13
Reid felt as though he’d just dozed off when he was awakened by the low ringing of his cell phone.
He didn’t move at first. He didn’t want to. He was spooning Nadia in bed, and it felt so damn good with his face buried in her soft hair, his arm curved around her waist, her round ass tucked against his groin, her back pressed up along the length of his chest.
Sighing contentedly, he slid his hand under her breasts and held her even closer, willing the phone to stop ringing.
No such luck.
Nadia stirred, mumbling in her sleep. He kissed her bare shoulder, then dragged his eyes open and rolled over to grab the phone off the nightstand. When he saw his youngest sister’s picture on the screen, a jolt of alarm shot through him.
He unlocked the phone and hit the answer button. “Aria?”
“Yeah. It’s me.” Her voice was small and tremulous.
Reid sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, every cell in his body on high alert. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up,” she choked out. “I would have called Ry, but he’s out of town and—”
“It’s okay, baby girl. You know you can call me anytime.” Reid grabbed his jeans off the floor, pulled them on and strode out of the room so he wouldn’t wake Nadia. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Aria let out a shaky breath. “Remember that guy I started dating a month ago? I told you about him the last time we talked. His name’s—”
“Ian. I remember. What about him?” Reid demanded, prowling down the dark hallway.
“Well, we went out tonight and had a really good time. But when we got back to my apartment, it was like a switch went off in Ian’s head. He started accusing me of flirting with other guys at the club and dancing provocatively to get their attention. I couldn’t believe what he was saying! I told him he was being jealous and paranoid, and he got even madder. So we started arguing—”
“Did he hit you?” Reid growled, gripping the phone harder.
“No, but I was afraid he might. So I ran into my bedroom and locked myself in. I’ve been telling him to leave, but he won’t. He keeps banging on the door and calling me on the phone.” She sounded near tears. “He’s scaring me, Reid. What should I do?”
Reid’s jaw was clenched so hard it ached. “Do you still have my old hockey stick?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “It’s in my closet.”
“Good. Go grab it right now,” Reid instructed. “If that asshole forces his way into your room, I want you to take the hockey stick and bash his fucking skull in. You hear me? Go for broke, Ari.”
“Okay,” she agreed in a shaky voice.
Reid stalked across the living room to the window. “I wanna talk to him.”
“Um…” Aria’s panic gave way to confusion. “Do you want me to put him on the phone?”
“No. Do not open that fucking door. Give me his number.”
She nervously rattled off the number. “I didn’t want to call the police and get him in trouble. I think he might have had one too many drinks at the club. But he’s a nice guy—”
“Who’s terrorizing you and overstaying his damn welcome. Stay where you are and I’ll call you right back.” Reid hung up, adrenaline pumping through his system as he dialed the number his sister had provided.
“Aria?” a hopeful male voice answered.
“No, motherfucker. This is her brother Reid.”
There was a startled pause. “No way. The hockey player?”
Reid ignored the question. “You need to get the hell out of my sister’s apartment. Right now.”
“But I just wanna talk to her,” Ian whined.
“You’ve done enough talking, asshole. It’s time for you to go.”
“But—”
“Listen, motherfucker,” Reid snarled, low and menacing. “If you don’t walk out that door in the next ten seconds, I’m getting on the first plane to Detroit to come kick your fucking ass.”
“Y-You can’t do that,” Ian protested feebly. “You’ll get in trouble with the NHL.”
“You obviously haven’t met me, or you’d know I don’t give a shit about getting in trouble. If you don’t get the fuck out of my sister’s apartment right now, I won’t think twice about hunting you down, ramming my fist down your throat and ripping out your goddamn spleen.” Reid narrowed his eyes. “So here’s what you’re gonna do, asshole. You’re gonna tell Aria you’re sorry for being such a dick and scaring her. Then you’re gonna take your sorry ass home or back to whatever hole you crawled out from under. If you ever contact my sister again, I’m coming for you. Got that?”
There was an audible gulp on the other end. “I-I just wanted her to—”
“Ten, nine—”
“Okay, okay, man! I’m going!”
“And don’t come back.” Reid punched off the phone and pulled up another number from his contacts.
After three rings, a groggy male voice answered, “Hello?”
“It’s me, Colt,” Reid bit out. “I need a favor.”
There was a short pause as his childhood friend struggled through a fog of disorientation. “Jesus Christ, Reid. It’s three o’clock in the morning. You’d better be lying in a ditch somewhere bleed—”
“It’s Aria.”
“Aria?” The homicide detective was suddenly wide awake and alert. “What happened?”
