“Liar.”
Della just laughed and looked back at me. “I have to keep him in line.”
“Glad someone does,” Grant replied.
Woods’s easy smile turned into a frown as he focused on something behind us. Grant and I turned at the same time. Rush was walking toward us with a look on his face I didn’t understand.
Grant’s hand dropped from my back, and he walked toward Rush before he could get to us. I wasn’t sure if I should follow him or wait here.
“Something’s wrong,” Woods said before stepping by me and walking toward them.
I glanced back at Della, who was watching them, concerned. She wasn’t following Woods so I stayed with her.
Rush shook his head and looked over at me, then nodded his head for me to join them. Confused, I walked over. Rush reached out and grabbed my arm.
“I need you to stay with Blaire and Nate. Grant needs to come with me. Can you do that?”
I tried to nod but I just stood there, confused even more.
“It’s Nan. But I need him for this. And you have to trust him,” Rush said.
Nan? We just saw Nan. She was coming here. “Okay” was all I could say. They didn’t look as if they wanted to answer any questions. Grant looked angry and Rush was tense.
“I can’t leave with you guys, but if it’s what she says, then let me know. I’ll handle it,” Woods said, then turned and headed back to Della.
Rush motioned for Blaire and pulled her into his arms, talking to her in hushed whispers. She nodded and glanced over at me with a worried frown. “If you think that’s necessary” was her only response.
“I can’t ignore it. I have to check,” Rush told Blaire, who didn’t seem too sure that she agreed with him.
She kept her back stiff and nodded. Rush looked torn. What in the world was going on?
“If you want to come, then come with me. Don’t do this to me,” Rush said, closing in on Blaire and pulling her close.
She finally seemed to surrender and nodded. “Okay,” she said. Rush pressed a hard kiss to her mouth that had her melting further into him.
Everyone seemed to know what was going on but me. Woods’s head was lowered as he talked to Della. He was telling her. Rush was telling Blaire, but then there was me. No one was telling me. Grant wasn’t even looking at me. His body seemed coiled tight, and I realized I had trusted in him a little too soon.
Grant
Iwas doing this for him. He was my brother. At the top of all things that mattered was the fact that Rush was my brother. But, motherfucker, the look on Harlow’s face when she heard Nan’s name was going to screw shit up. I could see it, and I had to choose. I’d chosen Rush. He was family.
I was trusting Harlow to believe in me. To know why I was doing this. Who I was doing it for. I needed her to understand, because losing her wasn’t an option.
“She’ll understand. Harlow will listen when you explain, and she’ll be okay with it. Blaire is probably explaining it to her now,” Rush said as he sped toward Nan’s house.
If this shit was real and August had just beat the hell out of Nan, then I was all for hunting him down and letting Rush get his vengeance. Nan was a lot of things, but first and foremost she was Rush’s little sister. Rush didn’t allow Nan to come between him and Blaire, and he protected Blaire from her. But if Nan was in trouble and needed Rush, he came. He was all she had. No one else gave a shit. I had once, but she’d made sure I didn’t for long.
“If she’s lying, it might be me beating the shit out of her,” I warned him.
He let out a heavy sigh. “I know.”
Rush wasn’t blind to Nan’s nastiness. He also knew that saving Nan and leaving Harlow wasn’t easy for me. I wasn’t married to Harlow. I hadn’t made her promises with a diamond ring. Blaire had all that, and seeing Rush run off to save Nan made more sense to her. Nan was also Rush’s sister.
I couldn’t claim any of that.
Fuck, she better be telling the truth.
Rush pulled into Nan’s driveway, and the fear that Harlow might not get over this hit me again as my gaze found her little black car. Fuck, I shouldn’t have left her. But Rush had needed me. When he needed backup, I was it. That was what brothers were for. We had each other’s back.