Lillian looked worriedly at Sasha, but she just mouthed back that it was fine and not to worry.
So Lillian focused back in on her lasagna, which was in fact delicious.
Phillip pushed his plate away before most of them and told Sasha that when he got back, he wanted to take her for ice cream before bringing her home for another chance to get to know her.
“No!” Nathan said hastily, making the whole table look his way.
“What?” Lillian asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Uh, nothing. I just… got some bad news about a stock,” he said, holding up his phone.
Lillian didn’t believe him, not even for a minute.
And then Phillip went to the bathroom, and both girls looked at Nathan in alarm.
“Why did you say that?”
“Nothing,” Nathan said, clearly withdrawing from his earlier position. “No problem. It was unrelated, as I said. So do you know where he’s taking you?”
Sasha shook her head. “But don’t worry.” She reached in her purse and pointed at a pepper spray container. “Honestly, if I do need to break it to him that I won’t be going on another date with him, I would rather do it alone anyway.”
Lillian sighed in relief. “So you don’t want to go out with him again.”
“I’m not saying that. I just—”
“Are you kidding?” Lillian asked. “Sash, the guy’s a jerk.”
“I know. To my friends. I think he was caught off guard, and I don’t like what he did. But he did apologize. I have to give him a chance.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t ever have to give anyone a chance. You’re incredible. You deserve someone who doesn’t react like that.”
“He’s fine when it comes to me.”
“Men who react like that really aren’t fine around anyone,” Nathan said quietly.
Lillian gasped, hitting him on the shoulder. “So the ‘no’ was about Phillip.”
“I don’t know. I don’t get a good feeling about him. Don’t go, Sasha. Stay home and do something with us.”
Sasha’s expression darkened, and Lillian knew what was coming. “I… don’t want to be the third wheel. And I’m not going to think the worst of him.” She looked between them as she gathered her things. “If you two are going to judge Phillip so harshly, maybe you do belong together. But I don’t want to live in such a dark world.”
She pulled out her wallet, but Nathan shook his head. “It’s on me. You can tell Phillip.”
Sasha nodded and then walked out of the restaurant, and Lillian stared at Nathan, aghast.
“You’re just going to let her go?”
Nathan turned to look at her, a frustrated expression on his handsome face. “And what did you want me to do? Tie her to the table?”
Lillian laughed. “No, not exactly. But I don’t think she should be going with him alone.”
“I don’t either, but I think with her, the harder you push, the harder she pushes back on you. She has to figure out this thing about Phillip on her own.”
“I guess.”
Phillip came out of the bathroom and gave them a glare before he noticed Sasha at the exit. Then he gave them a smug grin and walked past them, clearly feeling like the triumphant person for the night.
“Still can’t believe we’re just going to let them go,” Lillian said grumpily.
Nathan looked up when the check came and clearly recognized the woman who brought it. “Helen,” he said warmly, taking her hand and shaking it. “How are you and Chromium doing?”
The woman held out a hand where a diamond ring sparkled. “Things are going well.”
Nathan looked down to her twinkling finger and then up at her with a smile. “I’m glad.”
“I suppose so.” She pulled her hand back and grinned at him nervously. “Thanks again for everything you did for us. Chromium and I are grateful.”
“It’s no problem,” Nathan said with a smile. With that polite, charming, devil-may-care mask he had on with everyone but Lillian, it seemed. “Just don’t tell Chromium I’m here.”
Helen put up a finger to her lips and winked at both of them. “I won’t. Not until you’re gone.”
“Who is Chromium?”
“Lillian, meet Helen. Helen, meet Lillian. A great journalist and my date for the night.”
“Nice to meet you,” Helen said, shaking Lillian’s hand. “Nathan helped me and my husband when there was a fire here.” She looked at him. “Chromium told me what you did.”
Nathan shrugged. “It was nothing.”
Lillian’s jaw dropped. How could she have forgotten? Sure, it had been a burning wreckage in the photo, but this was one of the places she’d spotted Nathan after a fire. “Was everyone okay, then?”
Helen looked down at her kindly. “Yes. I think so. Thanks to Nathan here.”
“Did he help?”
“Um, I guess I’d better let him tell you about it.” Helen gave him a wink. “And, Lillian, it was nice to meet you. Tonight’s dinner is on me.”
Nathan looked as though he was going to argue, but Helen swept away toward the kitchen, and he lowered his hand in defeat.
“She’s nice,” Lillian said. “How do you know her?”
“I ate here a few times before the fire. It was just a coincidence that I was here when it happened.”
“That’s what they were talking about?”
Nathan stood and pulled on his jacket. “Maybe we should get going. Get back before it’s too late.”
“Stop changing the subject. You say it’s a coincidence, but that seems like a pretty big one.”
He ignored her, opening the door to the restaurant and ushering her out into the cool night air.
She rubbed her shoulders, thinking it was a bit colder than she’d planned on. But before she could so much as shiver, she felt a soft blazer settle over her shoulders.
She looked up at him, surprised. “Such a gentleman.”
“As if I could watch a woman shiver in the cold due to her own bad choices.”
