Perfect Grump: An Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Snow, Nicole

  Carmen steps into the room, her heels clicking like some monster dragging its claws.

  Fuck. Here we go.

  Reese’s eyes trace from me to Carmen and back to me. Her expression crumbles. Her breath turns shallow.

  “Is this who you were on the phone with?” she whispers. “Is this your big emergency?”

  “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” I say dryly, agony biting my tongue into silence.

  Carmen steps closer to Reese.

  “I’m not sure what occasion you’re talking about, but yes, we did talk.” She gives me a devilish smile. “Why don’t you tell the help what you did, Nicholas?”

  “The help?” Reese pinches her eyes shut.

  “I told you to stop calling her that.” I shake my head and meet Reese’s eyes. “We were talking, yeah. I told you it was tabloid problems, and that’s...all she’s ever been. Nothing more. That’s ending today.”

  I’m not sure she’s listening. The pain on her face flays me open.

  Where are the goddamned police? They need to get here before I drag Carmen Seraphina outside and hurl her off the balcony.

  Undaunted, the demoness grins at Reese, fluttering her cocaine-dusted hell-red dress.

  “Sweetie, would you like a drink? I’d be happy to get you one. You look shaken.” She gives a slow shake of her head. “Don’t take this too hard. It’s a lesson. When billionaires play with girls like you, they’re just playing. I’m sure he told you all sorts of wonderful things that melted your heart and turned your legs to mush. He even claimed he loved you—”

  “Shut. Your. Mouth,” I grind out each syllable, my throat on fire, before turning to the only one in this room who truly matters. “Reese, you have to believe me. She means nothing. She kept her key from when we were together and got in. She’s a lunatic, but she’s been dealt with. I need you to leave. Get away from her. I love you.”

  Reese doesn’t answer, but she’s growing paler by the moment, a worried Millie tugging at her fingers.

  “Auntie Reese?”

  Carmen’s horrible smile stays on Reese. “You don’t have to answer. He may have even meant some of his pretty words. But his grandmother would never allow this—”

  “Grandma loved Reese before I did,” I bite off. “Leave her out of this.”

  Carmen looks at me. “For an hourly employee, sure. I don’t think she ever counted on having her for a daughter-in-law.” Her eyes scan from me to Reese and back. “I still can’t believe you ruined our lives for this nothing of a girl.”

  I glare hot death at the bitch.

  “She’s beautiful, kind, and strong. You’re not fit to give her a pedicure.”

  “Well, it isn’t like she could pay for a pedicure.”

  Millie looks up at me, thankfully oblivious to the throat-cutting sarcasm and cruelty flying back and forth.

  “Quick Nick, wanna burger?” she asks.

  Carmen’s eyes fall on Millie. Oh, fuck no.

  “You have a kid? Well, that makes a little more sense why you’re dallying with the help...”

  “She’s our niece,” I say. When did I start thinking of Millie as our niece? “Keep your damn mouth shut. She’s just a kid.”

  Millie puts her hands on her hips and looks up with a scowl. “Who are you? Why’s your dress all dirty? And your hair...doesn’t anybody help you brush it?” She tilts her head back and grins at me.

  It could hammer the coldest heart apart, but somehow I keep it together, kneeling to look at her.

  “You’re a good girl, Millie. And listen, right now, I need you to be brave. Take your Auntie Reese and go get me a double cheeseburger with a basket of fries—”

  “And a milkshake?”

  I nod. “A big milkshake. Can you do that for me?”

  She nods like I’ve sent her on a quest for Tolkien’s ring.

  I pick her up and hand her to her aunt.

  “Take Millie and go. Use my credit card and get a nice hotel. You’ve got to get out of here, Reese. I can’t explain now. I’m in a lot of trouble and I don’t want you in it with me. If you’re here when the police get here—”

  “Police? Oh, God.” Her words are barely audible as she hugs the kid closer.

  I nod. “Call Ward. Tell him I’ll need my attorney. But get out of here first. Now!”

  She clutches Millie and starts running toward the elevator. I’m holding my breath the whole time, peering out the door, until the elevator door closes.

