Love to Hate You: An Enemies to Lovers, Best Friend's Brother Romantic Comedy (The Fillmores Book 2)

by Melissa Schroeder

  The defiance that she showed when the stalker knifed her tire isn’t there. She looks smaller, more vulnerable. I know it isn’t something she likes to show the world, so the fact that she is doing this in front of Josh and his deputy has me even more concerned.

  Right now, we’re on the back patio. We are trying to stay out of the way while the police look over her house. It seems like it’s taking forever, but I know we need to let them take their time. Any clue could lead us to the person doing this. We’re still standing there in our formal wear, waiting for Josh to tell us that they are done.

  The man in question steps out of the house. The grim expression marring his usually sunny demeanor worries me even more.

  “We think he came in from the back. There are a few marks around the doorknob, along with some in the frame.” There’s something else that is bothering him.

  “What?”

  He sighs. “The bastard had your code.”

  Nancy shivers next to me, almost shrinking against me. I hate all of this, but that right there makes me want to hurt the bastard who did this. Then it hits me. If it is someone who had the code, the chance that it’s someone in her circle of acquaintances just skyrocketed.

  “It’s someone she knows.”

  She pulls back and looks up at me, then at Josh. “Someone I know?”

  Josh nods. “I need to know who has the code, and we need to change it. Only you and Travis need to have it.”

  She nods. He looks at me. “We’re almost done.”

  We both nod. He heads back into the house and we stand there, holding onto each other.

  “We’re going to have to tell Syd,” I say.

  “I know. And I’m going to have to have physical security.”

  The resigned tone of her voice makes me angry. Not at her, but at the situation. No one should have to go through this. There is no doubt in my mind that whatever this nut job thinks Nancy did, she didn’t. She might be savvy in our business, but she is thoughtful to a fault.

  “I know you hate that.”

  “I do, but I’m not stupid. It would insane not to take every precaution.”

  “And we need to talk to Jon.”

  She pulls back and looks at me.”

  “Why?”

  “He said he wanted to look at your security. I think it would be smart to have him work with At Home on this.”

  “You’re right.”

  Then, she settles her head against my chest, and I tighten my arms around her. This bastard better hope he never comes face to face with me.

  An hour later, most of the cops are gone, but there is one sitting on the house. No random drive bys from now on. I’m on the phone with my sister and Grady discussing what needs to be done. Nancy wanted to wait until tomorrow, but I know that would piss off both Grady and Syd. I told her to take a shower and that I would take care of it. I know that part of the reason she doesn’t want talk to them is that it would make it real. It’s her way of avoiding the situation, and I don’t blame her. But that’s what I’m here for.

  “I still think she should come here,” Syd grumbles.

  Grady sighs. I’d feel sorry for him, but he’s a billionaire and he chose my sister to fall for, so he knew what he was getting into.

  “We’ve been over this. Josh said it was better to stay there.”

  Actually, Josh had a change of heart and said that going to San Antonio could be an option. Nancy didn’t like the idea of putting Syd in danger. I didn’t want to share Nancy, but I would have done it if she had wanted to go.

  “I’m going to talk to the team I set up,” Grady says, and Syd switches her speaker phone off.

  “So, how is she? I’m upset she didn’t call.”

  I sigh and rub my temple. “She’s shaken, that’s for sure.”

  “Want to tell me what else is going on?”

  I can tell by the tone she’s heard about our involvement. We weren’t hiding it from her, but we wanted to wait. We didn’t really talk about it, but I think we both know how fragile this is. One mistake and we lose everything. I could care less about losing the show at this point. I don’t think I would be able to deal with losing Nancy. Not now.

  “Who called you?”

  “No one. There’s pics all over the Express from the birthday party tonight.”

  “I figured it would come out.”

  “I don’t know why you hid it from me. Or why Nancy did.”

  “Syd, can we deal with your bitching some other time?”

  Normally she would yell at me. If she were here, I would probably get the pen treatment she used to give Grady. She probably still throws them at him when he irritates her. Their relationship is weird.

  “Okay, sorry.”

  I blink, hold the phone out, looking at it. Then bring it back to my ear.

  “Who is this?”

  “Shut up. I’m worried about both of you, and I want you here by me. Safe. Sure, you might have to spend the rest of your life in Grady’s house, but that’s the price you have to pay to make me feel better.”

  I snort. I know she’s trying to lighten the mood, but I don’t miss the thread of fear beneath the joke. I know that if the situation was reversed, I would react the same way. Actually, I might even be worse. I was the guy who put a tracking app on her phone without telling her. Not to spy on her, but just in case of emergencies.

  “It’s all gonna be okay. With the security team and Jon looking over security arrangements, it should make everything okay.”

  “I need to talk to Travis,” I hear Grady say in the background.

  “You can just ask me to put on speaker phone, you know,” Syd grumbles. Those two use fights as some kind of foreplay. And yes, it grosses me out to even think about, but this is life with Syd.

  She clicks on speaker phone.

  “Travis, I have the team set up, and they’re going to be there by tomorrow morning. I talked with Josh already, and he assured me that the car on the house would stay there. Not just patrolling.”

