Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
NASH
“ N ash, I need help.” I watched Nora fly around the room like she’d done this a million times. “Nash, stand down here with me, please.” The room spun, and I was sure I’d heard her wrong.
Did she just ask me to stand at Fallon’s feet?
“Nope.” Shaking my head, I fought the urge for the world to go black. There was no way I was waking up to Kipp, slapping my face. Oh, he’d like that for sure. A chance to smack me around with a valid excuse. “Can’t do that”
Nora turned and stared me down. She was the nicest woman I’d ever met, perfect for my best friend, but when that switch flipped we all went running, and well, the switch had definitely flipped. “Nash, I can’t do this alone. It’s just like delivering a calf.” If she could have killed me with her eyes, I'd have been on the floor already. “And you’ve done that more times than you can even remember.”
“She’s a woman, Nora, not a cow. It’s not the same.” I took a step back and had decided I was a bobble head because I was still shaking my head no.
Nora moved closer to me and grabbed my shirt, and pulled me toward her. “Hells bells Nash, you’ve probably seen a million vaginas. What’s one more?” Pulling me back to her side, she didn’t let me go.
“I’ve never seen this one. It feels wrong. It’s Fallon.” I’d known her since the day she was born, and I’d loved her almost that long. Not like I loved Tayla and Lark. They were like sisters, but something was always different with Fallon. We had a unique connection.
“Fuck you Nash, you’ve seen this one too. Don’t pretend to be all high and mighty.” Fallon propped herself up on her elbows and glared at me.
“You what?” Kipp bellowed from the doorway. He stood in the doorway, his bulky frame blocking almost all the light and his eyes shooting bullets at me. If he’d been pawing at the ground like a bull getting ready to charge, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the slightest.
“Kipp Miller Jr. if you don’t get your ass out of this room, I will whoop it myself.” Nora shouted as she pointed to the door.
His glare turned from me and softened as he looked at his fiancé. They’d had a wild ride getting together, but their son Cooper and the baby she would have in the spring changed him. He’d been grumpy and ornery, but with her he was a totally different man. “You sassing me?” He arched his brow, crossed his arms, and leaned against the door, trying to hide his smirk.
“Fucking right, I’m sassing you. Close the damn door on your way out.” Nora was the only person on the planet who would get away with talking to Kipp like that. If it had been me or one of our other business partners, we would have been in a fistfight, but not Nora. He just nodded and looked back at me.
“We’re talking about this later, Nash.” His statement didn’t scare me. We’d had fist fights for things less important than this, but this was taking being a territorial brother a little far.
“Yeah, no you’re not. It has nothing to do with you, Kipp. I didn’t yell at you when you slept with Hattie,” Fallon said through gritted teeth, as she breathed through another contraction.
“I didn’t sleep with Hattie. I made out with her and that was ten years ago.” He looked at Nora, smiling anxiously.
“Yeah, well, she was crushed, and she was my best friend. Consider us even. Now get out.” She flopped back down on the bed, trying to catch her breath.
“Nash is like your brother, Fallon. It’s gross.” Kipp frowned, and I looked at him like he had five heads. “Seriously, why?”
“Kipp, he was never like a brother. You just didn’t pay attention. Yes, I slept with your best friend. If you don’t mind, I’m not really in the mood to discuss this. Out!”
I looked at Kipp who was still seething, especially after Fallon’s declaration. “Whatever fun we had is over. I’m not here to do anything other than keep my kids safe.” She looked over to me, her eyes filled with sadness and a sparkle of mischief. She might be telling Kipp what we had was over, but even with a sweaty brow and gritted teeth, something in the air told me this was just the beginning of the shake up Fallon had planned for my life.
“Are we seriously discussing ex-lovers while you’re having a baby, with no doctor?” Nora exclaimed as she looked at Fallon, before she threw her hands in the air. “This family is nuts.” She shook her head.
