A Knight Before Christmas

by Alicia Dean

  cheated at whatever sport they were involved in at the time.

  As they got older, the arguments often centered around girls.

  Heath snuck a glance at Nicolette. What if he'd put up a

  fight for her in college? He chuckled inwardly. That's a fight

  he'd surely have lost. The prize had wanted Rudy to be the

  victor, so it wouldn't have done any good for Heath to throw

  his hat into the ring.

  "I'm sorry," Nicolette said, jerking him back from the past.

  "I have to go look at those apartments now. I'll drop you off

  at home. It wouldn't be fair for me to drag you all over town."

  "No. I'll go with you. The only thing I have to do is take

  care of you, so why not?"

  And visit family, he amended silently, which he hadn't

  done enough of since he'd been here. He'd called his mom a

  few times to check in, and in one of those calls, his mom had

  insisted he come to the house and meet his sister. He hated

  thinking of that stranger as his sister. For God's sake, he'd

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  never even laid eyes on her, and he didn't particularly want

  to.

  That was a major reason he'd avoided going to his

  mother's house these past few days. He felt like a piece of

  shit because of it, but really, it was his mother's fault. She

  was the one who had welcomed Keeley Jacobs into her home,

  knowing how Heath felt. If she wanted him around, she

  should consider his feelings.

  Of course, if he looked at it from the perspective of a

  loving son, he'd acquiesce to his mother's wishes. She'd been

  a terrific mom and deserved his respect, deserved to make

  demands, even if they were against everything Heath wanted.

  But for now, he couldn't bring himself to give in. If that made

  him a rotten son, so be it. He shifted in his seat, ignoring the

  voice that told him he was wrong.

  Heath peered through the windshield at the rapidly

  deteriorating weather. Nicolette's knuckles were white on the

  steering wheel.

  "You want me to drive?" he offered.

  Her head made a quick, nervous shake. "No, thanks. I'm

  fine. It's not much further."

  Heath didn't want to distract Nicolette with conversation,

  and the remainder of the ride was quiet.

  Nic pulled into the parking lot of a haggard-looking

  apartment complex. Although darkness had fallen, Heath

  could make out peeling paint and cracked siding. The entire

  place seemed to droop as if giving in to the ravages of time.

  He followed Nic through a dirty glass door and into a grimy

  hallway. The paint inside didn't look any better. Carpeting

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  with red and black swirly designs showed multiple stains.

  Several long strands poked out where the fibers had started

  to unravel.

  They took an elevator up to the third floor and stepped out

  into a similar hallway.

  Loud music filtered through the closed door of one of the

  apartments. They made their way down the corridor. Nicolette

  jumped when a door opened and a large, tattooed man

  staggered out. He stopped and gave Nic a squinty-eyed

  appraisal, then looked back at Heath and turned away,

  heading past them down the hallway. Heath was glad he

  hadn't let her come alone.

  "Here it is." Nic stopped in front of a door with 3A stenciled

  in faded lettering. She felt under the doormat and came out

  with a key. Heath followed her inside, nearly bumping into

  her when she halted abruptly.

  "Jesus," she whispered in disgust.

  The apartment was filthy. A rank odor hung in the air, like

  the combination of rotting garbage and body odor. Trash was

  scattered on the floor. A dilapidated brown couch missing its

  cushions sat beneath a grimy window.

  Nic stalked through the apartment, swearing as she

  entered each room. From the kitchen where dishes still sat in

  the sink and garbage spilled out of an unlined trashcan, to a

  bathroom that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since before

  the millennium, everything spoke of neglect.

  "She's out of her freakin' mind if she thinks Toddrick is

  going to live here. She thinks she can take advantage of him

  because he's got a drug problem. The hell she can." Nicolette

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  kept up the litany of muttered complaints, sprinkled with

  curse words as she headed out the door, slamming it behind

  her and not bothering to lock it.

  He followed her back to the elevator where she punched

  the button, then waited with her arms crossed, her foot

  tapping angrily on the nasty carpet. She punched the button

  a few more times before the elevator got the message and

  opened.

  They stepped inside, and Nic did some more of the

  muttering and foot tapping while they slowly descended.

  She marched off the elevator and down the hall, stopping

  to hammer her fist against the door that read Office. A thin

  woman with mean-looking eyes and long, stringy hair that

  could use a shampooing opened the door. Behind her, Heath

  saw a television playing some reality show. The sound blasted

  out at them as the woman scowled and demanded, "Can I

  help you?" not sounding like she really wanted to.

