Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Nine

Zoe

Iwas still jittery when I got home from the kiss Storm had planted on my cheek.

How was it possible that the more chaste kiss had felt more emotionally effective than any of his other kisses? Somehow, this felt like it had meant something else.

When I arrived at the apartment and checked my phone, I saw several missed calls from Mom, so I called her back.

“Zoe, seriously, what are you doing? How could you?” Mom didn’t waste a moment before jumping down my throat and I didn’t even know why.

“What are you talking about, Mom?”

“Lainey Rafferty saw you tonight. With some man. She said he looked…different. That he was wearing some kind of leather outfit. I couldn’t believe it when she told me.”

I sighed and pressed my eyes closed. Why? Why did it have to be Mrs. Lainey Rafferty of all people?

“And I couldn’t even tell her about Ali. I couldn’t tell her how horrible the news was…that… Not after she’d seen you going around having dinner with a man while your sister is missing.”

“Mom—”

“Who is he? What kind of men are you dating?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” I blurted.

“Boyfriend?”

“Yes, he’s my boyfriend. We’ve been seeing each other for a while,” I rambled, unable to stop. “For quite a while, actually. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you about him but…but then the whole thing with Dad happened…” I rushed on to explain, “And I didn’t think it was the right time.”

“You are in a serious, committed relationship?” Mom sounded astounded. Guess she didn’t expect it from me.

“Yes.”

She took in a deep breath like she was trying to compose herself.

“Well…then…honey, you should have said something.”

“There’s been too much going on.”

“Yes, I know, but honey, you’re my baby, too. I know I have been failing as a mother lately, but I love you and I want you to be happy.”

“Mom, you haven’t been failing—”

“I want to meet him.”

Shit.

I didn’t plan on the conversation going there.

“No, Mom, we need to focus on finding Ali.”

“But there’s very little we can do. You said that yourself, right? We just have to wait until we have all the information. So why don’t you just introduce me to him in the meantime? Maybe it’ll get my mind off things.”

How? How the hell was I going to bring Storm home to my mother? Mom had never even spoken to a man like him. She would be afraid if she met him. If he was…being himself.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

“That’s nonsense, Zoe! Of course, it’s a good idea,” she said, speaking each word slowly as if it would make them clearer for me. “I want to meet this man who has brought you to your senses, finally.”

She had no idea how close to the truth she came.

∞∞∞

I spent close to an hour pacing around my apartment after speaking to Mom. I would have to call him eventually, but I didn’t know how to ask this of him. What could I say?

Ultimately, I gathered the courage and made the call. I had to do it for my mother’s sake.

“Zoe?” He sounded groggy when he answered. Once again, I had called him in the middle of the night and probably woke him up.

“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t be calling.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even be asking you this. It’s ridiculous.”

“Will you just stop apologizing and tell me what’s on your mind?”

“Someone saw us. One of my mother’s friends. She told my mom and now she wants to meet you.”

I laughed nervously because it sounded even more funny now that I said it aloud. I couldn’t picture Mom and Storm in the same room together. It would be a disaster. From the eerie silence on the other end of the line, I guessed he was thinking the same thing.

“You can say no. Actually, you don’t have to say anything. I’ll just talk to her again and—”

“I’ll go.”

I stopped talking and breathing. Had I misheard him? It wasn’t possible…

Had Storm just agreed to have dinner with my mother? In my family’s home? Surrounded by my family’s things? He would be like a bull in a China shop.

“Did you just say—”

“Look, you called me and asked me to dinner, and I said yes. Is that so hard to believe? You’re making it very tempting to change my mind,” he growled.

“No. I’m sorry. That would be great. Mom will be…delighted. Tomorrow night. You can pick me up, and that way, we’ll arrive together.”

“Sure. I’ll be there at seven.”

“And will you… Maybe just wear something nice. Like a suit or something. What I mean is… Maybe don’t wear your leather jacket.” My cheeks flushed hot as I tried to find the right words. But I knew I’d said them all wrong because Storm grunted at that.