  It was actually Josh who was now refusing to leave until we had a security detail.

  “Sounds good. Jon wants to look at the security.”

  “Jon?”

  “Nancy’s cousin.”

  “Wait, Jon Howard is related to Nancy? The genius behind the Diamond Security app? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  I open my mouth, but Syd responds.

  “I did. I said that he did the Juniper Springs Express.”

  “You just said Jon.”

  “I assumed you would know that his last name was Howard when I said he was Nancy’s cousin.”

  “Put that pen down. I will make you regret throwing it at me.”

  God, these two. Seriously. Syd was known for throwing them at Grady when he irritated her. None of them hit him, but it was one way she showed her displeasure when she was working for him.

  “Hey, can we get this over with? I’m exhausted and I want to check on Nancy.”

  “Sorry,” Grady said. “I’ll send you all the information about the detail. I picked them out myself. Carter had to use them when he had that issue a couple of years ago.”

  I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I’m not asking. If I do, I’ll never get off the phone with them.

  “Sounds good. Anything else?”

  “No. Make sure you keep Nancy safe.”

  “I will.”

  We disconnect. For a long moment, I don’t do anything but enjoy the blessed silence. I love my sister, but she’s a lot of work. I’m thankful Grady has the job of dealing with her now. I glance at the closed bathroom door and realize the water is still running.

  I set my phone down on the side table, then knock on the dor.

  “Nancy?”

  She says nothing, so I turn the handle, thankful to find it unlocked. I peek in. The room is filled with steam, the seamless shower fogged up, but I can see her. She’s sitting on the floor of the shower, looking so sad…so alone. Her arms are wrapped around
her legs and she has her head resting on knees. She’s staring off in the distance, not focusing on anything in particular. It hurts my heart seeing her like this. Does she even know how to depend on someone other than my sister? It’s like she’s afraid to ask for help at times, afraid that it will backfire in some way.

  I strip down to my boxer briefs and grab a towel. After I open the door, I turn off the water, then wrap the towel around her. I lift her off the floor, then walk her out of the shower, settling her on the counter. She’s clinging to me, even if she hasn’t said a word.

  I take my time drying her off, taking care not to rush anything. She might just be freaked out, but I’m a little afraid that she may be sliding into shock. Once I have her body dried off, I lay it across her shoulders and grab another towel to dry her hair. Again, with gentle movements, I try my best not to push her too hard.

  “Why would someone want to hurt me?”

  The small voice is barely above a whisper, and so unlike the Nancy I know and love. She’s loud and fun, and always has a laugh even at her own expense.

  “Some people are assholes.”

  She looks up at me, her eyes filled with tears. The sight is a dagger to my heart. If I ever doubted my feelings for this woman, that one reaction tells me everything I need to know. I would slay fucking dragons for this woman. No one has a right to hurt her like this. I cup her face and brush away the tears as they roll down her cheeks.

  “You did nothing. Don’t ever think that any of this is your fault.”

  “Someone hates me, Travis.” The pain that vibrates through that statement adds a twist to the dagger in my heart.

  “It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the other person. That person is damaged.”

  She drops her head and looks down at her hands. “So am I.”

  She whispers the statement without looking at me. I slip my hand beneath her chin and raise her face so that she has to look at me. My heart fucking breaks. Tears are rolling down her cheeks, but it’s the expression in her beautiful eyes that just kills me. She’s breaking right here, showing me just how vulnerable she is. In all the years I have known her, I have never been privy to this version of Nancy. She’s letting me in.

  “You are not the same. Your damage…or what you think is damaged…didn’t bring you down. You don’t blame other people. Instead, you rise above it and you shine. You outshine everyone around you, Nancy Howard, and don’t you forget it.”

  She leans forward, cupping my face in her hands, and brushes her mouth over mine. “Thank you.”

  I wrap my arms around her. “I would do anything for you, Nancy.”

  “Help me forget.”

  I lift her off the counter and into my arms as she wraps her legs around my waist. I carry her into the bedroom. We tumble onto the bed, the towels falling away as I do what she asked of me. With my hands, my mouth, I push her up and over the edge. Moments later, as I thrust hard into her, I join her in pleasure.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nancy

  As I sit at the desk in my cramped office, I try to come to terms with my life at the moment. Ten long days, and there has been no sign of the stalker. My detail showed up the morning after the break-in. All of them are the strong, silent types, but it only took me a few days to pry personal details from them. I know that they are usually trained to keep their distance, but I just can’t live with these men around me 24/7 without acknowledging them. It helps that Becca charmed all of them with her smile and another pound cake. That woman could probably charm the Buckingham guards into smiling.

  Jon made sure to upgrade my security system, along with giving me crap about using an easily hacked code. I didn’t think anyone would guess that it was Syd’s birthday. Before that it had been Travis’ and then before that the date our show first aired. But I apologized and then gave him a big hug—which he pretended not to like. It will probably be another year before I see him again.

