by Lane Hart
Or maybe I’m just hungry too.
Nah, I’m going to miss Nash like crazy, especially now, after how close we were last night.
I can’t help but worry that, after the wedding, he’ll get so drunk tonight that he’ll pass out before we get a repeat. I definitely want more before we have to leave in the morning to head back to Carolina Beach.
Will the police be waiting at Nash’s apartment for him? Or will he finally open up and tell me what’s going on before insisting that I drop him off at the police station?
God, this sucks.
Before I work myself up into a complete panic, the string quartet begins to play the very recognizable “Wedding March.” Jesus, I didn’t even notice the bridesmaids and flower girl coming down the aisle!
Everyone gets to their feet and turns around, waiting for the bride.
And there stands Ellie with her father on her arm in a formal tux. Her dress is beautiful and sexy, strapless with a fitted bodice that somehow hides her baby bump. It’s not fair that someone so evil could be so gorgeous. It’s horrible for me to think such a thing, but I hope one day her rotten core will show on the outside.
I don’t even risk a look at Nash while the pair walk down the aisle, afraid of what I will see on his face – the love in his heart he has for her and will only ever have for her.
But when we take our seats and the reverend begins the ceremony, Nash’s hand reaches for mine, interlocking our fingers. It’s such a sweet gesture for the outlaw biker, a suspect in a murder investigation, that I finally glance over at him.
His amber eyes are warm when they meet mine, filled with sadness, yes, but there is also a strength in them that clearly translates into seven words I can almost hear him muttering, Fuck ‘em, we’re better off without them.
For once, I think he may actually mean that.
Then, the reverend grabs my attention when he does the whole spiel while I hold my breath.
“Into this union Ellie and Barry now come to be joined. If anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully wed, speak now, or else forever hold your peace.”
There’s a heavy moment of silence, and I can feel several sets of the eyes on me and Nash. I’m not sure what he does, but I simply smile sweetly and give his hand a squeeze.
“Very well,” the reverend says before he carries on with the next part of the sermon and the crowd lets out a collective exhale.
Nash
“We survived in one piece without causing any problems for the happy couple, much to everyone’s surprise,” I lean over to whisper in Lucy’s ear as we sit at our assigned table with the other cousins.
“We did,” she agrees, flashing me a proud smile before leaning over to my ear. “And if you don’t drink like a fish, I will make sure you get more than one very happy ending tonight.”
My cock hears her loud and clear, perking up like an excited puppy, wanting her to pet it again. Or suck it. Hell, I think I could get off with her just looking at it in that wide-eyed way she does, like she’s impressed and a little terrified of the destruction it may cause between her legs. Not that those concerns slowed her down much last night. The sun was up before she tapped out and we switched to several amazing rounds of oral.
“Two drinks and I’m done,” I promise her, looking forward to another sex-filled night despite how shitty the sleep deprivation on the way home tomorrow will feel.
“Good,” she says.
“I’ll go find us both a glass of champagne.” I give her a quick kiss on the lips before I stand up, without even thinking about it and definitely not for show. Guess that’s how comfortable I feel around her after last night.
I’ve just grabbed two glasses from the bar while still thinking about the kiss when I turn around and find Ellie and Barry right the fuck in front of me like they’re purposefully cornering me.
“Congrats,” I say, handing them each a glass of champagne and then grabbing two more from the table.
“Thanks for not making a scene,” Barry says. “I was holding my breath waiting to see if you were going to stand up and proclaim your love for Ellie or not.” Both of them laugh together, happy and carefree like I’m the joke, the loser ex who can’t get over her.
“The thought didn’t even cross my mind. I’m already with the better woman,” I assert, the words ringing so true to my own ears that I’m certain they will also know I’m not bullshitting them. “Congrats again!” I add before slipping around them to head back to my seat.
“What was that about?” Lucy whispers when I hand her a glass.
“Nothing important,” I assure her as the happy couple and several others take the dance floor for a slow dance. “You want to dance with me?”
“Is that a joke?” she asks with a giggle. “I didn’t take you for the dancing type.”
“Guess there are still a few things you don’t know about me,” I say when I get to my feet and offer her my hand.
“Show me what you’ve got,” she says with a smile when she takes my hand.
I lead us to the edge of the dance floor and then pull Lucy close. The rightness I feel with her small body pressed to mine, her arms around my neck, it makes me wish we had more time together.
And why can’t we?
“So you can dance. I’m impressed,” Lucy looks up at me and says.
“I don’t want to leave tonight,” I tell her as I lean closer to inhale her sweet floral and fruity scent. “What if we just stay here a few more nights?” I ask.
“Stay here in the hotel?” she repeats in surprise.
“Yeah, why not? It’s been nice being in our own little world in our room.”
