Nash (40 page)

center of Grant’s tie. It was rare to see her get so heated, so I took a step forward to put a hand on her

shoulder just to keep her steady.

“How dare you?” She was furious on my behalf, fuming and fully in the midst of a redheaded fit of

temper. It was awesome, but Grant narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. “You’re nothing but an

elitist bully. You were so fortunate to have a chance to raise a happy and healthy child, and yet you threw

that away. Nash is a million times the man you’ll ever be.” Her eyes flashed as she looked between my mom

and Grant. “You’re selfish and awful and you deserve each other. You didn’t earn the right to have Nash as

a son.”

Grant made a strangled noise in his throat and took another step toward her. I reached around Saint and

put a hand in the center of his chest and pushed him back. I made sure he understood the seriousness of

what I was saying to him in my tone.

“If you so much as look at her wrong, I will break every bone in your body, and then when they heal I

will break them all again. When I was a kid you were a dick and I couldn’t do anything about it. I’m not a

kid anymore so you might want to watch it.”

“Are you threatening me?” He sounded indignant and prissy.

“No, I’m just telling you how it is. I don’t want you here, either of you. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have

to go give my father’s eulogy.”

My mom looked like she wanted to say something else, but just like she always did when Grant started

to lead her away, she went willingly. I looked down at Saint and gave her a lopsided smile.

“Let’s do this.”

She clasped my hand and lifted one rust-colored brow at me. “Your real name is Nashville?”

I did something I never thought I would do on such a rough day: I laughed. “Yeah, and never mention it

again.”

I walked into the church and sat her down next to Cora, who immediately wrapped my girl up in a hug.

I kept going to the podium that was set up off to the side of the urn and little memorial the girls had created.

There were pictures of Phil throughout the years, his first tattoo machine, his leather jacket, the bars off his

navy uniform … it was a fitting and thoughtful tribute. I looked at it out of the corner of my eye, cleared

my throat, and let my gaze wander over the crowd.

I saw Rule nod at me, saw Jet tilt his head just a little, Rowdy gave me a sad little half grin, and Cora

just kept crying silently into Rome’s shoulder. It was those soft gray eyes I landed on. She was just

watching me, serene and so precious. I ignored everyone else and focused what I had to say on her.

“I called Phil Donovan a lot of things for the time I had him in my life. Friend, boss, mentor, uncle, and

at the end … dad. He was all of those things and so much more to so many. Phil took in anyone that was

lost and tried to guide them in the right direction until they were found. In doing that, he brought a bunch

of angry, frustrated, directionless souls together and now we have each other. We owe our family to Phil.”

I heard throats clear and saw bodies shift in the seats.

“When I was younger I wanted to be just like Phil when I grew up. I thought he was so cool, had the

greatest job, and I admired how he lived his life on his own terms, all while trying his damnedest to take

care of me. He was a great guy, and if you asked me then what he would’ve wanted to be remembered for, I

would’ve said it was his art, his dedication to creating a place for creativity and individuality to flourish.

Now …” I had to take a second to clear my throat and I curled my hands into fists on the podium in front

of me. “Now I think my answer would be me. I’m a man that made his father proud. I’ll keep his dream,

his legacy, alive and I’ll do it with his memory in mind every step of the way. I also think he would be

proud of us. Despite the trials, the struggles, the roadblocks life has decided to throw in our paths, we are

falling in love, getting married, having babies, growing businesses, and doing the things that make us

happy. I think that’s all he ever really wanted for any of us. Phil Donovan will be missed, my dad will be

missed—but he will live on in each and every one of us whose lives he touched and helped shape.”

I didn’t have anything else, so I said thank you, told the crowd that was silently weeping for the most

part that anyone that wanted to share something was more than welcome to get up and take the mike, and

went down to take a seat by my girl.

She had tracks of tears on her pale face and curled into me with her head on my shoulder.

“Thank you.” Her voice was a husky breath of sound.

“For what?”

“For being you.”

So there it was. I put an arm around her shoulders and listened to people tell stories about how

wonderful my dad was, how impactful he had been, and I thought when it was all said and done I would

take his ashes somewhere up in the mountains, drive the Charger way too fast, and let him go. It was an

ending he would approve of all the way around.

CHAPTER 18

Saint

After the funeral, Nash looked like he was going to fall over from lack of sleep and stress. His friend

Cora and her dad, who had been friends with Phil while in the navy, were having a get-together at her

house for everyone. I knew Nash was going to try and power through and go, but he needed to go to bed

and recharge. I didn’t want to say anything, wasn’t sure it was my place, but when I mentioned how burned

out he looked, Rule and Rome both agreed, and told me I should take him home and put him to bed. Rule

said it more with a leer, which had his brother thunking him on the back of the head, but all the same, when

Nash broke away from the group that had commandeered him, I let him gather me up and told him, “Take

me home.”

He didn’t argue, didn’t question it, didn’t stop to tell everyone else what he was doing, just whisked me

away to the Charger and took me back to the Victorian. Once we were inside, he started peeling off his dark

clothing, which was a delightful sight to see for sure, but after he took a shower and shoved some food in

his face, he was obviously dead on his feet, which didn’t leave room open for talking, let alone anything

else that might have been on the agenda.