  Seconds later, it pings softly.

  The glass door opens and four cops step out.

  Fuck.

  I hope to God they weren’t stopped in the lobby, and that nothing from my shirt brushed off. There are no dogs yet, at least.

  I’m so shitting stupid, but there’s no time to dwell on it.

  A second later, I’ve got three cops in my face. The large guy in front puts his hand on his weapon but doesn’t draw it.

  I raise my hands in surrender. “There’s another person here. She’s inside.”

  “Okay. We need to come in. Hands behind your back,” he growls.

  I nod and step aside, dropping my hands.

  Carmen steps up behind me, speaking frantically. “The woman who just left needs to be arrested! It’s her drugs.”

  I shake my head.

  “They’re mine. All mine. I’m willing to tell you everything,” I mutter.

  “He’s been holding me against my will,” she lies, her voice breaking with a harsh sob. I can’t tell if she’s even faking it anymore. “He...he asked me to come over, Officer. I caught him high, snorting coke like a maniac. When I got here, he called the police and said if he was going down, he’d take me with him.”

  I say nothing. It’s pointless until we’re in a formal interrogation, but Carmen and her ugly mouth are too dumb to realize it. She’s not as great an actress as the world thinks she is, either.

  A young blond cop points at her. “Are you Carmen Seraphina? Holy shit.”

  “Yes.” She gives him that evil smile everyone finds endearing. “I bet I could work out autographs, backstage passes, whatever if you could maybe just...give a girl a second chance?”

  Her cluelessness grates on my ears.

  The cop leans over and whispers to his partner, “The tabloids were right. She’s a loon.”

  “Get them in custody,” the man in charge growls. “Read them their rights while we start searching. I don’t want any reason for these poor little celebrities to get off on procedural slips.”

  Carmen spits at me, but misses and hits a cop.

  He wipes his face and glares at her before grabbing her hands and cuffing her.

  “Sorry, sorry, it was for him!” she howls, flopping down on the floor, whimpering. “You hate me so much you’d destroy us both just to get me?”

  “I didn’t hate you until tonight,” I say quietly. “I wanted you out of my life. If this makes that happen, so be it.”

  Carmen sobs harder. I think the shriveled lump of coal in her chest finally breaks.

  “It...it wasn’t supposed to be like this, Nick.”

  The guy she spat on meets my gaze. “Is she high?”

  “I don’t know. When I came home she was holding a half-empty bag of cocaine, but she was pouring it out. I don’t think she snorted any.”

  Another cop cuffs me. It’s as humiliating as you can imagine, being overpowered and locked up.

  Somehow, it doesn’t matter.

  As long as Reese is okay, nothing else does.

  The young blond guy kneels beside Carmen, clearly the softie. “I’m gonna help you up, ma’am, all right? We’ll get you in a good rehab program and—”

  “I’m not a junkie!” She interrupts, twisting on the floor and kicking her legs.

  My Miranda rights warning goes in one ear and out the other as they lead me downstairs to the patrol car.

  I sink into the back seat of a police cruiser for the first time in my life with a few things running through m
y mind.

  Roland Osprey knows to pull the police report. I almost involved Reese and Millie in a gut-wrenching story that’s sure to trend.

  I barely dodged a fucking bullet.

  If Reese was still with me when shit went down—when Carmen was smearing cocaine all over my condo and launching herself at me like a feral dog—Millie could’ve wound up in the system.

  The one thing her aunt worked so hard to prevent.

  I nearly sent them straight to hell.

  All because destroying myself is the only way to outrun my past.

  “Idiot,” I mutter.

  If it weren’t for the handcuffs, I’d be burying my face in my hands, fingers digging in my eyes until I see stars.

  Then there’s Ward. He’ll leave his wife at home tonight, drive across town, post bail, and rip me at least five new assholes. He’ll believe a story that everyone else will always doubt, even if the facts check out.

  “They weren’t my drugs. I stole them from my girlfriend’s sister’s ex as evidence trying to get him locked up so he didn’t use custody of my girlfriend’s niece as leverage.”

