by T. R. Cupak
“You son of a bitch,” Connor hissed a moment before he swung his fist at Nick’s face.
Connor connected and Nick stumbled a little and grabbed for his jaw. “Shit.”
He should have seen that coming. As soon as he’d heard the name Shaw, he should have known he’d had that blow coming. But he’d been transfixed by the changes in the boy he’d known, and by the ways he still resembled his sister. He hadn’t imagined Connor would throw a punch here, in the police station, while wearing his uniform, but Nick had underestimated just how much the kid must have despised him for what he’d done.
“I can’t believe you really came back,” Connor growled as he stepped closer and raised his fist, no doubt to deck Nick again, but the other man stepped in front of him, stopping him with a hard shove.
“What the fuck, Shaw?” Lance put his arms out, corralling him. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t sucker punch someone in the damn office. You’ll get your badge revoked!”
“Worth it.” Connor shook his fist, his glare still firmly on Nick and his blue eyes burning like the hottest fires of hell.
“Jesus, man, cool down.” Lance glanced back at Nick with a worried expression. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s fine. Let him go.” Nick touched his jaw tenderly, knowing it would start turning colors soon. “I had that one coming.”
“You damn sure did and a hell of a lot more.” Connor bowed up again but Lance pushed him back a second time.
“Somebody tell me what the hell is going on,” he insisted.
“This is the asshole that all but left Kady at the altar.” Connor spit the words out like metal. “Broke her heart and then just up and left for her to deal with the fallout.”
“It broke my heart too,” Nick admitted, but Connor only sneered.
“Boo-hoo, you son of a bitch. You…”
“Hey!” A loud, bellowing voice cut Connor off and all three of the men turned.
Nick glared as Shane Lowry, his oldest friend in the world, stepped out of his office and into the pit with them. He’d aged well since the last time Nick saw him. Clearly, Fate and his recent appointment as sheriff agreed with him. So did the pretty blonde he went home to every night probably. Nick wondered what his friend’s wife would say if he came home with a bruise of his own.
Shane hadn’t told him that Connor worked for him. He’d never mentioned Kady’s kid brother at all. He hadn’t told Nick that the kid had joined the department or that he intended to pair them up. From the way he was glaring between them now, he’d known this scuffle had been inevitable, and when he spoke, he all but confirmed it.
“You got that out of your system now, Shaw?”
Connor heaved out an angry breath but gave a jerk of his chin. “Yes, sir.”
“Sloan?” Shane called him by his last name, clearly setting the boundary that said he was the man in charge despite their friendship. “You got a problem?”
“None.”
“Good.” Shane sighed. “You two need to learn to get along and that starts right now. Day one. You’re on patrol together until I decide you know how to work as a team. If I see or hear even one whisper of another incident like what just happened, you’ll both be on desk duty until you hit retirement. You got me?”
“Yes, sir.” Connor dropped his gaze to the floor.
Nick frowned but nodded. “Sir, yes, sir.”
Shane’s eyes narrowed and Nick barely resisted the urge to flip him off. Bastard. His best friend was a lying bastard. Not only that, he was also a hardass boss. Pairing him up with Kady’s little brother on day one? It was a disaster waiting to happen and Shane must have known that.
Maybe he really did just want to get it out of the way. Maybe he thought Nick deserved whatever justice Connor wanted to beat into him for what he’d done. The reasons didn’t really matter. It was clear to him that Shane wasn’t about to change his mind.
“Good.” He motioned down the hallway. “Sloan, your uniform is in the locker room. Get changed. Shaw, he’s your responsibility until I say otherwise. He’s got a uniform but no badge or gun until the paperwork goes through. See to it nobody kills his dumb ass, would ya?”
Connor snorted. “No promises.”
“He doesn’t leave your sight.” Shane’s voice was tight, like he was clenching his jaw. “That starts now, Shaw. Go with him. You’re joined at the hip. Congratulations, you’ve got your first partner.”
Nick scowled at his friend as he walked past him but Shane ignored him. He could hear Connor trudging down the hallway behind him but he didn’t dare speak yet. He could just imagine the kid jumping him from behind if he thought Nick said the wrong thing, so he waited until they were in the locker room and facing one another before he reached for the words he knew needed to be said.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be saying that to.” Connor crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know. I know and I intend to tell her that just as soon as I get a chance. I just…”
“You’re not going to tell her anything. You’re going to stay the hell away from her.” Connor stepped forward, menace in his every muscle. “It took her a long time to put herself back together after what you did and I’m not going to sit by and watch you destroy her again.”
Nick grimaced. “I fucked up.”
“No shit.”
“But I never stopped loving her.”
Connor’s familiar eyes narrowed, “If you’d loved her, you wouldn’t have thrown her away like garbage. You stay the hell away from my sister, Sloan. You stay away from her or I’ll finish what those bullets in Dallas didn’t and put you in the ground myself.”
Sloan winced, the scars on his chest and abdomen itching at the reminder. “I almost died, Connor.”
“I heard.” There was no warmth in his voice at all.
“I almost died and the only thing I thought about when I was on the ground bleeding out was her. I love her and I came back for her. I’ll tell her that myself but I’m telling you first. Nothing is going to keep me from winning her back.”
