Chapter 8
Grace
”What”s goin” on between my brother and you?” Gaia demanded as she slid a mojito in front of me.
”Which brother?” Nick asked with a chuckle.
”Well, since Blaze is all yours, I was obviously talkin” about Z.” Gaia rolled her eyes.
”Blaze is all mine, sha,” Nick said with such smug arrogance that I let out a laugh. ”And I can hardly believe it most days,” she admitted saucily.
Gaia patted her hand. ”I”ve never seen him this obsessed with a woman. You know his eyes watch you everywhere you go? I thought Rome was bad, but Blaze…well…when the big ones fall, they fall hard.”
”Who fell hard?” the man in question asked as he came to stand behind his fiancée, his arms immediately wrapped around her. He pulled her head back and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
”Apparently, you did for Nick,” I mentioned.
He grinned broadly. ”Oh ya! She fuckin” owns me.”
Nick blushed, and the joy in her eyes was unmistakable.
”So, back to you, Grace,” Gaia muttered. ”What”s up with you and Z?”
Blaze grinned. ”He looks smug like he got some pussy after he came back late for his set.”
I wanted the earth to swallow me whole. I wasn”t used to this—easy talk about sex.
”Eww! You were gone like ten minutes. I didn”t know Z was that quick. I”m sorry, Grace, that my brother is a pump-and-dump kinda asshole.” Gaia refilled Blaze”s glass, which I assumed contained whiskey.
I groaned. ”Please, can we not talk about this?”
”Talk about what?” Rome came up to us and lifted himself over the bar in a push-up to kiss his wife.
”Talk about what Z and Grace were doing, which made him late for his set,” Nick filled in, obviously enjoying teasing me.
”Oui?” Rome was amused.
I dropped my face in my hands. Someone patted my shoulder. I looked up to see Nick. Rome and Blaze had left our area by the bar.
”It”s their way of making you feel like you”re one of us,” she consoled.
I”d never had this. I had a few friends, but all in all, I”d been on my own. I had thought Liam was mine, and I”d been wrong. Since then, I”d pretty much become a loner. I didn”t mind it. I”d come to the conclusion that being alone was so much better than being lonely. And it was so much better than being abused and made to feel small, insignificant.
”Thanks, Nick. But…nothing is goin” on between Zephyr and me.”
”Ash is one of us, and he ain”t sleepin” with any Doucets, sha.”
It felt strange to have such an open conversation with a person who was almost a stranger. I had no idea what I was doing with Zephyr. The attraction was not one-sided, for sure. I wanted him and that scared me some. I hadn”t wanted a man since Liam. I hadn”t wanted to share myself with anyone—physically or emotionally. But here was a man who was in so many ways so much like Liam—spoiled, rich, and a complete man whore. Liam would talk about women like Zephyr had about my friend Sheryl in high school and how she gave good head. Liam would sit with me at parties and tell me about all the women he”d slept with, pointing them out to me, telling me who was a good fuck and who had a loose pussy. He never seemed to understand how inappropriate that was—and how much it hurt me. He”d been my first and, so far, my only. What the hell was I doing starting up with a man just like Liam? This had ”bad idea” written all over it.
”I”m going to give Zephyr a head”s up on the case after he”s done playing,” I whispered to Nick.
”I already talked to Blaze. He”s all in, though he wants to be the bait and not Z.”
”Blaze is too high profile after the shooting.”
”That”s what I told him. But I understand that he wants to protect his brother. I told him we”ll keep him safe, and he reminded me how he was shot; I was shot; Gaia was shot…he”s not in a trusting mood when it comes to the NOPD.” Nick ran a hand over her face. ”I can”t have any of my family get hurt, Grace.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. ”We”ll plan for every contingency.”
She nodded.
”Where”s Ash?” I asked, looking around.
”He…ah…met someone.” Nick grinned.
Zephyr was like that. I watched him talking to a blonde as he was walking off stage after calling it a night. She was very Marilyn Monroe and was flirting with him. He smiled as he talked to her and removed the hand that she put on his chest. He nodded at something she said and walked away, even as she was talking to him.
