Nickel: A Romantic Suspense Novel (Blackwood Elements Book 9)

by Elise Noble

  “Keep me posted.”

  “Of course. Mack’s off to make popcorn.”

  While they waited for the main event, Logan guided Sloane around the room, telling her stories while they nibbled on canapés. There were a few people she seemed to genuinely like, but mostly, Logan could see why she’d hated school so much. As they meandered, Agatha kept up a running commentary: ten thousand views, twenty, thirty, forty.

  And then it happened. They turned around from the buffet table, and Sloane walked right into Joey McManus. He stared down at her, his expression pure arrogance.

  “Sloane Mullins. Didn’t expect you to show your face here tonight.”

  Logan played innocent. “Why wouldn’t she come? Doesn’t everybody love their high school reunion?”

  “I don’t know if she told you, buddy…” McManus put his hand beside his mouth and stage whispered, “Me and her, we had a thing once.”

  “Yeah, she told me. We don’t have any secrets, do we, kitten?” Logan gave Sloane a squeeze, but she’d gone rigid again. “It’s always fascinating to see how your old classmates have turned out, isn’t it? Some go on to be captains of industry, or great humanitarians, or groundbreaking scientists. Some even become movie stars. I love movies, don’t you, Joey?” Agatha took her cue, and the cheesy yearbook photos disappeared from the giant screen in the auditorium, replaced by a surprisingly clear picture of a hotel room. “Especially home movies.”

  McManus turned white as he walked into shot, his arms around two women, neither of whom was his pop-star girlfriend. In the alcohol-fuelled scenes that followed, McManus managed to snort cocaine and go on a drug-filled rant against his NFL team owner, as well as revealing that he clearly stuffed his underwear during those semi-naked photoshoots he got paid the big bucks for.

  The two women remained enigmatic, faces out of shot, and stripped no further than their underwear as they spoke in soft southern accents, encouraging McManus into a hole he’d never dig his way out of. When Logan first saw the tape, he’d given the girls a round of applause, but he shouldn’t have been surprised at the final result. Emmy and Sofia were professionals. Sofia had done this shit many, many times before, aided by Emmy on occasion, and even though it made Black grumpy as fuck to see his wife in that position, they’d do it again. Now Logan owed the pair of them a whole lifetime of favours, and he’d pay up gladly.

  By the time the tape faded out, McManus was sitting on one of the indoor bleachers with his head in his hands. His arrogance had disappeared, leaving only a coward who hid behind his ego. Logan didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him.

  “Hope you’ve got a good lawyer, buddy.”

  Sloane was still trembling as Logan bundled her into the car, and he gathered her into his lap, hoping she wouldn’t be too pissed. Yes, he’d gone in hard with McManus, but the man had deserved it. As far as Logan and Agatha could ascertain, he’d never shown an ounce of remorse for ruining Sloane’s life in high school, while she’d spent a decade suffering in silence.

  “Kitten, are you okay?”

  “Did you do all that?”

  “I didn’t dress up in the fancy underwear.”

  She jabbed him in the ribs. “You know exactly what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I arranged it.”

  “Was that Emmy on the tape?”

  “And Sofia.”

  “I can’t believe they did that for you.”

  “They didn’t do it for me; they did it for you.” When Logan had been musing over the best scheme for revenge, Emmy had offered to help in any way she could. She thought a lot of her assistant. “And now it’s over.”

  “I don’t know how to feel. I want to laugh, but then I feel guilty for feeling happy. Do you think Joey will lose his job?”

  “Probably. The guy who owns his team is anti-drugs, so I can’t see him tolerating the coke, let alone the personal insults. When we planned the video, all we were aiming for was a few compromising shots with the girls, but then the rest of that shit happened…” Logan shook his head in disbelief. “Fuck, it was gold.”

  “I can’t believe he said such horrible things about his boss.”

  “Nobody asked him to.” He cuddled her close. “Are you mad at me?”

  Sloane sighed. “I should be. But honestly? It’s the most amazing thing anyone’s ever done for my birthday.”

  “Your birthday’s not until tomorrow, and I’ve got something better planned.”

  “Really? I don’t think anything— Hey, we’ve gone past the turn for home.”

  “That’s because we’re going to the airport. Want to join the mile-high club, kitten?”

  Logan had borrowed Emmy and Black’s private island for a week. Just him and Sloane, plus a mile of sandy beach and a crystal-clear sea. Logan had packed for both of them—seven economy-sized boxes of condoms for him, and a very tiny bag with hardly anything in it for Sloane. His idea of paradise.

  She twisted on his lap and pressed her lips to his, turning the smooch into a fierce kiss before they broke apart for air.

  “The mile-high club?” Sloane smiled her new smile, the confident, sexy one. “With you? Don’t mind if I do.”

  WHAT'S COMING NEXT?

  My next book will be Sphere, a novella in the Blackwood Security series…

  When Bradley forces Emmy to take a day off work and go to an amusement park with her friends, he promises it’ll be a fun day out. But it turns out the escaped monkeys are just the beginning, and before Emmy’s even finished her first cocktail, she finds herself planning perhaps the most unusual rescue operation she’s ever been involved in. Thank goodness she brought her gun…

  For more details: www.elise-noble.com/sphere

  If you haven’t tried the Blackwood Security series yet, why not start the Blackwood story from the beginning with Pitch Black?

