Her Rebound Men (17 page)

“Everything good, baby?”
Nate asked while keeping his gaze on Jeff. At least Jeff had the intelligence
to look uneasy around Nate, but who wouldn’t with all his muscular, tattooed
awesomeness?

“It is now.”

Nate wrapped his arm around
her waist and brought her close to his side. The warm feel of his body against
hers was like a balm.

“Good,
because I’d hate if it wasn’t.”
The
words were a warning to
Jeff, that
much was clear.
“Come on, baby.” He led her to his car and helped her in. She told herself not
to look at Jeff, but she found herself doing it anyway. He stood there, the
rage on his face evident.

Yeah, clearly he didn’t take
well to a bigger and better man making him feel anything less than the god he
thought he was. She turned her attention back to the front when Nate climbed
back in and pulled back onto the street. For several minutes they didn’t speak,
but finally he broke the silence.

“
You doing
okay?” He shifted gears. She could see him glancing at her through her
peripheral vision.

“Yeah, I’m good. He just really
gets to me.” She wanted to be strong and act like everything truly was okay,
but she couldn’t deny that there were times she still had self-doubts. Being
dumped by him had been the best thing to happen to her, and if she didn’t need
that job desperately she would have quit when all this shit happened. But life
didn’t always happen the way she wanted. The only saving grace was the fact she
didn’t see him a lot, although since she started seeing Nate and
Kev
and Jeff realized this, he had been showing up at the
most uncomfortable times. “I just don’t want to talk about him if that’s okay?”

He took her hand and placed
it on his thighs. “Yeah, baby. Sure.” She pushed her thoughts away and focused
on the fact they were going to go see
Kev
and, she hoped,
get everything straightened out. He covered her hand with his, and they drove
the rest of the way in silence.

Chapter Nineteen

“Are we going straight to
Kev
?” Kate asked, cutting into his thoughts.

Nate glanced across at her.
“Of course, unless you’re hungry.
Kev
will still be at work even if we stop to eat, which pisses me off. He’s going
to kill himself at this rate.”

“I’m not hungry. I want to
get this sorted out.
Kev
shouldn’t suffer.”

He entered the underground
parking where his brother worked. That morning he’d called in sick at work to
go and see what Marco found out. His friend never needed a long time to find
the information out.
Kev’s
guilt was misplaced and
totally messed up. The stuff Nate had found out should settle this whole self-hatred
that was inside his brother. For the last few months
Kev
had let himself grieve for a woman who didn’t need his grief, or at least not
in the sense he felt.

“No, we’re not waiting. I
need to see my brother and stop him for thinking something. It’s confusing, I
know, but you have to trust me. It’ll be easier for you to come with me,” Nate
said. He nodded at the security guard on the parking lot.

Once he was parked next to
Kev’s
expensive car, Nate climbed out and waited for Kate
to follow him. He took her hand, heading toward the elevator.

“I’ve never been here
before,” she said.

He smiled. “You’re not
missing much. How was work?” Squeezing her hand, he tried to push thoughts of
Jeff near her out of his mind.

“It was fine. Boring but
fine. There’s not a lot to talk about when it comes to work.” Her hand felt a
little sweaty.

“What about Jeff?” He
gritted his teeth when he spoke the bastard’s name.

“I have to work with him.
There’s nothing going on there.” From the pinched look on her face, he knew she
was lying. He’d deal with the Jeff problem later.

“Is there anything you’ll
want me to say or do in here?” she asked.

“No. Your presence will be
enough.
Kev
may get angry. I swear he won’t hurt
anyone. He may hit me, but that’s about it.” Nate led her out of the elevator
as it pinged to a stop.

“What if he’s gone home?”

“The car we were parked next
to is
Kev’s
. Also, he won’t
leave work until he’s satisfied he’s run himself into the ground. He’ll
practically live here if I don’t stop him.”

He led the way to the back
of the office. The floor was dark, and there was no one in sight. The only
light came from the office at the end of the floor.
Kev’s
office.

Nate saw his brother bent
over the desk with a pen in his hand. The glare of the computer screen on his
desk highlighted his frowning face.

“He looks busy.”

“
Kev’s
got his head up his ass.” Not waiting for her response he slammed
open
the office door. His brother stood, poised ready to
attack. “At ease,
Kev
, I’m not the enemy,” Nate said.
 

“What are you doing here?”
Kev
asked.

“What did you know about
Heather?” Nate ignored his brother’s questions and focused on what was going on
now.

“Excuse me?”
Kev’s
glance went over his shoulder to Kate. “I don’t think
she should be here. You made a big mistake bringing her here.”

“No, I didn’t. You’ve got
feelings for her, and she has a right to know what has changed you.”

“Nate, if you keep going on
I’m going to forget you’re my brother.”

Nate rounded the desk to get
right up close to his brother’s face. With
Kev
standing, getting close to him wasn’t a problem. The fists
Kev
had up were. It had been some time since he’d fought his brother, but on this
issue he’d make an exception.

Nate wasn’t looking forward
to getting hit.
Kev
might wear a suit and behave like
a pussy, but he knew how to fight.

“You don’t scare me. I went
and saw Marco today.” He saw
Kev
tense at his words.

“Why the fuck are you seeing
him?”
Kev
asked.

“I think you know.”

The hit came, and Nate took
the blow to his face. Stepping back, he blocked the next hit and held
Kev’s
fists away from him.

