Page 90 of Faith
Nina shrugged. “My dad was like that.”
“No,” Zeke breathed. “Your dad was an asshole. He was horrible. He was cruel and mean, but Gwendolyn is a whole other level. She makes your dad look halfway decent by comparison, and we both know he wasn’t.”
“Yeah,” Nina whispered.
“Come here,” Zeke said, drawing her back into his arms. He ached to kiss her, to whisk her away and never come back. To hide out and let the others figure it all out.
He hated the thought, but the worse thought was having someone hurt Nina. Letting Gwendolyn get her hands on Nina again. It wasn’t in his DNA to run and hide, not when he could help, but everything inside him needed Nina to be okay. Needed her to be safe.
She’d already chosen to meet with Gwendolyn, and even though Gwendolyn didn’t show up, standing in the way of Nina doing anything else to help wouldn’t go over well.
He had no choice but to accept that she was the same as him. She needed to run toward the fight, too. Which meant if he wanted her safe, he could never leave her side.
Nina drewstrength from Zeke and absorbed it in. She wanted to stay there forever, to pull from him until she felt like she could do anything, but someone rang the bell and the tentative levity of the moment ended.
Dawn and Adam left the room to answer the door. Everyone else stayed put, watching the hallway and listening for the voices to draw closer again. Dawn and Adam returned with a man and woman. The man and Adam talked together, easy laughter flowing between them. The woman was a little more tentative but spoke with Dawn and seemed comfortable enough. The woman carried a sketchbook and had a searching gaze that stopped when she found Nina.
Frannie walked her over and reached for Nina’s hand, bringing her to Dawn and the woman. “Nina, this is Kyra O’Keefe. Kyra, this is Nina Rose.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kyra said warmly, offering her hand.
Nina shook it and smiled, feeling more at ease than she expected. “You, too. Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Liam said you guys needed some help.” She nodded to the man who was talking to Adam. Both men approached.
“Nina, this is my cousin, Liam. Liam, this is Nina Rose.” Adam nodded heavily at Liam, passing on a message Nina was pretty sure meant Liam knew who she was.
“Nice to meet you, Nina. We’ve done some work with your brother’s agency. We were all happy to hear you were home and safe.” Liam smiled, his friendly demeanor further relaxing Nina.
“Thank you.” Nina wasn’t sure how to take that she was borderline infamous, but she figured it was a good thing so many people who spent their lives protecting and helping others were out there.
“Kyra, where do you want to go?” Frannie asked.
Kyra looked at Nina. “Wherever you’re comfortable. I just need a place to sit, maybe somewhere to put my sketchbook, but that’s not required.”
Nina looked back at Dawn. Nina didn’t know the massive home well enough to know what their options were.
“You are welcome wherever you feel comfortable,” Dawn said. “This room is busy, but the dining room is a little quieter. I have a library you can use, another sitting room that’s smaller. If you’d like more privacy, you can go upstairs to a bedroom.” Dawn clasped her hands together in front of her.
“Oh, I don’t want to invade your private space,” Nina said. She looked around the room and jumped when someone on the other side of the room laughed loudly. “Um, maybe somewhere quieter.”
“Let’s go to the library,” Dawn said.
Nina followed Dawn, Frannie, and Kyra, but Zeke lingered behind. “Are you coming?”
“Do you want me to?” Zeke asked.
Monty appeared next to Zeke. “What’s going on?”
“Sketch artist,” Zeke answered.
Nina stopped and looked between Kyra, Dawn, and Frannie and Zeke and Monty. She turned to the women. “Can they come with me?”
“Of course,” the women said at the same time.
Nina looked at the men, feeling better knowing they would be there with her. Always with her.
Frannie stood outside the library to let the others move inside. The space was cozy and large, but it would work. Kyra sat in an armchair near the window, with Nina in a chair opposite. Frannie took a seat closer to the door, but still close. Monty sat next to Nina, and Zeke stood just inside the door.
