Strings Attached

Chapter One

She awoke with a slight headache. Sliding back against the headboard she offered a sigh to the darkness that seemed to be listening only to her. From her place on the bed she could see that the moon was still out in all of its pale glory.

She had promised herself with Ryan that she would never again go back down into that hole of emotions that threatened to overtake her. Then she'd met Michael Cambias, and look at what a mess he'd made of her heart. He'd raped her sister, gotten her pregnant, and then Bianca had killed him. Then just when she'd thought the nightmare would end there she met his nephew, Ethan Ramsey. Oh, she'd fallen in love with him alright, but Ethan as of late had become obsessed with destroying the father he and everyone else had thought dead.

She sighed again, and this time got up and went into the kitchen of her small condo. She and Ethan up until a few hours ago, had been living together. She'd kicked him out when he'd discussed his newest plan to sock it to Zack Slater, a.k.a. Alex Cambias Jr. They had argued, ending with him leaving in a furry, and she telling him to never darken her damn doorway again.

She set the tea kettle on the stove and then went to stand out on the porch. The chilly fall air stung her skin only slightly but she didn't really care. For a few hours after Ethan's departure she'd actually cried for her tragic relationship mishaps. All she wanted was to surrender to her heart to Ethan, but after getting to really know him she was very happy to know that she hadn't fully loved him. That small part of her that acted as her conscience and guided her had not allowed Ethan to fully see all of her.

Looking across the walk way to where Zach Slater lived, she saw that the lights were on in his own condo. It had at one point been Michael's, but for some odd reason he felt he needed to be close to the monster.

She once again sighed at the thought of Michael Cambias. He had destroyed Bianca's psyche, but out of his hatred had been born Miranda, Kendall and Zack's shared niece.

She took a small shy step, about to go knock on Zach's door, and ask him just what in the hell did he expect to accomplish by living in his terror of a brother's house, when the door opened. Kendall's mouth fell slightly ajar when Maria Santos Grey exited with tears in her eyes. She quickly ran down the walk way towards the parking lot and that's when Kendall saw Zach. Her blue eyes collided with his weary hazel.

"Spying?" He asked, and actually seemed amused by the thought.

"Never!" She said outraged that that would be his first thought, although she was intrigued by why the supposedly grieving widow of a Pine Valley socialite was running to him in the middle of the night.

"Well then, what are you out here for?"

She huffed, and her breath made little clouds in the cold night air making her realize just how much the temperature had dropped. "I was going to ask why you were up so late but obviously you were preoccupied." She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm.

As she turned back to him, he saw that his mouth was set in a firm attractive smirk. "Don't go giving your mother something to tell the town about. Maria was just telling me she's moving to California."

"Really? Or are you sure it wasn't just an after hours booty call?"

He released her arm as if she'd just slapped him. "You should now. You have so many men in that apartment of yours its hard to keep track of who's who."

"Don't get defensive. Look it cold, wanna have tea?" She was prepared to let the last statement slip since she'd apparently started the whole thing.

"Um…," he hesitated.

"Its just tea," she heard the kettle screaming behind her as she reassured him.

"Okay, just let me turn off the lights in my condo." For a second he watched as Kendall retreated back inside of her house and then locked up his as he pocketed his house key, and a few minutes later joined her.

Kendall sat down with the tea, and drank before she started talking again. She thought about Maria, and how she'd just seen the woman running from Zach in tears. She wondered should she to be afraid of Zach.

"So I hear you and my son split up," he smiled at his comment.

"Um…yes. Me and Ethan didn't see eye to eye on something. So he's gone, for good this time." Kendall set the tea cup in the saucer.

"Sorry to hear that. So what were you to arguing about?" He didn't even have the nerve to be embarrassed at asking, making Kendall frown.

"You're an inquisitive one." For some reason she had the idea to take a rolled up news paper and smack him on his nose. She smiled at the thought. "It was about you. Once again a Cambias interferes with my love life."

"Doesn't most of your love life revolve around Cambias mean anyway?" Zach asked on purpose getting a nice glare from Kendall that slightly marred her pretty face.

"Oh yeah, let's bring up how much this community hates you and your dead brother," Kendall stormed. She was not in the mood to be pushed around by him or anyone else.

"I'm so happy you take Michael's death as lightly as you do," he snorted in discuss.

"I hate you! All of you Cambias men!" She snarled lightly.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Once again she was amusing him. Coolly he ignored the way that she was throwing daggers at him. He could care less what Kendall's opinion of him was, she was just his neighbor, and a name he could add to a list about a mile long. "So tell me exactly why you and my son were arguing. Maybe I could remedy the situation."

She poured them each another cup.

"Well, Ethan got a call earlier this morning. It was Binks calling ask if she could ask the biggest favor on Earth. This was to ask for your help on some upcoming project at Cambias in Paris. Ethan told her of course that his answer was no. He didn't want you involved in any aspect of Cambias Enterprises. Something about you trying to take the company away. So then he came up with this glorious plan to get your casinos shut down. We argued forever, as I'm sure your aware of. That was just the last straw." Kendall sighed.

Zach was thoughtful for a few moments. "So Ethan would try to shut down my casinos?"

"Yes." Kendall shook her head, and then sipped her tea. In her opinion he was acting quite calm. She knew how much his casinos meant to him.

"Well, I'll just have to talk to him about that, won't I?" He eased up off of the couch, and went into her kitchen. For the first time Kendall actually allowed herself to see Zach as a human being and not just Michael Cambias' older brother. And what she saw, she liked. He wore a black tank top that showed off his upper and very muscular body, and a pair of expensive black dress pants.

In her head she could see herself in bed with him, but stopped the perverse thought there. Zach was just her type, the type that put her back in dating hell. Back into that nightmare.

She heard him washing his tea cup and placing it back in the cabinet.

"Thanks for the tea," Zach smiled slightly as she stood. She realized looking past him that dawn was breaking outside, and that she must look frightening to him this time of morning.

"Your welcome. Anytime you can't sleep, and Maria's not over, you can come to me and talk." She offered him what was suppose to be a friendly smile but it was very hard, especially when she was suppose to hate him.

"And the same goes for you. When you can't sleep, and Ethan's just something incredible stupid." He returned her smile as she came closer. "Goodnight."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

Some how neither of them seemed to be moving at the moment. Time had slipped into a vortex and somewhere it seemed to Kendall that she was slowly being pulled in to. Zach stepped toward her and the bent his head and brushed over her lips. It wasn't really a kiss but it held all the promise of one.

"Thanks for the tea, and again good night." He left then, and she closed the door behind him. The light touch of lips made her slightly annoyed and a little bit curious. She almost thought that Zach had done it because he wanted to, but then common sense overrode that thought and she knew it was because he thought he had some sort of power over her.

"Well you don't, Zach!" Kendall opened up her door and hollered out, probable rousing other neighbors. "You or your son had better not step foot on my door again!" She slammed the door feeling satisfied with herself.

Author's note: This is my first attempt at a Kendall and Zack romance. I hope you'll enjoy it.