“You never should talk to
Marco. He doesn’t have a fucking clue what to do other than break the law. I’m
going to report the bastard.”

“Heather was sick. She’d
suffered with long term depression that started in high-school,” Nate said. He
needed to speak before he lost
Kev’s
attention.

“Will you stop?” Kate
shouted the words trying to grab
Kev’s
arm. “Listen
to him. He’s your brother.”

She got through to him.
Kev
didn’t turn away. His brother looked at him as if he
was ready to do murder.

“Talk!”
Kev
said, wiping his face.

“Marco broke into her
medical records. Heather suffered from long term depression. She was admitted
into a mental hospital three times for attempted suicide. The only reason she didn’t
succeed was because she was rescued before it got too bad. Her medication was
off the chart.”

Kev
frowned. “What? No, you’ve got the wrong girl.”

Nate took out his cell
phone, dialed Marco’s number, and handed his brother the cell.

He watched as Marco rolled
off her full name, address, birth date, parents’ names and everything else.

His brother grew paler with
every passing second.
Kev
handed him back the cell
phone when he was finished with the call. In the next second
Kev
collapsed in his chair.

“He said she was on suicide
watch when we were dating. I never knew. She always acted fine around me.”

“Heather was living a lie. A
twisted
lie,
and you shouldn’t be the one to take the
blame for that. She should have told you she was sick.”

Kev
laughed. Kate walked behind
Kev
.
Nate watched as she rubbed his shoulders. “This is not your fault,” she said,
whispering the words against his temple.

Staring at his brother, Nate
waited for him to respond. “How long have you carried this guilt around?”

“From the moment I lost her.
I really thought she was the one. But she lied from the beginning. What Marco
said was the day I claimed to have met her, she’d signed out of the hospital
against orders or something.”

“Her death is not your
fault,
Kev
. Let her go, and live.” Nate knelt in
front of his brother, took his hands, and stared at him.

The guilt of Heather had
been part of
Kev’s
life for so long, Nate wondered if
he could let her go.

****

Kev
felt Kate’s arms wrap around him, and for the first
time since Heather’s death, he felt … free. Staring at his brother he knew the
truth. Nate would never lie about something like this, and even though Marco
was a bastard, he was the best man for getting information.

The more he thought over his
time with Heather, the more the information made sense. There were marks all
over Heather’s body from her wrists to her ankles. She’d tried to kill herself
multiple times. That was the truth. The lie she’d been living was with him.

She shouldn’t have been in a
relationship with him, or even out of the hospital. Her illness stemmed from
bullying and had grown deeper with time.

He’d lost a great deal of
his time on his guilt.

“It’s not your fault. It
will never be your fault,
Kev
. You need to stop
this,” Nate said.

Kev
nodded. “I know.” Running a hand down his face, he
turned to the computer. Kate’s arms stayed around his neck. He didn’t let her
go. With his brother and woman watching him, he shut down the computer and
stood. “Let’s get out of here.”

He followed them down to
Nate’s car. They didn’t speak, and for that he was thankful. He needed a stiff
drink and to have his arms filled with Kate.

“Come back to my place. I’ll
be expecting you,”
Kev
said, climbing into his car.
He pulled out of the parking lot and went in the direction of his penthouse
apartment. Every now and then he looked out his rearview mirror to make sure
Nate was following him. He didn’t want to be alone tonight.

At the moment
Kev
needed his brother more than ever. The only person to
understand him was Nate.

He parked in the secured
parking area and waited for the others to arrive. Nate pulled into the
available spot seconds later. Together they made their way up to the room.

The silence was deafening.
On his floor he flicked the lock and went straight for the liquor cabinet.

“I don’t think hitting the
alcohol is a wise decision,” Nate said, stopping the glass from being raised to
his lips.

“Nate, I’ve just found out
the woman I’ve felt responsible for lied to me. She had a long-standing history
of attempted suicide and depression. I think I deserve at least one hard drink
before I hit the coffee.”

“Let him. He needs something
to help the pain,” Kate said. She’d taken a seat on his sofa.

When his drink was free
Kev
flung it back and savored the burn as it went down his
throat. The one was enough, and he left the glass on the side, going to the
sofa to collapse.

“What are you thinking?”
Kate asked.

“You don’t want to know.”
She settled down beside him. Wrapping an arm around her he glanced at his brother.
“You saved me, you know? I wasn’t going to let it go. I was going to let you
have the girl, and I’d continue with my misery.”

“I’m pleased to hear that’s
not happening.”

“You haven’t got a chance,”
Kev
said. “I’m in this for the long haul.” Pulling Kate
onto his lap, he pressed his nose against her neck and breathed in her heavenly
scent.
“How about it, Siren?
Are you happy to have
both of us at your beck and call?”

She giggled, and the sound
went straight to his cock. He wasn’t going to fuck her tonight. All he wanted
tonight was her in his bed, by his side.

Nate left the room, and he
heard the sound of the coffee machine going.

“He worries about you,” Kate
said.

“We’re twins, Kate. Some
people forget that. I’ve been making his life hell for the past couple of months.
This is the most time we’ve spent together in a long time. I can’t believe I’ve
been such a dick.”

“You’ve got all of us,
Kev
. You’ve got nothing to fear any longer, and you’re not
getting rid of me. The sex is too damn good to leave.”