“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he repeated in a gruff voice.

I hadn’t meant to offend him. It wasn’t my intention to remind him of the difference in our worlds—that I belonged to a society he wasn’t part of.

The call ended abruptly.

That night I slept a little better, knowing I would be seeing him again. For some reason, that was a comforting thought. I counted down the hours until it was time for him to pick me up.

I tried to dress as casually as possible to complement what I expected him to wear. When he arrived in his car, I peeked in through the window. He was actually wearing a dinner jacket. An actual tailored dinner jacket!

My jaw nearly fell to the ground. He saw the look on my face, too, because he shrugged.

He always seemed to throw me off balance when I expected him to act a certain way or do something. Was he doing this on purpose? I was calmer around him, though. He made me feel safe. Secure. That, I could understand.

“Every time I put this jacket on, it makes me feel like I’m either going to court or to a funeral,” he said, stepping away to walk around to open my door.

“Well, thank you for doing me this favor.”

He held the door open and waited until I was seated.

“Just selling the story, right?” he said and shut the door before I could respond.

“Are you nervous about this?” Storm asked me while he drove in the direction of my mother’s house. What I wanted to ask was if this was the first time that he would visit a house located on the hills. It didn’t seem like that would be a neighborhood he frequented. Of course, I didn’t ask him that. Since the clothing comment about courts and funerals, I figured I was already walking a fine line.

“I guess I am. I don’t exactly bring a lot of guys around to meet my mother.”

He smirked, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “And I wasn’t the guy you had in mind to take home.”

I chose to ignore that comment. For the sake of making a good impression on my mother, I needed him to feel good about himself.

“Does your family make you as nervous as mine does?” I asked instead.

“I don’t have a family.”

I stared at him, expecting him to explain himself but he didn’t. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

“You don’t…”

Storm glanced at me, and his blue eyes looked dark, dangerous. A fire burned behind them. No sorrow? Frustration?

No, just anger. He looked full of rage.

“No. I don’t have a family. It’s as simple as that. I don’t owe anyone anything. Not even a sense of duty.”

The way he spat the words out told me this wasn’t something he was proud of.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

“You shouldn’t be. It’s not your fault.”

“I’m just expressing my sympathy.” I tried to defend myself against his rage, thinking maybe my voice would soften the tension.

He clenched his jaws tight as he stole another glance in my direction.

“Okay, yeah,” he muttered.

“I’m just imagining that it can’t be easy to be all alone in this world.”

“Especially not when you’ve had a taste of it and lost it all.”

Once again, an added explanation would have enlightened me, but it didn’t seem like Storm was going to go any further than this.

Why would he? It wasn’t like we were friends.

∞∞∞

We arrived at my mother’s house, and he parked in the driveway. My heart raced in my chest. This was already feeling like a bad idea. Here we sat, Storm with rage burning in his eyes, and I could barely keep my hands from shaking.

But then Storm turned to me, looked deep into my eyes. “Just take a few breaths, Zoe. It’s your mother. This is your house. You’ll be fine.”

Once again, with just a few words and that deep comforting voice, he had managed to calm me.

“Maybe we should hold hands,” I blurted, before I could stop myself. I was relieved to see Storm’s smile, and I quickly added, “For my mom’s sake.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever held anybody’s hand in front of her mother before. I’m always up for an adventure.”

He jumped out of the car and came around to help me out. When I gave him my hand, he yanked me into his arms. I fell against his chest, gasping at the shock of momentarily losing my balance. He held me tightly in his arms, close enough that I could feel his hot breath on my face.

“Let’s go make your mom happy for a few hours. Sounds like she needs it,” he said.

Storm weaved his fingers with mine, and to my surprise, he was the one leading me up the driveway to the front door.

Of all the stories I’d heard about men like him—hardened biker thugs—this was the last thing I expected. To be compassionate and considerate.

For a few moments, I just stared at him, awed.

Then Mom opened the door.

“Zoe! And you must be Killian!”

“Mrs. Leigh.” Storm held his hand out for her to shake.

