Chapter 25
25
Two Weeks Later
Nora
“ H ey, I’m heading out for a bit. You okay holding down the shop?” Nick asked.
I looked up from the computer to see Nick pulling off his coveralls. He typically only wore them when he had a messy engine overhaul, but I never minded watching him strip.
I gave him a catcall whistle and he flexed his biceps for me.
His biceps were a work of art.
“Yes, I’m good,” I told him. “You don’t have any appointments until this afternoon. And I’m meeting the business association at four to discuss social media strategies. Are you meeting Wyatt again?”
“And Liam. Wyatt finally pulled the trigger on a plot of land and wants to show off, I guess.” He tried to make this sound like a burden he had to carry.
“Hmm,” I said attempting to be casual, but really there was no point. He was still holding those men at arm’s length. And he also was – for some reason – resistant to telling his family about us. Like he couldn’t handle any more intimacy. But, sometimes with Nick, it was better to just hit the nail on the head with a really big hammer. “It’s almost like you’re becoming a family.”
Nick pushed his grease covered jumper off his legs. “They’re not family…they’re just guys I sometimes hang out with because they’re not awful.”
“I’m sure they’d be thrilled to know you spoke so highly of them.”
“I’m sure they’ve been called worse.”
“Speaking of calling…”
“Nora,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I told you. I’ll call my parents soon.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about telling Birdie and Antony? I mean, how is it harder than talking to my parents?”
“It’s just a hard thing to convey on the phone.”
“What?”
“How happy I am. How safe I am with you. I told you, they worry about me. Especially Birdie. She’s going to be so happy for me and so…scared for me at the same time. Scared for that lost teenage boy she found who she never wants to see get hurt again. Does that make sense?”
Nick protecting the people he loves by trying not to cause them any pain or worry. Totally made sense. But Birdie would see the truth. I was never going to hurt Nick.
I reached up to cup his cheeks in my palms. “Go meet your brothers. You don’t want to be late.”
“I’ll be back in time for you to go to your meeting,” he said, stroking my hair. Funny, how I’d stopped worrying about grease. “You excited?”
“Very!” I was helping local businesses set up social media accounts. I was showing them how to make videos, sync music and come up with strategies best suited for their businesses.
“You should be charging them for your time,” he said.
“If they want to hire me after this meeting, we can discuss it, but this is just my way to give back to the community.”
“Because you’re awesome?”
“I am. Thank you for noticing.” I winked at him and he planted a hard kiss on my lips. “Now go,” I said, and smacked his butt as he left.
Not two minutes after he left, I heard someone coming into the garage.
Shoot. I hoped it wasn’t an emergency. I’d gotten pretty good at jumping dead cars and checking oil, anything more than that, I had to schedule an appointment for Nick. I got up from my office seat to make my way to the garage bay.
“Hi!” I cried, “I’m sorry, but Nick-”
I stopped when I saw Peter standing by the open doors. Snow was falling. A dusting that hit the ground and melted right away. Peter looked cold in his trench coat. “Please tell me you have car troubles, Peter, because if you’re here to talk about the book again-”
“I’m not,” he said, cutting me off. “I’ve given up on that idea.”
“Good.”
“But I have this great idea for a new novel and I…well, I understand you’re helping local businesses with some social media strategies. I’d like to talk to you about what I can do as an author.”
Oh. That kind of sounded like fun. And Peter’s books practically wrote their own content.
“Okay, we can talk. Come on back to the office-”
“You need to come with me, Nora.”
“Come with you where?”
“Common Grounds. I left my computer there. Coffee is on me.”
Well, coffee always sounded good. “If this is some kind of play on your part…”
“It’s not. I promise you. I just want to pick your brain. It won’t take long. I’ll drive. You’ll be back in ten.”
My spidey senses were tingling, mostly because I knew Nick would not like this one bit. But I’d known Peter for years, so I had absolutely no fear he was any kind of physical threat.
“I like expensive coffees,” I warned him. “And eclairs.”
“My treat,” he said, with a beaming and completely harmless smile.
Nick
I pulled my truck off the main road, onto a dirt road that led back into the woods. The early snow that had been falling was already turning to rain and the ground was getting mucky. I knew we were close to the bluff that overlooked the ocean, but didn’t realize this land was even for sale.
Mal.
That guy always had his hands on the good stuff. The fact that he was willing to give some of this prime property up, meant Wyatt and Sydney must have met with his approval. Wyatt wanted to give me the credit, but I knew better. Jolie was a huge Sydney Malloy fan and what Jolie wanted in that marriage, Jolie got.
I spotted the truck I’d given him at the beginning of his stay in town beside a shiny new black Bronco.
I parked behind Wyatt’s truck and hopped out.
“Hey, Nick!” Liam shouted as soon as he spotted me. Wyatt was in a Carhartt jacket and Peaks beanie. Liam wore a black leather trench coat. “Come check this out. You’re not going to believe this view.”