  Even a Diamond can be shattered…

  After the owner of a security company is murdered, his sharp-edged wife goes on the run. Forced to abandon everything she holds dear—her home, her friends, her job in special ops—she builds a new life for herself in England. As Ashlyn Hale, she meets Luke, a handsome local who makes her realise just how lonely she is.

  Yet, even in the sleepy village of Lower Foxford, the dark side of life dogs Diamond’s trail when the unthinkable strikes. Forced out of hiding, she races against time to save those she cares about. But is it too little, too late?

  You can get Pitch Black for FREE here: www.elise-noble.com/pitch-black

  If you enjoyed Nickel, please consider leaving a review.

  For an author, every review is incredibly important. Not only do they make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, readers consider them when making their decision whether or not to buy a book. Even a line saying you enjoyed the book or what your favourite part was helps a lot.

  WANT TO STALK ME?

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  If you’re on Facebook, you may also like to join Team Blackwood for exclusive giveaways, sneak previews, and book-related chat. Be the first to find out about new stories, and you might even see your name or one of your ideas make it into print!

  And if you’d like to read my books for FREE, you can also find details of how to join my advance review team.

  Would you like to join Team Blackwood?

  www.elise-noble.com/team-blackwood

  END OF BOOK STUFF

  Freaking hell. I’m writing this at the end of March, and in the space of a month, the whole world’s descended into chaos. Three months ago, a coronavirus was one of those things that I might have learned about in high school biology once, an irritation that caused a few sniffles and not much more. Now? The virus that causes COVID-19 is 0.1 microns in size and it’s brought life to
a standstill.

  I’ve been stuck in my house for two weeks now (self-isolating because I’ve been ill), and from my desk, I’ve made one interesting observation. Many of the people who for so long have been put on pedestals really aren’t that great. Most of the wealthy are all holed up in their mansions (or shunning social distancing in favour of West Hampstead farmers’ market) while the people they look down on are busy keeping society going. Nurses, carers, grocery store assistants, refuse collectors, delivery drivers… Many of these essential workers earn minimum wage. I sincerely hope we give them the appreciation they deserve going forward.

  And in this difficult time, who have many stuck at home turned to for entertainment? To artists. To singers, actors, podcast hosts, writers (I might be a bit biased on that one), and painters. Yet so often, art is taken for granted.

  Question: why do we spend more on war than on science?

  There have been some bright points—more people adopting dogs because they’ve realised what awesome company they make, a sense of community as neighbours help each other out more, and less pollution as we stop driving our cars so much. Fingers crossed that these changes will last beyond the pandemic.

  I’m hoping that by the time you read this (another month), things might have got a little more “normal” again, although I know for me at least, the new normal won’t be the same as the old normal. Having this time to sit back and take stock of life and the world in general has definitely opened my eyes to so many things. It’s always darkest before dawn, and, I’d love for the post-coronavirus world to be an improvement on the previous one.

  Thank you to everyone who’s helped with this book—Nikki for editing, Abi for designing the cover, John, Lizbeth, and Debi for proof reading, and Jeff, Renata, Terri, Lina, Musi, David, Stacia, Jessica, Nikita, Quenby, and Jody for beta reading.

  My next book will be a Blackwood Security novella—Sphere—a little extra novella before Alaric’s books come out later in the year. The editing on those is taking ages because they’re all long and they need to be done together so I can ensure continuity because as those who see my early drafts will know, timelines and names are not my strong point!

  Happy reading, and stay safe,

  Elise

  OTHER BOOKS BY ELISE NOBLE

  The Blackwood Security Series

  For the Love of Animals (Nate & Carmen - prequel)

  Black is my Heart (prequel)

  Pitch Black

  Into the Black

  Forever Black

  Gold Rush

  Gray is my Heart

  Neon (novella)

  Out of the Blue

  Ultraviolet

  Glitter (novella)

  Red Alert

  White Hot

  Sphere (novella) (2020)

  The Scarlet Affair

  Quicksilver

  The Girl with the Emerald Ring (2020)

  Red After Dark (2020)

  When the Shadows Fall (TBA)

  The Blackwood Elements Series

  Oxygen

  Lithium

  Carbon

  Rhodium

  Platinum

  Lead

  Copper

  Bronze

  Nickel

  Hydrogen (TBA)

  The Blackwood UK Series

  Joker in the Pack

  Cherry on Top (novella)

  Roses are Dead

  Shallow Graves

  Indigo Rain

  Pass the Parcel (TBA)

  Blackwood Casefiles

  Stolen Hearts

  Blackstone House

  Hard Lines (TBA)

  Hard Tide (TBA)

  The Electi Series

  Cursed

  Spooked

  Possessed

  Demented

  Judged (2020)

  The Trouble Series

  Trouble in Paradise

  Nothing but Trouble

  24 Hours of Trouble

  Standalone

  Life

  Coco du Ciel (TBA)

  Twisted (short stories)

  A Very Happy Christmas (novella)