Chapter Thirty
Silver Linings and Such
Rowan
I was dead on my feet by the time I made it up the hill to Grant and Mallory’s house. Mallory greeted me at the door with a smile and a glass of wine.
“You look like you can use this,” she dryly noted. I let out an exhausted laugh as I all but snatched the wine from her hands. On the way to the kitchen, I glanced around for the guys.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
Mallory pulled open what I assumed was a bathroom door, and said, “Come with me.”
“I thought this was the bathroom,” I whispered as I followed her down a steep staircase. We spilled out into a large room and I immediately spotted Nash standing across the room with the rest of the band. His guitar was dangling from his neck and he had an unhappy look on his face. As we neared the four of them, I caught pieces of their conversation.
“This is Nash’s song, therefore he should take lead on it,” Grant stated.
“Nash is not the lead singer of this band. You’ve always sung the headlining song,” Chaz argued.
“That was back when Dale and Luke were alive. Things change. This band has changed. Nash wrote a killer song and he’s got the voice to sing it. We hired Evan because he’s multitalented. If we don’t learn to capitalize on our talents, then we’ll stagnate.” Chaz opened his mouth to argue, and Grant cut him off. “Look, I get it. You have a problem with Nash singing the title song. Do you have something better? Cause if you do, we’re happy to hear it. Better yet, how about you sing it for us?”
“Fuck you,” Chaz snarled.
Ignoring him Grant said, “I have no problem with each of you singing your own songs. If it will better the band, then I’m all for it.” He held up a piece of paper. “This is Nash’s song. He wrote it and he should sing it.”
“Let’s take a vote,” Chaz said.
“All in favor of naming the new album Saved from the Darkness and Nash singing the title song raise your hands,” Grant said. Everyone but Chaz raised their hands. Chaz glared at Evan, before tossing his sticks on the ground and storming out of the room.
“That went well,” Grant said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Anyone care for a drink?” Mallory asked. Several yesses rang out around the room. Nash’s face lit up with a smile when he saw me standing next to Mallory. He set his guitar aside and made a bee-line straight to me. The moment he reached me, I was swept up into a tight hug.
“Trouble in paradise?” I asked, and smiled when I felt his rumble of laughter reverberate through my body.
“Believe it or not, Chaz is being a dick,” he replied.
“Something new and different,” I teased.
Nash shook his head. “No, this is different. He’s being extra dickish, if that’s even possible.”
I pulled back from his hug, so that I could see his face, and noted his concerned expression. “And you can tell how?” I asked. Before he could reply, Grant stepped up.
“Glad you’re here,” he told me as he slapped Nash on the back. “Ava and Mallory made dinner and I need a drink. You coming?” Nash grabbed my hand and led me back up the stairs.
Ava and Mallory were in the kitchen finishing getting the food ready, something they refused to let me help with, while Grant answered a phone call in his office. Taking my hand, Nash lured me onto a balcony.
“How did today go?” he asked, after giving me another deliciously naughty kiss.
“The furniture is gone, the plastic is on the floors, and the downstairs guest bedroom is now a nice beige color.”
Mallory stuck her head out, and said, “Dinner’s ready.”
“We’ll catch up on the rest after dinner,” Nash said as he led me back inside to the dining room table.
“Hurry, Grant!” Mallory shouted, once we all were seated. Grant walked out of his office with a frown on his face. “Everything okay?” Mallory asked as he neared the table. Grant’s eyes cut to Nash, and I tensed beside him.
“What?” I asked. The table went quiet as all eyes focused on Grant.
“That was Garrett. He had…news,” Grant hesitantly announced. “If you’d rather I tell Nash–”
“Tell me,” I cut him off.
“The toxicology reports are back on Conor. Apparently he was poisoned.”
“Did they say how?” Nash asked.
“According to Garrett, when they entered his apartment he was face down on the floor. The detectives discovered a shattered whisky tumbler under his body when they moved him. It appears someone poisoned his drink.”
“So he was downstairs having drinks with someone while Rowan was unconscious and locked in a bedroom upstairs. Who does that?” Mallory hissed.
