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They were going to spend the weekend at a club there. A BDSMclub. They’d started regularly attending a club called Subversion. It wasfurther away than Dallas, but at least there weren’t people there who had oncechanged his diaper. It was a real mood killer as a topic of conversation, andit came up way too much at the decadent palace known as The Club.
His dad sighed and sat back because he knew those weekendswere sacred. “All right, then, but Olivia, I better not get a call from thesheriff about you swimming naked in ponds you do not own.”
Like he’d said, his sister could be a little wild.
She grinned. “It was hot, and the pond looked nice and cool.How was I supposed to know that Max guy would freak out?”
Because that Max guy freaked out about everything, and hisdaughter, Paige, was one of Olivia’s favorite people to plot with. Maybesending his sister to Bliss was a bad idea.
“Oh, no,” a feminine voice said, and he looked up. Nicoleslid across a massive pile of ketchup some kid had dropped on the floor.
Josh was up and out of his chair in a second, reaching outand letting her fall into his waiting arms.
Big brown eyes stared up at him as she slowly realized shehadn’t hit the floor and likely come out of the whole escapade ruining hernot-so-pristine uniform. “Sorry.”
She was even prettier up close. She had big eyes and brownand gold hair that looked wavy despite the fact she had it scooped up in a bunon top of her head. She looked at him for a long moment as though seeing himfor the first time.
And then she was scrambling up. Grim had gotten out of hischair and picked up the notepad she’d dropped. He helped her find her balance,and she stared up at him, too. This was right where Josh wanted her. Small andsoft and in between them.
“No need to apologize,” Josh said with his most charmingsmile. “We’re happy to help.”
Grim said nothing, simply handed her back her pad andwatched her with hungry eyes.
Her breath hitched, and she smoothed down her skirt.“Thanks, again. I’ll go clean that up.”
She hustled away, and they both watched her.
“Yes, we need to worry about Olivia,” his mom said with asardonic twist of her lips.
“Well, I’m not worried about her,” his pops countered. “NowJosh and Grim looking at the new girl like they could eat her up when she’sobviously a woman on the run, that’s something to worry about.”
If Pops had heard gossip, he wanted to know. He sat backdown.
“Why would you say that?” Grim got to the point first. Hisplate was already empty. Sometimes Grim still ate like someone would take itaway from him if he didn’t hurry.
Dad sighed. “Because we’ve seen it a time or two, and thereare already some rumors about her. She talked Christa into giving her the jobwith only one reference, and convinced her to pay her wages in cash. She’sstaying at the motel that rents by the week, and she pays cash for that, too.”
“Not everyone has a bank account. There are any number ofreasons she doesn’t.” Josh didn’t judge a person. Hard times hit a lot ofpeople and in different ways. He’d been lucky enough to not need money, but hehad friends who did.
Grim nodded, obviously taking the cue. “Yeah, she could bedown on her luck. It could be anything.”
“Or she’s on the run from something,” Pops said, putting anarm around Mom’s shoulders and leaning in. “Speaking of, darlin’, I thinkyou’re in some trouble.”
Olivia made a gagging sound, but Josh liked that his parentswere still all over each other.
Dad grinned and whispered something in Mom’s ear.
He wanted a similar situation for himself someday. For himand Grim. Oh, he likely wouldn’t get it from Nicole, but they could have a nicetime.
And if he could help her out, he would do that, too. Heglanced to his left, where she was walking into the kitchen.
She didn’t know it yet, but they were coming after her.
* * * *
Nora Holloway liked being Nicole Mason for the mostpart. Mostly because no one wanted to put Nicole in jail or in a grave to hidetheir secrets. Of course, Nora hadn’t spent her days and nights wearing auniform that made her look like she was on a seventies sitcom and carryingtrays of sloshing liquids through a moving obstacle course.
She’d started to think of herself as Nicole. There weretimes when Nora and her problems seemed so far away.
