Free Zack and the Dark Shaft by Gracie C. Mckeever Page A

If I had reacted a little quicker I might have saved her.”
    “And if wishes were horses, I’d own a horse ranch by now.”
    “What about you? What’s your story, Zack? You felt her didn’t you? Felt her slip away?” Quincy noticed Zack wince and wished he could take back his words except for the curiosity. The twin bond was one that had always fascinated him, especially the bond between Zack and Zara, two of the most important people in the world to him. That one was gone and one was hurting from that loss tore at him daily, made him question pursuing Zack when all he wanted to do was have him in his life and keep him safe.
    “Is that why you want to be with me, Quincy?”
    Quincy couldn’t even get angry at Zack’s words since he had wondered at his own motivations a time or two. Then he’d remember his first time meeting Zack, the instant attraction and lust that had grown into genuine affection the more he had been around the other man, and he knew the answer. “I’m with you, because I love you.”
    Zack settled back against him, a pleased grin on his face. It didn’t escape Quincy that the other man didn’t return his declaration, nor did it surprise him.
    It had taken Quincy years to admit his feelings for Zack. It had taken an accident to finally bring them together to admit his feelings to Zack. He didn’t doubt it would take some time for Zack to come to the same conclusion that 62
    Gracie C. McKeever
    Quincy had come to months ago: that he wanted to be with Quincy for the rest of his life.

    * * * *

    It should have been her. It should have been her that Quincy professed his love to. It should have been her snuggled close to his hard, warm body, benefiting from Quincy’s sensitive caresses and assurances.
    Why couldn’t he profess his love for her the way he professed his love for Zack? She wasn’t his little sister and resented being treated like one.
    She deserved to be with him. She’d earned him.
    Zara had been friends with Quincy first. She had been with him through all his college highs and lows long before Zack had shown up to steal her thunder.
    When Quincy’s mother berated his sexuality again and again because he refused to fund her crack and drug habits, it was Zara who’d been there to pick up the emotional pieces. When Quincy had gotten dumped by yet another guy who didn’t recognize a good man right under his nose, Zara had been there to console, cajole and take Quincy out on commiseration benders. When Quincy had gotten sick with the flu their freshman year in college, it had been Zara who fed him homemade chicken noodle soup (her specialty and the only thing she cooked) and plied him with medicine for a week until she’d nursed him back to health.
    But Zack showed up on her doorstep one day in his bohemian, khaki shorts and his hippy-liberal-slogan T-shirt, and Quincy fell head-over-heels for him like Zara never existed, like the previous four years hadn’t happened.
    She knew her jealousy was unwarranted--illogical even--but couldn’t help feeling it nonetheless. She’d never been a logical person. She ran on emotions, spontaneity the name of her game. Logic was Zack and Quincy’s territory.
    Zara inhaled, pulled air in through Zack’s lungs and sampled Quincy’s spicy, sandalwood musk while Zack fell asleep.
    She was the most insidious kind of voyeur, spying from the inside out, and it had taken everything in her to stay quiet and listen to Quincy’s professions of love to Zack without making her presence known.

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    Why wouldn’t Zack say ‘I love you’ in return? Did he not know a good thing when he saw it, when he had it in his grasp?
    Zack was no better than the other twinkies and bois who had come and gone in Quincy’s life while she remained ever faithful, ever in love.
    Her brother didn’t deserve Quincy.
    She did.

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    Gracie C. McKeever

Chapter 7
    Something weird was going on with Zack.
    Quincy had felt it a little the night