All eyes turned to me, and I shrugged. Who knew what Conor was up to when he wasn’t tormenting me? “All I remember was hearing the doorbell ring. I called out to the person behind the door, and Conor was on me with the needle. Then…nothing.” Nash’s face was full of worry as he slid his hand along the nape of my neck. I nuzzled my cheek across his arm to try to let him know I was okay.
“The detectives told Garrett it could be anyone, including Conor’s father,” Grant told us.
“Nothing like being offed by your own parent,” Chaz dryly commented.
“He wanted us to know that the Feds are stepping in. According to his source, Conor was positioning himself to take over his father’s business. Apparently his father had asked him to back down on numerous occasions, but he refused to listen.”
“They think his father put a hit on him?” Nash asked.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility. This guy was seriously bad news,” Grant answered.
“Tell me about it,” I muttered, rubbing my fingers over my wrist. The bone had healed, but the scars were still there. As if sensing my troubled thoughts, Nash took my wrist in his hands and lifted it to his lips. Chaz made a gagging noise, and I laughed. The guy really was an ass.
We shifted the conversation away from Conor as we began passing food around the table. After everyone had their fill, Grant pushed his plate back, and said, “Blane is fighting mad because we’re all here and he’s not. I want to make sure that we are all on the same page before we officially cut him loose.”
“Have you spoken with Marcy yet?” Nash asked.
“I have. She was beyond thrilled to be offered the position, but only after giving me full disclosure about her…er…relationship with Hank.”
“Shut the front door!” Mallory exclaimed. “Hunky hot Hank is doing…Marcy? She’s old enough to be my mother.”
“I’d still do her,” Chaz replied. “She kind of reminds me of a kinky librarian.”
Ignoring Chaz, Grant’s eyes cut to his wife-to-be and slightly narrowed. “You think Hank is hot?” he quietly asked. While the question was calmly asked, Grant was clearly not happy about this revelation, and the potential danger behind those words made me almost feel sorry for Mallory.
“Well, yeah,” she said with a shrug.
“How hot?” Grant asked. A snort of humor slipped from my mouth and Mallory rolled her eyes, as if to say, “You see what I have to put up with?”
“If I say extremely hot will you fire him?” she challenged.
“You’re damn right I will,” he snapped.
“For fuck’s sake,” Chaz growled, and Evan let out a bark of laughter.
Mallory’s eyes narrowed defiantly on Grant. “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t, isn’t it?”
Grant’s eyes remained on Mallory as he addressed the rest of us. “In order for us to catch her up to speed, I asked her to join us. She’ll be arriving tomorrow morning.”
“When do you plan on breaking the news to Blane?” Evan asked.
As Grant shifted his gaze from Mallory to Evan, I felt like I could breathe again. And I thought Nash’s anger was scary. He had nothing on Grant. Grant smiled at Evan, and Chaz groaned. “Since we’re all here, I thought we could do it together. Tomorrow morning at ten we’ll conference him in from my office.”
“Great,” Chaz muttered.
“How was your trip?” Evan asked Mallory. I wanted to kiss him for changing the subject. While Mallory told the table all about their excursion to Hawaii, I noticed Grant staring at Nash. My stomach dropped when I caught him mouthing that he needed to talk to him. Before they busted me watching, I darted my eyes back to Mallory. I had a sneaky suspicion that whatever Grant had to say to Nash concerned me.
While helping Mallory clear off the table, Nash joined Grant on the balcony for a beer. Evan was in Grant’s office talking on the phone and Chaz was nowhere to be seen. Nash was right. Chaz was acting stranger than normal. He was still a jerk, but even I could tell that something was bothering him.
“You look worried,” Mallory noted.
“Huh?” I turned to find her staring at me. She nodded her head toward the balcony.
“Go get him. I’ll finish up here,” she directed.
“You sure?” I asked.
“Go,” she urged.
Nash and Grant turned as I stepped onto the balcony. “Sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to bed,” I told Nash.
“See you in the morning,” Nash said to Grant, and smiled as Grant’s laughter followed us inside the house.
“Juvenile,” I said through my own laughter.
