Chapter 16
“Afternoon.”
The rumble of Nick’s deeper voice made Berkley jump, but she managed to stifle a scream as she turned around.
It had been a day and a half since the would-be break-in at her place, and she was still jumpy even in this three-story mansion where no one was getting in or out without her bodyguard downstairs.
She’d been on the third floor most of the day, glad for the excuse to work and hide away from the world.
She hadn’t even realized how late it was until just now.
“Hey,” she murmured, taking her earbuds out, trying not to drink in the sight of Nick.
He was wearing hefty work boots, well-worn jeans that molded to his impressive thighs, and an equally worn flannel shirt that did nothing to hide his biceps. Or the rest of his upper body. She really needed to stop ogling him.
He held up his palms. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you heard me stomping up the stairs.”
She gave him a ghost of a smile. “I normally would have, but I was listening to an audiobook.” She’d needed the escape.
After making her statement yesterday morning, she’d headed to Apollo’s house where he’d insisted she would be staying.
But after one day and one night there…she was looking for an escape already.
She didn’t want to go home or anything, but she’d forgotten how overbearing her brother could be.
She’d thrown herself into work here at the Carmine Mansion all day, making note of potential historically important finds and also just fun things. There was a costume jewelry collection that the local museum might be interested in and some small paintings she needed to get authenticated.
“Arlo is still downstairs. He won’t be leaving until you tell him to, or I do on any given day.” Nick’s expression was hard and she understood why.
“Thank you again for hiring him.” Arlo handled security for some of the Storm family construction sites, and Nick had brought him on to keep an eye on things here.
You know, in case someone tried to kill her or drug and kidnap her again.
Seriously, what was her life? She still hadn’t processed what was going on.
Or maybe she had. She’d accepted that this was the bullshit she had to deal with, even if she didn’t understand why someone had targeted her.
Being able to work today had helped with her stress at least.
“Also,” she continued. “Thank you for fixing my front door.”
He half smiled as he glanced around the third-floor bedroom, likely taking in all the Post-it notes she’d placed on many of the items. “I did destroy it.”
“Yeah, well, with good reason. And sorry Apollo was kind of a dick to you.” Her brother hadn’t let up, which was weird. He’d been all normal after Nick had cooked for them, but then after she’d made her statement at the police station, he’d started up again, acting like an overprotective brother.
“I have a younger sister too,” he murmured, leaning down to look at one of the Tiffany lamps.
“Well, I can’t see you threatening to punch one of her boyfriends in the throat.”
“He said that?”
“Oh…I guess you weren’t there for that.” She shook her head, then internally froze as she realized what she’d said. It wasn’t like Nick was even her boyfriend, and she’d made a reference to that. She was tired and overstimulated. And fine, scared.
To her surprise, Nick laughed. “It’s okay. And I’ve absolutely threatened a couple of Clover’s boyfriends.”
“I’m sure she loved that,” Berkley said dryly.
He just snorted. Then, “I’m not rushing you, but are you close to being done for the day?”
She glanced at her phone, realized how late it had gotten. She also realized she hadn’t eaten lunch. “I’m at a natural stopping point, so yeah. And I’ll tell Arlo that if he ever needs to leave, he can just come find me.”
Nick smiled, and it transformed the hard lines of his face. He really was annoyingly good-looking. And it was like he was throwing it in her face. Obviously he wasn’t, but whatever. “Oh, he knows that. I just wanted to check on your progress… That’s a lie. I wanted to check on you.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Thank you.”
“So you’re staying with Apollo?”
“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes, glad to be talking about that and not focusing on the weird sensation of knowing that Nick Storm was checking on her. That he…maybe cared. And that she kind of liked that—a lot more than she’d admit to anyone.
“That’s a bad thing?”
“No.” She slid her work gloves off before shutting the window she’d left open for extra ventilation.
This was one of the cleaner rooms, but the accumulation of dust and that musty scent that came with homes that had been untouched for a while permeated everything.
“I have a feeling I have a different relationship with my brothers than you do with Clover.”
“How so?” he asked as they descended the first staircase.
This one was a cool, winding one, but she loved the main staircase that connected the first and second floor. It was grand, oversized and opened up onto a landing with a huge stained-glass window depicting Sanctuary Falls’s biggest waterfall that was so beautiful it took her breath away.
