Part one (from last night) - what will probably be chapter four of Still Alone.
Snazzy blue button shirt with the half the buttons popped and the collar up? Check.
What is the point in having a six pack if not to show it off right?
Hair cut with the temple fade on point? Check.
Zach ran his hand slowly over the sides of his head, admiring the fit as fuck razor-sharp fade in the mirror, damn, women would be powerless to resist him.
Tom Holland who? Tonight Zach Anderson was in the club.
And yes, while the lighting in the bathroom was crap, ir didn't matter. Zach could make a 7/10 mirror feel like 10/10. He was just that young, hot and fit baby.
He leaned in closer, adjusting the collar of his shirt again until it sat just right, He smirked as he admired himself in the mirror. "Ladies, you’re welcome."
Satisfied, Zach took a step back to study the whole picture, really take in the work of the art that was him. His jeans, which were dark blue, skin-tight fit which hugged his legs in a way that said ‘yes, I workout’ or at least Zach thought so, maybe it more screamed ‘meathead’ to be fair, both worked.
His brand-new sneakers gleamed, box-fresh white, because obviously he wasn’t about to show up looking like a sad, washed-up guy in grass-stained Converse. No, he had class, thank you very much.
Quick flex: pecs popped.
Quick jawline check: sharp enough to cut stone.
"Damn, who's a certified snack, you are stud" Zach announced to the empty room, pointing finger guns at his reflection with zero shame. Shame was for sad old fuckers like Buck and Tommy.
He dabbed on a little extra cologne, okay maybe more than a little until the whole bathroom could give someone an asthma attack. Then he pulled out his silver chain, let it settle against his tan skin, and gave himself a slow nod of approval.
Before leaving, Zach paused to snap a few mirror selfies: head tilt, smirk just right, one eyebrow cocked.
It should be illegal to be this perfect.
He sent the best one to the group chat with the caption:
‘Load up, boyz. Zac Attack’s about to break hearts 2nite’
Right then, a sharp knock rattled the door.
“Oi, Zach, get a bloody move on, would ya? You absolute nonce.”
With a grin, Zach threw the door open like he was unveiling a masterpiece. Clicking his tongue at Cassidy, he drawled, "Perfection takes time, C-unit."
Cassidy snorted. "Perfection? Bro, you’re aggressively mid."
Zach just laughed it off, clearly Cassidy was jealous and that was fine. "Please. You’d raw-dog me in the disabled loo without a second thought."
Cassidy bit down a grin, shoulder-checking Zach as he slipped past into the bathroom. "Depends how many pints I’ve necked, sweetcheeks." He paused before shutting the door, sticking his head back out with a smirk. "Thought you were hunting tonight, not volunteering as bait?"
Huh, wait. Zach opened his mouth to shoot back a reply, but the bathroom door shut in his face. Meh, the point still stood. Probably.
Where were the vanilla Vodka’s?
The chick was fit as fuck.
Zach swaggered up to the bar, sliding into her space like he already owned it.
"What you drinking, sweetheart?" he purred, flashing a grin that usually sealed the deal.
She barely spared him a glance. "First off, my name’s not sweetheart."
Zach chuckled, undeterred. "Alright, is it... petrol, then?"
She finally turned to him, one brow raised. "Petrol?"
He leaned in, dropping the line like it was pure gold. "Yeah, 'cause I wanna pump you in the back of my car."
There was a beat of silence.
“No.” She replied, grabbing her drink and stalking off, which is rude because that was an amazing line.
The night was young, so Zach had a few more chances including….
“Do you know what Ketamine and your panties have in common?”
She cocked an eyebrow, smirking despite herself. "Do I even want to know?"
Zach leaned in, dropping it without a shred of shame. "I’d love to get my nose in both."
She just looked at him as he grinned, "Sounds like a good time, no?"
She let out a bark of laughter, shaking her head as she turned away, leaving Zach grinning like an idiot on the dance floor.
Zach leaned against the bar, flashing a lazy grin at a stunning girl with dark hair and a pinch too much make up. But that wouldn’t matter when she was on top of him.
"Can I call you exercise? 'Cause you're something I should be doing... but definitely ain't."
Before the girl could even roll her eyes, a hand shoved Zach hard in the chest. He stumbled back, suddenly in a staring down match as a pint-sized, pissed-off short king stepped up, all pumped up on alcohol (also kinda pissed off Zach is hitting on his girl).
"That’s my girl, dickhead."
