NICK (Carsonbrothers Book 3)

by S R Dyble

  "I'm glad you're okay," he said before placing his hand on Nick's shoulder. "Come on, we have to go."

  Nick nodded in agreement, then took my hand to lead me toward Kit's car.

  Once inside, I was thankful that Kit had the heating on. It was freezing outside and I still had my shorts on and only Nick's jumper acting as my only form of warmth. I saw Kit glancing at me in the mirror as I held onto my body tightly and Nick pulled off his t-shirt and handed it to me.

  "Wrap it over your legs," he told me and I shook my head.

  "No need." Kit pulled the car over.

  In the darkness, I felt nervous about him getting out of the car. He opened the boot and returned with a blanket that he handed to me.

  I thanked him and gave Nick his t-shirt back. He stared at me as I wrapped myself in the blanket like a cacoon and Kit continued to drive.

  "Where is Eve?" I asked.

  "She's eating with her grandparents at their house, Erin is with her too."

  I frowned. "It must have been hard to persuade her to leave with us coming home."

  Nick glanced around at me as if he knew something I didn't.

  "Lill', she doesn't know you're home. I haven't told her what's happened yet," Kit said.

  "What?!" I demanded. "Why the hell would you keep this from her?"

  "I haven't purposely kept it from her, I've been at Delta most of the time. She's been on complete lockdown at the house with security around her 24/7. I just haven't had a second to talk to her."

  I rolled my eyes. "She's gonna go absolutely mad when she finds out."

  Kit sighed. "Yeah, I know…"

  "She knew that I'd left the beach house and that I'd stormed out… Why else would she have rang me straight after? What did you tell her?"

  Kit stared at me in the mirror, and Nick turned around to stare at me.

  "Why didn't you tell me she'd rung you?" Nick asked.

  My frown deepened as Kit pulled over once again and turned around in his seat to look at me.

  "Lilly, Eve was visiting Jerry at Delta when you left the beach house. She has no idea any of it happened…"

  "Then it was just a massive coincidence that she rang the second I left the house and whilst Nick was tryna track me down?"

  "I didn't ring Eves, Lilly. I wouldn't wanna worry her like that. I rang Kit."

  I nodded and tried to add everything up in my head.

  "Why was she ringing me during her meeting with Jerry?"

  I remembered Eve telling me about Jerry, and It dawned on me then who he actually was, making me even more worried.

  "Why was she visiting Jerry, is she okay?" I questioned hard, staring at the pair of them.

  Kit nodded. "She wanted Erin to meet him since they've become so close. I didn't want her to take Erin to Delta but I suppose I can't keep her away forever. Tricia wanted to see her too and considering she practically never leaves that place, Eve had to go to her."

  I nodded, understanding all of that. It still didn't explain to me why Eve was ringing me if she was busy seeing Tricia or Jerry.

  For the second time, Kit continued to drive until eventually I started to recognise the surroundings. We were going to Nick's house.

  I kept a hold of the blanket around my body and walked towards Nick's front door in a haze. The last time I had been here wasn't a good time, and neither was the time before that. I had lots of bad memories here and I stared at the back of Nick's head as he walked inside. Something about being here scared me more than I thought it would, and then I realised I had agreed to live here with him. Was I beginning to regret that?

  Then Nick turned his head to look at me and I remembered everything we'd been through and everything I'd felt over the last two weeks. So when he held out his hand for me to go with him, I took it confidentially.

  "Eve won't be home for a couple of hours, I'll let you both get settled in before we talk more," Kit said and I nodded before thanking him.

  He smiled and playfully lifted his fist to clip my chin. "Go take a warm shower, you look absolutely freezing."

  What was it with these two telling me to go take a shower or a bath to warm up?