  Fuck. See how absurd it sounds?

  I barely believe it myself, and I lived it.

  Ward might give me the benefit of the doubt the first time I explain it. He’ll make damn sure Abby and Sutton confirm every word. He’ll also do his best to make sure I’m out and sleeping in my own bed by tomorrow night.

  And tomorrow, my poor brother will not only be the son of accused murderers, but he’ll also be the brother of a hopeless druggie in the media’s eyes.

  I hate it.

  Sure, Ward will still be the white sheep. The responsible one. Just with one more less-than-savory relation, thanks to yours truly.

  Sooner or later, Grandma will also know how hard I fucked up. If she knows the truth, she’ll get it, but I can’t let the news get a chance to give her another heart catastrophe. I have to tell her before she reads some garbage half-truth online.

  But Carmen will back off now.

  Abby will go free.

  Reese and Millie can live their lives, free from being swallowed up in my quicksand.

  I just have to live with knowing I’ve hurt everyone to achieve it.

  “You’re breathing pretty hard back there, buddy. You okay?” the officer asks.

  “I’m fine,” I grind out, taking a searing breath.

  It’ll be hours before I’m able to relax, and years before I can make peace with this bullshit.

  Still, it worked.

  Through all the agony, the pain, the bad decisions, and the sins, my sacrifice did it.

  And its price reveals one glaring truth that hasn’t changed tonight, or ever—how much I’ll always love Reese Halle.

  27

  Big News (Reese)

  “Why can’t Quick Nick come?” Millie demands from the back seat.

  I hold in a horrified sob.

  Because apparently he’s playing games I barely understand with his snake of an ex-girlfriend, and they involve cops.

  How the hell do I know?

  It has been a day. I just need five minutes of quiet time to process it. But as every parent knows who’s gone through major stress with kids, I ought to just ask for a winning lotto ticket while I’m at it.

  “I want Quick Nick,” Millie sputters.

  Yeah. No quiet time for me today.

  “Hang on, Millie,” I say softly “I have to make a phone call.”

  “Why?”

  I hold up my hand so she’ll pipe down. I call Ward and get his voicemail, so I try Paige.

  “Hey—do you know where Ward is?”

  “I’d assume at the office? I’m at my studio. Is something wrong?”

  “Nick’s gotten himself in...some kind of trouble. I’m not sure what. He basically just told me to stay out of it.” I don’t dare rattle off everything about the drugs or Carmen right now and invite more questions from little mouths.

  Millie yanks at her car door, clearly frustrated. We’re still sitting in a parking garage. But it’s dark, and she’s tiny. No one would ever see her.

  Thank God the child safety lock is on.

  “Hang on, Paige.” I look into the back seat. “When you hear the car on, don’t touch the door, little lady.”

  “Have to help Quick Nick. Save him from the bad hair lady,” she says.

  “Millie, I’m working on it right now. Don’t you worry. Hang tight and let me help him.” I swallow a boulder in my throat.

  Carmen Seraphina had better be upstairs for a damn good reason, because if not...this jackass didn’t just toy with me. He screwed with my niece’s head, and he’ll pay for that one.

  “What happened, Reese? Is everything okay?” Paige’s voice is high-pitched and worried.

  I lay my head on my hand. “I don’t know, honestly. He told me to call Ward and say he’d need bail.”

  “Bail? Holy crap...are you okay?”

  “I’m worried about Nick and—”

  “Where are you?” she cuts in.

  “The parking garage at Nick’s building. I tried to see him and haven’t left yet.” I hold in the rest of that story and it hurts.

  “Why does Nick think he’s being arrested?” Paige demands.

  “I don’t know. I have a few good guesses...but it’s not a good time or place.”

  “Got it. We’ll get this squared away, whatever it is. Stay there, I’m coming to pick you up. I’ll call Ward. If he doesn’t answer, I’ll keep trying. He won’t ignore my calls twice,” she says, and I know she’s right.

  I should just go home.

