Page 72 of Bad Boy Next Door
“Here’s the thing, though, Crys. He’s really not.” I stared out the window as we crossed Corte Madera Creek.
“Oh, that’s right,” Crystal said. “You actuallylikedoing all the cooking and cleaning. Taking care of people. It’s like your calling to serve others.”
“Shut up,” I said. But she was kind of right. I didn’t like beingforcedto do any of those things, but taking care of people—people who meant something to me—made me happy. I couldn’t deny that. “To settle the score, Nick’s doing stuff for me now. Whatever I ask.”
“Really.” She raised her eyebrows a few times. “Do tell! What kind of things? Does it involve a talented tongue?”
“Pervert!” I felt a flush rise on my cheeks. “It’s not sexual,” I lied. “He helped me carry some furniture, changed some lightbulbs, replaced my leaky shower head.”
“I thought you said he was hot.”
“Oh, and he made me pancakes when we got home from work last night.”
“Now that sounds more interesting. Any sausage with those pancakes?” She winked.
I stared out the windshield like I’d missed her innuendo. “Nope, just pancakes from a box, drowned in imitation maple syrup.”
“Yuck.”
“That about sums it up.” Still, he’d tried, and I couldn’t help the smile that overtook my lips, thinking of Nick’s total fail in the kitchen. He’d scored an A for effort, D minus for execution. But he’d scored all As in all the other subjects we’d explored. Wow.
“You like him, don’t you!” Crystal slapped my arm lightly as she rounded a curve on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
I shrugged.
“OMG! Jade actually likes a boy! Alert the press! Warn the devil that hell is about to freeze over!”
“Very funny. It’s not a big deal.” But it was a big deal. I’d been thinking about him constantly.
Sure, some of that was because my insides still throbbed and my legs ached from the near acrobatic sex, but my thoughts of Nick went way beyond that. His smile, his kindness, his thoughtfulness, his loyalty to his brothers, the way he protected all the girls at the club. The way he could shift from a protective touch to a possessive hold in the blink of an eye, without ever making me feel unsafe.
And even more than that, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’d opened up to him last night. Sure, I’d been tired, but I’d never talked about Grandma to anyone, not even Crystal, and fatigue couldn’t fully account for the way I’d let my guard down.
Who hurt you?he’d asked me, and the answer was: nearly everyone.
With the exception of my sister, everyone I’d let into my life had either hurt me or left me, or both. And while those experiences had made me into the woman I was today—strong, independent, ferocious if need be—Nick seemed to see the squishy-mess truth of me. He’d seen past my outer badass and found the hurt little girl underneath.
* * *
Jade
Aguard led Frank into the visiting room where Crystal and I were already sitting at a table. We rose to each give him a guard-supervised hug, then sat.
“My girls!” He grinned, showing off yellowed teeth, which made him seem way older than forty-seven. “So nice for you to find the time to visit.”
Crystal leaned forward. “I wish I could get here every weekend, Dad. But I don’t have a car.”
“BART too good for you?” He scowled, but it quickly disappeared. “It’s okay. I know you girls are busy.”
He was right. Both of us could easily take public transit to get up to the prison, but I was not about to let Frank lay a guilt trip on me. By rights, all the guilt should flow in the other direction, but I’m not sure Frank knew the definition of guilt.
“Everything going okay?” he asked me. “Keeping Nick happy, I hope?”
“Funny story,” I said. “The guy who lives next door to me isn’t the Nick who arranged your deal after all.”
Frank’s brow furrowed. “No? But I thought he got you your job.”
“He did, but I guess it’s not the job I was supposed to get.”