  But then again, I had been cold a heck of a lot over the last 24 hours due to my ridiculous outfit. I probably looked in even more of a state now than I had before. I had nothing to wear, so I wasn't sure how getting a shower or a bath was going to help. Maybe I could ask Kit to pop to his house just across the beck to grab me some of Eves’ clothes. I didn't want to bother him any more, he was already ridiculously busy and already had to excuse himself to answer his phone. Being the top man at Delta and head of his team with a never-ending threat meant he was in constant demand.

  Nick returned from the kitchen with two muffins and two hot cups of tea and gestured for me to sit down. I could see the piping hot steam levitating above the cup and navigated my hands towards it, humming in appreciation before cradling the cup between my hands and taking a seat on the couch.

  I thanked him after taking a sip and humming some more.

  "You should eat," he said, placing the muffin onto the coffee table before me.

  "What is it with you constantly trying to feed me and bathe me?"

  He smirked. "I like to keep you warm and feed you treats."

  "You literally just described a dog…" I said, eyeing him.

  He chuckled and I loved the sound.

  "Eat, please. I just wanna take care of you, Lill'. I love you, remember?" He winked.

  Hearing him say that, never got old, every single time the rush I would feel in my chest only expanded. I smiled at him and took a bite of the muffin.

  "Where are your other brothers?" I asked, looking around.

  "Jax is at work, Jason and Eric will likely be on their way home from the garage."

  I nodded. "Do they know about any of this?"

  He frowned and shook his head. "Kit wasn't lying when he said he literally had no time to tell anyone anything. He hasn't even had the chance to keep Eve in the loop, nevermind Jason and Eric."

  I nodded and was about to take another sip but my frown deepened again.

  "Jason and Eric?" I asked and he nodded with a mouthful of muffin.

  "You never said Jax… so, Jax knows?"

  "Yeah, but only because—"

  "Is that tea for me?" Kit interrupted, as he made his way back into the living room, now without his phone to his ear.

  Nick nodded and gestured to the third cup on the table.

  "Since when are you both tea drinkers?" I asked.

  Kit eyed me. "If I'm not mistaken, it sounds to me like you've created a stereotype for me, Lill'?"

  I loved that even in situations like this where worry obviously had a hold of all of us, we could still joke.

  "I wouldn't dream of it, Kit. You change so much it's difficult to place a stereotype onto someone like you. But yes, you drinking tea instead of beer is not something I had you down for. Especially not during a worrying time like this…."

  He smirked. "I'll have you know I am now a respected parent, I have replaced my beer with baby bottles and—"

  "Nose pegs," Nick piped up, making me almost choke on my tea.

  "She sent you both that picture, didn't she? I bloody knew she had!" Kit said dramatically.

  "How did that go by the way?" I asked him and he stared at me.

  "I never wish to speak of that time ever again…" He downed the last of his tea as I continued to laugh.

  Right on queue Kit's phone rang again and he groaned.

  "Meeting. 9AM. Tomorrow. Delta.” Kit pointed to Nick. “We start tomorrow, okay?" Kit said to him and waited for Nick to nod before answering the phone and walking back into the kitchen.

  "What does he mean, we start tomorrow?" I asked Nick.

  "We have to come up with a strategy to infiltrate our father’s gang. We'll gather and collect all the facts we have, then we'll work out a plan of what to do next."

  I nodded and finished my tea.


  "You'll probably have to come with me, Lill'."

  "Me?"

  He nodded. "You're a vital part of what's been happening. Especially regarding Omar who still works for my father."

  My jaw stiffened as I stared at him.

  "I won't be a part of any ploy that could get Omar hurt, Nick."

  "Lilly, we don't know what's going to happen. That's not what I want to happen. Omar shouldn't be your top priority right now."

  I eyed him. "What are you saying? Because to me that just sounded like you think I care more for him than I do my family."

  "I'm just saying that you don't know Omar, you may think you do, but you don't," he said simply.

