by Nina Levine
Linda’s eyes zeroed in on Nash’s arm around my waist, and her smile grew if that was even possible. She looked back up at us, and motioned towards the house. “Come in, I’ll put the kettle on.”
Nash moved his hand around to settle in the small of my back as we followed her. “Mum, we can’t stay long. I just dropped in to change those light bulbs that you and Carla can’t reach. She mentioned them to me last night.”
Linda kept walking down the hall and threw over her shoulder, “It won’t take me long to make a cuppa while you change the lights. Then you can quickly drink it before you leave.”
I heard Nash groan behind me, and had to stifle a laugh. His mother had him around her little finger, that was clear from even this small interaction. We hit the kitchen and she turned around and clapped her hands together. “Okay, you go and do the lights, Nash. Velvet can stay here and help me.”
Unable to hold it in any longer, I grinned at him. His mother was priceless; she was obviously very happy to see him, and I loved that about her. I never warmed to people this quick but she had a special kind of something that had touched me.
Nash narrowed his eyes on me. “Why are you grinning like an idiot?”
“Your mum has you, doesn’t she?”
“She has me where, babe?”
I grinned even harder and leant into him before saying, “I’ve never seen a woman have any say in your life, Nash, but your mum does, doesn’t she?”
A lazy smile formed on his lips. “A man owes a lot to his mother, sweet thing, so yeah, as you say, she has me.”
We were caught up in each other until his mother cut in. “Nash, off you go. I want some time with Velvet.”
He shook his head in amusement. Before he left he whispered in my ear, “Don’t let her talk you into anything, okay?”
“I’m thinking that your mum could talk anyone into anything,” I murmured.
“She fuckin’ could,” he muttered as he left us alone.
Linda watched him go and then she smiled at me again. “Are you a coffee or a tea girl?”
“Coffee, please.”
She nodded and then set to work making it. “It’s great to finally meet you,” she said, surprising the hell out of me. Finally?
“Umm, yeah, you too,” I stuttered, not really sure what to say because it wasn’t like I knew much about her. Nash didn’t often talk about his family. All I knew was that he had a couple of sisters who sometimes did his head in.
“Nash has talked about you a couple of times.” She continued to stun me, and I stood speechless because I didn’t know what to say to that.
Linda didn’t need me to be involved in the conversation to keep going. “Nash hasn’t mentioned any other woman since Gabriella so I figured you must mean something to him.” She paused and pinned her gaze on me before saying, “Something special that is.”
Gabriella? I had no idea who that was; Nash hardly ever talked to me about any of the women in his life. He’d once mentioned a woman trashing his heart, and I considered whether that could be who his mother was talking about.
“Velvet, did you hear what I said?” His mother was watching me carefully.
I did hear what she said but I’d been focusing on the part about Gabriella rather than on the part about me being something special to Nash. “I’m not special to Nash,” I eventually said.
Her lips pressed together and she made a funny face at what I’d said. “I beg to differ, honey.”
It felt like I was being bombarded from all directions this morning. For a start, Nash had changed towards me and was being nice, and now his mother was throwing ideas out that made no sense to me. And on top of that, I’d learnt something about Nash; he’d had a woman in his life called Gabriella. I would never have picked that; he seemed hell bent on avoiding relationships.
His mother was waiting for me to say something. “We’re friends,” was all I could muster.
She pulled a face that I assumed meant something like ‘sure, if you say so’, and then finished making coffees. She brought them to the table and indicated for me to take a seat. “Nash, coffee’s ready,” she yelled out.
He didn’t reply but I figured he would have heard her as she yelled so loud. It reminded me of the way parents yelled out when they had a tribe in the house and needed to be heard.
“So, tell me about yourself, honey. What do you do for work?”
I just about spat my coffee out. That question was always a make or break question for my friendships. A lot of people struggled with the idea that someone would choose to be a stripper. However, I loved my job and had no qualms telling people what I did; it was up to them what they did with the information. And, if they were the kind of person to judge someone based on their profession, I’d rather not have them in my life anyway. “I’m a stripper at Indigo.”
She didn’t even blink. “How long have you been working at the club?”
“Just over four years now.”
“So that’s where you met Nash?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He used to sit and talk with me after my shift some nights. He was different to the other guys there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most guys just wanted one thing from me; they assume that if you’re a stripper you must be up for anything. Nash never did that.” I smiled and then added, “Well, your son is a huge flirt, but he never assumed anything about me and I loved that about him.”
“You said that he used to sit with you. Doesn’t he do that anymore?”
Damn, his mother didn’t miss anything. “No, he’s drifted away from me a bit lately.”
Her face softened and she looked sad. “It’s not just you that he’s drifted from lately, honey,” she said softly, “He’s going through some stuff at the moment and he’s taking it out on everyone he loves.”
“Oh.” What did someone say to that? This visit had been very enlightening but at the same time, I had more questions now than when I’d stepped foot in this house.
