Chapter Four
He was the best I was going to get.
With that statement rolling around in his skull, irritation pounding his temples, Nakos stared at Amy, waiting for her to break. He knew her better than anyone. Too much tense silence, and she’d crack. It was just a matter of time.
Shadows from the trees created havoc with the moonlight on her alabaster skin. Her dark cocoa hair swept past her shoulders, and he had the damnedest itch to shove his hands in the strands and force her to look at him. Since dancing with her inside, she’d yet to glance at him more than fleetingly and that, more than what she’d said, had concern sinking its claws deep.
Arms crossed, he shook his head. This wasn’t her. The defeat in her shoulders, the sad curve of her lips, the lack of spark in her mermaid eyes...Not his Ames. Where was her fire? Where was the woman who could argue him into a corner and make him heel? She exuded confidence like most people did pheromones.
Except... No. Not lately. Ever since the incident with the Antichrist, she’d been a sunken version of the pistol he recognized. Actually, her behavior dated farther back to when Chris had come onto the scene. But not to this extent. Hell, Nakos swore she had no fight left.
Having been raised by two nurturing, attentive parents, combined with the fact both his best friends were females, he’d learned a thing or fifty. Foremost, how to love. Not to shy away from sentiment or attachment, but to embrace it. He only had one shot at this fragile thing called life and he wasn’t going to spend it steeped in regret, too afraid to tell the people he cared about how he felt.
He’d also figured out how to read every nuance and gauge what the girls needed because what they said with their bodies often contradicted their words. Being close to them had cultivated his protective gene until it encompassed his DNA. Olivia and Amy. Them first, always. And those instincts were coming out of temporary dormancy to rattle his already frail cage.
She stood in front of him, so near he could breathe in her light perfume, and didn’t open her pretty little mouth. How many times had he wished for her to shut up, and fate chose right this second to listen?
One of them needed to cave. May as well be him.
“You didn’t really mean that, did you?” Please, Hihcebe, let that be the case. If not, that bastard had done more damage than Nakos thought. “You deserve so much better than him.”
Her only response was to wearily close her eyes.
Something was very wrong. Realization bristled his skin, dropped a heavy ball of ice in his gut. If she thought all she deserved was that...guy, then there had been an issue prior to her dating and subsequently marrying him. What the hell was Nakos missing? Because he was at a loss.
“Look at me.” He waited until her lids lifted and resisted the urge to hug her. They didn’t touch often, didn’t have that kind of relationship. “There is no convincing me the best person to spend your life with was him. A man who spoke to you as if you were a thing, who dared to raise a...” Mercy, he could kill just thinking about it. Amy had sworn up and down that one instance was the only time Chris had hit her. “I can’t erase that day from my memory.”
“I know.” She nodded. Finally, a flicker of anger infused her eyes. “Because Olivia was in danger.”
Hell to the no. His body went so rigid he thought he’d snap. No way, no how did she think she didn’t matter as much to him. The notion had never crossed his consciousness. But...shit.
“Yes, Olivia was in danger. You both were.” He slammed his palms to the wall above her head, trying and failing to dial back the assault of conflicting emotion. Anger for what that asshole had done. Fear that something terrible would happen to two people he loved. And, most shocking, grief that he hadn’t suspected Amy doubted that love.
“Denial is not just a river in Egypt, Nakos.”
He needed a stiff drink. With a side of straightjacket. “Do you have any idea what seeing you like that did to me?” His fingers curled against the boards, paint digging under his nails. “Finding you on the ground, mottled with bruises, barely able to open your eyes...”
Don’t let go... Please, Nakos. Just don’t let go.
A growl raked his throat.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as if attempting to make up her mind whether she believed him. And a bone-deep, narcissistic cold settled so deep inside him that the frozen tendrils wove around muscle and penetrated his veins.
The fact she doubted him in any capacity was a death blow. Somewhere along the way, he’d failed her. Completely unacceptable. Especially considering the source. Olivia had nearly her whole family wiped out, but she was trusting. Caring. A light in the dark. Amy was the total opposite. She had blood relations, right here in town, yet they discarded her time and time again. She didn’t let just anyone in and her first instincts were to erect walls. She was the darkness.
Since this conversation was getting him nowhere, he tried a different approach. “Why are you staying with Kyle? Olivia won’t like it. And you don’t belong there.” Which had nothing to do with the workers who lived in the cabins and everything to do with comfort. Not only was there no room, but no privacy.
“I don’t belong anywhere.” Though she held his gaze with determination and she’d used her I-eat-cute-and-fuzzy-bunnies-for-breakfast tone, the ever so slight tremble of her lower lip gave her away.
Before he could even think to counter that, shoes crunched over gravel to their right. Kyle strode around the corner and gave them the hairy eyeball. “There a problem?”
Several. Hell, problems were accumulating by the bucketful and their ship was going down. Regardless, Nakos took a breath. “We’re fine. Give us a minute.”
“No can do. Olivia’s looking for you inside.” His gaze darted between them like he’d interrupted a situation no brother wanted to find his sister in.
Exactly what Nakos didn’t need right now. He shoved off the wall and pointed at Amy. “Don’t go anywhere. We’re not done.”
