Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1) by Sharla Lovelace Read Free Book Online Page B

ripped, arms and legs bleeding—her scream piercing his heart. Very much like it would have been seven years earlier, had he been there when the tornado hit their apartment. But he wasn’t. He’d gotten cut off and couldn’t get back, and Maddi had been buried in the rubble, safe under two massive bookshelves that he had built for her. They had miraculously fallen to form a protective A-frame over her, even as the floor caved in.
    Zach’s gaze went automatically to the big walnut bookshelves across the room, the ones with the scratches and gouges along the top that he refused to sand out and repair. One had a corner completely broken off. They were reminders. He reached for the nail he wore around his neck, under his clothes, every day. That was, too.
    The doorbell ringing jarred his not-quite-recovered brain, and his crawl out of the recliner nearly landed him on the floor.
    “Jesus,” he grumbled as he opened the door without looking. He didn’t need to. Only a handful of people came out to his house, and if for once it was a band of serial killers, they’d end his headache for him.
    “No, just Simon,” his brother said, walking past him into the room. “But I appreciate the upgrade.”
    Zach squinted against the light and shut the door, turning to check the clock above the sofa he rarely used.
    “It’s six in the morning,” he said.
    “Six fourteen to be exact,” Simon said. His sleeves were rolled up, his tie was loose, and he wasn’t quite pulling off the dapper image he had going the night before, but even with all that, he was still perky.
    “What’s wrong with you?” Zach asked.
    Simon turned around. “With me? You look like shit, little brother.”
    “Thanks,” Zach mumbled, pushing against his skull with one hand as he made his way to the kitchen to make himself some eggs. Eggs cured everything. But once again, a simple bag of powdered donuts would probably cure it just as well without the effort.
    “Too much of a good thing last night?”
    Zach shook his head minutely. “Can’t even give you a good story,” he said. “Just didn’t sleep—until I did. And then it sucked.”
    “Looks like you took a shower with your clothes on,” Simon said, giving him a once-over.
    Zach glanced down at his soaked clothes. “Was there a reason for all this joy, or you just had nothing better to do?”
    Simon shrugged. “Just got off work. Thought I’d come have coffee with my brother—”
    “Wrong brother,” Zach said. “You know I don’t do coffee.”
    “Okay,” Simon conceded, landing on a barstool. “Besides that being the reason you’re so messed up—let’s talk about this show you want to do.”
    Zach leaned against the kitchen counter and locked eyes with his older brother. Simon was different than Eli. Where Elijah was commanding, direct, and instant everything, Simon was more introspective. He’d brew on something for a while, do the research, weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. Evidently he’d been brewing all night.
    “Shoot,” Zach said.
    “They have their own vehicle, or would they be in the car with us?”
    “Both,” Zach said. “They’d have to have some in-car footage, and outside, so they’d likely have one person in the lead car.”
    “That’ll jack us up, you know that,” Simon said, narrowing his eyes. “We’re a machine when we get in the zone, Zach, we can’t afford to have someone babbling in the background.”
    Zach nodded. “Noted. No babbling. We’ll tell them to shut up and be still or they get the duct tape.”
    Simon smirked. “And if they say they’re running things?”
    “Then it’s over,” Zach said, pushing off the counter. “Simon, I’m not selling us out to do this. I’m trying to do something for us. I’m serious when I say I won’t sacrifice quality or safety to do some show if it’s not working out.”
    Simon nodded slowly, as if mulling that over. “And this ride-along? What does that entail?”
    “A