Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
NASH
If I didn’t love my best friend so much, I’d want to kill her. Scratch that, I still wanted to kill Nat no matter what kind of history we had. It’d been hell watching Rory sneaking glances at her phone all week, her agitation growing more and more with each passing day she obviously didn’t get a response from her sister.
The thing that really pissed me off was that I knew if I called Nat, she’d pick up. She was crazy and fun and loyal and would come running if something was wrong. But for all her good qualities, she had a glaringly negative one—she was a stubborn ass who refused to admit when she was wrong. And after spending so much time with Rory, I knew, without a doubt, Nat was wrong about her sister.
The trouble was, I couldn’t exactly tell her that. Hey, Nat, remember how you told me working with your sister was a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it? Rather than listen to you, I decided to fuck her instead…
Sitting on my couch, I flipped my phone end over end and stared blankly at the TV. I needed to get Nat back to Havenbrook, but I had no idea how I was going to do it.
Sighing, I called up my contacts and pressed Asher’s name. If anyone could come up with something, it’d be the third musketeer in our trio.
After four rings, Asher answered in a groggy voice. “’Lo?”
Brow furrowed, I glanced at the clock. “Did I seriously wake you up? Dude, it’s two in the afternoon.”
“Fuck off,” he mumbled. “Had a late show last night. Didn’t get outta there till after four.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t fathom Asher’s life, especially now that things had started picking up for him and his career. He’d even managed to get one of his songs on the radio. After that, things blew up, and now he was on a multicity tour in the southeast US. “How many girls you got in your bed right now?”
Asher chuckled. “I know you didn’t call to ask about my sex life. What’s up?”
Now came the tricky part. I trusted Asher with my life, but could I trust him with this secret? Even though Asher was hundreds of miles away, I didn’t doubt how quickly the news could travel back to Havenbrook. Then not only would Rory pitch a fit and have to deal with the whispers and pointing from the townspeople after they’d just moved on from her divorce, but all my diligence at keeping my dating life out of Havenbrook would go to hell.
“Nash, much as I love listenin’ to you breathe, can we get on with it?”
“Sorry, just…” I scrubbed a hand down my face and groaned, deciding to go all in. If I told Asher to keep his mouth shut, he would. “I’m fucked.”
“I hope not literally, because I love you, man, but I don’t need to know that.”
“Not right now , but…”
Rustling came through the line as if Asher had shifted to a sitting position. “Enough cryptic bullshit. What’s goin’ on?”
“The short version is I need to get Nat back home, and I don’t know how.”
“Wait—you and Nat ? Didn’t y’all learn your lesson in high school? It was a terrible idea back then, and it’s a terrible idea now.”
“Nat? Shit, no.” Christ, the thought nearly made me shudder. The kiss we’d shared years ago had been like kissing a cousin. Not only that, it’d nearly torn our threesome apart. We’d vowed never again.
“Then who’re we talkin’ about, and why do you need Nat home for it?”
It was now or never, so I went balls to the wall. “Rory.”
“ Okay ,” Asher said, drawing out the word, clearly confused. “Rory, what? She need Nat for somethin’? And that doesn’t tell me who you’re sleepin’ with.”
“It’s Rory, you jackass. I’m sleepin’ with Rory, and she’s the one who needs Nat home.”
Dead silence filtered through the line, and I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure I hadn’t dropped the call. “Asher? You still there?”
Asher cleared his throat. “Still here. Just tryin’ to figure out how I’m gonna make it home for your funeral with all these shows I’ve got booked.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“Nat’s gonna kill you. Straight up murder you in your sleep, you know that, right?” He blew out a harsh breath and chuckled. “Rory fucking Haven. Shit, man. Never would’ve thought.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m dead. I get it. Which is why I’m not tellin’ Nat anything, and neither are you.”
He groaned. “Don’t make me do that! You know secrets between us don’t work. Never have, never will.”
“Not true. I never told her about the time you pissed the bed the first time we got drunk.”
“And you never will.”
“Takin’ it to my grave, which is what I expect you to do with this.”
“I think Nat might be tipped off when she’s not invited to her big sister’s wedding.”
“ Wedding ? We’re not gettin’ married. Jesus . We’re just—” Just…what? The thought of saying aloud that we were just fucking made my chest tight. I knew it couldn’t be anything more than that. Knew she didn’t want anything more than that. And I didn’t either…right?