In response, she bent over, slipped the remaining heel off her foot, and straightened. Brows raised in challenge, she dangled the shoe in a clear catch-me-if-you-can, and unceremoniously dropped it to the ground.
Hihcebe. There wasn’t enough single malt in Wyoming to go toe-to-toe with her.
He followed her brother into the barn and stopped just inside the doorway, grabbing the guy’s arm. “What does Olivia want me for?”
“Garter toss, I think.”
What, in all creation, did he do to deserve this? “Amy said she’s bunking with you tonight?”
“Yeah, though I have no idea where.” Kyle crossed his arms, looking like a younger image of his sister with less ‘tude. “Tupperware’s bigger than my room and I only have a twin. Which, by the way, she refuses to take. I’m certain she’s going to wind up under the bed.”
Over Nakos’s dead body. “Listen, grab two of the men and head up to the main house. I want everything in her room packed up in one hour and at my place.” He dug in his jeans for the keys, passing them to Kyle. “Upstairs, second door on the right is the guestroom. Put all her stuff in there.”
“Okay,” Kyle said slowly. “You know, the parental units are gonna flip. They weren’t exactly jumping for joy when they learned she was staying with—”
“I don’t give a good goddamn. Do it. And,” he leaned forward, hands on his hips, “you will not inform her of this little mission. Get in, get out, and return my keys.”
“Whatever you say, man.” The blasé response belied the appreciation in the guy’s eyes. “Consider it done.”
Taking a moment to breathe, Nakos glanced at his boots. Music and laughter echoed through the space, ricocheting around in his ears. Why the hell did it seem like his foundation had been leveled?
“Nakos.”
He glanced at Olivia across the room, and her smile settled some of the riot in his head. “I’m coming.” Begrudgingly.
Thirty minutes later, he wished he’d run the other way when he’d been summoned. With Olivia on Nakos’s lap, Nate had taken off her garter with a flourish and, instead of making the single guys stand around to toss the thing, the soldier had just handed it to Nakos and nodded. Then came the bouquet what-the-heck-ever, for which he had no clue why his presence was necessary. Back slaps and handshakes followed him to the barn exit.
No way had Amy waited for him, but he checked the spot anyhow. The only thing that remained was her shoe and the grating reminder of their conversation. Cinderella, indeed.
Since he didn’t have his keys, taking his truck over to the staff cabins was out. Not unless he wanted to walk miles and eat up half the night. There was no guarantee that’s where she’d headed, either. Hopefully, she hadn’t wandered up to the main house. She didn’t have much by way of possessions, but the men wouldn’t be done packing her things yet. Then again, if she had gone that way, she might have them hog-tied and shaking with the fear of God.
He strode in the direction of Olivia’s. It was as good a place to start as any. But halfway there, motion in his peripheral stopped him short.
Turning, he spotted Amy between the third barn and the cemetery. About fifty yards away, an oak crested a slight hill. Dangling from a sturdy branch was an old tire swing that had been there since they were kids. It was so dark he could barely make her out, but that blue dress she wore and her cocoa strands in the breeze were a dead giveaway.
Walking closer, he was struck by the past colliding with the present. The first time he’d met her, she’d been on that very swing and, just as she was now, leaning back while her soft hair cascaded in a waterfall, ends brushing the grass. She was alone at the moment, but that day Olivia had been standing beside her.
Funny, he’d forgotten he’d laid eyes on Amy first. Something about the fragile curve of her spine contradicted the hearty, almost sensual laugh she’d emitted. From the get-go, he’d been enamored by Olivia’s auburn strands that were so unlike the characteristics of Arapaho on the reservation. Looking back on it, his reaction had been close to hypnotizing.
But Amy? She’d rendered a physical response that, even at age nine, he’d recognized as awareness. A cross between an improper heartbeat and tightness in his throat. Curiosity, he supposed. He had no idea what label to slap on it now.
Moonlight cast her skin in ethereal hues as she reclined on the tire, her slender fingers gripping the rope above it. The swell of her breasts and hips strained against the dress from her position, and damn if his heart didn’t punch his ribs. Again. What the hell had she done to him three months ago? He hadn’t been right since.
Climbing the hill, he smiled and stared at her upside-down face as he loomed over her. “You look like a nymph under the moon and dangling from a tree.”
“Nah, nymphs get laid more than I do.”
He wasn’t going near that comment. “Know a lot about nymphs, do you?”
“Can’t say I know any, but lore describes them as intensely sexual creatures who prefer nature and have an irresistible allure.”
He wondered if she realized she’d just described herself. And, of course, she’d know something about mythical beings. Any topic at all, really. She had an intelligence about her that was neither condescending nor flaunting. A subtle quality that allowed her to carry on a conversation about nearly anything.
Why he suddenly found that hot was beyond him, but he ignored it. Hard as he could.
“I’m shocked you waited for me.” He relaxed his shoulders as she straightened, relieved the tension was gone from her features. “You rarely, if ever, listen to me.”
She shook her head in a clear case of pity. “I’m not waiting for you. Note I wasn’t standing by the barn with bated breath for your return.”
