by Kate Serine
The Agency goons had only about a thirty second lead on us, but by the time we reached Halloran’s mansion, they were already busting in, guns drawn.
Nicky cursed under his breath as he threw the Escalade into park. “Fucking figures.”
I followed his line of sight and saw Freddy the Ferret standing in the doorway, cell phone at his ear, a shit-eating grin draped across his thin lips. But before I could respond, the sound of gunfire erupted from within the mansion.
“Sophia,” I breathed, throwing open the door and leaping out. But before I could get very far, Nicky grabbed me around the waist and lifted me from my feet. I kicked and squirmed, struggling to get out of his hold. “Let me go! We have to help her!”
Nicky’s arms tightened around me. “What are you going to do?” he hissed in my ear as two more loud pops fired off in the house. “You’re not even carrying.”
I instantly went still and waited for him to set me back on my feet. “She’s a tigress,” I reminded him, my voice tight with tears. “She’ll attack them if they barge in.”
“I know, baby,” he whispered.
I sagged against him, glad his arms were still wrapped around me when the agents emerged from the house a few minutes later, dragging Sophia’s body by her white hair and leaving a long red streak on the stone steps.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I shrieked, furious tears hot on my cheeks. I broke out of Nicky’s hold and stormed toward them, shoving the agent who held Sophia’s hair in his grasp. “You didn’t have to kill her, you fucking asshole!” I shoved him again, then grabbed his hand, trying to pry his fingers loose. “Let her go, goddamn it!”
“Turn her loose, Pryor.”
My head snapped up and rage filled my veins with furious fire when I saw Ian Spalding’s smug, indifferent expression. Something between a growl and a scream erupted from my gut, burning my throat as I launched myself at Ian’s throat, fully intending to rip it out. As it was, I was only able to get in a right hook to his jaw before someone grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms.
“Get your hands off her!” I heard Nicky growl. And then the guy holding me dropped to the snow, taking me with him. My head smacked into the ice, making the world go dark for a split second before I saw Nicky’s face before me, his brows drawn together in concern. A shadow loomed up behind him.
“Watch out,” I managed, my words slurred.
Nicky twisted up in time to catch the arm swinging toward him, then turned it with a jerk. The gun dropped and Freddy the Ferret face-planted in the snow next to me, his expression contorted with pain.
“Nicky, you fucking prick,” he ground out. “I’ll kill you for this.”
“Well, I think we’ve had enough fun for one night, don’t you?” Ian drawled, taking my elbow and helping me to my feet.
Nicky stood across from me, his hands raised in response to the three agents whose guns were now trained on his head. But the look in his eye told me he was about two seconds away from taking them down.
“Tell your goons to lower their guns,” I said, my vision blurring annoyingly. “I just want to know what’s going on.”
Ian jerked his head toward his guys, who holstered their weapons and took a couple of steps out of Nicky’s reach. Nicky hurried toward me and took my face in his hands, his worried gaze searching mine. “You okay, doll?”
I smiled in spite of the pounding in my head. Was I okay? How could I not be when he was looking at me that way?
“I need you to read her,” Ian ordered, his words cutting across my moment of hopeful happiness. “Tell me what she was thinking when she died.”
“Fuck you,” Nicky snapped, his expression going deadly. “She’s not doing shit for you. If you wanted to know what Sophia had in her head, you shouldn’t have killed her.”
“She attacked us,” Ian said, his tone infuriatingly reasonable. “I couldn’t allow her to kill my men.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Ian?” I spat.
“Same thing you were, I imagine,” he smirked. “Oh, yes. I saw you sitting there in the woods. Nice try, though.” He blinked at me expectantly. “Now, the tigress?”
“Not until you show her the respect she deserves,” I insisted, squaring my shoulders. “I’ll call in the FMA to take care of her and the guards I’m assuming you knocked off to get to her, and then I’ll read her.”
Ian’s lips flattened in an angry line, but he forced a smile and inclined his head. “Very well then.”
