Page 71 of Echoes of You

Nash slipped his hand in mine and started for the parking lot. I tugged him to a stop. “I need to get my car.” I’d already texted Aspen, and she’d told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t to come to work today.

“I’ll have one of my brothers bring it to the cabin.”

“I don’t want to make them—”

He squeezed my hand. “Let me take care of you.”

My heart cracked. I wanted that. Too much. “Okay.”

Nash didn’t let go of my hand as he led me to his SUV. Not until he’d opened the passenger door and I was securely inside. Rounding the vehicle, he climbed into the driver’s seat.

Nerves swept through me all of a sudden. My fingers twisted and untwisted. Then they tapped against my thighs.

Nash reached over and took my hand again. “You’re not in this alone.”

My throat tightened. How much had I longed to hear that while in Atlanta, feeling isolated and cut off from everyone I loved? “Thank you. I’m sorry I brought this mess back here.”

Nash’s green gaze jerked in my direction. “This is exactly where you need to be. And you didn’t bring Adam here. He did. And he won’t be here for long.”

My stomach twisted at Nash’s last words. They sounded like a vow. “Don’t do anything reckless. Adam will make your life hell if you try to interfere.”

I didn’t want to even think about what Adam might do. He already despised Nash. The fact that I’d come straight home, and Nash was staying with me? Adam would be livid.

Nash turned off the main road and onto the one that would bring us to my cabin. “Mads, I’ll always stand up for you. I won’t be stupid about it, but this assholewillunderstand that his days of messing with you are over. He doesn’t get to stay here. He doesn’t get to breathe your air.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. “Nash…”

His hand squeezed mine. “It’s just the way things are. I know you didn’t have that growing up, someone who looked out for you—”

“You’re wrong,” I said, cutting him off.

Nash glanced at me in question.

I met his gaze and didn’t look away. “I did have someone who looked out for me. I had you.”

* * *

The holdof deep sleep faded as voices gnawed at my subconscious. My eyes fluttered open, taking in my surroundings. Sunlight poured in through the window, illuminating my bare bedroom. It took a few seconds for sleep’s hold on me to fade. It was the hazy feeling that only came from a deep, midday nap.

I glanced at the clock on the bedside table and blanched. It was almost three o’clock. I’d been asleep for five hours. I rolled to my back, and my ribs didn’t twinge as badly as they had been. Apparently, I’d needed the sleep.

More voices drifted down the hallway. “Turn it a little to the left,” Grae said. “No, that’s too far.”

“Excuse my sister,” Nash said. “She’s bossy as hell.”

“I just have the best design eye,” Grae huffed.

“She’s right about that,” Wren agreed.

I pushed myself to a sitting position. A wave of dizziness swept over me, and I gave myself a second to let the world right itself. Once it did, I stood and slid my feet into my slippers. I was wearing my coziest sweats again. They were so big they made me look like an Oompa Loompa, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.

Crossing to the door, I opened it and listened for a moment.

“There,” Grae said. “It’s perfect!”

“You’re a home décor genius,” Wren agreed, a smile in her voice.

“Don’t say that. It’ll just go to her head,” Nash groused.

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