Nerdy Girl Nation (Nerdy Girl #1)

by Lindsey Gray

  “Yes, it is.”

  “I’d like you to look at this handwriting sample and tell me what you see.”

  The Chief slid another plastic sleeve toward her with random words written on it. She moved her gaze back and forth between the two sheets. Every single random word was a word in her letter. Each word appeared similar if not exactly like their pair in her letter.

  “They are very similar.” Emma’s throat tightened. “Who wrote these words?” Her voice squeaked and shook. Could it be possible her tormentor had finally been found?

  “We made other arrests besides your father recently. A gentleman was asked to write out his statement. When my detective passed it on to me, I noted the similarities to the writing in your letters. I pulled in all the favors I could with Judge Kessler and got a warrant for this man’s dental records.”

  Emma’s stomach clenched and she wrapped her arms around her abdomen.

  “They are a match, Emma. The district attorney is ready to press charges.”

  Emma closed her eyes and let out a sob of relief. “Who?” she whispered.

  Chief Simmons cleared his throat and retrieved both plastic sleeves before he spoke. “Sully McInerney.”

  “Sully?” Emma’s eyes opened wide. Shock shook her body to the core.

  Sully. He’d been Derek’s best friend as well as his cousin. Sully. The guy who was known as Big Teddy Bear. Sully. He was everybody’s friend. Sully. The man who brought her flowers after the attack.

  “He visited me in the hospital. That fucking bastard sat and played cards with me while I sat in pain from his beating!” Emma stood up and shoved her chair back in the process.

  “I know just what will make you feel better.” The Chief stood with a smile.

  “What?” Emma looked at him like he just told her aliens existed and his wife would be giving birth to one any day now.

  “How would you like to be behind the glass when we question him and make the arrest?”

  She returned his smile. Her day just got a hell of a lot better.

  Emma stood behind a two-way mirror with Chief Simmons. Sully sat handcuffed to a table on the other side, a visible fat lip and bruising around his puffy right eye. She smiled at the fact that her father dealt the blows to his lying mouth.

  Detective Chris Durst walked into the interrogation room with a stack of folders in his hand.

  “How much longer until my lawyer gets here, Durst?” Sully asked and licked his swollen lip.

  “A few more questions.” Durst sat across from Sully and pulled a plastic sleeve from a folder. He set the folders down and placed the plastic sleeve in front of Sully. “Is this the statement you wrote out about the incident at O’Rourke’s?”

  Sully nodded. “Yes. Look, I told the other detective everything. The old man came at me.”

  “After you insulted his son and daughter.”

  Sully shook his head.

  “Would you look at this?” Durst passed over the plastic sleeve with the page of random words Chief Simmons showed Emma.

  Sully scanned it. “Yeah. What of it?”

  “This is your handwriting as well?”

  “Yeah. I don’t see the point of all this. My lawyer was supposed to be here over an hour ago. I’m sure my wife is worried about me.”

  Emma snorted. Let the bitch worry.

  “This is about to get interesting.” Chief Simmons grinned while the two watched a familiar form enter the interrogation room.

  “Mr. Winterbourne.” Durst greeted the man with a handshake and motioned to the chair at the head of the table. “Sully, you remember Silas Winterbourne?”

  “Sure.” Sully eyed Winterbourne with suspicion, which made Emma’s smile even wider.

  “The District Attorney is here to outline the charges we will be filing.” Durst tried his best to hold back a smirk, but Emma could see the corners of his mouth verging upward.

  “This was all a big misunderstanding. I’d had a lot to drink. I won’t press any charges and Mick doesn’t need to press any charges. I’ll pay for any damages to O’Rourke’s, so we can just forget the whole thing.” Sully waited for a response, but both of the other men just stared at him for a moment.

  Winterbourne broke the stare and placed a sheet of paper in front of Sully. “Your bail hearing is set for this afternoon after you meet with your attorney. I will let you know the state will be asking for you to be held without bail.”

  “What? This is all being blown way out of proportion.” Sully seemed pissed if the color of his face and throbbing vein in his neck was anything to go by.