I tried calling Red first, but the call went to her voice mail and I hung up before leaving her a message. I tried Al next, and he picked up on the first ring. “Hi, Al,” I said, sniffing when the sound of his steady voice brought tears to my own. “I need a team out at Tim Halloran’s place.” I pegged Ian with a furious glare. “His girlfriend Sophia was murdered by the Agency.”
“Murdered?” Ian hissed, as I pocketed my phone, not having waited to hear Al’s response. “I told you—I had no choice!”
I ignored him and squatted down by Sophia. I hadn’t known the tigress. Hadn’t really even liked her when we’d chatted with her in Halloran’s study. But as I looked down at her now, I felt such a weight of sadness, it nearly knocked me on my ass. She didn’t deserve to be gunned down by these Agency assholes. No one did. And as I gently tilted her head toward me and looked into her eyes, a horrible foreboding began to creep just beneath my skin, making my muscles twitch with apprehension. I tried to shove the feeling aside and waited for the connection to begin with Sophia’s mind, but it didn’t come.
“That’s weird,” I muttered. I shifted positions and tilted her head at a slightly different angle. But had the same result. She was completely and totally blocked from my sight. I shook my head a little, trying to clear my own muddled thoughts, but the movement cost me my balance, and the next thing I knew, I was face-down in the snow again.
Nicky was there in an instant, helping me back to my feet. “You all right, doll?”
I tried to nod, but I swayed again. “Shit. I guess not.”
“That’s it, I’m getting you to the hospital,” he informed me, bending to scoop me up into his arms. As much as I would’ve loved the whole romantic carry and snuggle back to the Escalade, I wasn’t about to leave Sophia in the Agency’s clutches. I wiggled out of his hold, dropping back to my feet.
“I can’t leave yet,” I told him.
“Trish—”
“I’m not leaving her, Nicky,” I insisted, blinking rapidly to try to bring him back into focus.
“Nicky?” Ian repeated, a smug grin slowly curving his mouth. “Nicky Blue?”
Nicky eyed him warily, his muscles visibly tensing, preparing for a brawl. “In the flesh.”
Ian pegged me with that cocky grin that I’d once, in a brief moment of weakness and profound naïveté, found so charming but which now turned my stomach. He jerked his thumb at Nicky. “So, this is the guy you were talking about in your sleep?”
My eyes went wide, but before I could really sink into my humiliation and get all comfy, Nicky snapped, “How the hell do you know she talks in her sleep?”
Ian’s grin widened, and he shoved his hands in his pockets, puffing his chest out a little. “You didn’t know I fucked her?”
“Shut up, you bastard!” I hissed, my heart shattering at the look of shock on Nicky’s face.
“Oh, yeah,” Ian drawled, apparently reveling in my complete and utter mortification. “I totally hit that.”
I grabbed Nicky’s arm and tried to pull him away, but he was anchored where he stood, his expression taking on a deadly look that frightened me a little, but apparently had no effect on Ian, who leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “She might look innocent, my man, but she’s a freak for it. You get a piece of that sweet ass yet?”
Nicky struck lightning-fast. His arm shot out, his hand grasping Ian by the throat and lifting him from his feet before he slammed him down on the hood of his car. Ian kicked wildly, clawing at Nick
y’s hand around his throat, ripping into Nicky’s skin, but Nicky didn’t even flinch. He narrowed his eyes at Ian, the rage in his expression twisting his features into a frightening mask. And for one brief moment, he was unrecognizable to me.
“Nicky, let him go,” I said, trying to pull his hand away from Ian’s throat. But his fingers only tightened. Ian’s lips were beginning to turn an alarming shade of blue. “Nicky!”
He suddenly released the Ordinary and took a step back, pegging Ian with a murderous glare, letting him know that he’d take him down in a second if the asshole pissed him off again. “Apologize to her,” Nicky hissed. “Right. Fucking. Now.”
Ian coughed and sputtered and sent an unrepentant glare Nicky’s way. “Go to hell.”
Nicky took a menacing step forward, sending Ian stumbling backward into the car’s grill. “Wanna try again, dickhead?”
