Chapter 28

twenty-eight

Kane

I don’t elaborate on who this new monster is, and Nevaeh doesn’t ask. But I saw the way fear singed the concern in those warm brown eyes. Saw the tremble in her hand as she reached for the door only to find Tav pulling it open, standing close. Saw the way she jumped, tensed, and forced her body to relax.

Saw the way Tav noted it all, dark eyes rarely missing much.

“Keys.” Tav hands the keys to Nevaeh, who takes them slowly, blinking the same.

Then she asks, “You came with Kane to my parent’s house.”

“Backup,” Tav lies. “In case it was needed.”

I wouldn’t have needed backup. I could and would have destroyed her piece of shit ex if he’d been there when I arrived. Tav came to make sure someone would be able to physically pull me off his body, before the body died.

Murder wasn’t a charge I’d easily slip. At least not the murder of a Senator’s son.

Nevaeh nods. “But now you don’t have a car to go home. We’ll drive you.” She huffs, swinging sass my way. “I told you I could drive myself home.”

“Ian’s on his way,” Tav informs, butting into the conversation and the sass my woman is throwing me. “Candace is on night shift, so he doesn’t mind.”

Her shoulders fall as she looses a sigh. “Well, I have everything prepped for tacos. I just have to cook the meat if you and Ian want to join us?”

Tav agrees with a grunt, following us into the house. He helps himself to a beer from my fridge and I pour a chilled vodka before joining him on the patio as Nevaeh plugs her headphones in to listen to one of her audiobooks as she begins to cook. From the recordings I’ve walked in on of her books, the woman likes her shit spicy. This book is a rec from Wrenlee, and Nevaeh calls it romantasy—whatever that means.

Apparently, it means less spice, because she was moaning about it only yesterday after I teased her about how nice it was walking into dragon fights rather than some over-the-top alpha-hole slamming his woman into a wall to have his way with her. I was lying, by the way. I much prefer the second. If it’s me doing the slamming and Nevaeh hitting the wall, that is.

But dragons are cool, too.

I take a sip of the chilled vodka, unable to take my eyes off her through the glass. Even the way she moves holds me captive, gripping me in a vice.

“She’s it, eh?” Tav’s askst. “The one?”

My eyes slide to Tav, but it doesn’t take long before they’re moving back to her again. “The only.”

“First Ian, then Cash, now you.” He rubs thick fingers into the hard set of his brow. “That’s one bug I don’t need to catch.”

I loose a dry chuckle. “Not if yours comes with as much drama as Wrenlee and Nevaeh.”

“Candace isn’t drama free, either.” Tav shakes his head. “Woman won’t marry the poor bastard no matter how many times he asks.”

“She’s got her reasons.”

“He’ll never stop asking.” Tav takes a pull on his beer.

“One day she’ll say yes.”

Tav shrugs. “For his sake, I hope so.”

Tav glances back to the window, peering through at Nevaeh. She’s pouring a big bag of nachos into a bowl, and I just know she’s going to make fresh guac with those avocados she’s got next to the cutting board.

Damn, I love my wife.I didn’t know I could love a woman like I love her.

“You tell her about the videos yet?” I shake my head and Tav gives me a disapproving cluck. “She’s going to be more pissed the longer you wait.”

“I can handle pissed.” I take my own sip, reveling in the burn. “What I can’t handle is her fear. You saw her. She’s—I don’t know how to handle that.”

“Yeah.” He rubs his brow again before he looks out to the sea. “I don’t know, man. I still think you should tell her.”

“Thankfully, we leave tomorrow for the week.” My phone buzzes with an alert, and I pull it out to see Ian is here. The guys all have the code to my place, so it’s no surprise when I get another alert telling me the front door has been opened before Ian is there on the other side of the glass with Nevaeh.

I watch as she jumps, trying to hide it with one of her big smiles. But it’s not filled with the sunshine I’m used to. She’s on edge. Today, seeing her ex, being reminded of the attack, and then the conversation with me in the truck, she’s off kilter. Her shine is dim.

She pauses her book and says something to Ian that has him landing both hands on the island, leaning into it as he says something back. She smiles this time, a more genuine, real smile. It’s got shine to it that I like a lot. And even though I know Ian is head over heels for Candace—the kind of head over heels that means he’ll never give himself to another woman again—I still can’t help but feel the sting of jealousy when she smiles at another man like that. Even if that man is my brother in all the ways but blood.

Nevaeh walks to the door, poking through. “You guys want to eat in or out?”

“Dealers choice,” Tav says, and she smiles that smile at him.

Then she says, “Out.” Before poking back inside. I watch as she loads Ian with the nachos and guac, standing with Tav to help.

When the table is set and everyone is fixing their taco’s, Tav frowns across the table at her. “Are those pickles?”

“Mmhmm.” Nevaeh nods, sucking juice from her thumb.

“On your tacos?”

“Yep.” She takes a big bite of her pickle dressed taco and smiles at him around it. “Yummy.”

Tav lifts a single brow but asks dryly, “What kind of psycho puts pickles on tacos?”

She laughs, sharp and abrupt. “Dad.” She takes a long drink of her lemon water. “He’s always put pickles on his tacos, and it became a thing.” She lifts a shoulder. “I hear it took Mama a while to warm up to the idea, too. You should try it.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on.” Nevaeh pushes, that smile playing at her lips. I want to kiss that smile, claim it. Devour it whole for myself.

I’ve got issues.

Tav refuses. “I’ll stick with jalapenos.”

Ian leans forward, grabbing a handful of the cut pickles and dropping them on his tacos. “I’ll give it a go for ya, Nev.”

She beams at him. Even though I have the sense to know better, my gut tightens, and I can’t deny the urge to slide my hand to her thigh under the table.

Ian takes a ginormous bite, nodding, but says nothing.

She waits, but clearly can’t handle the suspense of it because she demands, “Well?”

“Not bad.” He keeps chewing. “Not bad at all.”

I grab a handful for my own taco, taking a bite to see what all the fuss is about. Then I agree, “Huh.”

“Right?” Nevaeh lands that beam on me and I think my heart starts to melt.

“It’s good.”

“And you lot question my cooking skills.” She harrumphs dramatically, tossing long caramel hair over her shoulder with a cheeky flourish. “Silly men.”

The guys laugh, indulging her as she starts to chatter on about how men are the inferior species, and they need to learn better tactics for consuming the wealth of information women have to offer them.

I think I fall deeper in love with her with every ridiculous thing she says.

The woman has me hooked.