I rubbed my hand over my mouth, my small laugh incredulous. “Think it’s safe to say that makes two of us.” I sucked in a breath. “She’s just going to have to stay with me until then.”
Kale’s brows shot to the sky. “And you think Nikki is going to go for that?”
“Hell, no,” I said. “I’ll just have to convince her.”
Kale grinned. “Really?”
“Yup.”
Rex laughed low, rubbing a hand on his chin. “That sounds like . . .”
Torture?
Torment?
I’d be ruined by then. Didn’t matter.
“Fun,” Rex finished with a smirk.
I wanted to smack the smirk off his face. “Fun?”
“What?” He was all wide-eyed innocence. “Nikki is all kinds of fun.”
Asshole.
I punched at him.
Laughing, he jumped back, blocking himself. “Hey, don’t get mad at me because she’s . . . fun.”
Kale chuckled. “Oh yeah, I bet she’s all kinds of fun. Now you get to have fun with Nikki for a whole year.”
“She’s a pain in my ass, is what she is.”
“Right . . .” Rex drew out. “You just keep telling yourself that. But if you do, make sure you don’t break her heart while you do it.”
Suddenly agitated, I scraped a hand through my beard. “Not gonna break her heart.”
Not again.
Rex sobered. “That girl’s been in love with you for as long as I can remember. Followed you around like a puppy all through school. You’ve got to be careful with that, man.”
Wondered if he really had no clue that it’d been more than Nikki following me around. That it’d grown into something it shouldn’t have before it became responsible for the single greatest regret of my life.
How even after I’d shut it down, cut her loose, it’d still festered and grown until it’d consumed me, and I’d found myself a pathetic beggar at her door.
Unable to stop myself from going to her.
Needing her.
Knowing I was just going to hurt her all over in the end.
“Just . . . get that building done. I’ll take care of Nikki until it’s finished. Barely see her, anyway, since we have opposite schedules.”
“All right, then. It’s a plan.”
I nodded.
It was a plan.
A plan that left me completely screwed and somehow satisfied.
Needing a distraction, I pulled away from the guys and shifted to holler toward the kids, “Who wants to get ice cream with Uncle Ollie?”
Frankie Leigh tapped Evan’s shoulder, the little girl signing to her best friend.
In a second flat, both of them were beelining toward me. “Me! Me! Me!” Frankie shouted as she and Evan raced my direction. “I want to ride with you, too!”
Rex laughed under his breath and scratched at the scruff on his chin. “Apparently, I’m going to need to have a talk with Frankie Leigh about ditching her little brother. Literally left my little man in the dust.”
I chuckled under my breath. “Don’t give her too hard of a time. She knows you never take your eye off him.”
Frankie grabbed me by a hand, and Evan slipped his hand into the other, both of them grinning up at me like I was maybe the coolest person in the world.
I gulped down any unease and tightened my hold on their hands, leading them over to my truck parked on the curb.
I unlocked the passenger door and both of them clambered onto the seat, Evan first considering the truck was so his thing. He was running his palms over the leather dash, the steering wheel, checking out every detail.
I shut the door behind them and rounded the front, climbed inside, turning my face toward him so he could see. “Still your favorite, buddy?”
He gave me a thumbs-up and a smile that was nothing but bright shiny teeth. I ruffled a hand through his hair. “You have good taste, that I can tell you.”
He nodded like crazy as he buckled in before he was grabbing Frankie’s hand and weaving his fingers through hers.
I chuckled under my breath.
Oh, so that was how it was.
Little player.
He didn’t even blush when he realized I’d caught him, my eyebrows lifting in question. He just gave me a look that told me she was his to watch over.
She missed the whole exchange, too busy vigorously rolling down the window.
“Start her up, Uncle Ollie,” she shouted, and I did, the two of them laughing as I quickly flipped a U and headed in the direction of the ice cream parlor that wasn’t even up the road a block.
Kale and Rex would walk, but I’d promised Evan a ride, and he was gonna get his ride.
I glanced over at the two of them sitting on the bench seat, so fucking cute, so sweet, so perfect.
Frankie Leigh’s hair blown by the whipping wind, her little hand out the window, gliding up and down like she was riding a wave.
Evan’s attention was wrapped up in the truck, the dials and gauges and the gear stick I shifted that climbed from the floor and basically stuck up right between his knobby knees.
Their hands?
Still linked together.
I needed to downshift to pull to the curb in front of the parlor, so I grabbed his free hand and wrapped it around the knob, guiding him through the motion.
He made this thrilled, scuffing sound that twisted my spirit like it’d been wrung up by a tornado. Seemed it was the simplest of things that made this kid insanely happy, and damn it, if that didn’t make me happy, too.
I let him help me take it out of gear and put on the brake as we parallel parked on the street, and I told them to wait as I jumped out and headed around to the passenger side that butted the sidewalk.
By the time I was helping them out, Rex and Kale were already approaching, little Ryland taking a ride on his daddy’s shoulders.
“You finally made it,” I tossed out wryly.