Ian’s mouth twisted into a furious frown, but then he straightened to his full height and smoothed his sleeves to regain his composure before forcing a mirthless grin. He inclined his head toward me briefly before grinding out, “Forgive me, Trish. What I said was in poor taste.” Then he gestured to his men. “Let’s get the hell out of here. We’re not going to get anything from these stiffs.”
I managed to stay on my feet long enough to watch the Agency bastards pile into their vehicles and take off. But the second they were out of sight, the world seemed to shift, and I listed, throwing out my arms to catch myself this time. Luckily, another set of arms was there to keep me from hitting the ground. And this time when Nicky scooped me up, I didn’t protest. I rested my head against his chest, suddenly so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
Nicky gave me a little shake. “Stay awake, doll. You need to keep those pretty eyes open. Can you do that for me?”
I nodded even as my lids began to drift closed again.
“Trish,” he said, jostling me again. “Wake up. Come on.”
“Can’t,” I muttered, alarmed to hear my words slurring. “So tired . . .” He somehow managed to get the car door open and set me inside, buckling me in. I squinted at him, trying hard to stay coherent. “So sick . . . of getting my head knocked around.” I lifted some of my curls out of the way to show him the scar on my forehead from where one of Sebille’s followers had slammed my head into the dashboard of his car last fall and split my skull open. It would’ve been a deadly blow if Sebille hadn’t healed me just so she could try to kill me later.
Nicky smoothed his thumb over the scar, a soft look coming into eyes that had been murderous just minutes before. Then his hand cupped my face and his thumb smoothed across my cheek.
“You’re bleeding,” I murmured, catching a glimpse of a thin trickle of crimson where Ian had clawed at the back of his hand.
Nicky shook his head. “It’s nothin’, doll. Don’t worry about it.”
“Put pressure on it,” I murmured, reaching into my coat pocket and pulling out the handkerchief I kept there, too foggy to realize what I’d grabbed until Nicky had already taken it from me.
He grinned a little as he smoothed his thumb over the NB monogram. “Where’d you get this?”
I narrowed my eyes as he went all fuzzy on me. “From you,” I told him, suddenly feeling a little nauseated. I closed my eyes. “You gave it to me that day in my lab.”
“And you kept it?”
I nodded ever so slightly. “Of course I did. It was from you. . . .”
I felt the back of his fingers drift down the curve of my jaw and opened my eyes. He was gazing down at me so intently, my breath caught in my chest.
“Trish—”
“What the hell happened here?”
Nicky closed his eyes for a beat, then pulled back from me. “The Agency,” he explained to Nate, who’d suddenly appeared beside him. “They came in guns blazing. Killed Sophia and the guards. Trish called it in to Al Addin a few minutes ago.”
Nate nodded, then cast a concerned look toward me. “Did they hurt Trish?”
Nicky’s face suddenly went dark again. “No. I got into it with one of the agents and she was in the middle of it and got a concussion. It’s my fault she’s hurt.”
Nate leaned into the car and gave me a comforting smile, patting me on the thigh. “I’ve got this,” he assured me. “Let Nicky get you outta here, okay?”
I nodded, then rested my head back against the seat, relieved to be able to turn the crime scene over to someone else and wishing like hell that I knew what Nicky had been about to say. Unfortunately,
any hope I’d had of him renewing the conversation was extinguished the moment unconsciousness wrapped me in its arms and dragged me down into its dark embrace.
Chapter Nine
“I’m fine,” I insisted as we drove away from the hospital a couple hours later. “Really.”
Nicky’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “You shouldn’t be,” he replied. “You had one hell of a concussion. Tales heal fast, but they should’ve kept you longer. What if they sent you home too soon and something happens? I don’t trust that hack doctor.”
“Dr. Knowall might’ve been a total sham in Make Believe,” I conceded, “but he’s earned a legitimate medical degree from both the Ordinaries and Tales since coming here.”
I honestly was just as surprised as Nicky that I’d only had to spend two hours in the Tale hospital before they assured me everything looked fine and I was free to go. But I’d taken a look at the X rays myself, had gone over all the other tests, and I would’ve made the same diagnosis.
He shook his head. “I still don’t like it. And that Agency cocksucker better hope he never crosses my path again. Did you really sleep with that asshole?”