“Okay, let’s stay a few more days,” Lucy agrees with a grin. Her shoulders even relax as if she’s relieved and wasn’t looking forward to going home either.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucy
* * *
Nash has had five whole days to tell me about the warrants and that he’s a suspect, but he hasn’t said a word about them.
Not that we’ve talked all that much about anything. There was that brief pause when I had to get dressed Sunday to go tell my parents goodbye… Still, he’s had plenty of chances during the past two days when we barely got out of bed. There was no television or news, no distraction, barely any meals. So why hasn’t he been honest with me?
I figure he at least has to come clean on the ride home, because everything is about to go to shit. This is the last chance he’s going to have, so it’s now or never.
And if it’s not now, after everything we’ve been through, all the sweet and sexy moments together at the hotel, then I’m done waiting around for him to trust me. All I want is for him to think I’m someone worthy of confiding in, all the good and the bad.
“Would you mind dropping me off at Malcolm’s when we get back?” Nash asks as I drive us down the highway and we get closer and closer to town. This has to be it!
“Why Malcolm’s place?”
Here’s your opening, your chance to tell me the truth. Finally.
“No reason other than my bike’s there,” he says, continuing to lie by omission. And yes, I know I’m the queen of lies by omission, but I thought we had moved past that. Nash said he forgave me, but did he really?
“Sure, I can take you to Malcolm’s,” I agree. “What other plans do you have once we’re back?” I ask while keeping my hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.
“Same old, you know?”
“Just the same old? Nothing else?” I want to shake this beautiful man until he breaks!
“Nope.”
“Are you sure about that?” I prod.
“Ah, yeah. What’s with the third degree?” Nash asks, and I can feel his gaze on me.
“Really, Nash? Even after everything, all the time we spent together naked this weekend, you’re not going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” he questions innocently.
That’s when I lose it.
“I don
’t know, Nash. Maybe you could tell me why the sheriff deputies were searching your apartment last week and said you were a suspect in some serious freaking crimes?”
“You know about the search warrant?” he says, sounding shocked. “Wait. You’ve known all weekend?”
“Of course I know!” I exclaim. “You must think I’m stupid too, calling me up right before I left Thursday and suddenly begging to come with me to a wedding.”
“You knew I needed to get out of town to hide?” he repeats again.
“Yep.”
And his only response to that newsflash – “Fuck.”
Nash
* * *
Jesus fucking Christ! How could Lucy know about the warrant and not say anything or be freaking out? She must not know what crimes I’m a suspect for, because there’s no way she would’ve let me tag along with her out of state.
“So, what did you do?” she asks. When I don’t respond, she yells, her voice bigger than I expected from such a small package, “Answer me, Nash! I was your accomplice this weekend and your little slut for several days and nights, so the least you can do is finally tell me the truth about what’s going on!”
“You’re not a slut or my slut,” I assure her first and foremost.
“Whatever. You used me as an escape. I’m not stupid. You’re about to get arrested and spend a long time in prison, right? It makes sense that you would want to fuck as many times as possible before you get locked up.”
“You think that’s what this weekend with you was about?” I ask her. “I just wanted to be with you! That’s it. There was no ulterior motive.”
“I wasn’t a distraction from the wedding?” she asks me softly without taking her eyes off the road.
“No!” I exclaim. “Yes, you did distract me from that shit, but you also made me see that I already care about you more than I ever cared about the woman I married!”
“Now you’re just trying to get off topic,” Lucy mutters.
“That’s not what I’m doing. And I didn’t tell you about the warrant because I didn’t think you would want to be near me once you found out!”
“So you just decided you weren’t going to even try and trust me enough to be honest?”
“I haven’t exactly had the best of luck in the trust department, have I?” I remark.
“I’m not Ellie! I don’t expect you to be a freaking saint, Nash. All I want is for you to be honest with me and trust that I can handle whatever it is that’s going on in your life.”
“There’s no reason for me to put this on you, baby. It’s my mess, and I don’t want you to have any part in it.”
“That’s it then? I’m gonna drop you off at Malcolm’s tonight, and then we’ll go our separate ways?”
“I wish that wasn’t the only option, Lucy, I do,” I tell her. “Just trust me when I tell you that I’m going away for a long time, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. This weekend with you is probably the only thing that will get me through the hell I’m about to go through. It meant everything to me, but it’s over and done. You deserve better than this, better than what I can give you, and it won’t take you long to see that for yourself.”
“Fuck you, Nash!” she shouts at me when we come to a stop and I realize we’re already here, sitting in front of Malcolm and Naomi’s old farmhouse. “Get out of my car!”
Even though she’s angry and it will likely get me slapped, I still grab the sides of Lucy’s face and kiss her mouth hard. After a second of my lips working over hers, she finally opens up and lets me in, our tongues colliding like it’s the end of the world. In a way, it is the end for me.