I met the two men in front of our cars, and without any conversation, Wyatt led us deeper into the property until the trees broke and we were overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on a bluff.
“Ocean view, baby!” Liam clapped. “This is sick.”
“We needed more privacy than your cottage,” Wyatt said, as if apologizing for all the land. “Syd’s got to have space around her to move without everyone thinking they can get a picture of her.”
“See, and I have no problem with people taking my picture. What about you, brother?” Liam asked me. “Now that you’re internet famous, you got people who want your autograph?”
I rolled my eyes. “My video is old news.”
“Things working out with you and Nora?” Wyatt asked.
Wyatt and I had lunch last week, but we’d talked more about how Syd was adjusting to life in Calico Cove than anything else. Liam was mostly a virtual attendee to our hangouts with the season going on, but he had a small break in his schedule this week.
“You know what you both didn’t tell me about trying to fuck her out of my system?” I said.
Liam started laughing, but Wyatt just smirked and said, “Yeah, it doesn’t work when she’s the one.”
“Dude,” Liam chuckled. “It sooo doesn’t work. I couldn’t fuck Kit out of my system in a hundred years. Oh, shit! Do you think we’ll still want to fuck, when we’re a hundred? I hope so.”
Having Nora back in my life made everything better. Food tasted better, the air was fresher. The sex was hotter than any I’d ever had.
Nora was better. Happier. Brighter. She wasn’t scared or worried. She met each day like it was a surprise present just for her.
Honest to God, if she wanted me to give up everything and move to France with her, I would do it. In a heartbeat.
I needed to call Birdie and Antony, there was no reason to put it off. They would be so happy. But maybe their happiness made it more real? No idea. Maybe I should ask Wyatt and Liam.
My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my back pocket. Nora’s name flashed on the screen, accompanied by a picture I’d taken of her eating pizza in my bed, hair rumpled, face flushed, recently fucked. Mouth full of pizza. I held up a finger to let the guys know I needed to take the call. I hit the button to accept.
“Hey, what’s up? Something happen at the shop?”
“No, but I don’t want you to freak out.”
Which was always a reason to freak out. “Nora.”
“I’ve sort of been kidnapped.”
“You haven’t been kidnapped!” It was another voice in the background. A man’s voice. A man’s voice with a French accent. “Nous voulons seulement parler!”
That wasn’t an accent. That was French.
“You’re a wanted man, Rene! The FBI is looking for you.”
“Which is why I’m hiding!”
“Nora!” I shouted into the phone, trying to get her attention. “What the fuck are you doing with him?”
“I told you. They kidnapped me. Peter tricked me into getting into his car. Then we stopped behind the Dumont Hotel and Rene hopped in. And now they won’t pull over so I can get out. I really don’t want to try jumping from a moving car. Or do you think I should try that? It always works in the movies.”
“No!” I shouted. “You are not jumping from a moving car, Nora.”
“You are so stubborn!” That was Peter’s voice.
“Call the police. Now,” I said, my voice deadly calm.
“Can’t you just come and get me?”
“Where the hell are you?”
“Just on the edge of town, past the Dumont Hotel. Nick, I promise, if I had any idea he was involved…”
Her voice trailed off. “Of course you didn’t. But you need to call the police.”
“Did you hear that, Peter? Nick wants me to call the police.”
“You’re overreacting! All we wanted to do was talk. If you’re not going to be part of this, we’ll just take you back.”
“Okay, Nick, it sounds like they’re going to take me back to the garage.”
At this point, both Liam and Wyatt were at my back listening to the conversation.
“Put me on speaker, Nora,” I said as calmly as I could, despite feeling like my heart and head were going to simultaneously explode.
“I did.”
“Listen to me, you fuck heads, you touch her, you threaten her, you make her feel unsafe for one second, there won’t be a place on this planet for either of you to hide. You’re going to turn the car around. You’re going to take her back to the garage and then she is never going to see either of your faces again. If that doesn’t happen, my first call isn’t to the town sheriff. It’s to the Feds. Am I clear?”
There was no response.
“Am. I. Clear?” I shouted in my most menacing voice.
“Yes.”
“Ouais, d’accord. Do not call the Feds.”
Oh, I was calling the Feds.
“I think they get that you mean business. Thanks, Nicky. I knew you would talk sense into them.”
“Nicky?” Liam asked me, his brow arched. Since I was in death glare mode, I shot one his way and he immediately backed off.
“You have exactly twenty-two minutes to return her, assholes,” I said. “That’s how long it will take for me to get back into town. My watch starts now.”
I hit the mute button on the phone for a second and looked at my…
My brothers.
“I have a message I would like to send to the two men who took Nora. You both up for it?”
Liam clamped a hand on my shoulder and gave Wyatt a wicked smile. “Let’s roll, my brothers.”