“Whatever. I can walk faster than that old truck,” Rex badgered.
Frankie hopped out and bounced over to him. “That was so much fun!”
Rex shook his head. “Why doesn’t she go on about my truck?”
Frankie Leigh’s mouth twisted with distaste. “Daddy, your truck is a work truck and stinky and dirty. Look how pretty Uncle Ollie’s is.”
She waved her hand out like she was one of those The Price is Right models.
Rex latched on to that real quick. “Ah . . . it is pretty, isn’t it? Just like Uncle Ollie. Pretty Boy,” he taunted.
If his kid hadn’t been standing there nodding and agreeing like it was the truest thing he’d ever said, I would have given him a finger.
Pretty Boy, my ass.
“Come on, you two.” I stretched out my hands for Evan and Frankie. “I promised you ice cream, let’s get you some ice cream.”
“Yay!” Frankie yelled, skipping along at my side.
Evan and Frankie went right for the display, pushing up onto their toes so they could see the different flavors displayed behind the glass.
They ordered sundaes, and Rex ordered a cone for Ryland. We found a place in the corner where the kids dug right in.
Conversation easy, Rex, Ollie, and I chatted, catching up since we didn’t get to chill like this nearly enough anymore.
I froze when I felt the hairs at the base of my neck lift. A prickle of awareness. Not in fear.
Or hell.
Maybe that was exactly what it was.
Fear.
Because the weight of her presence was beginning to become terrifying. Affecting me more and more.
I slowly shifted in the hard booth so I could glance over my shoulder, wondering if my mind was just making shit up.
But no.
She was there.
Nikki.
Honeyed locks cascading down her back in a wild, erratic stream. Not curly in the least, but still all over the place.
Her back was to me, but she was sitting at a t
able sharing ice cream with this young girl who couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen. At the girl’s side, covered in chocolate ice cream, was a little boy who probably wasn’t much older than Ryland.
Shoveling the ice cream in like he’d just discovered the Holy Grail.
By the look on his face, he had.
That wasn’t what had my insides curling with a crazy sort of worry. Wasn’t what had disquiet sinking slow and sure in to that vat at the bowels of my spirit where all the bad shit lived.
Compounding and sharpening.
It was the way the girl’s expression held nothing but beaten-down fear.
Debased and degraded and disparaged.
Like she couldn’t take a single thing more or she would crack.
Nikki held her hand in the middle of the table, her head dropped low and tipped to the side. Even though she was facing away from me, I could tell just by her posture that she was speaking to her.
Her words low but fast.
Desperate encouragement.
Awareness seeped through me like a parched desert sucking up a summer rain.
The suspicion that whatever was going on with Nikki had everything to do with this girl.
With that little kid.
Like my spirit just got that Nikki was desperate to stand up and protect both of them the way I would protect her.
Fully.
Wholly.
Without question or fear or any consideration to the consequence.
Because that’s what it came down to.
I wanted to protect Nikki. Keep her safe. Not because I wanted a second chance at saving someone.
But because it was the only thing I had left to offer.
An eye and an ear and a ruthless heart that wouldn’t think twice about striking down anyone who thought to fuck with her.
And whatever was happening at that table?
That unease climbed my spirit. Clawed and expanded.
Fury flamed. Licks of agitation. Stirs of anxiety.
“Uncle Ollie, Uncle Ollie!” Frankie tugged at my shirt. “Isn’t that right?”
Damn it. I didn’t have a clue what she’d even said.
“That’s right, sweetheart,” I mumbled under my breath.
Rex cocked a brow. Gave me a look that said really?
Who knew what I’d agreed to. Probably had told her the world was made of cotton candy. For her? I’d give anything to make that statement true. Sunshine and rainbows and everything sweet.
I rocked in the hard booth, rubbed my fingertips over my lips, trying to sit still.
Nope.
Couldn’t do it.
“Give me a minute,” I told the guys.
No one really even responded when I pushed out of the booth and stalked across the small parlor.
Coming to a stop at the edge of their table, I glowered, hands in fists as I stared at Nikki, who still clutched the girl’s hand as she frantically whispered something to her.
My guts that were screaming cried out.
Nikki, what are you doing? What exactly have you gotten yourself into?
Reckless girl.
Because the girl across from her, who was little more than a child, all out shook when she jerked her attention my way and saw me standing there.
Fear.
So much fear.
I recognized it, written all over her.
When Nikki followed the girl’s attention and her eyes landed on me, it was horror I saw all over that perfect face. “Ollie,” she whispered through her shock.
Those indigo eyes went round, and her teeth clamped down on her lower lip. Behind her, the sun streaked through the window, glowing around her head, circling her like one of those rainbows I’d just been talking about.
Motherfucking sunshine.
“Nikki,” I said, voice so hard it basically had to be pried off my tongue.
Energy lashed, something alive and painful between us.
“Give me a minute,” she asked me, repeating the exact thing I’d just told my crew.
Both of us asking for time.
But time was something we’d never had.
None of it. Too much of it.
Forever lost.