”Thanks, babe. But I”m busy tonight,” he called out to her.
”How about tomorrow night?” she pouted.
”Every night for as long as my lady will have me.”
Nick whistled softly.
”What?” I demanded. ”Women fall all over him.”
”Yeah, and he”s just announced that he has a lady. And since no one in this place can be called one except you, sha, I think he may be expecting you to spend the night.”
I took a deep breath. Blaze had caught up with Z, and they were standing by a wall, talking seriously.
”I…I haven”t spent the night…God!” I didn”t even know Nick, and here I was, spilling my guts to her.
”How long since you did?” Nick asked casually.
Since my ex-husband last raped me. How did I answer that question?
”Been a while.”
Nick nodded. ”When I was with the FBI, I worked undercover and was made.”
I smiled wanly. I knew about this. ”I”m so sorry, Nick.”
”Yeah. It was hell. And when Blaze came around, I didn”t know how to be intimate anymore. So, I hear you.”
”How did you know?” I whispered.
”That you got a hard history?” she asked, and when I nodded, she shrugged. ”We recognize each other. It”s the way you flinch if a man comes too close. How you hold yourself up when a man makes a pass. Not because you don”t like the guy…it”s fear.”
I slumped. ”I was married.”
Nick took a sip of her Sazerac. Gaia called out last call, and Nick raised her glass to her, indicating she wanted one more.
”I…was married to a bad man.”
”I”m sorry, Grace.”
”I got divorced and took him for a shit ton of money,” I said bitterly, like my now fat bank account could make up for the horror of those years.
”Okay.”
”The Cartas are like the Doucets in Sacramento—a lot of money, a lot of influence. There would be no justice.”
”You kept the last name.”
I smiled sadly. ”All part of the deal. Liam wanted to flaunt ownership.”
”That the name of your asshole ex?”
”Yeah.”
”You should be proud for taking care of yourself. I know too many women who don”t. You got the only justice, the only retribution you could get.”
”But it”s not enough, is it?” I felt sick in my heart that Liam had gotten away with such evil. That, I, as a lawyer, wasn”t able to touch him.
”Is it ever enough?” Nick scoffed. ”I”m waiting to be strong enough to get my justice. I”m not ready now, but I will be.”
”You”re the most impressive woman I know…well, except for Captain Baptiste. She terrifies me.”
Nick laughed. ”Cap has some of the biggest balls, and she ain”t even got a dick.”
We were laughing when I felt him behind me, clasping me to him like Blaze had Nick.
What? Were we in a relationship? Why did he think he could touch me so freely? And why the hell did I like it so much?
”Blaze gave me a quick update.” He brushed his lips against my ear, and I closed my eyes against the onslaught of nerves. ”I”d like to know more.”
”Okay,” my voice was hoarse.
”Upstairs?”
”My place,” I said. I wanted to be in a safe space. I…oh hell. I couldn”t do this. I just couldn”t. ”Zephyr, maybe we meet in my office tomorrow.”
”I”ll drive you home. I”ve only had a couple of beers, and you”re on your fourth drink.”
He was now counting how much I was drinking? I got up and put some distance between us. ”I can”t.”
”Why?” He narrowed his eyes.
”Ten in my office tomorrow.”
”No. I”m drivin” you home, or you”re sleeping it off at my place.” He took my Prada bag from me and dove his hand and pulled out my car keys. ”Porsche? Nice.”
”Zephyr. I”ll Uber. Okay?”
”Nope. I”m drivin” you home.”
”I don”t want you to.”
He nodded. ”Blaze, can you get Grace home?”
Blaze looked at me and then his brother. ”Sure.”
”He hasn”t been drinking much,” Zephyr assured me.
I gritted my teeth. I”d much rather have Zephyr drive me. Blaze scared me. He was like a big bad wolf.
”You can take me,” I surrendered. ”How will you get back?”
”Let me worry about that,” he snapped.