He wasn’t bad for a short king and he had some nice tattoos…
Zach held up his hands, smirking. "Easy, lil man. Plenty of me to go 'round."
Bad move. Turns out the short king had hands, surprising fast ones for such a little man. One punch later, Zach was seeing stars as he stumbled outside for some fresh air.
What can he say, the hunt is a dangerous game.
L.A was kinda beautiful at night, all brick buildings and bright lights, crowds of people and the hum of traffic. That big city magic that small town just couldn’t recreate.
Like, what the hell would Zach even do in a place like Smallsville, Nevada? Marry his cousin and fix tractors? Zach didn’t even have a cousin.
He snorted to himself just as Cassidy came barreling out of the bar, half-tripping over his own feet.
"Zac-attack!" he hollered, arms wide like he was announcing a wrestling match. "Dude, we’re hitting the strip club up the road!"
"Mermaids?" Zach asked, perking up. If you can’t get one in the wild, there’s nothing wrong with visiting a petting zoo.
"Nah, man, Mermaids is dead. All crusty old chicks. Calendar Girls is where it’s at." Cassidy wagged his brows like he’d just uncovered hidden treasure.
Zach was about to fire back when a sharp, high-pitched noise snagged his attention. He turned his head, squinting into the night. "You hear that?"
Cassidy shrugged, peeling a crumpled wad of singles out of his pocket. "All I hear is these singles burning a hole in my jeans. We gotta go feed the children, dude. Those single mamas need us."
Zach laughed. "Tight, dog. Tight."
But then there it was again, a desperate, broken squeal in the distance. He cocked his head. "Seriously. You don't hear that? Sounds like a cat."
Cassidy groaned. "Wrong kind of pussy, dumbass. Strip club’s that way!" He jerked his thumb dramatically down the street, but Zach was already wandering in the opposite direction.
"Oi, dumbass!" Cassidy called after him. "Stripper titties, this way! Anderson… goddammit..."
Zach staggered down a narrow alley, his boots slapping against the dirty concrete. He rounded the corner just in time to see three dudes across the street, laughing like they'd just discovered fire.
One of them hurled something, maybe a half-crumpled bag at a small, shadowed figure huddled by a dumpster. Another hiss, low and terrified.
Zach’s slight, alcohol infused buzz turned ice-cold in his veins. He squared his shoulders, stomping across the street without a second thought. To be fair, a single thought was a big ask for Zach.
"Oi, cunts!" he barked, voice sharp and rough enough to cut through the night air. Three heads snapped up, their laughter dying in their throats. "What the fuck d’you think you’re doing?"
The three thugs turned slowly, posturing like they thought they were in some kind of cheap action movie. If they were, they would be three Russain Mobsters to Zach’s All-American hero.
We’ll call the three thugs: Hoodie, Scar-face and Twitchy.
“You got a problem, smart guy?” Hoodie sneered.
Zach scoffed, throwing his arms wide in a mock invitation. “Yeah, fuckwit. I got a huge fuckin’ problem with you roughing up a defenceless cat. Real big men, huh? Big, tough, brave-ass pussies.”
Scar-face picked up a metal pipe off the ground.He smacked it against his palm once, twice, then three times never taking his eyes off Zach. The pipe made it’s way from Scar-face to Hoodie, but that didn’t do much to ease Zach’s concerns.
"You wanna be a fuckin' hero, man? Be our guest."
Zach took a smart step back, hands up in what looked like a lazy surrender but his eyes never left the rebar in the other thugs hand. Maybe those Muay Thai lessons from Tommy would of come in handy.
"Okay, okay, before you all start swinging your tiny dicks around," Zach drawled, "fair warning: I’m with LAFD. Meaning if you lay a finger on me, that’s assault on a public servant. That's, like... instant jail, fellas. And you don't look like you’d do well in State Prison."
They didn't look impressed. In fact, hoodie spat onto the ground and advanced a step, pipe dragging along the asphalt with a teeth-grinding scrape.
"You think we give a fuck who you are?" he snarled. "Out here, no one’s gonna come save your pretty-boy ass."
Twitchy stood there: stocky and silent, while Scar-faced just cracked his knuckles. No talking, just standing there waiting.
For a split second, Zach’s brain screamed at him to run, you idiot, but his mouth kept working on autopilot.
"Cool, cool," Zach said, backing up a little more. "Just know when they pull my body outta this alley and run the tape, it's your ugly mugs that'll be all over the six o’clock news."