“Please give him some time to sort himself out. He’ll push you away because that’s how Nash deals with his pain, but please promise me you won’t let him.”
“Linda, I’ve gotta be honest with you; this has been going on with Nash for awhile now. I’ve tried to be there for him but he’s made it really clear he doesn’t want me in his life. I’m not sure what else I can do.”
She looked torn, like she wanted to tell me something but wasn’t sure if she should. “I’m not sure what he’s told you about his life, but I’m guessing not much because my boy likes to keep stuff to himself. Something happened to him a long time ago and the ten year anniversary of that is coming up next month. It was very painful for him and he hasn’t fully dealt with it yet. We’ve tried to push him to do that but he’s resisted. I’m watching him unravel at the moment, honey, and I think this year might be the one that finally breaks him. As hard as that is for a mother to watch, he really needs to go through that to move forward. And I’d like him to have as many friends around him to help him through it.”
She’d pulled my heartstrings with her little speech; my heart was hurting for him and I didn’t even know what had happened. I could only guess that it must have been pretty bad because she was right, Nash was unravelling.
I reached out and squeezed her hand, and nodded. “I’ll be there for him.”
Relief washed over her. “Thank you.”
A mother’s love was one of the strongest on earth and it was clear to me that Nash’s mother loved him very much. He was lucky to have that.
A couple of minutes later, he came back into the kitchen. “They’re all fixed,” he said to his mum.
She pointed at the table. “Sit, have your coffee.”
He looked at me. “You in a hurry to get going?”
“Nope, it’s all good.”
Taking a seat, he asked his mother, “You having any problems with your car at the moment?”
She rolled her eyes. “My car is not as bad as
you make it out to be.”
“Yeah, it is.”
I watched their interaction with fascination. Nash was like a different person around his mother, and I loved what she brought out in him.
“Well, nothing has broken on it for awhile.”
He informed me, “Let the record show that when my mother says ‘for awhile’ in relation to her car, she means for a week or so.”
I laughed and Linda pouted, but I could see it was in good humour. “Did you know that Nash is a trained mechanic?” she asked me.
Raising my brows at Nash, I said, “No, I did not know that; he’s never told me that snippet of information about himself. I guessed he was good with cars though because he’s offered to fix mine.”
Now it was her turn to raise her brows. “Really? That’s interesting.”
I looked between them. “Why?”
Nash was shaking his head and muttering something under his breath that I couldn’t quite work out.
Linda answered me. “It’s interesting because Nash hates working on cars other than his own these days. He fixes mine out of love but he won’t touch anyone else’s.”
I mentally connected the dots. He hadn’t even hesitated to offer to work on mine. I smiled at him, but he just shook his head again.
Nash stood and jerked his head towards the front door, and said to his mum, “We’ve gotta get going.”
Linda followed us out, and gave him a long hug goodbye. I watched them again, liking the way he let her do that. Some guys were funny with displays of affection, but Nash was good with it. He was a lot taller than her and placed a soft kiss on her head before pulling away.
“Love you,” she said.
Smiling, he said, “Love you too, Mum. I’ll see you on Sunday.”
She turned to me and pulled me close for a hug. “Remember what I said,” she murmured.
“I will,” I promised, and then added, “It was so nice to meet you.”
“It was great to meet you too, Velvet,” she agreed, and then looking at Nash, she said, “You need to bring Velvet for dinner on Sunday night if she’s free.”
Because I had made the decision to follow Linda’s request and not let Nash push me out of his life, I chimed in, “I’m free.”
That made her ecstatic and she clapped her hands together again. “Good, it’s settled. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.”
Nash looked like he’d just been ambushed. The best course of action was probably to keep him moving, so I pushed him towards his bike. “Time to go, I need to get my shopping done.”
As we walked away from his mother, he muttered, “I’ve just been played by you and my mother, haven’t I?”
I smiled sweetly. “Your mother seems too nice to do something like that.”
“None of the women in my life are too nice to do something like that, you included.” Warmth settled in my stomach at his words, and I laughed at what he’d said. “Something tells me I’m going to love your family.”
“God fuckin’ help me.”
Chapter 15
Can’t Stand The Rain ~ Lady Antebellum
Nash
I pulled up outside Velvet’s house and killed the engine of her car. I’d fixed it, and it’d been the first time in ages that I’d enjoyed working on a car. Now, I was returning it and hoping she had the time to drive me back to my house. Eyeing her driveway, I realised she might not because she had a visitor. Someone who drove a very expensive car.
A couple of minutes later, I knocked on her front door. I could hear shouting coming from inside; a male was yelling at Velvet. Without hesitation, I pushed the door open and stalked towards the voices. I found Velvet and a guy I’d never laid eyes on before in her kitchen. The suit he wore screamed money and I wondered who the hell he was. Regardless of who he was though, I didn’t like the way he was treating Velvet.
