by Jess Bryant
It was him. There was no denying that. Her heart had only ever reacted to Nick Sloan. Her high school sweetheart. The love of her life. The man she’d thought she would spend eternity with until he’d told her that he was taking the job in Dallas and leaving Fate despite knowing that she couldn’t and wouldn’t go with him.
Six years. It had been six years. But he looked exactly the same.
Short, dark hair spiked up on top. Eyes the color of milk chocolate. His face was still chiseled, his jaw sharp and covered in the same short stubble he’d worn every day since he turned seventeen. His chin was dimpled, a feature she’d always found boyish on his otherwise hard good looks. He was still tall and muscular and not even that stupid brown uniform that she’d always hated could detract from how handsome he was.
She swallowed hard and blinked. She closed her eyes and counted to three but when she opened them the vision was still in front of her. He was still there only he was closer now, his long legs eating up the distance between them until he stood just a few feet away, separated from her only by the span of Connor’s arms keeping him away like a roadblock.
He was back. God help her. She’d never thought about what she would do if she saw him again. She’d never thought he would come back here. She’d hoped that he wouldn’t. It had taken her a long time to stitch the wounds he’d inflicted shut but they reopened with just one glimpse of him and she felt like she was bleeding out, right there on the street.
“Nick?” She said again, shock still hollowing out her insides, she stepped closer, ignoring the way Connor tried to get between them. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me, Kady.” His eyes went soft and her heart hardened itself defensively.
She raised her hand and slapped him across the side of the face as hard as she could. His head whipped sideways. Her palm stung and she winced as she shook it out. Connor let out a grunt that she thought was a laugh even as he stepped back between them.
“Damn.” Nick winced as he cupped his cheek, “Remind me to compliment your dad next time I see him. He taught both his kids how to hit that’s for sure.”
Both his kids? Kady took in the purple bruise she hadn’t noticed before on his chin and then glanced at her brother. Connor shrugged but all she had to do was look at his hand and his equally bruised knuckles to see the truth. Her brother had punched him and she’d never wanted to hug Connor more than she did right then at that moment.
Instead of doing that she kept her attention on Nick, “What are you doing here?”
He ran a hand through his hair, one of his nervous reflexes, “I uh… Do you think we can talk?”
“Sure. Talk.” She motioned for him to say whatever needed to be said.
His dark gaze pulled to her brother, “Alone?”
She glanced at Connor too and saw the pure hatred radiating off of him. He looked like he would really like to punch Nick again. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment, wishing she could tell Nick to go to hell. She wanted to. At least, a part of her wanted to. But that other part of her that had loved him since she was old enough to know what that word meant, wanted to hear what he had to say.
Even if it didn’t change anything.
She cleared her throat, “Con…”
“What?” Her brother exclaimed, “You can’t be serious. You’re going to hear him out? After everything he put you through? Why?”
“Just… give me a minute with him.” She winced when Connor’s gaze turned hard and she snorted.
“I am so fucking sick of the women in my life letting men treat them like shit.” Connor threw his hands in the air, “Fine. You let him break your heart once. He’ll do it a dozen more times. But you go right ahead and give him another chance. I’ll be sitting right over there waiting to pick the pieces up yet again.”
“Connor…”
He held up a hand, stopping her. She knew that look. He was done listening. Connor was a good brother. He’d helped hold her together when Nick ripped her apart. He’d been there for her every single minute of every day as she healed. He wanted to protect her but he couldn’t protect her from this.
Nick was back and he was here and she had to know why.
As soon as her brother was back in his cruiser, slamming the door for good measure, she turned her attention back to the man in front of her, “What are you doing here, Nick?”
“I came back.”
“I can see that.”
“No. You don’t understand, not yet. I came back for you.”
She flinched when he stepped closer to her and he stopped when she shook her head, “You’re right. I don’t understand.”
“I almost died, Kady.”
“I know.” Her voice was low and pained because just thinking about that fact made her ache.
She’d heard about what had happened. She’d heard that he was on a drug raid and he’d been pinned down. She’d heard how two of the men in his unit hadn’t made it out alive and she’d heard that Nick had been in critical condition after taking multiple bullets. She’d heard how he spent weeks in Intensive Care and then how he’d managed to pull through and begin to recover.
Fate was a small town and one of their own, even if he’d left for the big city, being shot had been big news.
“What you don’t know is that you’re what got me through.” He reached for her again and she was so shocked by his words that she didn’t pull away when he touched her cheek, “I didn’t see a bright light. I didn’t see darkness. I only saw you and I knew; Kady I knew that if I survived, I had to get back to you so I’m back. I’m back and I want you to take me back. Please Kady. Give me a chance to make things right.”
Her stomach twisted and her heart, which she’d only ever managed to bandage back together, began to crumble all over again. He was back and he said it was for her but it wasn’t that easy. It couldn’t be. He’d left her once before, even when he’d claimed he loved her. He’d walked out on her and the life they were supposed to have and it had nearly destroyed her.
