“She was the best. She might be here today, if only I’d driven her myse—”
“Don’t.” She vehemently shook her head and pressed her fingertips to his lips. “She needed emergency care. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
He closed his eyes. “When they finally got her to the hospital, they tried everything to save them. But within the hour, they were …”
“Gone?” she whispered.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. She didn’t make it. Internal injuries to the neck and chest, and … it was too early to save my brother.” His face was a mask of pain. “There was … there was so much blood when they loaded her in that ambulance… I still see it in my nightmares. And I still see the savage way he beat her.” He blinked hard as if to chase away the image. “This is the last thing I should be telling you.”
“I asked, remember?” She gripped his chin, compelling him to meet her gaze.
“If I had taken her to the ER—”
“Youdidget her to the ER.”
“I was weak. He picked me up and tossed me across the room and then he … If I’d been stronger, I could have gotten him off her and—”
She stopped him with a kiss. Cupping his cheeks, she took his lips, conveying all the compassion and understanding she couldn’t put into words. At first, he didn’t respond and simply let her kiss him, but when he finally did, it was soft and gentle and unlike any kiss he had ever given her.
She slid her hands up his shoulders, kneading them before reaching to thread her fingers through his silky hair. Gently, she massaged his scalp. He broke the kiss and shuddered, exhaling as if releasing a world of pent-up tension.
“Don’t stop,” he murmured.
She tried to think of what to say. “Thank you for trusting me with all of that.”
“You are the only one I’ve ever told.” And then, he closed his eyes as she continued her ministrations, hoping that the little she was doing was somehow helpful, relief flooding her when, gradually, he relaxed and drifted off in her arms.
She watched him for a long, long time. In sleep, he looked so vulnerable … her nose and eyes stung from the horrific images he’d imprinted in her mind. His own father … she thought of her loving dad. She couldn’t fathom what Nick had been through. It would have broken many people, but somehow, he had moved on and grown stronger, both physically and mentally. Now that she knew why he had disappeared right before graduation, she wished she didn’t.
She also wished she didn’t have such strong feelings for Nick Kent.
•
Nick
“So, this is where you live.”
Nick pushed open the door to his apartment, stepping aside to let Jannie pass.
Being here felt strange. Sterile. He felt removed from it, somehow. Aside from a few trips to pick up clothes, he hadn’t set foot in this space since he’d brought Jannie to Las Vegas.
“More like where I used to crash,” he said. He couldn’t qualify what he used to do here as living. Existing, maybe. Living? No.
“Bad choice of words.” Jannie shot him a half-smile.
Yeah, crashing might not have been the thing to mention. He knew she was nervous about the checkride tomorrow. Unnecessarily, he thought. Out of all the pilots he instructed, none had better instincts and reflexes than Jannie. But this morning, it was clear she needed a distraction, and since she had shown interest in seeing his place, Nick decided today would be the day.
She did a double take, then pointed to the round, gray robot sitting in its charger against the wall. “You have aRoomba!”
He smiled. Only Jannie could get so excited at the sight of a robotic vacuum. “Why, yes, I do. I bought it as kind of a joke, but the thing did such a good job, I kept it.”
“Aren’t they great? I have three. It’s the only way I can keep up with the German Shepherd hair.”
“I should have brought this to the house.” It would have spared her the daily vacuuming, which she’d done diligently and with zeal.
Her gaze circled the small space, skipping over the bare walls and tiny kitchen. “It’s small.”
His gut tightened. Exactly what Myla had said. “I didn’t need anything bigger.”