“This isn’t over.” Kipp bellowed, pointing at me.
“Yes, it is. You heard your sister. Get. Out.” Nora had marched over to Kipp and pushed him out of the room, slamming the door as he stood there grinning at her. I swear he was the only man I’d ever known that enjoyed pissing the woman he was sleeping with off this much.
The door flew open, and I was sure Kipp was ready to spar again, but Julie stood in the doorway. Her slight frame somehow filled the opening. “Mama.” Fallon sounded like she was five again. Her voice was tiny, tired, and relieved to see her mom.
Julie smiled through the tears welling in her eyes. “I’m here, my girl.” She walked to the head of the bed and gently kissed Fallon on the head. “You’re safe now. We’ve got you. Where do you need me, Nora?” Julie tore her eyes from her daughter and looked down at where we stood. “I’ll deal with you later, Nash Powers.” She pointed at me, but I saw the gleam in her eyes. She wasn’t mad like her overgrown man child of a son. Julie looked back at her daughter, who had drifted off to sleep again.
Nora motioned for all of us to move to the corner of the room. Julie reluctantly let her daughter’s hand go. What must it be like to see her home after almost six years of being gone? They’d had no idea where she was, or who she was with. I’d seen her almost three years ago, but I’d kept her secret, and hadn’t ever truly let her go. If anyone had come right out and asked me, I knew where she was this entire time. “As long as everything happens as it should, this wouldn’t be as scary. I wish the guys were home. We could at least send one of them to get the doctor. I’m not sure I can spare Kipp. He’s got to stay with Cooper and Josie.” Nora’s voice went quiet and she stared off out the window into the darkness. “Is Phil still at your house, Julie?” She closed her eyes and sighed. Julie’s face went red, and she stared at Nora.
“This conversation doesn’t leave this corner. Am I clear?” Julie pointed at me. “I haven’t told Kipp he’s here, much less that he’s staying with me.”
“Don’t you think you should tell him?” I whispered, and now daggers shot from her eyes. “It’s like you’re a teenager sneaking around, Julie.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you’re one to talk about keeping your love life on the down low. I’ll sneak around all I want to thank you very much.” She grinned and nodded. “I’ll text him and make sure he’s ready if need be. Lord, love a duck. I hope he doesn’t need to go, for more than one reason.” She glanced back at Fallon, who was still asleep.
“I’m going to run and get some towels, string, and scissors. Dang, I should have watched more Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman reruns.” Nora shook her head and walked out of the room.
“Nash.” Julie looked up at me. “Did you really sleep with my daughter?” She crossed her arms and for the first time, I realized how much Fallon looked like her mom. The dainty features, the long slender fingers, Fallon was taller, and she got that from Miller, but she was her mom through and through.
“Yes, ma’am. I did.” There was no reason to hide it anymore. Fallon had outed our tryst, one of them at least.
“When?”
“After Miller died.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and waited.
“She was hurting. We all were, but she was her daddy’s shadow. He’d had so many plans for her to help take over this place.” Her voice trailed off and her eyes darted to the woman sleeping peacefully in the bed. “ You were there for her when I couldn’t be. Thank you, Nash,” she patted my shoulder and moved to walk back to the bed. And immediately stopped and looked back at me. “But you should have kept it in your pants. Think you can manage that this time?”
“I know. Of course.” I nodded and watched her sit back at Fallon’s side. That might be the strangest conversation that I’d ever had. It was also going to be easier than talking to Kipp.
I felt like I was intruding standing here watching them, but going out into the hallway wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, either. Reaching for the door handle, I peeked around the corner and it was all clear. Sighing, I needed to focus, Nora and Julie needed me, but more importantly, I needed to step up for Fallon. It’s what she’d begged me to do three years ago, and I wasn’t willing then, but I’d already lost too much time with her because I was an idiot. She wouldn’t be in this state if I’d been the man she needed me to be years ago.
Now was the time.