She couldn’t give him the chance to do that again.
“No.”
“Kady,” he whispered, his eyes pleading.
“No. I… I can’t. I won’t. You ruined us and you don’t get to just come walking back into my life like nothing happened.” Her voice was shaky but she managed to get the words out.
“I screwed up before but I won’t make the same mistakes again, Kady. I was young and stupid and I put my career ahead of my heart but I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. I came home because to me, you’re home. You always have been.”
She could feel the tears beginning to well in her eyes and knew she had to get out of there. He ruined things. That was all he did. She glanced at the mess of food lying on the ground. He made a mess of her world once and she wouldn’t let him do it again.
“I’m happy you’re alive. It’s nice to see you, Nick. I won’t lie and say that it isn’t. But I let you decide things for us once and it didn’t exactly end well for me so I’m making the decision this time. There is no us.” She stepped back away from him when he reached for her, “I have to get back to work and, it would seem, so do you. I’ll see you around town, Nick. Goodbye.”
Before she could rethink it or her heart could betray her, Kady turned on her heel and all but ran across the street. Tears blurred her vision. She didn’t look back, not even when she heard his voice behind her.
“I’m going to win you back, Kady. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
It was a promise that her bruised and broken heart heard only as a threat.
3
“Two cheeseburgers and fries to go.”
“Thanks.” Nick grabbed the brown bag from the counter with a smile that faded as soon as he turned around.
“Aww, you shouldn’t have.” Connor grinned.
“It’s not for you.”
Connor’s eyebrows rose a little before they furrowed into a deep crease between his eyes and his smile flattened, “Don’t tell
me…”
“I’m taking lunch to Kady at the hospital.”
“I told you not to tell me.” Connor all but growled.
Nick bit the inside of his cheek when the younger man leveled a glare at him that would’ve downed lesser men. He didn’t think it would win him any points with his new partner if he told Connor that he looked a hell of a lot like his sister when he snarled like that. In fact, over the last few days, he’d decided that the less he spoke Kady’s name in front of her brother, the better his day went. Talking about Kady never failed to put Connor in a bad mood so he hadn’t intended to tell the guy about his new plan to woo Kady over lunch.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to talk to her other ways. She was avoiding him and she was damn good at it. He was a cop, a good cop, a man trained to track people down. Yet even still, she managed to elude him by constantly changing up her plans and her schedule. The only part of her day that ever seemed to stay even remotely the same was her shift at the hospital.
So, he was doing the only thing he could. Cornering her. It was a dick move but it was the only one she’d left him with. And besides, he was taking her lunch so he hoped that would smooth over his sneak attack.
He hadn’t been planning on Connor catching him in the act.
His partner seemed to have his own personal errands to run on their lunch break. More often than not in the past week, Connor had shoved him out of the cruiser at the diner and said he’d be back in thirty. He never said where he was going or what he was doing but Nick had casually followed him once.
He’d been shocked to find Connor heading into Fusion Fitness down the block. It didn’t make any sense to him. The station had a facility for them to use in the back with more weights and equipment than they could want for. Connor didn’t need a gym.
Not only that, but Fusion Fitness was known as being female-oriented because they offered those fancy Yoga and Pilates classes. He’d heard a rumor they’d even upped their game and were offering stripper style dance classes these days. He didn’t think Connor was covertly taking the class but he hadn’t quite worked up the courage to ask just why his almost, once-upon-a-time brother-in-law was hitting the dance studio three times a week.
“I wasn’t planning on telling you. I thought you were…” He rethought admitting he knew Connor had been hitting the dance studio, “What are you doing here?”
“Getting lunch.” Connor snorted. “Why? Where should I be?”
“I thought you said you had an errand to run?”
“I did. I dropped my suit off for dry cleaning. Only took a couple minutes.”
“Your suit?”
“Yes. My suit. The one that was riding around in the backseat all morning?” Connor tilted his head, “Jesus, Sloan. Do you listen at all when I talk?”
“Gotta admit I try not to.” He smirked and Connor snorted.
“Asshole. I told you I’ve got that stupid class reunion thing this weekend.”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry, I forgot about that.”
“What can I get you, sugar?” The girl behind the counter spoke up, catching Connor’s attention.
“BLT, heavy on the T, and the usual side, Staci.”
“Sure thing. Coming right up, Deputy.” She winked before turning to put Connor’s order in and Nick raised an eyebrow when he turned back to him.
“Don’t.” Connor smirked a little, his cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink.
“What? I was just going to ask why I didn’t get service like that.”
“I said don’t.”
“She’s got a little bit of a thing for you, Con.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Connor shrugged.
“Why?”
“It just… doesn’t. I’m not interested.” Connor pulled at the neck of his uniform shirt, looking suddenly uncomfortable, and then seemed to pull himself back together to point at the brown bag Nick was still holding, “You’re not really going to try an surprise Kady with that are ya?”
