Page 27 of Nash

“Don’t speak so past tense.” I raise a brow. “He NameDropped me, so we may have a future.”

Confusion mixes with rage across his handsome face.

I’m about to explain the iPhone tech to him when Stacey, Delta’s owner, trudges through the door. Ford, one of her husbands, enters behind her with his hand caressing the small of her back. It’s a constant, sweet gesture between them, but today, they look distressed.

“Hey.” I break from Nash’s interrogation, focusing on my real boss. “Everything okay?”

“No,” she sighs as Ford barks, “Yes!”

Stacey turns to him, pleading to his eyes, “Babe, it’snotokay. You’re worried and angry, just like me, but I need to talk about it. I can’t hold every emotion in like you do.”

“This is private,” Ford grumbles.

“This is family.” Stacey gestures to me and Jace.

So, Nash stands. He may be an asshole to me, but with others, his manners are impeccable. “I’ll give you all a moment,” he says. “I’ll go to the deli and grab everyone lunch.”

“Thank you,” Stacey sighs.

“Thanks.” Ford nods at him, but Nash isn’t out the front door before Stacey bursts into a flood of tears and words.

“It’s Hannah,” she cries.

That’s Ford’s daughter and her stepdaughter, and I fear the worst. “Is she okay?”

“Yes,” Stacey rushes, “I mean, no. She’s being bribed. Someone is threatening to expose a relationship she had with a coach, which will ruin her chances with the WNBA draft, and she’s devastated. We all are.”

Brushing by Jace, Nash mumbles something to him. Jace nods.

And my suspicions skyrocket.

CHAPTER EIGHT

NASH

Windingmy way along a crowded sidewalk, I aim for the nearest deli while I call Axel.

“All secure?”

“Yes,” I answer. “I have my asset secured. Seven has his.” I pause, shuffling around a street artist selling roses made of sweetgrass. “But I’m calling about Six.”

“What about him?” Axel asks, sounding wary.

“The people trying to bribe him, do you know who they are?”

“We’re working on it.”

“Well, I think I found a lead, maybe a connection.” The line inside the deli is long, but their service is fast. “Can you meet me at the Bonneau mansion in thirty?”

I won’t say “Delta’s,” our location.

His chuckle is low. “And just how do you propose I introduce myself there?”

Axel hides under a pseudonym and an Americanized name, too. All of his brothers do. I’m the only one who doesn’t have to worry about my real name.

“It’s an adult store. Come as a customer,” I smirk at the pun, “or come as you are.”

“That’s dangerous.”

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