Tracing Holland (NSB Book 2) (20 page)

“Yeah, of course. Is everything ok? What’s wrong? Is Casey
ok?”

I sigh as I pull on my jeans. “Have you seen my shirt?”

“By the door, I think.”

“Thanks.”

“Luke, what is it? What’s going on?”

I stop and face her. “Casey’s father died. He didn’t find
out until today and the funeral is Wednesday.”

“What? I’m so sorry! Why wouldn’t his family have told him?”

I shake my head, suddenly angry more than anything. “It’s
complicated. I have to go find him.”

“Yes, of course!” She joins me by the door. “Hey, wait.”

I do, even as my mind races into the hallway. I have to go,
I have to…but the frenetic urgency fades into a strange sense of peace when she
slips her arms around me and pulls me close.

“Keep me updated, ok?” she whispers, and I know that request
means way more than it sounds.

“I will, Holland.” I meet her gaze. “I promise.”

I kiss her then, loving how that simple action has
transformed the anger of the previous moment into a more functional strength.
She makes me better, stronger, no question.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I learn anything more,” I
assure her, pulling away.

She nods. “Ok. And I’ll get dressed.”

I grin. “Good plan.”

∞∞∞

I find
them in Casey’s room, and Callie lets me in with a knowing look. Casey is by
the window doing his frantic pacing while he argues with someone on the phone.

“Molly,” Callie explains.

I nod and watch him for a second before turning back to
Callie. I don’t think he even realizes I’m here yet.

“So what’s happening? What’s the story?”

Callie sighs and leans against the wall by the door,
crossing her arms.

“Ok, so apparently his father had been sick for a while but
refused any kind of treatment. He didn’t do doctors or whatever. Anyway, when
he died on Thursday, his mom didn’t want Casey to find out until after the
funeral.”

“What? Why? That’s messed up!”

She grunts. “Yeah, tell me about it. He’s really upset, as
you can imagine. I don’t know. I guess since he was the only one still at odds
with the man? Who knows, but Molly couldn’t keep it from him any longer and
called this morning. She claims his mom is just out of it and thought she was
helping Casey by not telling him. She’s always been kind of misguided and
naïve, I guess.”

“Yes, she has, but that’s…” I shake my head. “Callie, he
needs to go to that funeral.”

She meets my eyes briefly before turning back to Casey. I
can see how concerned she is for him, how much she loves him. “I don’t know.
Their whole family situation is so screwed up. It might do more harm than good.
Besides, I don’t know if you’d be able to convince him to go. He’s a mess right
now.”

I sigh and study my friend, my brother, across the room. “I
know, but you have to trust me on this. I know Casey. It’s not about his
father,
it’s about him and the rest of his family. He needs
to be there. Let me try to talk to him.”

Callie seems relieved at my involvement. “Thanks, Luke.
Actually, he hasn’t eaten all day. I’m going to go find us something and give
you time alone.”

We exchange sad smiles as she exits the room, and Casey
looks over at the clatter of the door as he finishes his call.

“Luke, hey,” he says, and I make my way toward the main
space in the room.

“Hey, man.
Callie’s going
to get
you some food. She told me the news. I’m sorry, Case.”

He shakes his head with a dark expression. “That my dad is
dead or that my bat-shit mom didn’t want to tell me.”

“Both?”

He returns a weak smile and drops to the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, and so now what the hell am I supposed to do? Molly wants me there, Mom
clearly doesn’t, Nate and Abby want me...this is so messed up.”

“You go.”

His gaze shoots over to me. “What?”

“Case, you need to be there.”

“Really, just like that, huh,” he replies skeptically. “My
dad and I were not on good terms. Everyone there will know that.”

I nod. “No, but you’re on good terms with Molly, Nate, Abby,
and the rest of your friends and family. You go, Case. You only get one chance
to attend your father’s funeral.” I know that as well as anyone. I suspect Casey
is thinking the same thing when he quiets and considers my argument.

“What about Mom?” he says finally.

“She’ll change her mind when you show up. And be glad you
did, if I had to guess.”

“Maybe.” He curses again and shakes his head. “I don’t know.
I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You can. Besides, you’ll have Callie and me there with
you.”

His expression turns to shock as he stares back at me. “Wait,
what? Luke, no…”

I sigh and lower myself beside him. I knew the second I saw
Callie’s text I’d be going home to support my best friend, even if it meant I’d
have to face my own hell.

“You can’t, man. It’s going to be my whole family! Hell,
your aunt will probably even be there. You know what they’ll do to you,” he warns,
searching my eyes. “They don’t know you’ve changed. They probably wouldn’t care
if they did.”

I suck in my breath, instinctively bracing against the
coming storm. “I’m not letting you do this alone, Case. I don’t care. I’m going,
even if they make me sit outside.”

He’s still staring in stunned disbelief. “You’d do that for
me. Put yourself through that?” He shakes his head and waves his hand
dismissively. “No. No way. I’m not letting you do that. You’ve got enough shit
to deal with.”

I almost laugh. “Case, seriously? After everything you’ve
done for me? All the times you stood by me when there was absolutely no reason
you should have? Not a chance in hell I’m backing away when you need me. I’m
going.”

I actually think I see tears in his eyes as he stares back
at the wall, processing my speech. He’s my brother, one of the best people I
know. He’s suffered through multiple wars for me. I’m fighting this battle with
him.

“Thanks, man,” he says quietly after a long pause. “Really,
I…”

“I know,” I respond, clasping his arm. “Let me go take care
of something quick, and then we’ll talk to Tess and Kenneth, ok?”