Since it was clear Connor didn’t want to talk about the waitress, Nick let him get away with the change of topic, “What makes you think I’m surprising her?”
“Because there’s no way she made plans to have lunch with you and didn’t think to tell me when I talked to her this morning.”
Nick frowned at that. It was true of course. The Shaw siblings were more than just close. They were actively involved in each other’s lives. They’d had to be after the way things had gone with their parents. Kady had been as much a mother to Connor as a big sister and despite being the younger sibling, Connor had always been protective of Kady. As much as getting punched in the face that first day back in Fate had sucked, he could admit, now that the swelling had gone down, that it was nice to know Connor was still looking after Kady’s wellbeing.
“Fine. I plan to surprise her.”
“You think that’s a good idea? Ambushing her at work?” Connor slid onto a barstool, his thick arms resting on the surface behind him as he eyed Nick curiously.
“I honestly don’t know but it’s one idea I haven’t tried yet so…” He looked at his watch and then back at his partner, “You gonna try to stop me?”
Connor stared at him for a moment, as if he was weighing the question. Nick wasn’t sure what he’d do if the younger man said yes. He didn’t want to fight with Connor any more than they already had. He wanted them to be able to be friends again, like they’d been before. He wanted to mend his relationship with both of the Shaw siblings so he felt a rush of relief when Connor shook his head.
“Nah. No use. I could tackle ya but I suppose it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good and it’d just get us both put on desk duty when Lowry heard about it.” Connor shrugged, “Besides, I know my sister. She’s going to kick your ass herself when she sees you barging up into her work space. So, have at it, Sloan. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when she tosses you out on your ass.”
Nick snorted, “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“No problem.” Connor grinned, glancing at his own watch, “Oh, and you better hurry because we’re due back on shift soon.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going.”
Nick waved over his shoulder as he headed out, leaving Connor behind even as his words lingered in his head. Connor seemed to think he had no chance of winning Kady over but that couldn’t be true. He knew it couldn’t. She still had feelings for him. She had to. Because otherwise, his life was just shit and he might as well have died in that hospital back in Dallas.
Kady would give him a second chance. She would. He just had to convince her that he was for real. That he was back, for good, and for her. That he wasn’t giving up just because her brother punched him or she avoided him. He’d chase her to the ends of the earth if she made him and he knew he’d deserve it if she put him through hell before she gave in. But she would give in and let him make it up to her because she was Kady and she was always meant to be his.
Nick jogged up the street and across the block to the hospital. Perks of a small town, he didn’t even need the cruiser to get to the hospital and back during his allotted lunch break. He pushed through the revolving door and headed to the elevators. Another benefit of a small-town hospital, nothing ever changed. Kady still worked on the third floor so he jumped on the first elevator and rode up with nothing but a hope and prayer that she’d agree to see him.
When he exited the elevator there was only one nurse at the station, manning the desk. She was older with gray shooting through her dark hair, and Nick was sad to say he didn’t recognize her. He’d been hoping for a familiar face; someone he could cajole or sweet-talk into paging Kady for him. Then again, maybe this was better, maybe this woman didn’t know his history with Kady and wouldn’t balk at calling her over for him.
“Deputy.” The woman glanced up, dark eyes taking him in, “Is there something I can help you with?”
“I was hoping to catch Kady Shaw for a quick bite to eat. Would you mind paging her for me?” He turned as much charm as
he mustered on when he flashed the older woman a smile but she didn’t budge her steely eyed gaze.
“Is she expecting you?”
“No ma’am. It’s a surprise.”
“Hmm.” She made a disapproving sound, “Can’t say I like surprises but maybe Kady’s different. What was your name?”
“Oh… could you just, page her to the desk?” He batted his lashes, “Keep the surprise going?”
“No.” Her tone was short and unimpressed, “I’ll have to announce that she has a visitor. Name?”
He tried not to let his smile fall, “Nick. Nick Sloan.”
This time, he got the reaction he’d so far avoided. Recognition dawned over her sharp features and her lips thinned into a disapproving line. She looked him over again, top to bottom, as if she was appraising him and when she met his gaze again, he found that he knew without her uttering a word that she’s surmised he didn’t measure up.
Shit.
“Oh.” She snorted, “You’re him, huh?”
He wasn’t dumb enough to respond to what was clearly a rhetorical question. He only continued to hold his smile. She sighed and heaved herself up from her chair.
“Stay here. I’ll check if she wants to see you.”
“But I…” He started when she turned away from him but she shot him a glare over her shoulder.
“I said, stay here.”
Nick scowled at her back as she stalked away. She disappeared around a corner and he could only imagine what she was going to do. Get security? Let him stand here alone until he was forced to leave? Or was she actually going to retrieve Kady for him? He shifted from one foot to the next as he waited, and waited, and waited some more. He was beginning to think she’d left him to decide to leave for himself when he heard the soft squeak of sneakers on the linoleum floor.