Page 9 of Never and Always
Chapter 3
It rained,just as Nickpredicted.
A storm had actually blew in over the area and lasted right into the evening. Glenn had left the house and still hadn’t come back. It was eleven. Nick figured he must have gone to Sam’s bar to play pool. That’s what Glenn did to blow offsteam.
He’d probably never had to blow off this much steam, though. This was big, and more serious in nature than anything else. His anger wasunderstandable.
Nick was hoping he’d be back by now, though, because he’d been left with Mia, and he honestly didn’t know what to do. He could handle most things. Terrorist plots, a war, an ambush, anything likethat.
A crying woman, however, was something else. The most he could do was comfort her, but that came with a limit. He couldn’t hold her all day. Much as he wouldn’t haveminded.
God help him, now was the worst time to be thinking about how great she looked and how good it felt to hold her. Nick had been like a drooling fool all day with her. He would have tucked her into bed but he drew a line at that thought and reigned in his crazy emotions that took over his damnmind.
She’d gone to her room hours ago, and he’d gone up to his to see what he could sort out for his businessthere.
He’d decided that he was going to take on the case with this Alan guy. In situations like this he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to get all of the money back, but he was going totry.
He would have asked Mia more questions but he could see that she was too distressed to talk so he thought he’d do it in the morning and go seeSawyer.
Time was essential in cases like this, but today wasn’t the day to harnessit.
The storm was getting worse and lightning flashed against the black sky followed by a roll of thunder. He didn’t know it was going to rain this badly. It didn’t bother him much, but reminded him of his younger years with his father and their camping trips. It rained more often than not and was the kind of rain that could cancel a trip, but they enjoyedit.
The rain now was making him think about his dad. Nick wished he was still here. He really did, and would have given anything to have him back. When he was in the Marines he imagined trading stories with his father. He’d have something to share, just like his father had all hislife.
Nick would tell him about his time spent in Afghanistan and Iraq. His father had gone to the Gulf War when Nick wasyounger.
He’d tell his father about all the missions he was most proud of, the ones where he made a difference in some way. Like when he saved a whole village from being blown up, and how he ran into an ambush and helped his comrades fight off some rebels who were attempting to destroy a hospital and take all the supplies. He’d tell his father how he got shot three times while he literally carried some of his men out of a building that had exploded, saving theirlives.
His father wouldn’t believe it was him. Sometimes Nick could hardly believe it himself, coming from the wild, reckless guy he used to be who didn’t have the bestpast.
Nick had always been great friends with Glenn, but he’d managed to fall in with the wrong crowd. Always the popular guys at school who liked his daring personality. Unfortunately, he fell prey to years of drug abuse, which led to terrible mistakes he could never fix. The kind that left a hole in your life. Like his father’sdeath.
His father never got to see him change and become a better person. His father never got to see this version of Nick. Because this version of himself only came about as a result of hisdeath.
The fact of that would always get to him. The pain was more manageable now, but he still felt it thesame.
Nick sighed and pushed the thought out of his mind, stopping the bad memories from resurfacing, just like his mother advised. Stop the thought and it would stop the feelings. The badfeelings.
He pulled in a breath and took a break from looking at the spreadsheets he’d created on his laptop. Staring out the window, he could see that the storm seemed to be getting worse. The lights flickered above him and went out for a few seconds then came backon.
He really hoped this wasn’t going to be the kind of storm to blow out thepower.
A shuffling sound outside his door caught his attention. Then when he heard Mia yelp as thunder rumbled across the sky again, he got up and opened the door, remembering how much she hated storms. Lightning and thunder terrified her when she was younger. They’d had a running joke about it for years, where she insisted that her fears were a thing of thepast.
She stood there looking scared with a blanket clutched to her chest. “Hi, I hope I didn’t wake you.” She lookednervous.
“No, of course not. You okay?” He looked her over. She had her hair up in a high bun that highlighted her exotic cheekbones and made her lookyounger.
She definitely looked young, like teenager young, in that Batman t-shirt and loose, pink pajama pants. It was really laidback wear that wasn’t designed in any way to have any form of sex appeal, but her body betrayed the casual innocence the clothesdisplayed.
“Yes, I was um, wondering if um… If I could hang out in here with you? I could sit on the floor in the corner. Completely out of the way, and not bothering you at all.” Her eyes widened, making her look pitiful andvulnerable.
“You want to hang out with me? In my room?” He inclined his head to the side. He was only messing with her, but wanted her to confess that she was asking to stay because she wasscared.
“Okay, what if I just come in and not talk? I know today was like some hell disaster and we dragged you into another family drama, but I just don’t want to be in my room, bymyself.”
“I’m not allowed to have girls in my room.” He really tried to say that with a straight face but burst out laughing when he saw the shock on herface.
