LINCOLN
SHE’S A THIEF
Ihave a new mission: force Nova to leave Mount Gaines, anddon’tlet hertell me where she’s going.
It’s what her brother wanted, and call me an optimist, but that letter read like a warning to me. In black and white and with zero fucking subtlety, Ryan Nichols wanted his sister out of town and away from what he knew was coming in the event of his death.
He knew!
If Aster doesn’t know where she is, she’s safe. And if she doesn’t tell me where the house is, then he can’t torture the information from me.
I might die in the process. Fuck knows, Aster seems desperate enough, and connected enough, to get damn near anything he wants. But Ryan was smart, and he made sure she had somewhere to go where she’d be safe.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
Sending her away might be the killing blow to my heart, andwatching her leave may be the hardest thing I’ll ever do, but he had a plan for her. One I intend to help him carry out.
Even if doing so leaves a filthy lump of dread in the pit of my stomach.
I pull into my driveway and bring the car to a slow stop just ten feet from a porch not too different from Nova’s. Seems both houses were built around the same time, using similar sets of plans and styles.Very eighteen-nineties of them.I watch the RAM pull in behind me through the rearview mirror. The rumbling engine cuts out, leaving only the sounds of clicking from our warm motors and the screech of cicadas as they congregate in the massive trees above.
Collecting my keys and phone from the center console, I unsnap my seatbelt and push my door open, while, fifteen feet away, Nova does the same, slipping down from her high seat and dropping to the gravel driveway with a thud of her shoes. She’s so small, her shoulders are barely high enough to be seen through the side window.
“How hungry are you?” Staring down at her phone, she blindly turns and shuts her door, juggling keys off her pinkie finger and nibbling on her bottom lip. Her long, almost blonde hair dangles forward, obscuring portions of her face. “Did you like the burritos the other night? Want the same again?”
“Sure, they were good.” I push away from my car and wrap my hand around her arm, leading her toward the house before she stumbles and falls. “I’ll pay for it, though. You got us last time.”
She smirks, her cheeks moving higher, though all that does is emphasize how swollen her crying has left her. “Don’t forget you paid for the wildly overpriced pasta neither of us ate. Anddelicious ice cream that may or may not compare to the real thing in Italy.”
“It compared.”
With her focus still on her phone, she trips on the first step and catches her toe. I hold her tighter and shake my head when she snorts like a pig and rights herself.
“You could do that inside, ya know? You’re exposed out here, Nova. The sun is heading toward the horizon, which means visibility is off. Not to mention the trees surrounding this property. A sniper would have a field day hiding in those. Where’s your situational awareness?”
“It’s right here,” she mumbles, trusting me to lead her across the porch. She taps ‘buy’ and lowers her phone, then glancing up, she nails me with a grin. “Youare my situational awareness. You’re clearly obsessed with the trees, the position of the sun, and whether someone is out here to ruin my day. You’re lecturing me about my observational skills, which means you, yourself, are observant enough for the both of us.” She slides her tongue along the front of her teeth. “You’re already doing such a good job of it, I figure I’d only be in the way.”
“So, you’re gonna bethatchick? Fantastic.” I drag my wire door open and slip the key into the lock, but when she moves to barrel inside and make herself at home, I hold her back, my ears perked for noise and my eyes scouring my living room the way I always do when I come home.
Walking into an ambush is no fun for anyone.
Allowing Nova to walk in ahead of me isnothappening.
“You’re getting awfully handsy.” She shakes herself free and steps across the threshold a single beat behind me. “At whatpoint did we move from ‘just met at a funeral’ to ‘you get to shove me around at your whim’?”
“Probably about the time you mentioned fucking, and I was forced to be the more mature, controlled party of our two.” I stalk through my living room and peek into the kitchen, ensuring it’s empty and the back door is still secure. Turning back, I smile and look her up and down. “You enjoy sundresses and obliviousness. I only like one of those things.”
Grinning, she grabs the hem of her dress and swishes it around her thighs. “It has pockets and air conditioning in the summer, and oblivion leaves me with less stress. If I’m constantly worrying about what’s around the corner, or who’s hiding amongst the trees with a sniper rifle, then I’d be old and gray and a sufferer of chronic insomnia by now.”
“So,Igetto be the worrier,” I grumble. “Since it’s clearsomeonehas to be.”
“Which makes you sound more like my brother than you even realize.” Her jaw quivers with a potent mix of sadness and affection. “He was always on me about those trees. Isn’t it exhausting, always beingon?”
“Yep.” I wander her way and stop only when our chests touch, and her head tilts back exposing her throat and the constant, comforting pulse barely hidden beneath delicate skin. “It’s exhausting as hell. More so when I have to watch out for someone else, too.” I bring my hand up and brush loose locks of hair off her shoulder. Searching her eyes, I become brutally aware that tonight, if I get my way, might be the last time I get to see her. “But beingonis better than being dead. And being aware of our surroundings is how our ancestors stayed alive. Those who weren’t paying attention didn’t survive evolution.”
“And despite that,” she teases, nibbling on her bottom lip and setting her hands on my hips, “I still ended up here, talking to a guy who can’t decide if he wants to take me to bed or lecture me on at-home safety.”
“You should visit the house Ryan mentioned.” I cup her cheek, close enough and observant enough to notice the change in her eyes. The way they darken, and how her jaw tightens at the mere mention of her brother. “Take some time off and get away for a while.”
