Nico
NICO
I arrived at the track the following day with a lightness to my step that’d been sorely missing for as long as I could remember. The reason for my bright mood was obvious to me, even if Adele’s noticeable shock when I breezed in with a tray full of donuts, two venti cappuccinos, and a wide smile told me it wasn’t obvious to her. At four this afternoon, Rhett would arrive for his scheduled session, which meant so would Everly. After my talk with Tate yesterday, I’d spent the night mulling it over, and I’d decided to follow his advice and ask her on a date. Dinner, drinks, maybe a movie. Nothing too heavy.
“Jesus, he smiles, and before one o’clock, too,” Adele said.
I set down her coffee, then opened the box of donuts and picked up the chocolate-covered one filled with custard. I took a huge bite.
“First time for everything.” I sauntered down the hallway to my office, still wearing the same broad grin.
Today was gonna be a good day.
By five o’clock, I’d changed my mind. Rhett and Everly hadn’t shown up, and all my calls had gone straight to voicemail. Shit, what if they’d had an accident on the drive over? I opened Google and searched for any traffic accidents between Wilmington and here. Nothing reported, which meant any prangs weren’t serious.
If they hadn’t been caught up in an accident, I could only think of one other reason why they’d not turned up for today’s session: Everly had gone through with her threat to pull Rhett from the program. But why? Why would she do that over something as trivial as me shoving my nose in where it didn’t belong and then kissing her when she called me out on it? She adored the bones of Rhett, a fool could see that, so why would she punish him over something I’d done that she was struggling to reconcile?
I grabbed my jacket and headed out to my car. Rush-hour traffic meant the freeways were bumper to bumper, and it took me ninety long minutes to arrive at Everly’s home, with me cursing the whole way. I locked the car and prayed some jealous little twat didn’t key the paintwork while my back was turned. An Aston Martin DBS wasn’t exactly a common form of transport in these parts and I fucking loved it enough to be majorly pissed if some little shit keyed the paintwork.
I rapped on the door and waited. Nothing. Knocked again. Silence. I was about to knock for a third time when the chain rattled and a lock slid back in its housing. The door opened a crack. I sucked in a sharp breath. On the other side was Everly, wrapped in a blanket, a sheen of sweat on her forehead and her eyes dull and lifeless.
“Jesus, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m sick,” she replied, her voice hoarse and rasping, and not in a good way. “Go away, . I don’t want you to catch it, too.”
“Sick with what? The flu?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
“Where’s Rhett?”
“My neighbor is looking after him for today. I’ll be fine tomorrow. I just need some rest.”
“You won’t be fine.” I’d only had the flu once, in my early twenties, and it had knocked me on my arse for a week, despite being fit and healthy at the time. “Let me in, Everly.”
Her shoulders sagged, and evidently too exhausted to fight me, she turned around, leaving the door ajar.
I followed her inside. She practically collapsed onto the sofa, then tucked her knees into her chest and pulled the blanket around her shoulders. Her shivers almost shook the room.
“Do you have a thermometer?” I asked.
Another weary nod. “I took my temperature already. One hundred and two.”
“Fuck. How long have you been like this?”
“It started yesterday, but today I feel as if I’ve been run over by a truck.” She peered up at me through watery eyes. “I can’t be ill, . I have to work, and I have to take care of Rhett.”
“Don’t worry about that.” I perched next to her and brushed a lock of damp hair from her forehead. She was burning up. She couldn’t stay here alone.
No.
I rejected the thought the second it popped into my head.
You cannot take her to your place.
I’d be a terrible housemate. Bad-tempered in the mornings. Dour in the evenings. A difficult bastard to live with at the best of times.
But neither could I leave her here in this state.
Goddammit.
Okay, decision made.
“Which one is your bedroom?”
She gave me a tired smile. “I don’t think I’m up to that.”
I chuckled. At least the illness hadn’t sapped her sense of humor. “Even I’m not that much of a dick. I’m packing you and Rhett a bag. You’re coming to stay with me for a few days until you’re back on your feet.”
I hoped the shock rolling through my insides wasn’t reflected on my face. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, other than acting on a strong instinct to care for her and make sure Rhett was okay. The neighbor must be trustworthy. I couldn’t see Everly leaving Rhett with someone who wasn’t, no matter how ill she felt, but even so, I didn’t like it.
