by K. L. Ramsey
“Finn?” she asked. “What does any of this have to do with him?”
“His tires were slashed today too—well, yesterday. It’s why he wasn’t able to make our dinner meeting. Two tires, just like yours.”
“Oh my God,” she breathed. “You have to make sure that he’s okay,” she insisted.
“I will,” he agreed. “After you and I make a little trip back over to your place to figure out who’s paying you a visit.” He gently pulled her along behind him and Nixon wrapped her bathrobe around her body and looked nervously around the parking lot.
“When we get over here, I want you to stay behind me,” he ordered.
“When will the police get here?” she asked.
“No clue,” he breathed. “I hope they get here soon, otherwise; we’ll have to keep your guest company until they do show up.” Damion slowly opened the front door and pushed her behind him and blocked her view of the hallway. She heard the hum of the microwave from her kitchen and pointed back down the hallway. Damion nodded as if picking up on her not-so-subtle signals.
Nix tried to peek around his big body but she couldn’t see anything. Damion pulled the gun free from the waistband of his pants and pointed it into the kitchen. “Who the fuck are you?” he asked.
Nix could hear her kitchen chair scrape across her hardwood floor. “I’m Nixon’s brother, Carter. Who the fuck are you?” her brother asked.
“Carter?” she questioned. She made her way around Damion and saw her brother standing in the middle of her kitchen. “What the hell are you doing in my home?” she asked. “How did you even get in here?”
“You gave me your code, remember? But when I went to use it, your damn alarm wouldn’t shut up. By the time I got it to stop and ran up to your bedroom to tell you that it was just me, and not an intruder, I realized you weren’t even home. You’re out pretty late aren’t you?” he asked. “Are you wearing a bathrobe and slippers?” he questioned.
Nix looked down her body and back up at her brother. She realized that Damion still had her gun trained on Carter. “I think it’s safe to put the gun away,” she said. He tucked it back into his waistband. “And you,” she said, pointing to her brother, “you’re an idiot. I was home when you broke into my home and tripped the alarm. I pulled on my bathrobe and slippers and ran out the front door when I heard someone rummaging through my kitchen. I had a gun, Carter. I could have shot you.”
Her brother shrugged, “But you didn’t,” he challenged. “So, you ran out the front door and went where?” he questioned.
“She ran to my house,” Damion answered for her. “I live across the way.”
“And you are?” Carter asked.
“I’m Damion Pride,” he said. Damion made no move to hold out his hand for her brother or any other pleasantries that usually went with first meetings.
“You’re hanging out with a Pride?” Carter asked his sister.
“Who I hang out with isn’t your business, James Carter Lust,” Charity chastised, using her brother’s full name.
“Wait—your name is James Carter Lust?” Damion asked. “Boy, you weren’t kidding when you told me that your dad had a thing for politics.”
“You told a Pride who you are? You told him who I am? Fuck, Nixon—we’re as good as dead now,” Carter shouted.
“No, we aren’t,” she said. “He’s considering helping us and Damion is the only one who knows who we are. I know what I’m doing, Carter,” she defended.
Damion held up his hand, effectively stopping their pending argument when Carter opened his mouth to challenge her. “As much as I’d love to see you two go full WWE on each other, I think that you need to get out of here, Carter. I called the cops and they’ll be here any minute. If they take you in and fingerprint you, they’ll know who you are. Everyone will. Nixon and I will stick around and meet them here. We’ll tell them that the intruder was gone by the time we got back. Here,” Damion pulled his keys from his pocket and handed them to Carter. “Go over to 528 Gillian Street and let yourself in. That’s my place and when this is over, I’ll come let you know.”
Carter looked like he wanted to argue, but he took the keys and started for the front door. “Go out the back,” Damion said. “The cops can’t show up here and find you walking out the front door, man.”
Carter huffed out his breath and headed for the back of the house. He paused before opening the door and looked back at her and Damion. “You sure you can trust this guy, Nix?” he asked. Nixon remembered the conversation they had over dinner—the one where Damion admitted that he didn’t trust anyone and she wanted to lie and tell her brother that she didn’t, but she did.
“I trust him,” she whispered. “Now go, Carter,” she ordered. She watched as her brother walked out the back door and breathed a sigh of relief that he was gone before the cops got there. Damion was right, if the police showed up and found Carter there, they might take him in and his fingerprints would give him away. They would give them both away and she couldn’t chance that.
“Thanks,” she said to Damion.
“No problem,” he breathed. “Thanks for lying to him and telling him that you trust me,” Damion said. She gasped and turned to look up at him.
“How did you know that I was lying?” she asked.
“I’m pretty good at reading people and honestly, I would have done the same if I had a brother to protect. We’re not so different, you and I, Nixon,” he said. She wasn’t sure that she believed that. If she was like Damion, she wouldn’t have run out of her home, afraid of her own shadow. She didn’t think that she was like him at all.