He let the words hang there with a silent plea to whatever power to be was upstairs, and honestly he was owed a favour given the universe hadn’t even given him a half heart sloppy in the back of an alleyway.
Right? Like give a man a break.
Speaking of the universe, Eddie may not believe in it, Buck may be a big believer and Tommy on the fence, but the universe couldn’t let Tommy get out of babysitting duties that easy.
So cue distance chatter as a couple of party goers stumble down the road towards them.
“Pussy,” Hoodie muttered, but he dropped the pipe with a heavy clang. Scar-face gave Zach a long, dead-eyed stare before following. Only Twitchy hesitated, glaring like he wanted to carve something into Zach’s ribs but eventually he slunk away too, muttering curses under his breath.
Zach waited until they disappeared into the dark before blowing out a shaky breath.
Right. Mission number two. Locate the fur ball.
“Here kitty, kitty, psp psp psp.” Zach called out down the dim alley way, before something clicked in his head. The only place the cat could be, under the dumpster. Crawling on all fours, he uses his phone’s torch to look under and two cat eyes glow back at him.
An orange cat, dirty, with a torn ear and matty fur.
“Ah, there you are puss puss, psp psp.”
The cat did not come any closer.
“Kitty, I’m with LAFD, I’m literally required to help you.” Zach pouted, reaching as far as he could. “Honest to god, I’m just off duty, pinky promise.”
Zach sits up on the dirty ground before a light bulb goes off in his head, and he flicks through his phone photo gallery before finding a pic of him in an LAFD heli jump suit. “See” He declares, shoving his phone under the dumpster, “I told ya, I’m with the LAFD.”
The cat seems unconvinced.
Walking down the street Zach heard chatting, but more importantly, smelled Kebabs.
Scrambling to his feet, Zach half tipped over himself as he took off down the alleyway before pausing for just a second to try and compose himself.
Three drunk chicks where stumbling down the road with kebabs in their hands.
Now they were fucking hot (mainly because they were female and Zach was part dog) but now was not the time for ogling, no matter how tempting.
No, now was the time for operation seduce, steal and slide away into the dark.
"Ladies," he slurred with a crooked grin and his best puppy dog eyes, "Whats the difference between that kebab and an erection? You aren’t given me the kebab right now."
One of the girls laughed, mostly out of pity. Another looked mildly alarmed at the stranger talking to them. The third just kept eating, she had seen this shit before and she did not have time.
“Uh, just no dude, no” The brunette said, as the girls started veering around him.
In a last-ditch move, Zach reached out and pinched a chunk of beef off one of the kebabs with all the grace of a raccoon digging through trash. The Lord helps those who help themselves, and it's better to ask forgiveness than ask permission (or something like, the bible is great for excuses to commit crimes on a small scale.)
"Much appreciated, you just saved a life tonight " he said as the owner of said kebab squawked in outrage, and one of them lobbed a half-empty water bottle at his head as they stormed off.
Zach dodged the bottle easily before starring down at the piece of meat, “Damn son, no one respects Firefighters anymore bro.”
Back in the alleway, lying on the ground, Zach thrusts his arm under the dumpster with his stolen loot as bait for the orange cat. It slowly (very slowly in Zachs humble opinion) crawled towards the beef before it was finally in reach and Zach grabbed it by the scruff of it’s neck.
But kitty did not enjoy being gotcha’d.
“How am I gonna do this.”
With his free hand, Zach took a finger and literally dragged it down the middle of his button up shirt, ripping the remaining buttons off before shrugging out of the shirt. Now, Zach has a lot of practice undressing, so he has the shirt off him even with one hand full of angry pussy.
Scooping the shirt up with his foot, he catches it on the second attempt and wraps the angry, and injured orange cat in the shirt. He gives it the piece of beef, which it growls over as it eats it.
“I’m your momma now…” Thinking of a name, Zach looks at the cat, it’s orange, clearly older, a stray, very grumpy but also ever so slightly cuddle underneath it’s rough exterior.
“Mr Thomas!” Zach announces, loudly to him, “Just like another Thomas I know.”
But now they have a new problem, because Mr Thomas is hurt and Zach for the life of him can’t remember what a cat hospital is called. Or how to find one.
Like there has to be someone right? Someone he can call.
Using Siri, he face times the most adultest adult he knows, although he might get a bit distracted by just how cute Mr Thomas is.
Until he realises that Tommy is staring at him.
And he holds Mr Thomas up to the camera like a proud momma. Which is he is. This is his baby now.