  "I know that without him, I'd be dead right now. If that's not a good enough reason to trust someone, I don't know what is…"

  Nick frowned at me. "That's not a good enough reason to trust someone, Lilly, we spoke about this, it could all be a ploy to get you to trust him so that they can use it to their advantage in the future."

  "How could they use it to their advantage, play it out for me?" I asked him.

  "By getting you to trust him over your own family, by placing your trust in the wrong person."

  "You think I'd do that? That I'd trust him over my own family, over you?" I asked sternly.

  "No, Lill', you just asked and I'm telling you…"

  "That shouldn't even be a factor in your mind. I thought we were stronger than that, that you knew my loyalty only lies with you and our family," I said, standing up.

  "I've never once questioned your loyalty." He stood up too and shifted so he was standing close in front of me.

  "This is exactly what I mean. Can't you see what's happening? We're arguing over him!"

  "We're not arguing over him, we're arguing because you don't trust me!" I bit back, about to storm away. Although I had no idea where I was going to storm off to.

  Nick gripped a hold of my arm. "I trust you with my life, Lilly."

  "Then prove it. Don't doubt me so easily."

  He sighed in defeat and nodded. "I just want you to be smart, Lill'. These gang members play mind games, they make you think one thing in order to get to another. I have to protect you and right now I need you to not trust Omar because I can guarantee this isn't the last we're going to be hearing from him."

  "I doubt I'll ever see him again," I said honestly, and it spiked something in his eyes. "Not that I care," I finished while staring him in the eyes. Then I realised that there was far more to this.

  "Seriously Nick, is this what it all boils down to, it's jealousy?"

  He just stared at me, his jaw set hard.

  "The severity of all of this, and you're allowing jealousy to even be a part of this?" I asked.

  "I'm protecting what's mine, if that makes me jealous then so be it."

  "You know that kiss with Omar meant nothing to me?" I asked and he nodded, but I didn't feel convinced.

  I blew out a breath. "I never thought I'd see Nick Carson like this…"

  "Like what?" he said, sounding pissed off.

  "Nothing," I blew him off and turned to walk away. Perhaps that shower Kit had mentioned was a good idea after all.

  "No," Nick grabbed a hold of my arm again. "Tell me what you were gonna say. You never thought you'd see me like this? What? Pathetic? Crazy? Jealous?"

  "Stop it, Nick, I wasn't gonna say anything like that."

  "Then what then, Lilly?" he stared at me.

  "Consumed by love to the point of this ridiculous jealousy that isn't needed. For all of the above to be because of me and not…" I thought of all the girls Nick had been with and sighed, "someone else…" I concluded.

  "It’s not so difficult to believe… I told you, you drive me crazy. I’m mad about you."

  My chest did another one of those flip things it did every time he said something like that.

  "Well, I still find it hard to believe..."

  He stared at me longer, the dim lighting in the room creating a smoldering tension unlike anything I'd felt before. The longer he stared at me, the closer I felt him getting until eventually he spoke.

  “You’d better start believing it, Lill’. I’d rather be crazy over you, fighting with you and arguing over jealousy than have to deal with one more day apart from you.”

  I looked away from his eyes because it was too easy for him to see my weakness and I wanted to remain somewhat strong after arguing with him.

  "The last time you ran from this house, it became tainted," he said centimetres from my lips. "I wanna change that by making love to you now. So that it's all the pair of us will ever think about being here together."

  "Nick." I felt my face turning red and I knew I'd somehow started to pant as he lowered his lips over my neck. "Kit is in there." I reminded him and he nodded while threading his hand with mine.

  Like a predator, Nick hunted up the stairs as if he was stalking his prey. Only, his prey was latched on to his arm and being pulled with him.

  Finally at his room, we found the door open and Mrs Hector, the cleaner, was inside with the bed linen stripped from the bed. She was obviously halfway through a full clean-up operation of Nick's room and as she saw us there, her humming halted so she could gasp and jump.