A few beats passed while I watched Mom examining him. I thought for sure that she would figure out that this was all a show. A lie. That Storm was pretending to be someone he was not.

She inched her hand toward his, and he presented her with a dazzling smile which I’d never seen before now. There were many sides to this man, I was discovering slowly, and every one of them attracted me like a child to a terrifying rollercoaster ride.

“I’ve made lasagna for dinner, nothing fancy,” she said.

Storm led me into my own mother’s home with the confidence of a man who knew where he was going.

“It smells delicious,” he remarked.

I caught Mom’s eye as she shut the door behind us.

There was sadness lurking there. Of course, there was! Her daughter was still missing, and there was nothing she could do about it. And she’d had to face my father’s lies, cheating, and abandonment. Tonight, though, she seemed delighted. Like Storm’s presence was somehow helping her forget about everything that was wrong in her life.

He had no idea how grateful I was for this.

“Can I offer you something to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll have what you’re having, Mrs. Leigh.”

Storm was examining the oil paintings in the foyer, which I had barely noticed before tonight. Now I was viewing my own family home through the eyes of someone else, someone who’d had no family. He was so different than me.

We had too much stuff. There was no use for so much stuff just for other people to see and admire. A flush of heat spread up my neck and into my cheeks. I had never experienced embarrassment at the opulence of our home. He wasn’t impressed by any of this because it meant nothing to him.

“Why don’t we all sit down in the living room, and you can tell me all about yourself. I’ll tell you now, I’m not surprised my Zoe has fallen for you.” Mom actually giggled! This was the first time in a very long time that I had seen her act carefree.

Storm smiled while I blushed from the roots of my hair down to my toenails.

Mom had no idea what she was talking about. If she knew who he really was, she would forbid me from being anywhere near him.

Very shortly after we sat down at the dinner table, it became apparent to me that Mom had decided to let herself go. No holds barred.

She’d been drinking the whole time we were there, and most importantly, she trusted Storm. She didn’t see him as an outsider anymore.

And that was a dangerous thing.

The last thing I needed was for my family to start accepting him. I still hadn’t made sense of my own feelings for him.

“I truly believe that our family has fallen apart because of him,” Mom continued. She had been complaining about Dad for what felt like hours now. She didn’t mention Alison, afraid that the kidnappers would hurt her if they found out we’d been talking to outsiders. This meant that the only topic of conversation was my father. Mom appeared to have vowed not to leave a single detail out about how he had hurt her.

Storm had been listening to her attentively, although I couldn’t imagine that he was actually interested.

“I’m sure things will turn around soon, Mrs. Leigh,” he said encouragingly.

“No, they will not. He has done the kind of damage to this family that will be hard to recover from. He has two daughters whom he has abandoned. For the sake of another woman!” Mom took a large swig of her wine.

I noticed how Storm was toying with his. Wine wasn’t his drink.

I was sitting close beside him, and the more Mom spoke, the more I could feel my cheeks and neck burning.

Before we arrived here, I was self-conscious about Storm embarrassing me. I thought he wouldn’t fit in here, that he would somehow make Mom question me and my life choices. The reality was the other way around; Mom was the one embarrassing me.

“Maybe this is an opportunity for you all to move on from a negative energy in your life,” Storm offered. Deep insight from a man who shouldn’t even have been interested.

I hung my head down, just praying that Mom would stop now. I wasn’t a fan of Dad either, but this bashing had been going on long enough. She would work herself into another sobbing fit if she continued. In front of Storm!

“I wish I never met him. I wish we never got married. I wish I had a different life,” Mom said with a quivering lip.

I caught Storm glancing at me. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t make myself face him.

“If you never met him,” Storm said, “you wouldn’t have Zoe. And what a shame that would be.”

Tears rolled down Mom’s cheeks while I turned to stare at him in complete shock. How had he even thought of saying something like that?

Storm caught my eyes, and a flicker of a smirk appeared before he looked away. I couldn’t tell if he actually meant those words or not.