Her droll tone, phrasing, and verbiage weren’t hot, either. It wasn’t. “I’ll scribble it on a post-it so I don’t forget.” Tongue in cheek, he debated how much he liked his head where it was at. Once she found out he’d had her items moved to his house, his skull was bound to roll off his neck. “A moment ago, I remembered we first met in this spot.”
“Just remembered, huh? So memorable it was.”
She had no idea. And he wasn’t winning this one. “Recalled the details, I mean. Give me a break. We were nine.”
In answer, she toed the grass and set her swing in a slow spin. “Feeling nostalgic, Nakos?”
Nostalgic, unnerved. Tomato, tomauto. “It was a good memory.”
Her sudden grin depleted some of his brain cells. She was evil like that.
With the ball of her foot, she stopped the swing. “Know what I remember? You staring at Olivia like you’d swallowed your tongue.”
Again, she had it all wrong. Olivia calmed the crazy. Amy stirred the pot. “And you stole my cowboy hat. One day maybe you’ll give it back.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you smiling sinister-like?”
Much to his dismay, she stood on the top of the tire, reached up, and swung her legs onto the overhead branch. Dress and all.
To avoid the possible peep show, he slapped a hand over his eyes. “Get down, Ames.” When she didn’t respond, he peeked between his fingers and found her standing on the limb, stretching toward a knot where the branches met the trunk. Damn, she was high. “Ames, down. Now.”
“Just a sec.”
He didn’t know what made his heart jack harder—the concern she’d fall or the endless expanse of leg under her skirt. “Damn it. Amy, come on.” No fear, this one. Always.
She pulled an item from the knot and—strike him dead—pirouetted on her toes. Something smacked him in the face and landed at his feet.
A glance down, and he glared at...his old hat. Smooshed, the black material had paled to a dull gray and had foliage stuck to it, but it was his hat nonetheless.
“What purpose did that serve?” Hands on his hips, he frowned up at her. “Putting it up there in the first place or choosing now to bring it down?”
“A girl doesn’t need to explain herself, not to a boy or the man he grew into.”
She needed to come with an instructional manual. And one not written in Spanish. “Fine. Don’t tell me. Just come down.”
But she was already making the descent. Legs wrapped around the branch, she twisted until she grabbed the rope and, limber as a circus performer, swung that lithe body of hers until her feet were on solid ground again.
“You’re welcome.” As if in afterthought, she smiled.
Screw instructions. She needed a warning label. Caution: Incidental contact may cause mental and bodily harm.
He swiped a hand down his face and refocused on her. As much as he wanted answers to their previous discussion, he didn’t have it in him. She was acting more like her usual self, the one that made his left eye tick, and he was exhausted.
She bent and retrieved the hat from the ground. After vigorously shaking it out, it retained its crushed state. “Might want to just throw it away.”
Unable to help it, he laughed. Rough, ragged, and with all the finesse of road kill. He swore, only she could drag one out most days. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”
“You could drive me to Kyle’s so I don’t have to walk. My feet were abused wearing those torture devices.” She blinked at him. Tilted her head. “Not what you meant, though.”
“No, not exactly.” And yeah, about going to her brother’s...
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, my parents used to say that to me all the time growing up, and they never did discover a solution.”
Precisely how was that supposed to make him feel better? “They’re assholes, and I’d prefer you not compare me to them or use us in the same sentence.”
“Rawr, Nakos.”
He did not appreciate her making light of this, either. Especially not this. After tonight, it was blatantly apparent they’d been mind-fucking her on a level he hadn’t known existed. “She all but called you a whore, Ames.” Never mind the variety of other issues. He clenched his fists at his sides.
She shrugged as if he’d said it was supposed to rain tomorrow. “I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just wondering where all the aggressive alphaness is coming from. You act like you’ve never met them before.”
Exhibit A. She’d just proved his point.
With a gentleness he almost never saw, her features softened and she stepped forward. “Hey, calm down. You’re vibrating with fury. This is so unlike you. I said it before. Don’t let them bother you, okay?”
Not. Okay. Parents were supposed to love and support their children, however many mistakes they made. Not deem them a slut, throw them out of the house, or not so much as pay one visit while they were broken and bruised in bed after a beating. A beating rendered by someone else who was supposed to love her.
He was so over tonight it was tomorrow already. “I need to get my stuff from the barn before we head home.” His home. She was going to kill him. Hopefully, Kyle was back with his keys. “Come on. We can fetch your shoes, too.”
“Or we could just feed them to the horses.”
He huffed a laugh. “I like the horses. We’ll toss ‘em in the fire pit.”
Her brother was, in fact, waiting for them when they made their way across the grass. “All set.” Kyle nodded to his sister and took off deeper into the barn.
A quick glance proved Nakos’s folks had left. He’d call them later. Snatching his coat off a chair, he led Amy to his truck, parked in Olivia’s driveway.
Once they were settled inside the dim interior, he sighed. Long and loud. Turned over the engine. “You know I care about you, right?” He could feel her gaze on him, but he didn’t meet it with his own. “Just remember that when we get to where we’re going.”