“Ah, did your sister ever hit you in the face with a cutting board?” she asked.
“Or did you try to cut her hair in her sleep? Or change the word ‘the’ to ‘butts’ in a term paper? Or…” She trailed off at his horrified expression and laughed.
“Yeah, I’ve got three brothers and they’re all lunatics.
I mean, I’d burn down the world for any of them, but we tussled when we were younger and I’ve got the scars to prove it. ” They did too.
“Aren’t you like five years younger than Apollo?”
“Yes, but the cutting board thing was to Cormac. He’s only a year older than me—and he deserved it. He dumped one of my friends right before the prom. As in one day before.”
“So he got a cutting board to the face?”
She eyed him as they reached the first floor. “I can’t tell if you’re judging me.”
“I’m impressed more than anything. And a little scared.”
She grinned. “Right answer. For the record, Cormac actually realized what a dick move he’d made and they ended up going to prom together as friends.” He had a busted nose in all his pictures, but whatever. “What’s that look?”
“I’m really wondering who changed the word ‘the’ to ‘butts’ in the term paper? And what happened afterward? I need details.”
Feeling lighter than she had in the last twenty-four hours, she laughed.
“Oh, that was all Micah. He was a freshman and Cormac was a senior. I’ve been sworn to secrecy though as to why he did it, so…
” She shrugged. “But to answer your last question, the teacher realized that someone had messed with the paper and allowed Cormac to turn in another version.” She paused.
“I just realized that Cormac really does deserve a lot of the shit we do to him.”
Nick laughed, the sound easy and deep, and she really didn’t want to like it so much. But it settled in her bones, wrapped around her and… No! She had to stop this. She didn’t want to like him so much. What had happened to the judgy jerk from before? She wanted him back!
Lies. She liked this version of him so much better and that scared her. Now he was a gorgeous man who cooked for her, hired a bodyguard for her, and was checking up on her safety. And he’d brought in a badass attorney to stop her from going to jail. Yeah, she really did like this version of him.
Once they’d locked up the house and said good-bye to Arlo, Nick cleared his throat.
“Look,” he said. “This might be overkill, but I’m going to follow you to Apollo’s place.”
“Not overkill.”
He seemed surprised by her response.
“Someone broke into my place and tried to pin my ex’s murder on me.
” And you know, another murder. Something she was still sitting on.
Partially because saying it out loud terrified her, but also…
she didn’t have an alibi for the time of that murder.
What if the cops decided to pin it on her?
That older detective had scared her and she wasn’t taking the chance.
“Not overkill. Thank you, I appreciate it.”
Tension seemed to leave his shoulders as he nodded. Then he waited as she got into her vehicle—a 1969 peacock blue Bronco she’d discovered at one of her jobs and taken as payment instead of money at the end.
She wanted to ask him why he was being so nice but wasn’t sure she wanted the answer. Maybe he felt guilty for being so cold to her for so long and was trying to make it up to her? She had a feeling that some of this was Clover’s doing. Whatever the reason, she would take it.
***
“What the hell?” Berkley looked at her speedometer as the flashing red and blue lights went off behind her. It was only four, so not dark yet, but it would be sunset soon. She was already counting down to spring when the time changed and they’d get light much longer.
The sun was setting behind her, making it hard to see the man approaching her Bronco.
She rolled down her window, then tensed. What if this was a setup, someone trying to kill her—
“License and insurance please.” The uniformed man didn’t even bother with niceties or the standard question cops usually asked—Do you know why I pulled you over? He just got right to it.
“Ah sure. Can I ask why you pulled me over?”
“Speeding.” His tone was brisk and she couldn’t see his eyes thanks to his sunglasses.
She pulled her license from her wallet and said, “You guys have radar now?” Because she knew for a fact that the sheriff’s department here didn’t have it. The state patrol did.
He paused, giving her a hard look, but didn’t respond.
She handed over her license, then gave him her insurance. Once he walked back to his vehicle, she quickly turned on her dashcam, because something about this stop was giving her bad vibes. She was surprised he didn’t ask for her registration, but maybe that was coming next.