house.

“I’m coming home now, wake Casey up and get out of the house Emily. Go to the studio, the alarm there works on a backup system which should have kicked on when the power went out. I’ll catch the first flight home.”

“Zac…” 

“Don’t Emily; this man was inside the house. It wasn’t a call or a note; he was within feet of you. I’m not going to argue over this. I am coming home right now.”

“Ok. We’ll be at the studio.”

“I’ll come there.”

I hung-up and called the airline first, the earliest flight leaving New York to Tulsa was at 2 am. I booked a ticket on that flight and then I called my brothers, who were both pissed that I woke them up but they were ok once I explained and sent them the pictures. They stayed to meet the obligation of the interviews and I left and sat in the airport waiting. I was antsy, wondering if Emily really would leave and go to the studio. She was stubborn sometimes and I understood she didn’t want me to hover, but I didn’t want to lose her. My phone buzzed when the message came in.

Awe, you woke them up. They were sleeping so peacefully Zachary.

WHO ARE YOU?!?!

Who I am is not important. He was not pleased with your engagement; he is upset that you were stupid enough to ask knowing she doesn’t belong to you, that she’s not yours to have…

She doesn’t belong to Adam and she never will! I know you are not Adam, we have confirmed he is incarcerated still. I don’t know who you are, but you can be certain I will find out.

Good luck Zachary. Smart with blocking her from receiving my calls, but, it won’t stop me. Run home, I know you will. But New York is far away and it will take precious time to get here…time you may not have.

I clenched the phone and rejected the idea to call back, but a moment later she sent me a text to say she and Casey were in the studio behind the security alarm. I breathed a bit, but with the backup alarm, they were vulnerable, she was vulnerable there.

I heard the flight being called, sent her a message and then turned the phone off.

He would not upset me. He was just trying to make me paranoid and worried.

She was going to be ok. Casey was with her.

Time you may not have…

Ok…so he was getting to me…