I sighed, hating to admit to my serious lapse in judgment. “Unfortunately.”
“What the hell did you see in him?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He was hot and I was lonely, I guess.”
We didn’t speak for most of the drive back to Nicky’s. Now that my brain was fully functioning again, I was so humiliated by what Ian had divulged, I couldn’t even look at Nicky. I watched the landscape zip by, wishing the drive was just a little longer and not looking forward to the uncomfortable conversation that was going to have to take place at some point. I had no idea how I’d even begin to explain to Nicky why I’d been talking about him in my sleep. Gee, Nicky, I’ve been secretly in love with you for decades, was just this side of pathetic.
“So, is it true?” Nicky asked suddenly, making me start and bump my head against the passenger window.
“Freaking hell!” I muttered, rubbing my head where I’d smacked into the glass. “Is what true?”
“That you said my name in your sleep when you were with Ian?”
Oh. Wow. Okay. So we were going to do this now. Awesome.
I swallowed hard, but my mouth was dry and my answer came out as a quiet rasp. “Apparently.”
“So . . .” he drawled, a slow grin curving his lips, “does this mean you’ve had a little crush on me for a while, Trish?”
“Oh, God,” I muttered, my face instantly on fire. I glanced out the window, briefly wondering how much it could really hurt if I bailed out.
“It’s okay, you can say it,” he teased, then added in a ridiculously high-pitched voice that was supposed to be all girlie, “ ‘Yes, Nicky, I’ve had a crush on you for ages. You’re so handsome.’ Go ahead. It’s easy.”
I cast a tortured look his way, wondering if he knew just how close to the truth he was. “Could we just drop this, please?”
He shook his head, his grin growing, as impossible as that seemed. “Nope, not until you admit you like me.”
“Like you?” I repeated. “Are you kidding me? What are you, like ten?”
He chuckled. “Dear Trish—do you like me? Check yes or no.”
“Oh, my God,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “This is ludicrous.”
“Then stop avoiding the question,” he prompted with a laugh.
I
punched him in the shoulder, which served only to make him laugh harder. “Would you shut up?”
“Just say it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin a notch. “I’m not saying it. You can just sit there and stew in curiosity.”
“Why won’t you say it?”
“Why should I?” I countered.
“Why shouldn’t you?” he shot back. “You really can’t deny I’m irresistible, doll. Charming, funny . . . devilishly handsome, too. Oh, and humble.”
“Oh, yes, humble,” I mocked. “We can’t forget that one.”
Nicky sent an expectant glance my way. “So . . . ?”
“Good Lord,” I huffed. “Fine! Yes, Nicky, I’ve had a crush on you for ages.”
He grunted, but was still grinning. “Good.” And that was it. No more questions. No more discussion. He dropped it just like that.
Which was totally infuriating.
Good? Good? What the hell did he mean by that? Was it just his male ego strutting around, metaphorical chest puffed out, because he could hold it over the other guy’s head? Or was he actually glad that I’d been dreaming about him? If so, why didn’t he ask me more? Why didn’t he ask me what I’d been dreaming about? If I’d dreamed about him often? He didn’t even ask me how long I’d had a crush on him, for crying out loud. Criminy!
I sat in the passenger’s seat torturing myself the rest of the way to Nicky’s, trying to analyze the inflection in his voice in that one simple word, the expression on his face. But when he pulled through the gates, I still hadn’t reached a satisfactory conclusion. I was scowling so intently that when I didn’t immediately get out of the Escalade, Nicky came around and opened my door.
“Trish?” he said softly, the levity we’d shared gone now. “We’re here, doll.”
I turned my scowl on him, but the tender look in his eyes dissipated my irritation in an instant. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Lost in thought.”
He took my hand and helped me out, then led me up the steps, my hand still clutched tightly in his. I expected him to turn me loose once we were inside, especially in light of what his teasing had goaded me into admitting, but instead of releasing my hand, his fingers shifted, twining with mine more securely than ever. Without a word, he led me into the kitchen and only then did he release my hand so that he could help me out of my coat. Then he pulled out one of the chairs at the island bar and handed me up before turning away and busying himself at the stove.
