Page 63 of Carry On
NASH: At least it’s not Melvin.
Okay, Patty.
AfterathreatbyNash that he’d put me in his phone as Melvin—the asshole—I left him alone, despite how much I hated doing so. I was worried about the headache he had activelypretended wasn’t there. The one that had caused his mood to shift drastically. I saw it in the way he squinted to avoid the light and cringed at loud sounds.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hover, and I couldn’t take the day off. How odd, this feeling inside me. I wasn’t a selfish man—not really—but I wasn’t a caretaker by any means either. Maybe I had my father to blame for that, since most of my early years were spent taking care of myself because he wouldn’t. Who knew? Either way, that wasn’t my personality.
When my aunt got sick, I took care of her because it was the right thing to do, but the emotional drive hadn’t been there. Even with my ex-husband, the urge to take care of him was nonexistent.
But with Nash? Fuck, he awakened something inside of me, something I couldn’t quite explain. And it was entirely something I wasn’t sure I wanted.
I sighed as I glanced down at the ring on my finger. The look Eleanor had given me when I submitted the life adjustment paperwork to add Nash had been less than pleased. I did my best to be charming and polite, but I had a feeling she wasn’t buying it. Could I blame her? Showing up suddenly with a husband after our previous conversation probably looked suspicious.
“Mr. Cassidy.” My name preceded a sharp, singular knock on the door, and I immediately got to my feet as my boss walked in. Arthur Neilsen had started the firm and built it from the ground up. He was renowned in most legal and political circles. The man was a force to be reckoned with, and I had modeled the direction of my career after most of his business practices.
“Mr. Neilsen,” I greeted while taking the hand he offered. His presence in my office wasn’t anticipated, and that set me on edge. Unannounced visits weren’t his thing. He was all about his schedule and structure. “This is an unexpected surprise.”
“Those words mean the same thing, Mr. Cassidy,” he commented with all the confidence of someone who could grammar-check a person whenever the hell he wanted. He gestured flippantly to my chair as he sat on the other side of my desk. “I heard from Eleanor that congratulations are in order.”
“Ah.” The gossip mill was running fast today. I glanced discreetly at my watch. I’d left Eleanor a little over an hour ago. “Yes, I did get married.”
“You should’ve let us know as soon as you proposed,” he told me. “You know how the office gals love a good engagement party. They would’ve had your wife in here to celebrate—we still will.”
“My husband,” I corrected quietly, knowing exactly where the conversation was about to go. Working for Arthur opened prominent doors for me, but the man wasn’t exactly quiet about his beliefs in traditional values.
It was a calculated risk that I was willing to take. He couldn’t openly fire me for marrying Nash, but he could phase my ass out. It wouldn’t be a smart move, considering my value to the company. If he did, however, I could easily find another job, and I’d probably like most of them better than this one.
I’d known what Arthur was when I took this job, but I also knew that learning from him was an invaluable foundation to build on. My every move within this company from the day he hired me to now had been carefully calculated for my benefit.
“Ah, well.” He clicked his tongue as he thought it through. I just stared at him, waiting to see how the whole moment would play out. “Maybe we’ll just forgo the office party and keep that part to ourselves.”
Exactly like I expected.
“Of course,” I said. I dropped a hand onto a stack of files a little too dramatically. “If there’s nothing else, Mr. Nielsen, I have work to do. You know how it is.”
“I do, I do,” he agreed. He was silent as he stood, the atmosphere growing uncomfortable between us. “Have a good day, Mr. Cassidy.”
“You too, Mr. Nielsen,” I replied but didn’t mean a single word of it. Instead, I resisted rolling my eyes. Private rule number one: never let Nash meet Arthur. I didn’t need him finding out what I’d risked for him.
When I came home, all the lights were off, the air conditioning had been turned off, and there was tape over the kitchen faucet—the same one that occasionally dripped. I froze in the middle of my condo as I realized what it was.
It was dark, and it was quiet.
No, it was utterly silent.
Lying on the couch, Nash was asleep with a pillow over his face and his arms crossed over it to hold the thing in place. A bottle of water and ibuprofen sat on the coffee table.
Minding my movements, I very carefully took off my dress shoes to avoid adding to the lack of noise. The lights hurt, and the sound was too much. I remembered that much from taking him to the hospital.
Thankfully, adding him to my insurance wouldn’t take too long. A few days at most. The faster I got him in to see a doctor, the better. No one deserved to live with pain so debilitating that they couldn’t function.
Careful not to wake him, I grabbed the blanket from the back of the opposite couch and draped it over him. Maybe I should’ve woken him, but I didn’t have the heart to. If he’d finally found some semblance of peace, I wasn’t about to disrupt that.
CHAPTER 45
LINCOLN
Acrashstartledmeoutof my sleep. I was up and out of bed before I registered what was happening. Disoriented and confused, I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes as I tried to clear my vision. I was no use to myself if I was running around like a half-awake idiot.