“You don’t win something back that you didn’t lose. You threw her away. You left her. You made your choice.”
“It was the wrong one.”
“Yeah, it was, and you’ve got to live with that.”
“That’s the thing”—Nick shook his head slowly—“when I didn’t think I was going to live, all I wanted was to go back and choose her instead. That’s why I’m here. I don’t have to live with the choice I made. I can fix it, if she’ll let me.”
Connor sneered at him. “You don’t deserve her.”
“No. I don’t,” he admitted. “But I’m going to try like hell to get her back anyway because loving her kept me alive, even when nobody else thought I’d make it. At the very least, I have to thank her for that. I can only pray that she’ll find it in her heart to forgive me and give me a second chance.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
Nick didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to begin changing clothes. There was nothing he could say to that. It was too late. He felt like he’d been holding his breath since the last time he’d seen her and he wouldn’t be able to breathe again until she was back in his arms.
Chapter Two
Kady Shaw had exactly twenty-two minutes to get back to the hospital before her next shift started. She was pulling a double to cover for one of the other nurses who was visiting her daughter at college in Austin. Normally she wouldn’t have bothered leaving the hospital at all—she would have grabbed something from the cafeteria and called it good—but it was her good friend Holly’s birthday. She’d ordered them lunch from the diner and then swung over to the bakery and picked up some cupcakes. If she was lucky, she’d be able to catch Holly, grab a bite to eat and enjoy a sweet dessert before she had to be scrubbed back in, but only if the light would freaking change colors.
She shuffled the bags and boxes she had stacked pr
ecariously in her arms. The stupid light they’d put in between the hospital and the fire house was supposed to be for emergencies only. It wasn’t like Fate had a lot of traffic to disperse otherwise. She hadn’t heard any sirens and yet, the light remained red opposite her, warning her not to walk.
Twenty minutes.
She glared at the light and willed it to turn. When it obstinately remained frozen she eyed the street back and forth. There weren’t any cars approaching. This was ridiculous. She checked one more time and then stepped off the curb and into the street.
A shrill, shrieking siren went off just behind her and she jumped. No. No. She juggled the bags that shifted off balance precariously. She spun around on instinct even as her mind screamed at her to. Just as her eyes landed on the police car pulling up to the light behind her, the box of cupcakes tumbled to the pavement, landing upside down and splattering its contents in the street, followed closely by the brown paper bags of burgers and fries.
“Son of a…,” she cursed as she looked down at the mess and then glanced back up at the police car. Her eyes narrowed angrily as she saw the blond head emerging from the driver’s side door. “Connor! What the hell?”
Her brother looked at the mess at her feet. “Shit. Sorry, Kady.” Almost as quickly as the words had left his mouth, his gaze shot back to his car and his tone became firm and commanding. “Don’t you dare get out of that car.”
“Con?” She stepped closer, confused by the change in his direction and tone.
“I didn’t realize it was you, Kady.” He grimaced as he glanced back at her. “I’m sorry, sis. I really didn’t want this to happen at all but, definitely not like this. I thought I’d call you later, after your shift, and…”
Her brother was clearly upset about something. His words were racing and he kept shaking his head. There was something in his eyes she didn’t understand, a sadness that made her reach for him on instinct. No matter how much taller or broader or bigger he was than her, he would always be her little brother.
“Connor, what’s…”
“Kady?”
A deep, gravel-filled voice she would have known anywhere said her name before she could finish her question. Her heart stopped. It simply stopped beating. Her breath caught in her chest and she felt the world shift under her feet. She heard a low whine and it took her a moment to realize the sound had come from her because her eyes were busy taking in the man who had ignored Connor’s order and stepped out of the car.
“Nick?” She raised a hand to her mouth, suddenly uncertain that any of this was real.
Maybe she hadn’t realized a car was coming and she’d been mowed down crossing the road and this was hell. Maybe right at that very second, she was suffering from some sort of embolism and her brain was producing hallucinations to distract her from her own death. Either of those things seemed more likely than watching her ex-fiance step out of her little brother’s police cruiser in full-on, FSD uniform, looking exactly like the man he’d been before he’d broken her heart.
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 he was taking the job in Dallas and leaving Fate despite knowing 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 sharp jaw covered in the same short stubble he’d worn every day since he’d turned seventeen. His chin was dimpled, a feature she’d always seen as a boyish contrast to his otherwise hard good looks. He was still tall and muscular, and not even that stupid brown uniform 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, since his long legs had eaten 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 up the wounds he’d inflicted, but they’d reopened with just one glimpse of him. 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 grimaced 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 on his chin she hadn’t noticed before and then glanced at her brother. Connor shrugged, but all she had to do was look at his equally bruised knuckles to see the truth. Her brother had punched Nick 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 could talk?”
“Sure. Talk.” She motioned for him to say whatever needed to be said.
His dark gaze turned to her brother. “Alone?”
She glanced at Connor too and saw the anger 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 the other part of her—the part 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 already 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 after Nick had 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 in Fate and he was here, wanting to talk to her, 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 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’d 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 said as he reached for her again. 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 here. I’m back in Fate 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 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.”