I glanced at the girl and the little boy, who was still shoveling ice cream into his mouth, and scrubbed a hand over my face. “Yeah. Of course.”
I stepped back.
But I refused to walk away.
13
Nikki
I remained locked in a stare with Ollie, my hand still clutching Brenna’s while I begged him with my eyes to give us space.
Questions billowed from him as if they were written in the rough, choppy air, concern and this knowing kind of anger that twisted my belly with a rush of anxiety.
My worry wasn’t for him or what he would think.
It was fully for Brenna, the girl who was so completely terrified she was shaking and cowering in her seat as she wrapped a protective arm around her son’s waist.
Ollie towered there. Appearing hard and intimidating.
Menacing.
A beast ready to charge.
What she didn’t know was that, even though the man didn’t know her, he would go down in a blaze to protect her. He’d never lift a vicious hand toward her. Not ever.
Or me.
It was his gentle hand that put me in danger.
Reluctantly, Ollie backed away. For a beat, my gaze followed him, my heart leaping into my throat when I spotted who he was there with, with those precious kids.
This was the problem of living in a small city. Their idea of a fun outing for kids was basically mine, too, thinking this would be a great place to keep Kyle entertained while I talked with Brenna.
I swiveled my attention back to her. “I’m sorry about that.”
Her eyes warily followed the hulking man as he moved back through the little ice cream shop. “Who was that?” Her voice trembled.
“One of my oldest friends. I grew up with him.” I gave her hand a squeeze. “He’s a good guy. A great guy, actually. You don’t need to be nervous.”
Funny how it was too easy to sing Ollie’s praises because they were true. The man just came with all kinds of other warnings.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, disgrace clouding her expression. She fiddled with a napkin on the table, looking away when she said, “God, I’m such a mess. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I reacted that way. I think I’m losing my mind.”
“You aren’t.”
It was the vile asshole trying to make her think she was insane. Filling her head with lies, making her believe she was responsible for the way he treated her.
She’d called me this morning, telling me Caleb had been bothering her again. Sending her texts. Demanding to see Kyle.
I’d suggested we meet.
I just needed to see her face-to-face.
Needing the validation that she was really okay.
I was sure Caleb was unstable.
I hadn’t told her the information I’d shared with Seth, my suspicion that it was Caleb who’d broken into my apartment and had left the two notes.
He’d advised I not. That I allow him to investigate a bit so we could find some proof to pin him to.
And . . . he’d told me to stay close to Ollie.
That was probably the hardest part of what he’d asked me to do.
“I promise you’re not,” I told her. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. Nothing to be ashamed about. Heck, I’m pretty sure grown men cower when they see Ollie coming their way.” I let the lightness weave into my tone, hoping it would allow her to relax.
“He’s . . . big.”
Light laughter filtered free. “Yeah, the man is a bear. A big ol’ teddy bear.”
So maybe that was a tiny white lie.
The man would tear someone to pieces with his teeth, but that side of him was not something she needed to worry about.
“Is he . . .” I heard the suggestion in her questi
on, the pink that touched her cheeks.
Is he yours?
I was sure there was no way she hadn’t sensed that intensity that blazed and burned between us. Heavy and fierce.
Combustible.
Ours was not a pretty sort of chemistry.
I forced a smile. “No. We’re just friends.”
She frowned as if she didn’t believe me. “Doesn’t seem that way to me, Miss Nikki.”
Was that a tease?
Her attention darted to the man I could still feel from behind me as if he was offering up proof.
His presence overwhelming.
A rush of heat thrashing at my back.
No doubt, he was looking this way.
I cleared my throat. “We’ve just known each other a long, long time. That’s all.”
“I should probably head back to my momma’s.” She grabbed a wipe from the baby bag and began to wipe off Kyle’s face and hands.
“No, Mommy. I eat ice cweam.” He grinned a chocolate smile.
A soft jolt of affection escaped me. “Was it yummy?” I asked him.
“Yummy, yummy, to my tummy.”
“Do you have a happy tummy?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Good, then my job is done here.”
“You just invited me over to fill my boy with sugar, huh? Seems to me like maybe you should have to watch him run wild for the rest of the day.”
I loved it when this side of Brenna came out. When she didn’t shrink behind her walls and the girl who wanted to be free peeked out from behind.
“I’ll gladly watch him. Any time.”
She sobered. “Thank you so much, Nikki. For everything.”
Standing, she picked up Kyle and settled him on her hip. I slid out of the booth.
“For being here for Kyle and me,” she mumbled as I stood with her.
“You’re welcome.”
I tickled Kyle’s neck, and he giggled, burying his face in the fall of her hair while still peeking out.
Affection swelled in my chest.
The little thing was so adorable.
So sweet and innocent that it expanded that place inside me that somehow kept feeling more and more hollow. I wanted to take him into my arms, feel his weight, breathe him in.
God.
What was wrong with me?
“See you soon, sweet thing,” I said, trying to keep my craziness in check.
Lead Me Home: A Fight for Me Stand-Alone Novel Page 11