“Goodnight, Mallory,” Nash called out as he grabbed the bags from the foot of the stairs and led me upstairs to our room. He smiled at the shocked expression on my face when I got an eyeful the king size bed. It was at least half my height. The silver and gold walls and pieces of antique furniture scattered throughout the room made the room look like something you’d find in a castle, not Austin, Texas. The place really was amazing. “Do you make this much money?” I whispered.
After a long pause, Nash lowered the bags to the floor, and answered. “I do. I just choose to live less…”
“Ostentatiously?” I finished for him.
“Exactly,” he agreed. He fingered the hem of my dress. “I like what you’re wearing. I’ve been staring at it all night, imagining what it would feel like to fuck you in it.” A frisson of excitement tingled up my spine as he slowly inched my dress up my body. “Please tell me you’re not wearing panties,” he whispered in my ear. His eyes locked on mine as his fingers landed on my panties.
“Sorry to disappoint.” My breathy reply turned to a gasp of surprise as Nash ripped them clean off of my body. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” I teased, and groaned as I felt his fingers skim over my clit. My body hummed with desire, writhed with pleasure, ached for more. “Nash,” I whispered, as he slowly began walking me backwards toward the bed.
“Tell me what you want,” he rasped.
“You,” I replied without hesitation. I reached for the fly of his jeans, but before I could get my fingers on the top button, he withdrew his hand and twisted out of my reach. Jerking my eyes to his, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, baby, I promise. I…uh…just realized that I don’t have a condom, but I can take care of you in other ways.”
The breath I’d been holding gushed out in a sigh of relief. I’d been mentally preparing for this conversation once we’d returned to the house. It looked as if I needed to accelerate my timeline, because there was no way this wasn’t going to happen here tonight. “I’m on the pill,” I quickly told him.
“You’re on the pill,” Nash echoed. His eyes blazed through me, but I couldn’t read his expression. His hands went to the fly of his jeans as he stepped back in front of me.
“I was going to tell you once we settled back into the house. It’s kind of a weird conversation to initiate, don’t you think?” He took a half step forward and I took a full step back…and bumped into the bed.
“You’re on the pill,” he repeated. My eyes dropped and my breath hitched as he slid his hands inside his jeans and slowly slid them down his legs. His long, thick, cock stood at attention. I was riveted, yet apprehensive. I couldn’t tell if he was happy or mad. Whatever he was, he was definitely turned on. So was I. My body literally ached to have him inside me.
I licked my lips and tried to take another step back, but the damn bed was in the way. “Don’t be mad, Nash. I promise I was going to say something.” Before I could get another word out, he was on me. A squeak of surprise shot from my lips as he hoisted me up and flipped me around to where my back was pressed against the wall. My breath literally whooshed from my lungs when he drove his massive cock inside me. I opened my mouth in a silent gasp of pleasure.
“No more secrets,” Nash growled as he pulled out and plunged back in. I nodded in agreement. “Say it,” he commanded as he reared back and slammed in again. The pleasure was almost more than I could handle.
“No more secrets,” I gasped as he proceeded to fuck me into oblivion.
Later, after we’d cleaned up from wall sex, we had sex a second time, this time much slower and actually on the bed. While we were both basking in orgasmic euphoria, I remembered to ask Nash about his conversation with Grant on the balcony. At first I didn’t think he heard my question, but when he flipped from his stomach onto his back and sighed, I knew he had.
“Garrett said that the investigators found evidence that Conor killed your father.” I wasn’t sure what I expected him to say, but this definitely wasn’t it. My eyes welled with tears and Nash pulled me to his chest. “I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered into my hair.
“He wasn’t selfish before my mother died, I promise. When she died it was like a part of him died with her. He wasn’t the best father, but he was all that I had.” After a short cry, I pulled myself back together. Nash rubbed my back as I lay thinking about Conor, my father, Gavin…everything. “What are you thinking?” he finally asked.
“That if I hadn’t run from Conor, I never would have met you,” I replied. He dipped his head, and our eyes met.
“I’m glad I could be your silver lining,” he mused, and I placed a gentle kiss on his lips.