  "I'm Nicolette Morgan from Renewed Hope, are you Benita

  Rogers?"

  "Yep." The scowl deepened, making her even less friendly.

  "Didn't I say you could look at it, but if it's between seven

  and nine, not to bother me?"

  "You did. And I used that key and I went into that hell-hole

  you call an apartment. I can't believe you'd expect a human

  to stay in there."

  "Don't get your panties in a wad, girlie. Just needs a little

  spit shine." She peered back over her shoulder at the

  television screen as she spoke. "I'll knock a few bucks off the

  deposit."

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  "It needs more than a little cleaning, and you'll do more

  than knock a few bucks off the deposit. There are all kinds of

  repairs that need to be done. The toilet doesn't flush, the

  kitchen tile is coming up. The back door doesn't lock. If you

  don't have it cleaned and repaired, up to code, I'll have the

  city inspector crawling up your ass. Got it?"

  Benita Rogers pulled her gaze away from the television

  and stared at Nicolette as if she now had her full attention.

  "Okay, okay. You got it. I'll take care of all that before he

  moves in. I promise."

  "I'll be back in a week to make sure."

  "Look, it might take me more than a week to—"

  "He needs a place to live. The apartment was advertised as

  ready to move in."

  "Hey, I tell you what. It's gonna take me a while to get the

  apartment fixed up, but I have another one that's empty. It's

  nicer than that one anyway. Bigger, and it has a bath and a

 
; half. How about I take you up and we have a look at it? If you

  like it, Mr. West can move in right away."

  "Is the key under the mat?"

  "Yeah. I can take you up if you want." She cast another

  longing glance over her shoulder.

  "I'll look at it on my own, thank you."

  Benita seemed relieved that she wouldn't miss any more of

  her program. "It's apartment 4C. You'll like it. I promise. You

  call me or stop by, tell me what you think."

  She shut the door, and Nic huffed out a breath. "Ugh.

  Didn't want to spend another second with that woman. Come

  on. Let's take a look. You mind?"

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  "After the reaming you gave her, I'm afraid to say no.

  Consider me your shadow. You lead, I'll follow."

  She grinned. "Was I that awful?"

  "You were pretty scary, but you're sexy when you're scary.

  I'm not complaining."

  She laughed and they went back to the elevator.

  While they waited, he said, "Do you often get into

  confrontations like that?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I'm sure that lady was pretty pissed. Just wondering if

  that happens often with you. Did it happen with Rudy?"

  "Not often, but yeah, from time to time. Why?"

  "I just wondered if maybe the blackmail was about

  revenge. Hatred even."

  "Huh." She seemed to roll the idea around in her mind. "I

  just figured it was about money."

  Heath shrugged. "No reason it can't be about both."

  "Ah, ever the optimist."

  "Yeah. That's part of my charm."

  Her mood was less tense as they rode up to the fourth

  floor. As promised, this apartment was better. Bigger,

  cleaner, and seemingly everything worked.

  "It could still use a cleaning, but it's a penthouse compared

  to that other hovel."

  They left, and she placed the key back under the mat.

  "So, this is what you do? What your charity does?" he

  asked as they walked back to the elevator. "Find housing for

  people? Help them get back on their feet."

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  "Yeah. We help them find jobs, housing, whatever they

  need to get their life back on track."

  "What's to say you won't be just helping them into a life

  that will once again involve drugs?"

  She shrugged. The elevator opened and they stepped

  inside. "We don't know that, but part of the program is that

  they have to come in once a week for drug testing. If they do

  okay, we monitor them for a year, then they're on their own.

  If they fail a test, they're out of the program, on their own.

  They can't come back until they've been off the drugs for

  ninety days. We don't want people in and out, using the

  charity as a way to get a roof over their head and a hot meal

  in between fixes."

  Heath was starting to understand more about the

  importance of what she did. What Rudy had started. What the

  hell made him go back to the drugs? Maybe he'd never really

  kicked them.

  "What would you say your success rate is? What

  percentage is still clean after that year?"

  The lumbering elevator began its descent.

  "Unfortunately, less than I'd like. I'd say maybe seventy-

  five percent. I wish—"

  A grinding, clanging noise pierced the air, cutting off her

  words. The elevator jerked. The lights went out, and they

  were no longer moving.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

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  Chapter Twelve

  Nicolette let out a small scream. "Heath—what's

  happening?"

  "There must be a power outage. Probably because of the

  weather."

  "Shouldn't there be some kind of generator? Some kind of

  back up emergency plan to keep this sort of thing from

  happening?"