  “Just read the charges.” Winterbourne pointed to the sheet in front of Sully.

  Sully scanned the sheet and his eyes seemed to bulge just a tiny bit more at the end of each line.

  Sully pushed the paper across the table. “This is fucking bullshit! Attempted murder? Stalking? Please. I bet that old man is tougher than he looks. He got more hits on me than I did on him. What is he being charged with?”

  “Oh, Mr. MacLean’s charges were dropped. He’s being processed out right now,” Winterbourne stated with an air of authority.

  “Then what is all this shit?” Sully lifted his hands as high as the cuffs would let him and pointed to the paper.

  “Maybe I need to read this along with you.” Winterbourne stood and placed the paper in front of Sully again. He pointed his index finger on a line of the page. “Charges are being brought forth by the Commonwealth on behalf of Emma Jean MacLean.”

  Sully’s face went from beet red to pale pink in a matter of seconds.

  “I can’t believe how good this feels!” Emma whispered and Chief Simmons put his arm around her shoulders.

  “We have evidence linking you to the attempted murder of Miss MacLean twelve years ago and of stalking. I’m sure your lawyer will explain this all to you when he gets here.” Winterbourne pushed the paper away with his finger and moved to stand behind his chair.

  “Fucking cunt!” Sully roared and stood, pulling at his cuffs and flipping the table on its side in the process.

  Sully continued to scream obscenities and slam the table against the floor. Several officers entered the room and demanded he calm down. As the rage continued and warnings were ignored, officers were forced to taser Sully into submission.

  Sully lay on the floor, twitching from time to time, while Emma wept tears of relief in Chief Simmons’ arms.

  The Chief walked Emma out to the lobby where Rob, Harry, and Annie still waited. She didn’t know whom she wanted to walk to first. The fates made the decision for her when her father entered the lobby accompanied by an officer.

  “Dad!” Emma rushed into his arms and held tight.

  “Princess,” Mick sobbed into her shoulder and vibrated with each breath. “I’m fine.”

  “I know. Thank you, so much.” Emma pulled back. “You didn’t know it at the time, but you beat the crap out of the guy who has tormented me for years.”

  “What?” Mick stepped back, still holding onto Emma’s arms.

  Emma turned to look at the others and scanned each of their confused faces.

  “Go on. Tell them,” Chief Simmons urged.

  “Sully McInerney is the man who attacked me and has been sending me threats all these years.” Emma smiled and sighed in relief. “They matched his dental records and are going to officially charge him by the end of the week. He’s going away for a very long time.”

  “Oh, Emma.” Annie rushed into Emma’s arms and held on tight.

  “It’s finally over.” Emma gazed beyond Annie’s shoulder and saw Harry and Rob with unshed tears in their eyes. “I finally won.”

  The five of them moved to the door and walked out to the steps of the Marblehead Police Department.

  “Wait.” Emma held Rob back.

  He stood a step below her.

  “I’m sorry about Atlanta.”

  Rob shook his head and laughed. “We can go down there anytime we want. This is where we need
to be.”

  Emma gazed into his eyes and saw nothing but love and sincerity there. Everything she always wanted but never thought she could have stood before her. She wouldn’t let him go. Not again.

  “I love you,” she whispered when she went in for a kiss. His brilliant smile kissed hers and a jolt hit her right in the chest.

  Emma felt the steps beneath her feet fall away when Rob picked her up and twirled her around. He walked down the steps with her caged around him, arms and legs wrapped around him in a vice lock.

  “She loves me!” Rob yelled at the top of his lungs and spun her around again.

  “Yes, I do.” She kissed him again while her family laughed and clapped beside them. “Let’s go eat some breakfast, then I can show you how much.”

  Rob was the one to dive in for a back-bending kiss after he set her down on her own two feet.

  Once he brought her upright, he smiled and let out another laugh. “You’re the boss.” He winked and turned her around to head toward Harry’s car.

  She would never get enough of this man. Playful, sexy, loving Rob Breyer was all hers.

