Heedless (The Hellbound Brotherhood #4) - Shannon McKenna Page 0,2
she had enough troubles of her own to not fixate on it.
And though she was sorry for their troubles, they did make her feel a little bit less of a freak somehow. Like her crazy tale of woe was in good company, even if none of them knew it. The Trask brothers had a bizarre history, and Fi and Demi both had their own checkered pasts . And they were all so busy fending off Kimball, they didn’t have time to ask inconvenient questions.
Which had worked out fine for her—until Nate Murphy came along.
Nate’s intense interest in her dated from the mortifying box-cutter incident. She’d practically severed the guy’s brachial artery with the box-cutter in her apron pocket immediately upon meeting him. Hey, welcome to Shaw’s Crossing.
Eric had called on his brother Anton in Seattle for help after the first attacks on him and Demi a few weeks ago, and Anton had come that same night, bringing his friend Nate for back-up. No one had expected Elisa early that morning. She’d let herself in using the key Demi had given her, to deliver a tray of breakfast pastries. She saw strange men, guns. She’d panicked—and out came the box-cutter.
Luckily, Nate had fast reflexes. The only harm done had been to the sleeve of his leather coat. And to her lacerated nerves and dignity, of course.
It was a hell of a first impression, but Nate wasn’t put off. Far from it. He wore that jacket around with the long slash in the leather all sewn up with a heavy black thread, like a decoration. A perverse badge of honor.
It was getting harder and harder to evade him. He’d reawakened her awareness of herself as a woman, and he’d done it at the worst possible time. She couldn’t be teased or tempted or allured right now. It was distracting and stupid. And dangerous, both for herself and for Nate. She reminded herself of that every time she caught herself straining to hear his voice, or ogling him as he passed by.
When she came out of the kitchen laden with the heavy box of food, Nate strode over and took it from her arms. “I’ll take this out to the car.”
Fiona waited until Nate was outside before moving closer to Elisa. “This is none of my business, and I’m way out of line,” she said. “But, ah, when are you going to put that poor guy out of his misery? You know you want to.”
The heat in Elisa’s face deepened. “You’re right, Fi. It’s none of your business.”
Fiona sighed and made a lip-zipping gesture. “Yeah, yeah. I know. These things are complicated. Not another word about it, I promise. My bad.”
Fiona’s apologetic smile made her feel guilty. Elisa liked Fi, and wished she could confide in her. The woman was tough and smart. So was Demi. And she missed confiding in her women friends. The normalcy of it. Giggling, laughing, joking, commiserating.
But that was a luxury she did not have. Knowing Elisa’s story would put Demi and Fi in danger, even more than they were in already.
God knows, compared to Demi and Fi’s, her own tale of woe had taken on some perspective. The Trask guys, Fi and Demi all faced trouble on much the same scale as she did, and just look at them, handling it. They fought back like demons. They never gave up or ran away. They never cowered or whined or felt sorry for themselves.
It wasn’t a comfort so much as a stern reality check. She wasn’t the only one living under a shadow. These people did it with style. Thriving, even. Seizing love, sex and happiness in the face of fear. The ultimate fuck-you to their enemies.
Which was great for them, but damn. It set the bar freaking high.
It would be selfish and irresponsible to burden them with her past. They were stretched to the limit already. She had to deal with this herself. Feeling lonesome and scared was not a good enough reason to put her friends in more danger.
No matter how Nate coaxed her to confide in him.
He flirted, too. Oh, God, how he flirted. Constantly making his interest clear. He was classy about it, of course. Understated. Gallant. Relentless. Delicious.
It was so hard to resist that deep, magnetic pull. She felt it right now, deep inside her body, and he’d barely said a word.
It was like gravity. Constant and all-encompassing.
Nate came back inside, smiled at her, and gave Fiona a questioning look. “Shall I run