The police showed up at her place just minutes after Carter left and she explained what happened, leaving out the part where they found Carter eating his way through her refrigerator in her kitchen. The police officer asked her if she was sure that someone had been in her place and she shrugged and smiled, telling him that her alarm had gone off but maybe the system had a short or something. Playing naive might be the way to go in all of this and when she admitted that she might have overreacted, the cop couldn’t seem to get out of her place fast enough. That was fine by her because she wanted to get back to her brother and find out why he was at her place. Nixon had so many questions and she knew that sleeping wasn’t going to happen for any of them until she had answers.
“I’ll call Carter and tell him to sneak back over here,” she said. “I appreciate you helping me tonight, Damion, but I’m sure that you’d like to get at least a few hours of sleep before your day starts.” She was dismissing him and judging by the look on his handsome face, he knew it.
“Oh no,” he breathed. “I want to know why your brother risked everything to come back here. Something has to be up and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the Syndicate.”
“It does,” Carter admitted. He had walked through the back door and caught the tail end of their conversation. “I’m assuming that the cops are gone?” he asked.
“Yep,” Nixon said. “They think that I’m just some crazy woman who overreacted to her alarm going off.”
“Well, they have that part right,” Carter teased. “You are a crazy woman.”
“Why are you back here, Carter?” Nix questioned.
“I found out that there is going to be a partnership between the Gluttony, Sloth, and Wrath families again. The last time that happened, our mother and father died. I was worried that they found out who you really are and well, I beat it back here.” Carter crossed the kitchen and pulled her into his arms. “If anything happened to you, Sis, I’d lose my fucking mind.”
Nixon wrapped her arms around her brother’s waist. “I feel the same way about you, Carter. That’s why you showing up here pisses me off. You put yourself in danger by coming home. I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding in plain sight, but you haven’t.”
“What if your wrong, Nix?” he asked. “What if someone in the Syndicate knows who you are? I mean, you told a Pride about us—what if he told the others?
”
“You don’t know me, Carter, so I’ll let that slide. I just found out tonight who you and your sister are.”
“And, I didn’t tell him—my ex-boyfriend from high school did. We ran into him at dinner and he mentioned our last name. I know better than to just run around telling Syndicate members who we are,” Nix defended.
“I never said that you did it on purpose, Sis. I just assumed that you told your new boyfriend who you are. How long have you two been together?” Carter asked.
“We’re not,” Damion quickly answered. Nix wasn’t sure why his denial hurt the way it did, but it did.
“Oh—sorry,” Carter said. “I just assumed.”
“Well, knock it off,” Nix said. “Rock wanted me to see if Damion and his business partner, Finn Envy, would want to join forces—you know, against the other families.”
“Did you agree to Rock’s proposal?” Carter asked. She worried that her brother was being too pushy. Damion didn’t seem to respond to being pushed.
“Haven’t decided yet,” Damion said. He turned to Nix, “I talked to Finn and he seems to be on board. I just need a little more time to think things through. I will have an answer for you by our lunch meeting.”
“Lunch meeting?” Carter asked. “You guys sure that you’re not seeing each other?”
“We’re sure,” Nixon said. “Can I catch a ride with you to the meeting? I don’t want to ride with Rock if I can help it.” She knew she was asking a lot of him. Damion would have to drive across town to pick her up, but the restaurant the lunch meeting was at, was near her office.
“No problem,” Damion said.
“Why can’t you just take your car?” Carter asked.
“Because my tires were slashed,” she said. “I’ll fill you in on everything in the morning. Right now, I just want to sleep.”
“Yeah—I’ll head back over to my place and try to get a few hours sleep in. Night,” Damion said.
“Thanks for tonight,” Nix said. “I appreciate well, everything.”
“Not a problem. See you tomorrow. I’ll text when I’m on my way to pick you up. Just make sure that Rock makes this meeting a priority and shows up,” Damion ordered. Nix watched him leave and she could feel her brother’s eyes on her, and she knew he had a million questions he wanted to ask. Well, she felt the same way about him, but she suddenly felt exhausted.
“Not now, Carter,” she said before he even got one word out. “We’ll talk in a few hours.” Nix made her way up to her bedroom and shut the door, closing out the world and one damn long day.
Damion
Finn walked into Damion’s office and sunk into the sofa by his desk. Damion dropped the papers he was reading and looked over at his friend. “What’s up, man?” he asked, after his friend dramatically sighed not once, but twice.
“Just a shitty date last night,” Finn said.
“Guy or girl?” Damion asked.
“Does it matter?” Finn questioned.
He shrugged, it didn’t matter to him, really. He knew who Finn was and Damion didn’t care who he dated, as long as he was happy—which at the moment, he wasn’t.
“No,” Damion said. “I’m just worried about you is all. You haven’t seemed happy in a while now.”
“I’m working on it,” Finn said. “It’s just taking me some time to get there. You ready for this meeting with Rock today?” he asked.
He wanted to tell Finn that he wasn’t, but he needed to be ready. “Sure,” Damion lied.
Finn laughed and sat up, “Well, if you are going to sit here and outright lie to me, I’ve got some work to do this morning before our meeting.”
“Before you run off—any word on your tires?” Damion asked.
“Yeah—you were right. It looks like whoever slashed my tires used a hunting knife, just like they did on Nixon’s tires,” Finn said.