Reid frowned. “She’s having some trouble with that loser she’s been seeing. They got into an argument and he wouldn’t leave her apartment. I just ran him off, but I’d feel a lot better if you went over there and checked up on her. I wanna make sure that asshole isn’t still hanging around.”
“I’m on it,” Colt assured him.
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. You and Aria are family.” Colt gave a grim chuckle. “She always attracts the crazy ones, doesn’t she? Drives those poor bastards to obsession.”
“Unfortunately.” Reid grimaced, picturing his baby sister’s big blue eyes, model-perfect features and dark curtain of hair. She’d been a magnet for guys from the moment she hit puberty. Reid and Ryder had had their hands full trying to protect her from all types of parasites.
“I’m heading over,” Colt announced, keys jangling in the background. “I’ll give you a call when I get there.”
“Cool. Thanks again, bro.”
“You got it. See you in December at the game.”
“You bet.” Reid disconnected, then called his sister back.
She answered right away, sounding immensely relieved. “Ian’s gone. He even apologized before he left. I don’t know what you said to him, Reid, but thank you so much.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Just promise me you’ll never go out with that douchebag again.”
“I promise.”
“I’m serious, Ari. That dude seems really unstable. If I find out that you’re seeing him again, I’m gonna kill him. Then I’ll end up in prison. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not.” She gave a rueful little laugh. “Who else would help pay my rent and car note?”
Reid made a wry face. “Stay in your room with the door locked until Colt gets there.”
“Colt?” Aria’s voice lifted. “You called him?”
“Yeah. He’s on his way over to check on you. I didn’t want to take any chances with your safety.”
“Okay. I really appreciate that.” Her voice softened. “Love you, big brother.”
“Love you too, kiddo,” Reid said gruffly. “Stay out of trouble.”
She sighed. “I’ll try.”
Reid hung up the phone and stuffed it into his back pocket, then stood staring vacantly out the window. At this hour, the downtown streets were quiet and deserted, and the windows in the renovated brick building across the street were mostly dark.
Standing there in the shadowy living room, he reflected on the different ways he and his siblings had responded to their parents’ painful divorce. He had declared war on the media and stopped talking to reporters; Ryder and Avery had thrown themselves into their careers like never before; and Aria had started picking up losers at bars and nightclubs.
What they all had in common was a driving need to turn back the clock, to reverse the circumstances that had torn their family apart.
Unfortunately, there was no magic wand to be waved, no genie in a bottle to undo the damage that had been done.
Suddenly the overhead light came on.
Reid turned from the window to see Nadia standing across the living room. She was wearing his shirt, half-unbuttoned, over her naked body. It was so long it hung past her knees.
Seeing her in his clothes did something primal to him. He wanted to beat his chest and roar, warning every other man to stay away. Because she was his. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. She belonged to him.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, watching him quietly.
“Yeah.” His jaw flexed. “Just had to handle something for my sister.”
“Which one?”
“Aria.”
“Aria,” Nadia repeated softly. “She’s the baby, right?”
Reid nodded.
Nadia came toward him, her steps soft and light. He watched her, his gaze drawn to the way his shirt parted to reveal glimpses of her bare thighs.
She stopped right in front of him, only inches separating them. When she had to tip her head back to look up at him, a smile quirked one corner of his mouth. God, she was adorable.
“What did you have to handle for Aria?” she asked gently.
His smile faded.
“Not what,” he grumbled. “Who.”
She lifted one eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate.
He scowled. “She had a date from hell who wouldn’t leave when the fun was over.”
“Oh, no,” Nadia said with a concerned frown. “Is she okay? He didn’t get violent, did he?”
“No.” Reid clenched his jaw. “I had to talk some sense into the asshole, make him see the error of his ways.”
“And he left?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank God.” Nadia gave him a warm, relieved smile. “You’re a good brother, Reid.”
He shrugged, embarrassed by her praise. “I try to be.”
“You are.” She stared up at him, studying his face for a long moment. “What else is bothering you?”
He stared back at her, shaken by how well she could read him. He’d never been with a woman who was so attuned to his moods. He didn’t know whether it was good or bad.
“Reid?” she prompted softly. “What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing I care to discuss at three o’clock in the morning.” He smiled to soften his words.
She studied him a moment longer, then smiled quietly and lifted her hand to his chest. He felt her touch all the way down to his groin.
“Come on,” she murmured. “Let’s get a few more hours of sleep, then I’ll fix you breakfast while you get ready for practice.”
Reid smiled slowly. “Sounds good.”
She took his hand and led him back down the hallway, back to the soft comfort of her bed and the warm curves of her body.