She wanted to throw his jacket back at him, but when she looked over, she could see he was smiling and decided to just let him have that jab at her.
After all, she had miscalculated the weather, and his jacket was soft and warm.
They walked down the sidewalk toward the lot where they’d parked, and she breathed deeply of the night air.
Why did his jacket have to smell so good, so like him?
It made her think of last night, of the things they could do if they just went back to the mansion.
Then Nathan suddenly went rigid, stopping in place. He whirled around, looking at the restaurant, then at her.
“Listen, I forgot about something. Do you mind if we make a stop on the way home?”
“Um, sure.” But before she could say more, he had grabbed her hand and was pulling her toward the parking lot, hurrying as if his life depended on it.
He opened her car door for her and then ran over to his side.
When they were pulling out of the parking lot and he was looking quickly side to side, she turned to him.
“Um, Nathan, where are we going?”
He was focused and kind of reminded her of the day he’d taken her to lunch last minute. Did he just have some kind of compulsive thing where he needed to be somewhere?
“Uh, the liquor store. I’m out of scotch. Can’t spend a night without scotch,” he said vaguely.
“Nathan, that’s called alcoholism,” she teased but was pretty sure he wasn’t even paying attention.
“Right, right.” He turned onto the freeway and started going in the opposite direction of his house. He took an exit that was named for a local park, and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“Where are we going exactly? Wouldn’t there be a store in your direction?”
“Um, this one is better. Has better… scotch.”
“Oh.”
He relaxed slightly and turned on the radio as he kept driving. She
was pleased to find out they had the same taste in rock, and she relaxed a little as they took side street after side street.
For some reason, she felt he was someone she could trust. He wouldn’t be pulling over to do scandalizing things to her, because if he wanted that, he could do it at home.
And for some reason, she kept wanting him to.
Oh well, they would go to the store if it would make him happy, and then they could go home and—
Screech!
She jerked forward as the car came to a halt, and she looked over to realize they’d stopped at the entry to the parking lot for the park.
As he backed up and pulled into the lot, Lillian realized with a shock that the only car there this late looked a lot like the one Phillip had been driving, and the girl flailing in the front seat looked a lot like Sasha.
She didn’t even have to time to look over at Nathan in shock for somehow coming across this. It was beyond any coincidence, yet at this moment, she didn’t care.
All that mattered was getting to Sasha.
As she reached for the door, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll take care of it,” Nathan said sharply. When she hesitated, his expression darkened. “Aren’t I at least good for that much?”
Then he shoved open the door and leapt out of the car, striding toward Phillip’s vehicle, hands clenched into fists.
Lillian simply watched him, unsure why he was offended that she had thought of saving Sasha on her own, unsure why he should involve himself in something that didn’t concern him.
Unsure what to do with the fact that Nathan Lancaster might be a total mystery but actually a really good person.
Unable to sit still and wait, she opened her door, ready to back Nathan up if he needed her.
Chapter 13
Cold, familiar night blanketed Nathan as he strode toward his quarry’s vehicle, the cool sensation biting at his skin, making him feel alive in a way only darkness could.
For a moment, he almost forgot he wasn’t hunting. But the absurd lime-green hue of Phillip’s gaudy, impractical vehicle snapped him back to reality.
He’d known Phillip was bad since the restaurant. Since he’d had that stupid vision, showing him what was going to happen if Phillip was given the chance to be alone with Sasha.
Nathan hadn’t even made a very good excuse to Lillian. Yet somehow she’d bought it. Or, at the very least, not pressed him on the issue.
Inside, he could hear muffled protests from Lillian’s friend as she attempted to ward off the increasingly persistent douchebag in the driver’s seat who somehow thought “no” meant “yes.”
It made Nathan furious, and it made the monster in him want to feed.
The muffled noises were interrupted by two loud raps of Nathan’s fist on the driver-side window.
Phillip, not even looking back, waved a hand as if dismissing a servant or a plebe from his presence.
That was your one chance.
Nate smashed through the window with a snap of his fist, breaking the eerie quiet of the park. There was a yelp from inside as Sasha looked up. In an instant, Nathan reached inside, undoing the lock of the door and pulling it open, making the light aluminum of Phil’s sports car groan from the strain.
As much as Nate wanted to just rip the door off its hinges, there were witnesses present who might find that pretty odd.
And he’d learned a very, very long time ago to be smarter than that.
Before Phillip could even turn around, Nate grabbed him by the coat and tore him from the vehicle, flinging him onto the asphalt. Phillip made an oof sound as he hit the ground, then scrambled to his feet indignantly as he assessed the situation.
There were so many things Nate could do to the guy. Such casual evil deserved so much more than just defenestration. But breaking humans, at least publicly, was frowned upon in modern society.
“What the fuck, dude? Do you know how expensive that will be to replace?” Phil sputtered angrily. “Wait, what the hell are you doing here?” The recognition in his voice was only barely amusing.
Nate just ignored the man as he moved to Sasha’s side of the car and opened the door.
“Come on. We’re leaving.” This date was over.