“You can’t do that,” she croaked.
I inclined my head. “I don’t think you’re in any fit state to stop me.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“True,” I said, twisting my lips to one side. “I’ll know you a good deal better once I’ve given you a sponge bath.”
She tried to laugh, but that brought on a fit of coughing. I supported her shoulders while she choked up a lung. Once the bout of coughing stopped, she collapsed against the pile of cushions supporting her, completely spent. She pointed to a door behind her that had a slight dent in the middle where the cream-colored paint had chipped off.
“That’s my bedroom.”
Her capitulation was a testament to just how ill she must have felt. After rifling around in her wardrobe, I found a duffel bag. I went through her drawers and tossed in a few things. I tried not to look at her underwear as I picked up a couple of bras and a few pairs of knickers, but it was hard not to with my hands full of her intimates.
After I’d gathered a few things for her, I did the same for Rhett. By the time I returned to the living room, she’d fallen asleep. A horrible rattling sound came from her chest as she breathed in and out. That sounded like an infection to me. I called Tate and updated him, asking if he wouldn’t mind bringing Madison to my house. Lucky for me, they weren’t leaving for London until tomorrow. I’d rather she check Everly over than call some random doctor. Lucky for me, they weren’t leaving for London until tomorrow.
I didn’t want to wake Everly, but I needed her to contact the neighbor and tell her to bring Rhett home. She’d hardly allow the boy to go with a complete stranger if I went around there myself, not that I knew which neighbor had him, and other than knocking on several nearby doors and asking if they were taking care of a six-year-old boy—behavior that would likely get me arrested—I didn’t have a choice.
I kneeled beside her and gently squeezed her clammy hand. When she didn’t wake, I shook her gently. Her eyes fluttered open.
“Sorry, so tired.”
“You will be. Your body is fighting off a viral load. I need you to contact your neighbor and ask her to bring Rhett around. I’ve packed bags for you both, and the car is right outside.”
She struggled to sit up. I put my hand on her arm, stopping her.
“I need my phone,” she said, every breath seeming as if it took tremendous effort.
“I’ll get it. Where is it?”
“In my purse. Kitchen.”
I followed her directions, spotting a black handbag hooked over a wooden dining chair painted in a bright yellow with butterflies stenciled on the seat. It looked homemade, a way to cheer up the drab interior, so reminiscent of rental properties.
“Here you go.” I set her bag beside her.
She reached inside, pulled out her phone, and sent a text. Seconds later a ping came back.
“She’s on her way.”
I went to the door and opened it, waiting for the neighbor and Rhett to appear. A short while after, they did. Rhett spotted me and came bounding down the path.
“!”
I swung him in my arms and grinned. “Hey, buddy. I missed you at the track today.”
“Yeah, Mommy’s sick.” He bit his lip, worry swirling in his sea-blue eyes, a replica of his mother’s.
“I know, bud. That’s why I’m here. You’re coming to stay with me for a little while.”
“For real?” Rhett’s eyes widened. “Cool.”
I set him down and he went inside. I shifted my gaze to the neighbor, a middle-aged woman with an oval, kindly face and twinkling gray eyes. “Thanks so much for looking after him.”
She looked me up and down. “Well, I can see why you’d beat me into first place as a choice of caregiver,” she said, grinning. “I’m sure Everly will bounce back in no time with a handsome chap like you taking care of her.”
I chuckled. “She might not say that after I’ve bossed her around for a few days and forced her to eat bowl after bowl of chicken soup.”
“That’s what she needs. A good man to look after her. Not like the last useless one.”
I shouldn’t pry, it wasn’t my place, but I admit I was curious about Everly’s husband, and Dorothy had given me a way in. “Why do you think he left? Do you think something bad happened?”
She hesitated, perhaps wrestling with her conscience. “I have no idea whether it did or it didn’t, but whatever the reason, she’s better off without him, and so is Rhett, despite the trouble he’s had coming to terms with his father disappearing. Nasty temper, that one had.”
A prickling crept across the back of my neck, and I rubbed it. “Did he take that temper out on Everly and Rhett?”
“Not physically, no, but I’d hear him yelling. A lot.”
I flexed my jaw. “Hmm. Well, thanks again. I’ll make sure I take good care of them both.”