Without realizing, something had shifted in the months we’d been together, and now the thought of a future without her in it made my gut clench.
“That’s what I thought.”
“You thought nothing because your ass hasn’t been home to see any of it.” I didn’t mean for the words to come out so sharply, but now that they’d been uttered, I couldn’t deny their truth. Yeah, I had friends in town—Drew and Finn and Nola—but my best friends, my ride-or-die crew, were scattered across the world, and I fucking hated it sometimes.
Asher blew out a long breath. “I’m tryin’ to get back, man. It’s just hard with this tour. I’m hopin’ to make a trip home after we wrap up. I need to get back and see my sister and those babies she keeps poppin’ out.”
“She has two kids, not a litter.” I rolled my eyes, though Asher couldn’t see me. “And, hey, do me a favor and warn me ahead of time so I can get earplugs. I don’t wanna have to listen to the fangirl screams when you finally grace Havenbrook with your presence.”
“Ha. Ha. Now, seriously. What do you need? I’ll do whatever I can.”
And that, right there, was exactly why Asher was one of my ride-or-dies.
“Rory’s throwing a surprise birthday party for Gran, and she’s tryin’ to get Nat home for it.”
“I’m still not seein’ the issue? Why doesn’t Rory just call and tell Nat this?”
“She has. Our brat of a best friend is being an ass and ignorin’ all calls and texts from Rory. She’s left at least a dozen messages, all unanswered.”
Asher whistled. “Goddamn, she’s pigheaded.”
“No shit. Which is why I can’t tell her I’m callin’ on behalf of Rory. For one thing, she’d cut off my balls the second I picked her up from the airport. For another, she might not even show up in the first place, just out of spite.”
“I see your point,” he said. “How important is this to you?”
While I would love to see Nat again because it’d been too long, this definitely wasn’t for me. This was for Rory. It was something that had been eating away at her for a while. And what it boiled down to was, if it was important to her, it was important to me.
“It’s important.”
Asher hummed. “Kinda figured you’d say that. She’ll never come back if you just ask her. You’re gonna have to play hardball. And I think you know what you need to do.”
My mind was blank until suddenly everything clicked into place. Fuck, Nat would kill me for doing this, but Asher was right. It was the only way to get her home.
“She’ll hate me.”
“Probably. You gonna do it?”
I blew out a long breath. “Yeah.”
“All right, then. Good luck.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Hey, quick before you go, do you want me to make sure you’re in a black or a gray suit for your funeral?” Asher’s chuckles sounded through the line even as I pulled the phone away from my ear and hung up on him.
Jackass. An astute, probably accurate jackass, but a jackass nonetheless.
Without waiting for a chance to talk myself out of this, I found Nat’s name in my contacts and pressed the call button.
“Nash, hey!” she answered, the loud din of activity going on in the background nearly drowning out her voice. “What’s up? Can I call you back later? I’m out with some people, and it’s so fucking loud in here.”
“This won’t take long. Can you sneak out for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” She yelled something to whoever she was with, then the background noise grew more muted as she must’ve stepped through a door. “Okay, sorry. What’s goin’ on? Is everything okay?”
“I’m okay, but…” I blew out a deep breath, knowing it was now or never. “Downpour.”
“What? Hang on, lemme step all the way outside. I don’t think I heard you right. I thought you said downpour.”
I cleared my throat. No going back now. “I did.”
Years ago, when we were young and stupid and all three of us on a mission to get ourselves killed—aka trying to entertain ourselves in a town the size of a walnut—Nat had nearly drowned in the river because of a flash summer storm. The only reason she hadn’t was because Asher and I had come immediately when she’d called for help. That night, amidst promises not to tell a soul—least of all our parents—we’d instituted the code word. Anyone could use it at any time for any reason, and the others would come running, no questions asked.
Knowing it was there, knowing I had the kind of friends I could call on and would drop everything at a moment’s notice to be there when I needed them was the best feeling in the world. But knowing it was there had always been enough for me, and I’d never actually had to use it.
I’d come to Nat’s rescue more than once, though—bailing her out of jail because she couldn’t call anyone in her family, bringing her gas on a deserted road she never should’ve been traveling, picking her up from a date gone wrong with a guy who’d made her bright and vibrant face turn pale and withdrawn… Each and every time, I’d shown up. No questions asked.
And, just like I’d hoped, Nat didn’t disappoint. “When do you need me?”