  He couldn't see her in the dark, but he could hear the fear

  in her voice. He tried to infuse his with confidence. "Most of

  them probably do, but with this being an old building, maybe

  they don't. It's okay, though. I'm sure the power will come

  back on soon."

  He felt around until he located the box that held the

  emergency phone. He picked it up and stuck it to his ear.

  Dead silence.

  Shit. He took out his cell and said, "What's the number to

  the apartment office?"

  "Shouldn't we call 911?"

  "They probably won't be too concerned about a stalled

  elevator, especially in this kind of weather."

  "Just call them. Please."

  Heath sighed. "Okay. Just take it easy. I'll call."

  He dialed 911 and the operator promised they'd send

  someone out, but couldn't promise how long it would take.

  Heath relayed the news to Nicolette. "So, want to give me

  the office number?"

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  She quoted the number, and he dialed. Benita Rogers'

  irritated voice came on the line. When he explained the

  situation, he would have sworn he heard delight as she

  answered, "Yeah, that happens from time to time. Sit tight.

  We'll get it going as soon as we can."

  When he hung up, he told Nic what she'd said, leaving out

  the glee in her tone at their plight. "They'll have it working

  soon," he promised.

  "You think? Sometimes power outages last for days.

  Weeks!"

  Her voice rose on the last word, and he moved in her

  direction, reaching out until his hands made contact with her

  body—her shoulder, he presumed. "Hey, now. Don't worry.

  We'll be fine."

  She moved, and her hand gripped his. "Okay. Sorry to be

  a baby, but I'm slightly claustrophobic. And a little afraid of

  the dark."

  "I never knew that."

  "Well, you've never been stuck in a small dark box with

  me."

  He laughed. "True."

  Her cold hand trembled against his palm.

  "Come over here." He tugged, and she let him lead her

  toward the back of the elevator. "Let's sit on the floor and

  talk. It'll make the time pass faster while we wait."

  Nicolette felt better now. Heath eased her fears just by

  holding her hand. She would have told him that, but if he

  thought she was no longer frightened, he might let go.

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  She settled next to him, her back to the wall, so close she

  could feel the heat from his shoulder next to hers. "So, talk to

  me," she said. "Tell me about your family. What's going on

  with your brothers?"

  "Well, Clint is in town with a horse, an actual horse, not an

  unattractive woman." Nicolette laughed softly, and Heath

  continued, "Alex is engaged to be married, but he recently

  received some surprising news."

  "Oh, good or bad?"

  "Very good, although it adds a bit of a complication to his

  life. He found out he fathered triplets, all
little girls, five years

  ago."

  "What! Triplets? With whom?"

  "You remember Zoe Hillman?"

  She frowned, trying to recall. "Wasn't she that assistant of

  his—the one he married during a drunken night in Vegas?"

  Heath chuckled. "That's the one."

  She liked the sound of his husky voice coming to her in the

  dark. What would it be like to hear him whisper in her ear

  while they made love? A shudder ran through her at the

  thought, but since she knew she'd never actually find out, she

  made herself stop wondering.

  "Have you seen them? Do they live around here?"

  "Yes and yes. They're adorable. Look just like Alex."

  "What does his fiancee think about that?"

  "She doesn't seem very happy about it. But then, Sydney

  doesn't really seem very happy about anything."

  "Poor Alex. How's his relationship with Zoe? Too bad he

  can't be with the mother of his children."

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  "Well, yeah, but things really don't work that way, you

  know? Sometimes someone seems perfect for you, but for

  one reason or another you can't be with them."

  He sounded dejected and she wondered if maybe he was

  referring to her. No. Not likely. He'd never indicated he felt

  that way. She was putting emotion in his words that weren't

  there. Instinct told her that what happened between them

  nearly a year ago, probably meant there was something

  there. But a physical attraction and reaching out to another

  person for comfort didn't equate with love or even a desire to

  pursue a relationship.

  Heath was silent for a while. She could tell he wanted to

  say more. Her eyes adjusted to the dark where she was able

  to make out his silhouette. His head was bowed, and he

  looked down to where their hands were still linked, lying on

  the floor between them.

  "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

  He was silent a while longer, then said, "I have a sister."

  "Pardon me? You have a sister?"

  "Yeah. Seems Alex wasn't the only one to father a child he

  didn't know about."

  "Your dad had a love child?" Nicolette knew how Heath felt

  about his father. How Heath felt about loyalty. That must

  have been rough on him to learn his dad had cheated. "How

  long ago?"

  "Years ago. While he was in 'Nam. The daughter's a year