“Shit,” Damion grumbled. “Who the fuck do you think has it out for you and Nix?” he asked.
“No clue, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It could still just be a coincidence. Do you want to ride together?” Finn asked.
“No,” Damion said. “Sorry, but I have an errand to run first. Can I meet you there?” He thought about telling Finn that he was going to be picking up Nixon on his way to the restaurant, but he didn’t want to listen to Finn give him shit about it. Sure, Nixon was sexy as fuck and when she let him hold her last night, she felt right in his arms. But, he knew something that no one else knew—Nix was a Lust and that made her off-limits. He knew that as soon as the rest of the Syndicate found out who she was, she’d have a target on her back and that was something that he tried to avoid at all costs. He and Finn were trying to go legit and hooking up with Nixon Lust was a fucking awful idea.
“See you there,” Finn agreed, letting himself out.
He pulled around the corner from Rock’s building to pick up Nixon. She texted him to meet her there so that no one would see him picking her up. He had to admit, it kind of hurt his feelings and made him feel like Nix’s dirty secret, but then he remembered that they weren’t together and he wasn’t anything to Nix.
She slipped into his passenger seat and looked around. She reminded him of an undercover spy and he couldn’t help his chuckle. “Hey,” he said.
“Why are you laughing at me?” she asked.
“You just reminded me of a spy. You seem nervous, Nix. You all right?” he asked.
“I can’t explain it but I keep feeling like someone is watching me, following me. I guess I’m just paranoid about what happened last night—um, this morning.” He was still feeling a little shell-shocked after the last night that they had practically spent together. He wouldn’t have blamed her for taking the day off, yet she looked fresh and ready to go. Hell, she looked hot in her business suit and heels, but he’d keep that bit of information to himself.
“You have every right to still be a little shook up after everything that happened to you, Nix,” Damion said.
“Thank you for saying that,” she whispered.
“I don’t mean just what happened yesterday but when you were younger too. Losing your parents, having to give up your identity, and sending your brother away—it was a lot for you to have to go through, and I’m sorry,” Damion said. Since learning who she was and hearing her story last night at dinner, she was all he could think about. She had lost so much at such a young age.
Nixon nodded, “You have nothing to be sorry for, Damion. But, I appreciate you saying all of that. It hasn’t been easy, but Carter and I have gotten through.” He hated hearing the sadness in her voice and decided that it might be best to change the subject.
“Rock meeting us at the restaurant?” he asked.
“Yep,” she said. “Although he said to tell you that he doesn’t like to be summonsed anywhere by his nephew.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s a matter of respect for him. My uncle likes to have people’s respect and when he doesn’t want to work to earn it, he intimidates them into giving it to him through fear. But, you already know all about that, don’t you?” he asked.
“I know that things between Rock and your father were strained, Damion. And sure, your uncle can be very intimidating, but I think that you need to give this merger between your three families a chance,” she said.
He knew that she was right, especially since he was holding an ace up his sleeve that Rock didn’t have—two people who could help resurrect the Lust Syndicate. He knew something that his uncle didn’t—that Nix was a Lust and once she joined their little merger, their four families would be unbeatable.
“That was the past and this agreement with my uncle will possibly be the future of the Syndicate, and that’s all that matters,” Damion said. “Let’s just get to the restaurant for this meeting and see how things go. How’s your brother?”
“I have no idea,” she admitted. “He was asleep when I left this morning. I didn’t want to wake him just to tell him that I was heading into the office, so I let
him sleep.”
“What do you think he’ll do now that he’s back?” he asked. Damion was hoping that Carter would stand up for his family. If they could present a united front to Rock, he might be more willing to agree to what Damion was about to propose at lunch. He knew that Rock wanted a chunk of his and Finn’s company, but that wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t give up what he and his friend had put some much time, money, and energy into building. If Rock wanted a merger of family allegiances, he’d be very willing to pledge that for the Pride Syndicate but his and Finn’s company was off-limits.
“I’m not sure, really,” Nix admitted. “I’m not even sure why he’s here. I get that he wants to protect me from the Gluttony family but him showing back up here only puts us both in danger,” she said. He agreed—Carter showing back up in town wasn’t the best idea, but he also knew that sooner or later, they’d both have to expose who they were. Plus, there was safety in numbers, so having Carter around might be a good thing for him and Finn.
Damion pulled into the parking lot to the restaurant and found Finn standing at the front entrance, his arms crossed over his chest, staring him down. “Shit,” Damion grumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Nix asked.
“Well, you see my angry best friend over there?” he asked. She looked over to the front of the restaurant and nodded back over at him. “I told him that I couldn’t ride with him because I had an errand to run beforehand. I never imagined that Finn would show up before we did. He’s chronically late—for everything.”
“And, now he knows that you lied to him and that I’m your errand,” Nix said.
“Yeah, and he’s never going to let me live this down. He thinks that I have a thing for you,” he breathed. Shit. That was the last thing he wanted Nix to know, but for some reason being around her gave him diarrhea of the mouth.
“A thing for me?” she asked.
“Yes, Finn thinks that you’re just my type,” he admitted.