  I’m sitting in a car with Millie already strapped to her car seat. I want to argue it makes no sense for Paige to come here.

  But between the incident at the attorney’s office, the intensity of the scene with my sister, the shock of finding Nick and Carmen alone in his apartment covered in what looked like freaking cocaine...and the absolute terror that he’s in real trouble now, my focus is shot.

  So I’ll let Paige come.

  I’ll sit here in the driver’s seat with my head on the steering wheel and wait for an actual friend.

  Ten minutes later, Paige pulls up behind Nick’s car. She honks the horn. I get out, take Millie with me, and then grab her car seat and get her situated in the back of Paige’s car.

  “I’ve already called Ward,” she says as I settle into the passenger seat. “Nick hasn’t been booked yet, and we can’t post bail until that happens.”

  “Okay.” I nod. “Thank you.”

  “Also, um, I can’t help but notice you’re at Nick’s place in the middle of the evening after you took a sick day—”

  “I wasn’t lying about not feeling well.”

  Her eyes drift over to me, assessing.

  “I can see that but you came to Nick’s with the kid for a reason, right?”

  She sees right through me. There’s no point in holding back anything from her.

  “We’ve...kinda been crashing at Nick’s place ever since a run-in with Abby’s ex. I thought it was safer if Millie and I stayed here.” If he wants to tell anyone more than that, let him.

  I give Paige a quick summary of the custody worries with Will Frisk, and hint at how close he is to winding up in jail.

  “What’s custy?” Millie asks.

  Whoops. I wasn’t quiet enough. “To live with someone, Millie.”

  “No! I only live with you or Mommy or Quick Nick now.”

  Paige looks at me, smiles, and raises an eyebrow. “Quick Nick, huh? Looks like the nickname stuck.”

  I blush.

  While we drive, I tell her about the ruckus with Carmen in the sneakiest way I can with Millie’s little ears burning.

  “Yikes. You’ve earned yourself a drink every night for the next year,” Paige says slowly, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, Reese, we’ll get this fixed.”

  I try to force a smile. I want so badly to believe her, but there’s no easy way out of this.


  I can’t even begin to process how close I almost came to losing Millie along with Nick.

  And I have lost him, haven’t I?

  “Where are we going?” I ask, hoping to change the subject.

  “Our house on the lake. There’s plenty of room, and if Nick is worried about you and Millie being alone, you won’t be there.” She’s quiet for a minute. “I will say he’s gone out of his way to protect you and the kidlet, even if it was in his own ham-fisted Nick Brandt way. I’m not sure why that b—” She stops and glances at Millie in the back seat. “Beyotch showed up, but...I think he cares about you, Reese.”

  He told me he loves me, I remember, but I don’t dare tell her.

  Paige moved into Ward’s glamorous Lake Michigan estate just outside Chicago after they got married. The drive to her house is so long Millie falls asleep. She lets out a little snore from the back seat.

  “She’s so cute. I can’t wait until we finally have a baby.”

  “What are you waiting for?” I ask.

  She smiles and shrugs. “Ward’s parents are divorced. We agreed to get a few years under our belt before we bring kids into it. I don’t mind. I enjoy having him to myself.”

  “You two are so perfect it’s sickening,” I say with a laugh.

  Her smile just grows. “Um, thank you? Also, can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you think Nick was using when you found him?” she whispers.

  “No way. At least, I doubt it. You know my sister is in jail on drug charges, right?”

  Paige nods.

  “She was forced to haul drugs for her ex. He threatened her. I think the crap in Nick’s place was connected to that somehow. He admitted he followed Will, trying to get info on him to help clear Abby. He didn’t mention bringing anything home, but he’s been weird for the last couple of days...now I know it had to be Carmen.” I stare out the window as the landscape passes by, the urban grey receding into spring green and budding flowers. “It’s ironic, I guess. Abby being in jail has worried me sick. She’ll be out soon—hopefully—but now with Nick, I have to worry about him too.”

  “As soon as they get Nick booked, he’ll be out in no time. Ward won’t let him rot in there for any amount of time and he has no prior issues. He’ll get bail.”