I don’t want to end it, but eventually I make myself pull away and then tell her, “Forget about me. Find someone else to stalk. I was nothing but a waste of your time.”
Climbing out of the car before I do or say something stupid like ‘Come visit me behind bars’ or ‘I’ll write you every day,’ I open the door to the backseat to grab my bag and then slam the door shut without another word.
Malcolm walks out the front door with his little girl on his shoulder right around the time that Lucy puts her car in drive and throws dust on me as she peels out down the gravel road.
“Lucy didn’t want to join us for your last supper?” Malcolm asks as I walk up the porch steps.
“Nah, it’s best to make a clean break,” I reply.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You fell hard for her, didn’t you?” he asks with a cocky grin as he rubs circles on his daughter’s back.
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Why the hell else would you drag her into our shit?”
“I didn’t drag Lucy into anything,” Malcolm counters before pausing. “Okay, so I did persuade her initially, but the rest is on you two. I can’t lie, though. I figured you two would end up together.”
“How the hell did you know that? She’s the opposite of Ellie in every single way that counts.”
“You’re my best friend. I know what you needed – someone to kick you in the ass and not be afraid of their hands getting dirty.”
“I sort of hate you for throwing us together right when I’m done.”
“You’re not done,” Malcolm grits out. “And I was joking about this being your last supper. Keep the faith, brother.”
“Easier said than done,” I mutter.
Lucy
* * *
That dick!
I can’t believe he wouldn’t just come out and tell me the truth about what’s going on after how close we were these past few days.
He deserves to rot in jail!
Except he doesn’t.
I don’t care what charges the police may bring against him; if Nash hurt or killed people, it was for a damn good reason and they were bad men.
And I know that I won’t be able to sleep until I know everything there is to know about the case.
As soon as I get home, I get to work looking up the search warrants. I want to know the dates of offense and all of the gory details to see if there is anything I can do to help, even though Nash made it clear that he doesn’t want me to wait for him.
I can’t give up on him, though.
That’s what Ellie did and his parents. All of his life, people have walked away and abandoned him when he needed them the most. The only constant in Nash’s life has been the guys in the Dirty Aces MC. They’re like a close-knit brotherhood who would do anything for each other, which is why Nash most likely did what he’s suspected of doing.
Wrong or right still matters to me. But I know Nash, and he’s not some psychotic killer who goes around hurting innocent people.
Within a few hours of research, I’ve connected the victims’ names to the fire at a mansion a few miles away that was owned by Harold Cox, the same victims Nash had me find addresses for their families. The autopsy reports showed that they were all killed by bullets before being engulfed in the fire that’s been ruled an arson.
Cox had a record of being into all sorts of dirty businesses, including prostitution and gambling. And based on the other victims’ records, they were big men, probably hired thugs helping Cox get away with all sorts of illegal shit.
What I can’t figure out from the warrants and indictments I found online is why Nash is the only person they suspect.
Do they have some sort of evidence tying him directly to the arson? There’s no way he killed those men and burned the place down all on his own. The cops have to know that, which means they’re going to do their best to try and convince Nash to snitch on the others. But he won’t. Even if I haven’t known him very long, I know he’s loyal. He would never do anything to hurt his friends who are like family to him. The only family he has.
I want to be his family too, if he just would let me in.
And while it would be easier to give up, to forget about Nash and move on, I couldn’t imagine ever doing that to him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nash
>
* * *
“How is everything?” Naomi asks as the Dirty Aces and Jetta sit around the long wooden table in her and Malcolm’s dining room, digging into her homemade meal like we’re all starving animals.
“This is amazing, Naomi,” Jetta gushes first as the rest of us add our agreement.
“The fried chicken is absolutely delicious,” I tell her as I savor each and every bite, knowing that none of my meals in the foreseeable future will ever compare.
“So, Nash, why don’t you tell us about how the wedding went this weekend?” Malcolm asks with a smirk.
“You bastard!” I shout at him as I pick up a napkin to wipe my hands. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Why did you think I tried to talk you out of it?” he grunts.
“Knew what?” Naomi asks, looking between us.
“That Lucy is related to Nash’s ex-wife Ellie,” Malcolm explains, causing everyone at the table to gasp and nearly choke on their chicken. “And that Ellie married Lucy’s ex-boyfriend this weekend.”
“Hold up, hold up, hold up!” Devlin exclaims with his palm raised in the air. “You went to your ex-wife’s wedding with your new girlfriend, who is her cousin?”
“Yep, except Lucy’s not really my girlfriend.”
“Damn, that’s messed up,” Silas mutters with a chuckle and shake of his head.
“When did Lucy finally tell you?” Malcolm asks while grinning.
“Oh, she didn’t,” I reply. “I had no idea until I saw Ellie with her new man. Oh, and did I mention that she just sent the divorce papers a few weeks ago even though she’s, like, six months pregnant with his kid?”
