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Grim started for the door. “If they take her in, I’ll… Idon’t know what I’ll do, but…”
Josh followed him. “What we’ll do, but it’ll be bloody, andI won’t care that we’re family.”
He raced out the door and prayed he got to Nicole in time.
* * * *
Nic finished drying her hair and stared at herself inthe mirror.
She looked like a completely different person than the womanwho’d rolled into Willow Fork with two hundred dollars in her pocket and a caron its last legs.
She looked well loved.
And fancy since Josh had left her a pretty slip dress andheels to change into after she got out of her fetwear. No jeans and snarky T-shirt that had seen better days for her tonight.
Was this who she could be if she found a way to stay withthem? She was still Nicole. She was still the same woman, but she was moreconfident, more secure. Money wouldn’t change her with the singular exceptionof not having to worry about where her next meal was coming from. When shethought about it, she could be a truer version of herself if she wasn’t simplyfocused on survival.
What would life be like if she didn’t have to suspect everyhuman being she met?
She would go to her grave with the memory of Josh standingin front of her telling her to take what he gave her and make somethingbeautiful with it.
Was it that simple? Her world had been chaos for so long.The idea a life could be happy and satisfying simply because she loved her menand the family they could build seemed like a distant dream.
She heard a buzzing noise in the background. The locker roomwas empty. It was still early, and the club would be hopping for another coupleof hours.
But her men wanted time alone with her.
Time to show her how well they could love her. Was she braveenough to take their love with both hands and trust it?
She took out the designer lipstick and brushed it over hermouth. The color was perfect, of course. Josh wouldn’t screw up any details.
Would his family accept her? Even if Josh and Grim couldbelieve her story, it didn’t mean Jack Barnes would, and could she blame him?
The buzzing started again, and it was coming from the rowher locker was on.
She gathered her makeup kit and moved to the locker when thebuzzing noise started again. Her cell. Who would call her? She glanced at herphone’s screen and it let her know she wasn’t late. Josh and Grim would bewaiting for her outside the locker room soon, but she still had some time.
She didn’t recognize the number, but they could be usingsomeone else’s phone. She slid her finger across the screen. “Hello.”
“Nic. Thank god.” There was a huff that sounded like relief.“I’ve been trying to get you for an hour.”
She thought she recognized the voice. “Heather?”
“Are you in the club?” Heather asked.
“Yes. I’m in the locker room.”
“Is anyone with you?”
A knot formed in her gut. She was certain she was alone. Ithad been nice when she’d first entered the locker room, but now she felt achill. “No. Uhm, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“I’m sorry but I need you to be scared right now. I foundout there are private investigators looking for you, and they are in that club.I don’t have a ton of time to explain but the Dawson family runs aninvestigative firm, and they’ve been looking into your background. They know,Nicole.”
Her vision went slightly blurry, and she leaned against thelocker for support. “They know?”
Dawson. Harlow. Harlow had been introduced as Harlow Dawson.Josh’s friend knew, and she was going to tell him. She was going to tell himthe woman he’d fucked was wanted for killing the last man to do that.
She was going to be sick.