I moved Rhett’s car seat from Everly’s truck to my car, reclined the front seat as far as it would go, then carried Everly from the house and laid her down, making her as comfortable as I could. Rhett could barely contain his excitement at riding in my Aston, and on the drive to my house, he kept throwing out adjectives like cool and ace and boss .
I let him chatter away while I glanced over at Everly to check on her. She did not look well. If anything, she’d worsened in the last half hour, her skin flushed and even more clammy. Her fever must be escalating.
By the time I pulled up at my house, she’d fallen asleep again. Rhett’s chattering came to an abrupt halt, and his eyes were round as saucers as he stared up at my large beach house. Madison and Tate were waiting on the front step, her black medical bag set down by her feet.
I helped Rhett out of the car first and then reached in to pick up Everly. She awoke as I tried not to bang her head on the low roof. Her eyes fluttered.
“Are we here?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
“Yes. I have a doctor here to check you over. Let’s get you inside.”
“Don’t need a doctor,” she muttered, her lids falling closed once more.
I ignored her. “Thanks for coming, Madison,” I said, shifting my hold on Everly to free up my right hand. I keyed in the code for the front door, and it opened. I carried her through.
“That’s what friends are for.” She and Tate followed me into the house.
“This way, Rhett.” I cocked my head to indicate for him to follow me to the upper floor. I didn’t want to leave him downstairs on his own in a strange house. I’d made the decision to bring them both here, which meant I’d assumed responsibility for him. Oddly enough, it didn’t freak me out like I thought it would.
Once I’d settled Everly on the bed in one of the spare rooms, I took Rhett’s hand, cocked my head at Tate, and returned with him and Rhett to the first floor, leaving Everly alone with Madison. In all likelihood, she did have the flu and would recover with rest and plenty of fluids. But I wanted him to check and make sure something more sinister wasn’t going on.
“Hungry, bud?” I queried.
“Can I have ice cream?”
I arched a brow and canted my head. “Does your mum let you have ice cream before your dinner?”
“All the time,” he said, but the flush spreading across his plump cheeks gave him away.
“Dinner first,” I said. “And then, if you finish it all, you can have ice cream.”
Tate snickered, and I inwardly groaned. He’d give me grief for this. I glared at him. He just smiled wider. The twat.
Rhett’s head lowered, defeated by indisputable logic. “Okay.”
I opened a few cupboards and managed to rustle up a plate of mac and cheese. By the time I’d dished up a bowl of chocolate ice cream—the only flavor I had and, luckily, one he liked—and turned on the TV in the kitchen, Madison appeared.
The three of us wandered out onto the back deck. I picked a chair that allowed me to keep an eye on Rhett.
“So?” I asked, my eyes on Madison.
“My guess is the flu, but without a test, I couldn’t say for sure,” she said. “It’s still early in the season, although I’ve started to see a few cases pop up in London, and I guess it’s the same here. The worst is that it seems to be a particularly virulent strain this year. She needs rest and plenty of fluids. Try to keep her warm, too, which might sound counterintuitive when she’s burning up. No cranking up the air-conditioning, hoping that’ll help her. Try not to worry. She’s young and otherwise healthy. She’ll bounce back in a few days, maybe a week. I left her sleeping, but you probably want to check on her in a couple of hours and try to get her to eat something.”
“Will do,” I said. “I appreciate your coming over in the middle of your holiday.”
“Holiday?” Madison’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. “We came because Tate wanted to check up on you, and the two week break between races was the best time to do that.”
I fucking knew it.
Tate groaned. “Thanks for throwing me under the bus, babe.”
“Oh, you didn’t tell him why we were here? Well, more fool you.”
I loved Madison.
“I’ll call by in a couple days and see how she’s doing,” she continued. “But in the meantime, if you’re worried, get in touch.”
“I thought you were flying back to London tomorrow.”
“We were, and Tate still will be. He needs to get over to Azerbaijan by Monday.” She leaned forward and squeezed my arm. “I just thought you might appreciate a bit of support with Everly.”
Yeah, I fucking loved Madison.
“You’ve got a woman in a million here, Tate.”
“Tell me about it.” They got to their feet and Tate picked up Madison’s medical bag. I walked them to the door, waved them off, then returned to the kitchen, where I’d left Rhett. I raked a hand through my hair.
How the fuck do I entertain a six-year-old kid?
“So, Rhett,” I said. “Do you like video games?”