  Word spread around town about the new security detail, but thankfully, it has somehow been kept out of the tabloids. I don’t know how, maybe Grady had something to do with it, but the only blip there were two stories. One about the rumors I’m leaving the show, and the other one from the Amarillo skank who said Travis dumped her. I never understand when people do that. Maybe they think it will help them gain some sympathy but doing it at the expense of their pride just seems silly. My family has spent time in the tabloids, and during my parents’ messy divorce, they leaked all kinds of stories. I didn’t see them at the time, because my grandmother did everything she could to protect me from them. But they’re all online now, and I did search with Syd one drunken night in college. My family might have money, but they are trashier than any of those housewives. It wasn’t pretty.

  But in the present, I have to deal with the fallout. The first story about me leaving the show, though, that one has me worried. We still haven’t talked about the show, and any time I even hint at discussing it, Travis refuses. He says we need to worry about the stalker, and that’s true. Although, worrying about the stalker has done nothing. Josh did talk to Reggie again, but he has alibis. Josh is checking out his money though, seeing if anything went out to hire muscle to pull this shit. Why anyone would think that would make me want to get married to a low life like that, I have no idea. But Reggie isn’t smart and only got into college thanks to his father’s money. Still, I want to know who leaked it. I know it wasn’t Syd, but it has to be someone with the network or involved with the show.

  The idea that someone I worked with, people I trust and care about, would leak that information hurts me more than any stalker could. My agent has been MIA also—well to an extent. Let me be honest here, I wouldn’t usually notice. One of the things I think Marty likes about me is that I’m not as needy as some of his other clients. At times, he gets irritated with how little I do contact him. But I thought for sure I would have heard from him by now. I’ve left two messages in the last week. Maybe he’s not happy that I want to talk about renegotiating my contract with At Home. I have no idea. Granted, I haven’t made my decision. I just wanted to see what he thought and what I could expect if I went back to them.

  I could ask Syd, but I don’t want to put her in the middle. Not right now. It’s hard enough being involved with Travis and not really being able to go to her and talk about things. And I need my friend right now. I have a stalker, a big career decision, and I am hopelessly in love with Travis. Sadly, it’s the last one that scares me the most.

  I’m not good with emotions. Not with men, hell with everyone. Syd is my best friend and I didn’t give her a choice in the matter. I knew the moment I met her that she was like me. A little broken, a little sarcastic, and a whole lot of a mess. Together, we knew we could accomplish anything. Her relationship with Grady makes me so damned happy for her, but I feel a little adrift. I know I could call on her any time, day or night, and she would drop everything. But she has other priorities right now and I really want her and Grady to work out. Also, sleeping with Travis makes everything weird. Not for Syd, who wanted to know what he was like. Yes. She asked me about sex with her brother. I think she just wanted to mess with him about it.

  “Hey,” Travis says, breaking into my thoughts. I glance over and find him at the doorway, a frown marring his beautiful face. He’s freshly showered after working in my backyard. He’s landscaped it just the way I wanted it to look, and I should be grateful. And I am. But I am also irritated. Like, could he get any more perfect? Probably.

  “What’s up?”

  He cocks his head and studies me. “Are you okay?’

  I nod. “Just zoning out. You know how I am during this time of year.”

  It’s true. Late summer temps climb, and my ability to concentrate goes down.

  “Okay.”

  Then he stands there, as if not sure what to do. The last few days it’s been like this. There’s something lurking there beneath the surface. When we’re in bed, there’s no problem. I can’
t count the number of times we’ve fucked, and you definitely don’t want to know what rooms (but that would be all of them, including my office). There’s a distance when we aren’t touching, and it has nothing to do with proximity. It bothers me that he doesn’t want to talk about the show. Why not? Is he over having me back, or is my grandmother right? Is this whole “relationship” just to get me back on the show?

  “I still haven’t heard from Marty.”

  Travis shifts his weight from foot to foot. “Oh?”

  I nod, watching his weird reaction. “Would you know anything about that?”

  He shakes his head, but he doesn’t look me in the eye, which heightens my suspicions.

  “Travis.”

  “I swear. I have no idea why your agent isn’t returning your phone calls. Maybe he leaked the info about you leaving the show.”

  I blink. “He wouldn’t do that without telling me.”

  “Are you sure? He’s tied to you right now, and if you can’t get another show, then he’s SOL.”

  I know he’s right, but it still pisses me off. “You act as if it would be hard for me to get another show.”

  “That’s not what I meant at all. Have you told him you were thinking of coming back to the show?”

  “No.” That much is true. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Marty about it, and we definitely need to discuss my options.

  “Of course you haven’t.” He shoves a hand through his hair. “What are we doing here?”

  I blink. “What?”

  “I mean, what does this all mean? Us.”

  The fact that I was thinking along the same lines doesn’t matter. I’m in the mood for a fight. Travis and I usually fight to communicate, but lately, we’ve been having so much sex, we haven’t had the time. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “I can’t reach you, Nancy. I feel as if you’re keeping a part of you closed off.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” It’s not, but he’s scraping at my emotions and I don’t like that at all. I like to keep all that under wraps because…that’s what Howards do. Oh, crap. But I can’t back down, not right now.