Chapter 13
“What is he doing here? Are you guys like…” Silvia made a thrusting motion with her hips.
Berkley let out a burst of laughter, the sound a little rusty.
“Oh my god, no. No, no, no. He’s my alibi for last night, and oh my god you guys, I seriously don’t know what’s going on.
” She hadn’t told them everything. Normally she would, but she didn’t have the energy to repeat everything.
And Micah was right. She needed to keep that circle small.
Nick Storm now knew way more than she’d ever imagined telling him—even though she hadn’t told him everything.
And she was pretty sure he was paying for her attorney.
He hadn’t denied it when she’d accused him of bringing in the high-powered attorney—and her family hadn’t hired Sinead.
That left him. Or maybe he was dating Sinead…
She didn’t want to think about him and the tall blonde, so she shut that tab down.
“I can’t believe the dumbass cops arrested you,” Silvia growled. “And that we had to hear it from Krystal.”
“Yeah, what the hell?” Kendall demanded.
“First, I can’t believe my sister called you,” Berkley said.
“She assumed we knew.” Silvia’s look was pointed.
“Fine, I should have told you both. But I’m still processing everything,” she whisper-yelled. “This just happened. I haven’t had a chance to just sit down and think.” She’d seen Nick head back to the kitchen. Since he was making a little noise, she assumed he was still cooking.
That by itself was surreal. A man she’d had a few fantasies about—both sexual and in the realm of punching him in his face—was in her kitchen, cooking for her.
What the hell was happening in her life?
None of this felt real! Someone was trying to set her up for murder—multiple murders.
Her ex-husband was dead. Someone had poisoned her or drugged her or something, and now Nick Storm was in her house looking more gorgeous than any man had a right to. While cooking her dinner.
Nothing made sense.
“How are you doing?” Silvia’s voice was gentler now as she sat next to her on the couch.
“Yeah. And seriously, why is Nick Storm here…cooking?” Kendall glanced at the entryway in the direction of the kitchen even though they couldn’t see him from the living room.
“I’m…dealing. And I have no idea.”
“You have no idea?” Kendall’s tone was disbelieving.
“No,” she snapped with more force than she’d intended. She winced as guilt swamped her. Her friends had shown up because they loved her. She couldn’t take out her bullshit on them. “Sorry. I’m trying to process everything and I think I just need sleep.”
“Well, we’re staying the night,” Kendall said, no give in her voice.
“No, you both have jobs and… Two of my brothers are coming back later anyway.” Also, she really didn’t want her friends in danger. She’d already changed the security code at least, so she’d be safe tonight.
Tomorrow…she was thinking about her options. She loved her home, didn’t want to be run out of it, but she was starting to think that she needed a little distance. She wanted to be able to think her options through when her mind was clearer, not be reactive.
That was how the younger Berkley handled things. By reacting without thinking. She wanted to be smart about dealing with this…nightmare. That was the only word she could think of to call this.
All her brothers had offered her their places to stay, and she knew Krystal would take her in even if it was some sort of conflict of interest. At this point she had an alibi so there should be no conflict, but she wasn’t sure if the sheriff’s department would see it that way.
Speaking of, she really needed to talk to Krystal.
Her friends gently argued with her for about ten minutes, but eventually relented and just kept her company until she walked them both out. By that point, the house smelled amazing and her stomach was already rumbling. That was when she realized she hadn’t eaten…all day.
When she saw Apollo sitting in his truck across the street, she jogged over to see him. She thought he would just park in her driveway and catch up on work emails or something.
He rolled down his window. “Hey, get in here, it’s cold.”
“Why don’t you just come inside instead?” Even if she’d been looking forward to spending some alone time with Nick, something she would never ever say out loud.
“I’m officially un-banished from the house?”
“Ha ha. And yes. Sorry, I just… it’s been a lot and I needed quiet. Can you text Cormac though, tell him not to come back? I mean, obviously say it nicer than that?” She could only deal with one brother at a time right now.
“Nothing to be sorry for. And I already told him I had tonight covered. Figured I’d just order us food anyway.” As he grabbed his bag from the back, he said, “What’s Storm doing here?”
“Nick? Ah, cooking dinner for me.”
He frowned down at her. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? It’s almost dinner time.”
He made an exasperated sound. “All right, smart-ass. Are you two dating?”
“Nope.” And that was all she was going to say about that. She had no idea why the man was here so she certainly couldn’t explain it to her very nosy, very protective brother.
In the kitchen, she realized Nick hadn’t been kidding about having enough food for her brothers.
Nick and Apollo did that thing guys do and sort of sized each other up. But then to her surprise, Apollo grinned when he realized what Nick was making.
“You’re making spaghetti bolognese? Hell yeah. I’ll make a salad.” Apollo grabbed some salad stuff from the fridge and started making three individual ones as Nick plated the food for them.
Seriously, everything about this was so surreal. Apollo was being all normal and kind of nice with Nick in the kitchen, making small talk and… She was just going to eat and crash and deal with everything tomorrow.
Because this was too much.
“I was thinking that you should mention to either Sinead or the cops…or your sister that Silvia was at the restaurant last night too. God, was it only last night?” Nick muttered, but then shook his head.
“Wait, what?” Apollo, sitting across from them at her kitchen table, looked between them.
“Oh, Silvia was there on a date or something.” Berkley still wanted to know who Silvia had been dating the last couple months, but that was low on her priorities right now.
“And you’re right,” she said to Nick. “It’ll shore up my alibi even more.
” And she didn’t trust those detectives not to come at her again.
“So are you staying tonight?” Nick asked, now focusing that granite expression on her brother. “Because she shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“She is sitting right here,” Berkley said in annoyance.
They both ignored her as Apollo straightened slightly in his seat. They were both large men, with Apollo being about six foot four, a couple inches taller than Nick.
Nick didn’t look the least bit intimidated.
“I don’t answer to you.” Apollo’s voice was calm, and that wasn’t always a good thing with him. He’d been in military intelligence for years, had a level head in most situations. Which just meant she’d seen him clock someone when stone-cold relaxed.
“I know that. But your sister is in danger.”
“I’m literally right here.” Also, the bolognese was so good she didn’t even care that they were literally talking about her as if they couldn’t hear her.
Whatever, she started devouring the food and forced herself not to moan at how good it was.
Okay, so Nick was gorgeous and could cook—well.
And he’d charged to her defense without her even asking.
She really didn’t want to like that so much.
“I know that too,” Apollo growled. “Do you really think that we all didn’t try to get her to come home with us? She’s just stubborn. I’m staying the night and my brothers will take shifts the rest of the week if necessary. This is really good, by the way.”
And that was that. Nick nodded, either at the compliment or that Apollo was staying here, she wasn’t sure. Maybe both. “Thanks. I’ll stay on the street, keep an eye on things so you have backup.”
She didn’t want Nick to have to stay out there in his car in the cold all night. “Can you guys see and hear me? Am I a ghost? Is this the afterlife?”
They both looked at her and she forced herself to look at Apollo instead of Nick. Otherwise she was going to get swallowed up in his storm gray eyes. His last name really was fitting.
“We hear you,” Apollo said, his tone softer than she’d ever heard it.
She didn’t like it. Oh no, she wanted the brother who called her dumbass back.
“And you are stubborn,” he added.
Well, facts were facts. “Whatever,” she muttered and dug into her food.
She couldn’t deal with her brother and Nick at the same time, especially when she was so off-balance.
Mostly, she couldn’t handle the fact that Nick was being so nice to her. And she was starting to think that maybe…he wasn’t so awful after all.