Page 42 of Seeking Vengeance
“He’s done this before?” Sean asked.
Nicki didn’t answer, pointedly looking away when she saw the brief flash of hurt in his eyes. The temptation to tell him, to unload all of the anger and hurt and frustration onto his broad shoulders, was a powerful one, but she fought it. If she had even the slightest hope of making it out of Pine Ridge intact, she had to remain strong.
* * *
Her silence hurt morethan it should have. Then again, he understood something she obviously didn’t—that they were meant to be together, and that meant trust and sharing. So far, it looked like that was going to be a hard thing for her to accept.
He shouldn’t have been surprised. None of his brothers had had it easy when they found their women.
Taryn had run away from Jake, risking her life instead of entrusting him with the knowledge that she was the daughter of a murdered US senator, the only surviving member of a powerful political family, held captive and then stalked for ten long years.
Ian had almost lost Lexi and his firstborn when she decided not to share her life-threatening medical condition with him, believing he was in love with her stepsister, both of which could have been resolved if they’d only talked about it.
Maggie had nearly died because she withheld the seriousness of her injury from his doctor brother, and then Michael had almost bought it because the poor bastard couldn’t think straight when he thought he’d lost her and took risks he never would have otherwise.
That didn’t bode well for him, did it? When he looked at the situation from that angle, he saw a disturbing pattern emerging, based on the women’s inability to grasp what the men seemed to realize fairly easily—when a Callaghan man found his true soul mate, there could not be an alternate ending. They would end up together, and this whole deny-and-run thing just made things more difficult.
Sean ran his hand through his hair, beyond caring what it symbolized. He was past denial and ready to accept the truth, but Nicki was not. If the pattern held true, Nicki would probably try to flee before he could …
His entire body tensed when he saw the small canvas pack sitting there, beside the door, ready to go.
“Going somewhere?” he asked, completely abandoning all pretense.
* * *
His voice was too soft.Too knowing. She followed his gaze and then cursed herself for not putting the pack in a less obvious place. She wasn’t usually that careless. A tiny voice deep inside her mind whispered a truly disturbing possibility. Maybe she’d wanted Sean to see it. Maybe some part of her had wanted him to stop her.
She shook that thought off. It was beyond ridiculous. She did not want to stay here, and she had no further use for the hot, sexy alpha male currently making her wet, simply by looking at her.
She tried to pull off a casual shrug. “It’s time.”
Now that she had the last, final piece of the puzzle, there could be no more stalling. She only wished the information hadn’t come from her own brother. How ironic was that? That weeks of discreetly sniffing around for information weren’t as effective as her brother’s sudden backslide? Nick had confessed—under duress—where he’d gotten his stuff.
Benny was using a different name now. And he’d changed his appearance too. But nothing would save him.
“Is it?” Sean asked. His voice was softer, his body closer now.
She hurried to put some distance between them, and then she drew up her head and met Sean’s stare head-on, drawing forth every rational reason why she had to get the hell out of Dodge.
It was, for several reasons. One, her mother was gone, and Nicki’s obligation to her—real or imagined—was complete. Two, Nick had his own life now, a good job, and people who would look out for him. If she stayed in Pine Ridge, she would only hold him back. She was a constant reminder of what once had been, and what he needed was to get beyond that and look ahead. Three, Sean Callaghan was beginning to look at her like he was interested in more than a quick tumble or two. There could be nothing more between them—not now, not ever. And four, by this time tomorrow, Nicki Milligan would once again cease to exist.
“I buried my mother. Got the added bonus of hauling my brother’s drugged-up ass home before he killed himself or someone else. And, oh yeah, I got to fuck the big, bad hard-ass while I was here too. I think I’ve accomplished pretty much everything I possibly could in this Mayberry town.”Except for killing the bastard who ruined our lives.
* * *
Sean’s jawclenched right along with his fists.Son of a bitch, it was starting already. Something about her was different. Her expression was harder, colder; her eyes like polished steel. Even her voice sounded sharper, like a finely honed blade. It held no trace of amusement or anger or desire, not even sadness. Just a robotic indifference that chilled him to the bone.
And it’s all bullshit,he realized suddenly, wondering why he hadn’t seen it earlier.
This was nothing but another superbly played performance, one of which he suspected were several false personas she adopted as needed.
He had seen the real Nicki, the one who had nestled against him last night on the floor while they ate Chinese and talked. The one who could get lost in the mechanics of an engine. The one who’d made love to him this morning with her mouth and her body. That woman was the genuine article.
ThisNicki was no more real than the sultry pole dancer or the bad-ass biker chick.
Taryn had done it. So had Lexi and Maggie. Because they’d all had some fucktarded idea that by leaving, they would be doing the best possible thing for the people they cared about most.
Sean’s heart stuttered in his chest and then stopped beating entirely for several long ticks of the clock.