Thankfully, Sasha, though still stunned, managed to get on her feet and headed toward Lillian, who was walking toward them.
At this point, Nathan wasn’t remotely surprised to see Lillian getting involved rather than waiting for him back at the car. It was frustrating and admirable at the same time.
“Wait, Sasha. Where are you going?” Phillip called out. “I’m sorry. I mean it. Just give me another chance—” He tried to sound apologetic, but his desperate anger only made him sound half-cocked.
“Bye, Phillip,” Nathan said, brushing his hands off, ready to head home.
“No! Just because you’re some hotshot billionaire, you think you own everyone. You don’t get to talk to me like that. You don’t get to call the shots for me!”
Phillip was starting to ramble, and the scent of drunkenness wafting on the light breeze only served to annoy Nathan more. Someone apparently had more than just wine tonight.
Humans always turned into such assholes when drunk. They lost all self-control. Lost their inhibitions, though it seemed to particularly apply to keeping their evil intentions in check.
Phil staggered forward, rolling up his sleeves.
As if. A fight with a human was already a joke. But with a drunk one?
Hilarious, if not for the fact his annoyance was slowly fading into something much, much darker with each passing moment.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Nathan warned.
Phillip ignored the warning and swung wildly. Nathan stepped to the side as if he were avoiding a slow-moving bubble that could be popped with the slightest breath. Grass grew faster than this guy punched.
Off balance, Phil’s fist flew forward and into the rear driver-side window of his car, breaking it. He cried out in pain and withdrew his fist, now bloodied from the broken glass.
“Oh no. Look what you did. My condolences,” Nathan said mockingly.
Phil’s eyes locked with his, full of infantile rage. Then he glared back at Sasha, jaundiced eyes glinting in the dim light of the parking lot.
“Are you really going to go home with this asshole? Take his side in this? Look what he did to my car, dammit. Look what he did to me!”
Lillian protectively stepped in front of her friend, shielding her. “She’s definitely not going anywhere with you. Just go home, creep.”
“You bitch. This is all your fault.” Phil pointed a bloody finger accusingly. “You ruined everything. You brought this asshole along and ruined my date, and—”
Phillip’s first footstep forward didn’t even make purchase with the ground as Nathan struck him with the back of his hand. A sharp thwack resonated through the surrounding trees as Phil flew backward, careening over the hood of his vehicle and onto the ground.
Nathan heard two hushed gasps behind him, but he didn’t heed them. His arm was surging with adrenaline, fingers twitching as he advanced on the unconscious Phillip.
He was being torn from within. A gnawing, soul-deep hunger ached inside him. A need to punish this monster.
But in another part of him, perhaps the human side, something else was building. Possessiveness? An instant reaction to even the slightest threat of danger toward Lillian? The need to serve swift retribution for any insult directed at the woman he was quickly regarding as his?
For a moment, he stood over Phil, composing himself. Then he reached into the bastard’s pockets, pulled out his car keys, and tossed them nonchalantly into a pair of nearby bushes.
That would give Phil something fun to wake up to.
He brushed his hands off once more, then headed casually back toward Sasha and Lillian, both standing stock-still like a pair of stunned statues.
“Can’t have him driving drunk like that. Not safe for people on
the road,” Nathan said, trying to sound composed.
“Uh, yeah. Right,” Lillian said, putting an arm around her friend and looking at him with suspicion. They followed him back to his car, and he opened the back door, ushering them in.
Nathan glanced over at the unconscious Phil, then took one final breath of night air. Then he got in and started the car.
They were done here.
For now.
* * *
“That was amazing,” Sasha said as they walked into the mansion, Lillian’s arm around Sasha’s shoulder in a reassuring, big sister kind of way. “Thank you so much, Nathan. How did you know where to find me?”
Lillian was still wondering the same thing. A part of her wanted to ask what the eff had just happened and how a trip for scotch had turned into an impromptu rescue mission.
Then again, she was beginning to think nothing that seemed impromptu with Nathan Lancaster actually was.
But she couldn’t bring herself to badger him right now. She was too grateful to him for saving her friend. Luckily, nothing much had happened to Sasha, except another broken heart, but it could have been much worse if they hadn’t come across her.
“Why do I have the worst taste in men?” Sasha wailed, leaning in against Lillian. She looked over at Nathan. “Why couldn’t I find someone like that one?”
Lillian felt an odd bite of jealousy but knew it wasn’t the right time to deal with it. Right now she needed to take care of Sasha, make sure her friend was all right.
All she knew was she’d never be the same after seeing Nathan stand up for them like that. He’d beaten down the asshole that hurt Sasha, not going further than he had to.
And he’d defended Lillian’s honor. Without thinking. With blinding rage yet that precision control that was so unique to him.
She was pretty sure she might have fallen in love with him at that moment.
But no, that was stupid.
She’d just never imagined a man would stand up for women like that. In her experience, men in power abused people, got away with it, and left other people to clean up the messes. Phillip was exactly that kind of guy, yet Nathan had knocked the piss out of him.
It was so satisfying to remember.
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