  "You scared me," she said, holding her chest. "Sorry, do you need to be in here?" she asked and Nick shook his head.

  "Don't worry, we'll come back later." Nick smiled before pulling me away with him.

  He took me back downstairs and through the hallway door to the other side of the house. The other side was the second house connected to this one. He continued to pull me towards another door.

  "You've brought me into the game room?" I asked, watching him locking the door behind us.

  Now I knew why this room needed locks...

  I feared slightly as Nick stalked towards me, but it was as equally as sexy. Hoisting me up, my legs wrapped around him and he kissed me hard before settling me down onto the edge of the pool table. I watched him, our eyes connected as he reached down and pulled what had to have been a lever. He made sure to keep hold of me despite the pool table falling a few levels before clicking into place.

  "Impressive," I smirked and he grinned at me then brought his lips back to mine.

  He laid me there, spread across the green sheeting on the pool table and yanked my bottoms off, including my knickers.

  I was expecting for him to fuck me like that, but instead, he sat me back up and I watched as he undid his zipper and pulled his jeans and boxers down to his knees. He looked at me seductively, seeing my eyes so obviously on this length and I smiled. Not my usual smile, my naughty, fuck me now kinda smile. Bringing his hands to my arse then, he lifted me across to the very edge of the table so his length could brush against my entrance.

  It didn't take him long to go the whole way and only seconds later, Nick was making love to me, using his hands to grip a hold of my arse so he could direct his thrusts into me.

  Staying quiet was so hard because this was pure fucking torture in the best possible way. Nick felt amazing and the way he held my body so close to his and the way he kissed my temple and nose as he watched me crumble under his contact, made my chest explode with love.

  "You like that?" he asked, close to my lips and all I could do was hum in reply.

  "I love watching you fall apart for me, so fucking sexy," he said, teasing me with his words all the more.

  He knew his words were my undoing, and when he came to kiss me again, I gently bit onto his bottom lip. It created a moan in his throat, and the sound sent a ripple through my body, finishing with a mind-blowing orgasm that took over my body. Staying quiet wasn't possible and I moaned into my hand, biting my skin as a gag to drown out the sound.

  Nick used my shoulder as his cover, he groaned into it as I felt him filling my insides, causing another ripple inside of me that made my eyes flutter.

  It was definitely time for that shower now, and as we both got dressed and headed back into the other ha
lf of the house, I walked straight into Kit who stopped in his tracks and looked at the both of us knowingly.

  I smirked and rushed off upstairs as Kit eyed Nick's bare chest and where we'd just come from.

  "The game room, huh?"

  "Great idea to install that lever to adjust the height, bro'." Nick grabbed a hold of Kit's shoulder and patted it brotherly.

  "Nick!" I yelled at him as both Nick and Kit laughed.

  Oh God, now I was so embarrassed.

  "Gonna have to get used to this daily embarrassment if you're gonna live here, Lill'." Kit tormented me and my eyes shifted to Nick.

  "He knows?"

  "Yep, I asked him first if he was cool with it."

  "Well, it was more of a forced statement, but I would have agreed anyway. You should be here, Lill'."

  I smiled.

  "I just need to talk to my other brothers now, but we should go get your things tomorrow," Nick said.

  "You just said you had to talk to your brothers first?"

  "And I will… They will say yes and we will go get your things tomorrow."

  "Well, how do you know they'll say yes? Jason for instance, he's not the biggest fan of me." I concluded.

  "Jason and Eves were always at each other when they first met, now look at them…" Kit answered.

  "That's different. She's the mother of his niece in which he's sworn an oath to protect."

  They both chuckled. "Don't worry about Jason."

  I nodded, trying not to. I couldn't believe this.

  "So this is really happening?" I asked, a little taken aback.

  Nick moved up the stairs with me and looked at me. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

  I stared at him, feeling so much in love with him. How could I be regretting this? He was insane. I just didn't want Nick's brothers to think I was intruding on their space.