  A late July morning brought a new experience for Emma, her first family gathering at her new home.

  Emma and Nell were all moved in and almost completely unpacked. The first Saturday in their new house was also the day they would host their first party. Emma, Nell, Annie, and Charlotte spent the better part of the morning making enough food to feed a small country

  One thing that stood out to Emma was the fact her father and Rob were absent the entire morning. They were in the house somewhere, but she had not heard a peep from either of them in hours.

  “Now we need to find a guy for Aunt Nell,” Charlotte quipped while she frosted the last cupcake.

  “What?” Emma asked. “Now you’re a love guru and a pastry chef?”

  “I’m an ambitious eleven-year-old. Runs in the family.”

  The little brat was right. But Emma wondered about Nell.

  “What do you say, Nell? Any red-hot lovers on the horizon?” Emma threw her arm around her friend’s shoulders and pulled her close.

  “There’s a guy I met at the library. We’ve been to lunch a few times, but I don’t know if anything will come of it.” Nell’s cheeks were almost as red as her hair with embarrassment. She was almost as tight-lipped about her love life as Emma was.

  “He’s gotta be better than Stan.” Annie nodded in agreement about Nell’s ex-boyfriend. “Charlotte, you scope him out for us next time you’re at the library.” Emma snapped at her niece.

  “This is going to be so fun.”

  “Oh, no,” Nell spoke up. “You’re not getting into my love life. I’m perfectly happy living vicariously through you. The walls aren’t as thick as you think.”

  Emma was the one who turned red at Nell’s comment. Nell evidently got a good earful the first night Rob stayed over.

  “Let’s not talk about this in front of Charlotte.” Her niece had a huge crush on Rob but had pulled Emma aside and told her she approved of their relationship.

  “What shouldn’t we talk about?” Rob asked as he entered the kitchen with Mick.

  “Nothing.” Emma wrapped her arms around Rob’s neck. “Where were you two hiding all morning?”

  Rob grinned at Mick. “Excuse us for a while.” Rob took Emma’s hand and pulled her behind him.

  “What’s going on?” She asked and followed him upstairs.

  “It’s a surprise.” Rob urged her down the hall and stopped in front of the door of her would-be home office.

  “People are going to be here soon. I don’t have time to start unpacking.” Emma was upset she hadn’t had the time to set up the room the way she wanted. She needed hours if not days to arrange everything the right way.

  “Since your dad helped you pack up, he asked me to help him unpack for you.” Rob opened the door and she took a cautious step over the threshold.

  “Oh.” Emma’s chin dropped in awe at the perfection of her new nerd cave. Mick had paid attention and placed all her figures in the correct order on her shelves. Her comics were arranged on her old bookcase by series and date, just like they had been in LA. The framed prints were perfectly placed against the newly painted red walls. One thing throwing off the balance was the big lump of something covered by a sheet up against the wall.

  “What’s this?”

  Rob wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and laid his chin on her shoulder. “I had to get you a housewarming present. Now, topping the Lego alarm clock was going to be hard, so I had to think this one out. It took us a while to get this together, an original piece your father and I made especially for this room.”

  “You did?”

  “You wanna see?”

  Emma nodded. Excitement rushed through her veins at the thought of Rob and her father spending time together to make something for her.

  Rob pulled the sheet off with a flourish. “Tada!”

  “Oh. My. God,” she laughed. “It’s perfect.”

  The couch was unlike anything she’d ever seen.

  “We had a hard time finding the right color, so we ended up starting from scratch.”

  The overstuffed couch was a replica of the Tardis police box from Doctor Who. The L-shaped couch sat like the Tardis was on its side. It was even the right shade of blue.

  “You two made this?”

  “Yep. In Moira’s garage.” He kissed down her neck and across her shoulder.

  Emma turned to face him and met his lips with delectable fury. “This is amazing.” She continued her hurried kisses and fought his tongue for dominance.

  Rob’s hands found her round backside and pulled her hard against him, his erection at full attention.

  Emma pulled back for a breath. “I’ve never had sex in the nerd cave before.”

  “Is that fact about to change?”