I kicked off the heels I had worn all day, cuddled up to his big, tattooed body and rubbed his shaved

head, traced my fingers over the flames decorating his scalp and shoulders until his heavy chest started

rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His dark lashes fluttered lightly against his tawny cheeks and I rubbed

a thumb gently over his raven-colored eyebrows. He was beautiful, perfect, and stronger than anyone I had

ever known. He was all mine. I would never take that for granted again.

Once he was settled, I slipped out from under him and went to pick up around the apartment that had

been neglected for the last few weeks. I called Sunny and told her I was back and that I would be back at

work as soon as she needed me, and told her to set up the interview with the director of nursing for the

promotion. I gave her the CliffsNotes version of what had been going on and my heart just swelled with

how receptive and kind she was. I really needed to let that friendship grow outside of work because she

was a really great lady and so firmly in my corner. I also called Faith to fill her in and got an earful about

running off to Phoenix with no warning.

I think she was happy for me in the grand scheme of things, she was definitely thrilled that Mom was

doing so much better, but she made it clear that Nash was not her first choice for me. At some point, her

opinion, her feelings on the matter, might have held me back, might have swayed me into thinking we

weren’t the best match, but I knew better now. Like I told him, I had to look at myself and my life through

my own lens and no one else’s, and all I saw on the other side of that was him and the me he saw when he

looked at me with those brilliant eyes of his.

I was rinsing out a million abandoned coffee mugs and getting ready to load the dishwasher when there

was a light tap on the door. Since all of his friends were at Cora and Rome’s house and he had made his

stance clear with his mother, I figured it had to be Royal. I wiped my hands on a towel and went to pull the

door open. My eyes got huge when I took her in.

Her dark red hair was in a tangled mess. She had a yellow-and-green bruise blooming around one of

her dark eyes, and her bottom lip was split wide open. She had the bottom half of her police uniform on

and a plain white tank top on top. There was blood on the collar and one of the arms was ripped.

“Are you okay?”

She snorted but I saw her cut lip tremble just a little. “Hazard of the job. I tussled with a junkie that was

bigger and meaner than me. I just wanted to see how the two of you were doing.”

She really was nice and I wanted to give her and this burgeoning friendship a shot.

“We’re all right. It was rough for a minute. His mom is a witch and his stepdad sucks, but the service

was nice and Nash broke everyone’s heart with his eulogy. He’s crashed out, which I think he needs more

than anything now. Thank you for calling me.”

She gathered her messy hair in a fist and nodded. “You were on your way home anyway. That’s what

matters. I had a shit day. I’m going to lie down, too.”

I grabbed her arm as she turned away and noticed she had the glitter of tears in her dark eyes.

“It gets easier, you know.”

“What does?”

“Having a job like you do. My first night on the floor in the ER, there was a gang shooting. They rolled

in five gunshot wounds at the same time. I was trained for it, knew what I was supposed to do, but after it

was all said and done, I went home and cried for three hours and lost my lunch. You get used to it, it just

becomes part of the routine.”

She nodded and ran her tongue over the nasty cut bisecting her lip. “That’s why I need you to be my

friend, Saint.”

She was back across the hallway and in front of her own door when I called out, “You have my

number, use it.”

She waved a hand at me over her shoulder and disappeared inside her own place.

I went back to picking up, and by the time I was done decided it was my turn for a shower. Nash was

still out when I snuck in the room to snag one of his shirts to change into and it took every ounce of

restraint I had not to kiss every line, every curve, of his face until he woke up.

I was rubbing a towel over my hair and walking back into the living room to watch TV until he woke

up when I drew up short. He was most definitely awake, leaning against the back of the couch and

watching me with heavy-lidded, purple eyes. The boxers were navy blue this time and his arms bulged

enticingly where they were crossed across his delectable chest. As always, my gaze followed those wings

that disappeared into the waistband of his underwear.

“Hey.” I couldn’t help the husky drop in my voice.

He lifted a black eyebrow at me and the corner of his mouth kicked up in a grin.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Saint.”

I took a few more steps into the living room and he caught the end of the towel that was now hanging

limply in my hand and used it to tow me in until we were mere inches away from each other.

“Anytime, Nash.”

He reached out and coiled a hand under the wet fall of my hair around my neck. He removed the space

remaining between us and I was plastered against his bare chest. It was the best place in the world to be.

“How about you let me take care of you for a while?”

Well, what kind of fool would I be to pass up an offer like that? Only the last time we had been on this

couch in any kind of sexy way together I had left him in a pretty unfair state and I wanted to make it up to

him. I wanted to take care of him in all ways there were from this point on out.

“How about we just take care of each other?”

Both of his eyebrows shot up and finally, after way too long, a full-fledged smile crossed his handsome

face.

“Sounds like a good deal.” Then he bent his head and kissed me like it was the first and last thing he

wanted to do every single day from here on out.

Our tongues tangled together, hands slid eagerly across bare skin, and all the best parts of us lined up

perfectly. I gasped into his mouth a little when his hands crawled up under the hem of my borrowed T-shirt

and cupped the curves of my bottom. He hefted me a little closer so that our pelvises were pressed tightly

against one another and I felt his erection throb insistently where it was resting in the cradle of my legs. He

made short work of the T-shirt and guided a wide palm from the base of my neck all the way to where my

spine dipped in right above my ass. He blew out an appreciative breath that I caught because our mouths

were still sealed together.

I pulled back and kissed him on the throat, shivered when he moved a hand across my ribs and up to

cup a breast. It seemed unfathomable that I hadn’t enjoyed being touched like this. I guess I just needed the