“She doesn’t want to see me.”
“She does. She misses you.”
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
Livvy thought of the sadness and anger on Sadia’s face whenever Jackson’s name had popped up. “She’s not fine.”
Jackson’s frown was ferocious. “What’s wrong?”
Ugh, Sadia was gonna turn her stabbing knife around on Livvy if she ever found out about this. But her sister-in-law needed friends, and Jackson had, once upon a time, been Sadia’s best friend. “She could use a hand, is all. She could use you.” When Jackson frowned, she pressed. “She always stood by you. You owe her, Jackson.”
The knock on the door interrupted whatever Jackson’s would have said in response. “You expecting someone?” she asked.
Jackson swung his legs over the side of the bed. “No.”
It could be Maile. Livvy had told her aunt Jacksonwas here, on the off chance her brother would agree to see the family. She set her beer on the side table.
Jackson opened the door and stopped. Then he moved aside, his eyebrow raised sardonically. “It’s for you.”
Livvy’s knees were shaky as she came to her feet and met Nicholas’s gaze. She wasn’t accustomed to seeing Nicholas look so rumpled. His tie was loosened, his shirt unbuttoned with dirt covering it, his hands scratched up.
“What happened to you?” she asked, and took a step toward him. She halted at the warmth and tenderness in his expression.
“Nothing.”
“Something’s about to,” Jackson remarked. Then he lifted his massive fist and slammed it into Nicholas’s face.
Livvy squealed. To his credit, Nicholas only staggered back a step at the blow that would have probably felled a smaller man.
“Jesus, Jackson,” she spat, and skirted around her brother to grab Nicholas’s arm. Nicholas allowed her to lead him to the bed and set him down on it, and then she pried his hand away from his face, wincing at the blood trickling out of his nose. “What were you thinking?” she asked her brother, and grabbed a handful of tissues from the box on the bedside table.
“He hurt you. He knew the price he’d pay.” Jackson cocked his head. He studied Nicholas like a scientist with a lab experiment. “I probably owe him a few more hits.”
Nicholas straightened as she dabbed at the blood coming out of his nose. “That one was free. You won’t be hitting me again.”
She looked between the two men while the charged silence extended, then finally threw up her hands. “Enough of this shit. Jackson, out.”
“It’s my room,” he pointed out mildly.
“Go,” Livvy said briskly. If nothing else, she had to get Nicholas’s blood cleaned up and find out what had him showing up here looking like a mess.
Jackson grunted. “Fine. I’ll be in the lobby. Call me if you need me.”
The door clicked softly, and Livvy bent over Nicholas, awkwardly dabbing at his face. She hadn’t seen enough fights to know exactly how to take care of a bloody nose. “I don’t think it’s broken,” she offered.
“That’s a relief.” Thankfully, he took over the doctoring and accepted the tissues from her, tilting his head back and pinching his nostrils closed. “I’ll be fine.”
She twisted her hands between her and sat next to him. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know he’d punch you.”
“He did warn me.” He lowered the tissues and glanced at her. “And I did hurt you.”
Livvy worried her lip. Nicholas shifted so he was angled toward her, and picked up her hand with the one that didn’t hold bloody tissues. “I’m sorry, Livvy.”
“It’s not your fault,” she mumbled, her heart breaking anew. “You can’t help what you feel.”
He paused. “How do you think I feel?”
She shrugged.