  She didn’t care if her entire family was in the house and many of their friends would be there in a matter of minutes. She wanted to make love to her hot as hell boyfriend on her new couch.

  Emma pulled at the button on Rob’s jeans. “Let’s see how much bigger you are once you’re inside.”

  Chance Robicheaux didn’t have an opportunity to visit Emma’s new house until the day of the housewarming party. He’d stayed over an extra week in Atlanta when his mama broke her ankle and had surgery to repair it. Emma and her roommate had moved that week and he missed the whole thing.

  Chance parked his car in front of Emma’s new digs and walked around the house to the back yard.

  “Chance!”

  He turned and saw Emma’s brother, Harry, wave him over. “Hey, man.” Chance shook Harry’s hand.

  “Emma and Rob disappeared, so let me show you around and introduce you to the brood.”

  Chance fell into the family atmosphere of the MacLean/De Lacy household with ease. He laughed with Harry, Mick, and Seamus over a recent Red Socks game, even though he was a die-hard Braves fan. Grandma Moira gave him her stamp of approval and a pinch on the tush. Even sweet baby Sam drooling all over him didn’t change his feelings for the new clan.

  After a half an hour, Emma and Rob were still nowhere to be seen. Chance opened the sliding glass door to enter the kitchen and was met with a bowl full of potato salad to the crotch.

  “Oh, fuck. I’m so sorry.” The bowl was deposited on the floor. In the next second, there was a woman wiping the salad residue from the front of his cargo shorts.

  Chance didn’t know whether to thank her for giving his cock a much-needed rubdown or back away in embarrassment. He didn’t get the occasion to make a decision; the redhead’s hand froze when he swelled and moved.

  “I. Am. So. Sorry.” She backed up with her hands in the air, her cheeks bright pink with mortification.

  “I’m fine,” he replied. Hard as a rock, but mighty fine.

  She peeked up at him and every thought left his head. The brilliant green eyes, pink heart-shaped lips, and perfect curves were
enough to stop any man walking through traffic. She was gorgeous.

  “I don’t think that is the appropriate response to this situation,” she whispered and wrung the towel in her hands.

  “I’m Chance. Well, if you want to get technical it’s Charles Xavier Watson Robicheaux the third, but everyone calls me Chance.” He held out his shaky hand to her.

  “I know who you are.” She slipped her hand into his. “I’m Nell De Lacy.”

  “Nell,” he whispered as if the sweetest honey touched his tongue when he uttered the single syllable.

  Nell let go of his hand and thrust the towel at him. “Again, I’m sorry.”

  It was time to turn on the Southern charm Chance was so famous for. He lifted her hand up to his lips. “No trouble at all, Miss De Lacy. Feel free to put your hands on me whenever you like.” He kissed the back of her hand and winked at her.

  Nell shivered at the action and slowly took her hand from his. “I’ll think about it,” she mumbled and turned away.

  Chance grinned and wondered how much Nell De Lacy would affect his future.

  “This is gonna be a wild ride.”

  Emma MacLean: Former VP of Operations for Hunt Consolidated. Current Executive VP of Talent and Creative and General Manager of Televised Events for the International Wrestling Association. Daughter of Mick. Sister to Harry. Granddaughter of Moira. Formerly involved with Derek McInerney. Currently involved with Rob Breyer.

  Rob “Bobby” Breyer: Professional Wrestler with the International Wrestling Association. Son of Robert Senior and Lisa Breyer. Currently involved with Emma MacLean.

  Harry MacLean: Lawyer. Older brother of Emma. Son of Mick. Husband of Annie. Father of Charlotte and Sam. Grandson of Moira.

  Mick MacLean: Owner of boat charter business. Father of Harry and Emma. Son of Moira. Grandfather of Charlotte and Sam.

  Annie MacLean: Homemaker. Wife of Harry. Mother of Charlotte and Sam. Twin sister of Nell De Lacy. Older sister of Seamus De Lacy.

  Nell De Lacy: Librarian. Twin sister of Annie MacLean. Older sister of Seamus.