She was rattled, I could tell that straight away. When she looked at me with eyes that begged me to help her, I didn’t hesitate. “What the fuck’s going on here?” I demanded while moving in between them, putting Velvet behind me.
The guy glared at me. “This is none of your business so I suggest you leave us to it.” He looked me up and down with a ‘you’re a piece of worthless shit’ look.
“Not fuckin’ likely,” I growled.
“Velvet, kindly tell your friend that we’re just concluding a business deal and that there’s no need for his help.”
“No need, Velvet. But what you can tell me is who the hell he is to you.”
She moved so that she was standing next to me. I didn’t fail to notice that she positioned herself right next to me so that our bodies were touching; she didn’t feel safe with this dickhead. “James is my ex-husband.” She supplied the information I was after.
Shit. I wouldn’t have picked that; they seemed so different. “You do business deals with all your ex-wives?” I asked him.
“Just the ones who are a little unpredictable.”
I’d heard enough. Turning to Velvet, I asked, “What do you want to happen here, babe? You want to finish your discussion with me present or do you want him to leave?”
“I want him to leave.” It was almost like she was begging me to get rid of him the way she said it; damn, he’d really shaken her up.
I nodded, and then directed at him, “You heard the lady.”
He was fuming; his face was a wild mess of anger, and I didn’t want to think about what had gone on between these two during their marriage. I could see what kind of man he was just from five minutes with him. “This isn’t finished, Velvet. Not by a long shot. I want that agreement signed and I want it signed in the next week.”
I stepped closer to him, and snarled, “That’ll be the last time you threaten Velvet. You come near her again and you’ll have me to deal with, and that’s the last fuckin’ thing you want. We clear?”
He played a good game but I didn’t miss the flicker of hesitation before he said, “You have no idea who you’re dealing with here. Your threats mean nothing to me.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck who I’m dealing with here. All I care about is Velvet, and I’d suggest you take in what I just told you. I don’t fuck around and I don’t think twice before I look after those who are mine.”
He gave Velvet one last menacing look and then he took my advice and left. I watched him go and after I heard the front door slam shut, I gave my attention back to Velvet. She looked like she was about to break down so I pulled her to me and wrapped her in my arms. A moment later, her body shuddered and she began sobbing. Christ, I’d never seen her like this. Velvet was a tough bitch; nothing ever seemed to get to her, and she didn’t take shit from anyone.
I smoothed my hand over her hair and held her tight, letting her get it out. Eventually, she let me go and wiped the tears off her face. “I’m sorry,” she stuttered.
“Fuck, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about, sweet thing.”
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”
“I’m not.”
“Well you might be once I tell you who he is and what he’s capable of.”
“Nope. Like I said to him, I don’t give a shit who he is.”
“Nash, James has family high up in politics and can make your life hell with the connections he has. He really isn’t someone you want on your wrong side.”
“Babe, do I strike you as a man who is scared of anyone?”
She took a moment to think about it and then blessed me with a beautiful smile. “No, you don’t.”
I nodded. “Exactly. And I certainly don’t let motherfuckers like him scare me. I don’t want you worrying about him anymore; you let me do the worrying.”
Her shoulders sagged, and she took a long breath. Then she hit me with a piercing look; one that I knew meant something important was coming. “Nash, what’s with the turn around in attitude towards me. Until two days ago, you didn’t want anything to do with me, and now you’re offering to take on my problems.”
Moment of truth. “Madison sorted me out.”
“What does that mean?”
Fuck, I hated talking about this shit. But she wasn’t the kind of woman to let it go. “I talked to Madison about you; about us, and how badly I treated you. She told me to get my shit together and apologise to you. Seems to be something I’m doing a lot of lately.”
“You told Madison we slept together?”
“Yes, and that I fucked it all up by being a bastard to you when I couldn’t work out what the hell to do with our friendship after it.”
She fell silent so I continued. “Velvet, I don’t have a lot of friends like you. It was uncomplicated before we had sex and then it just felt all screwed up. Do you know where I’m coming from with this?”
“Yeah, I felt it too, Nash. But I was happy to forget the sex and just stay friends.”
I blew out a long breath and went with complete honesty. “I don’t know how to do that when all I can think about now is fucking you again.”
Her eyes widened. “Yeah, but you think the same thing about all women. You want to have sex with every woman you meet.”
“Not like this; this is something new for me, and I don’t know what to do with it.” My skin itched with irritation at every word I was uttering; laying yourself out like this was hard to do.
She ran her fingers through her hair and bit her lip. She seemed confused with the whole thing and I didn’t blame her; I’d been giving her mixed signals for weeks now. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this so I don’t really know what to say.”
“What do you want between us, Velvet?”
“I want what we had before we slept together.”
Maybe I’d left it too long to apologise, but I figured friends was a good place to start from again. “I want that too.”
“Good.” She smiled but it was forced and I wondered what she was hiding behind it.
“Now that we’ve got that sorted, tell me what the hell is going on with your ex.”