He nods, and I give him another reassuring smile before
heading back to Holland’s room.

∞∞∞

Holland
is surprised to see me back so soon, and I love how natural our quick kiss works
as a greeting.

“How’s Casey?” she asks, clearly concerned as we move inside.

“Not great. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to let you know
that I’m flying back to Houston with him as soon as possible.”

She nods as if she expected as much. “Ok, sounds good. I’m
going too.” She’s totally serious, and I can’t help but grin at her effortless
kindness.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I say quietly, drawing her
into my arms. She returns my smile as she gazes up at me.

“I know. You’re a lucky guy.”

I laugh and kiss her. “I am. Way more than I deserve. But,
Holland, you’re not going to Houston.”

Her eyes narrow.
“Um, yes, I am.”

I shake my head. “No. You’re not.” I sigh and take her hand,
leading her to the bed. We sit, and I turn to her with an earnest expression.
“Look, I know your instinct wants to support Casey and me, but this is way
beyond that. It’s going to be a lot more complicated than a funeral for his dad.
Like, soap opera level complicated.”

She just looks irritated. “Please, you don’t think I know
that? Everything that involves you is a freaking soap opera. I’m going.”

“Holland, I’m serious. You know I’d love to have you there
under other circumstances, but you just don’t understand what’s going to
happen. Casey’s drama is nothing compared to what I’ll have waiting for me.
I’ve hidden from it for so long, but it’s time for me to go deal with it. I
have no idea what that will look like except that it’s going to be incredibly
ugly.”

She shrugs. “Awesome. You should deal with it. I’m proud of
you for taking that step. And I’m going.”

I shake my head in exasperation. “Holland, you don’t
understand…”

“No, you don’t understand,” she says, forcing me to look at
her. “I signed up for this, Luke. And so did you. The sex part comes with a
plane ticket to Houston. I told you, I want all of you. That includes all the
shit from your past.”

I don’t even know what to say as I stare at her in awe. I
certainly don’t know how to argue. It can’t be real, she can’t be real, but
here she is, staring into my eyes, daring me to contradict her.

“You warned me you were hard. I knew what I was getting,”
she teases gently, and I can’t help but smile.

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I.
”

She nods and leans against my shoulder.

“Ok, fine,” I say finally. “But how do we explain this to
the others?”

“Explain what? That I want to go along to support my friend
Casey in his time of loss?”

I grin, and meet her gaze. “True.”

She returns it and pulls me in for another
kiss
, this one more persistent. “You do understand that we
will have to tell Callie and Casey, though, right? There’s no way I’m going two
days without touching you,” she explains lightly.

I smile against her lips. “They’ll keep our secret,” I
assure her, letting my desire match her own. I love her irritated groan as the
fire starts to consume us again.

“Ugh, what is wrong with me? It’s like some
Pavlovian
response. I see you and immediately want your
clothes off,” she mutters between kisses. “Do you have any idea how annoying that
is?”

I laugh as she tugs at my shirt in frustration. “I have an
idea, yeah.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around, though?” she
whines.

“Ha! Don’t worry. You’re always naked in my head,” I assure
her with a grin, pulling her against me. She smacks me before we attack each
other again. This time she seems desperate to explore every inch of me as she rakes
my body like she didn’t just own it for the last couple hours. I love every
second of it, love how her touch soothes and burns at the same time, how she
stirs my fire and consumes it.

“You probably have arrangements to make, don’t you,” she
breathes, showing no mercy for my plight.

“I do,” I manage, my blood searing, my breath coming in
gasps as she moves over me. Her mouth. Her skin. Her smile.

“You should go do that.” She clearly loves torturing me.

“I should.”

When her hand slips past the waist of my jeans, I’m pretty
sure my veins are about to explode from the pounding. Her eyes ignite at my
reaction, and she only intensifies her unfair raid on my will.

“It seems like you might be ready for another quick round of
practice before, though?” she teases, and I flip her over, kissing her hard as
I lock her against the sheets.

I pull back and study her beautiful face in amusement. “And
it seems like you don’t understand how hard it is to get a flight to Houston.”

∞∞∞

We have
to take what we can get in terms of flights, but with Kenneth and Tess’
logistics star power behind us, we manage to find four tickets out early Tuesday
morning.

There’s an outpouring of support and sympathy for Casey and
no one questions his leave of absence, or the three of us going with him.
Especially, since our fortunate schedule break means we should make it back in
plenty of time for Friday’s show. Of course, none of them have a clue about the
actual complexity of this trip.

I don’t know how Wes takes the news about Holland’s
involvement in our drama, but I can’t imagine it went well. She hasn’t said a
word about it though, and I’m not interested in discussing him any more than we
have to at the moment. We haven’t told Callie and Casey about our budding
relationship either, although it’s getting harder and harder to hide our
attraction the more time we spend together. Our assigned seats are scattered
all over the plane, but we manage to manipulate our way into the same row after
we board. I dare anyone to say no to Callie Roland and Holland Drake when they
turn on the charm.

It’s a small plane with only five rows across. Callie wanted
to look out the window, Casey knew he’d be buried in his laptop, and I’m across
the aisle with Holland on my other side. An elderly lady has our window seat,
but we can’t tell if she belongs with anyone else. She’s said nine words since
takeoff: “Let me know if the air bothers you, honey.”

Casey is on his computer the second the flight attendant
won’t kill him for it, and I can feel Holland’s amusement beside me. He has his
studio headphones on, eyes locked on the screen, so I have no problem returning
her grin.