“Show me what you’ve got,” she says with a smile when she takes my hand.
I lead us to the edge of the dance floor and then pull Lucy close. The rightness I feel with her small body pressed to mine, her arms around my neck, it makes me wish we had more time together.
And why can’t we?
“So you can dance. I’m impressed,” Lucy looks up at me and says.
“I don’t want to leave tonight,” I tell her as I lean closer to inhale her sweet floral and fruity scent. “What if we just stay here a few more nights?” I ask.
“Stay here in the hotel?” she repeats in surprise.
“Yeah, why not? It’s been nice being in our own little world in our room.”
“Okay, let’s stay a few more days,” Lucy agrees with a grin. Her shoulders even relax as if she’s relieved and wasn’t looking forward to going home either.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucy
* * *
Nash has had five whole days to tell me about the warrants and that he’s a suspect, but he hasn’t said a word about them.
Not that we’ve talked all that much about anything. There was that brief pause when I had to get dressed Sunday to go tell my parents goodbye… Still, he’s had plenty of chances during the past two days when we barely got out of bed. There was no television or news, no distraction, barely any meals. So why hasn’t he been honest with me?
I figure he at least has to come clean on the ride home, because everything is about to go to shit. This is the last chance he’s going to have, so it’s now or never.
And if it’s not now, after everything we’ve been through, all the sweet and sexy moments together at the hotel, then I’m done waiting around for him to trust me. All I want is for him to think I’m someone worthy of confiding in, all the good and the bad.
“Would you mind dropping me off at Malcolm’s when we get back?” Nash asks as I drive us down the highway and we get closer and closer to town. This has to be it!
“Why Malcolm’s place?”
Here’s your opening, your chance to tell me the truth. Finally.
“No reason other than my bike’s there,” he says, continuing to lie by omission. And yes, I know I’m the queen of lies by omission, but I thought we had moved past that. Nash said he forgave me, but did he really?
“Sure, I can take you to Malcolm’s,” I agree. “What other plans do you have once we’re back?” I ask while keeping my hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.
“Same old, you know?”
“Just the same old? Nothing else?” I want to shake this beautiful man until he breaks!
“Nope.”
“Are you sure about that?” I prod.
“Ah, yeah. What’s with the third degree?” Nash asks, and I can feel his gaze on me.
“Really, Nash? Even after everything, all the time we spent together naked this weekend, you’re not going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” he questions innocently.
That’s when I lose it.
“I don’t know, Nash. Maybe you could tell me why the sheriff deputies were searching your apartment last week and said you were a suspect in some serious freaking crimes?”
“You know about the search warrant?” he says, sounding shocked. “Wait. You’ve known all weekend?”
“Of course I know!” I exclaim. “You must think I’m stupid too, calling me up right before I left Thursday and suddenly begging to come with me to a wedding.”
“You knew I needed to get out of town to hide?” he repeats again.
“Yep.”
And his only response to that newsflash – “Fuck.”
Nash
* * *
Jesus fucking Christ! How could Lucy know about the warrant and not say anything or be freaking out? She must not know what crimes I’m a suspect for, because there’s no way she would’ve let me tag along with her out of state.
“So, what did you do?” she asks. When I don’t respond, she yells, her voice bigger than I expected from such a small package, “Answer me, Nash! I was your accomplice this weekend and your little slut for several days and nights, so the least you can do is finally tell me the truth about what’s going on!”
“You’re not a slut or my slut,” I assure her first and foremost.
“Whatever. You used me as an escape. I’m not stupid. You’re about to get arrested and spend a long time in prison, right? It makes sense that you would want to fuck as many times as possible before you get locked up.”
“You think that’s what this weekend with you was about?” I ask her. “I just wanted to be with you! That’s it. There was no ulterior motive.”
“I wasn’t a distraction from the wedding?” she asks me softly without taking her eyes off the road.
“No!” I exclaim. “Yes, you did distract me from that shit, but you also made me see that I already care about you more than I ever cared about the woman I married!”
“Now you’re just trying to get off topic,” Lucy mutters.
“That’s not what I’m doing. And I didn’t tell you about the warrant because I didn’t think you would want to be near me once you found out!”
“So you just decided you weren’t going to even try and trust me enough to be honest?”
“I haven’t exactly had the best of luck in the trust department, have I?” I remark.
“I’m not Ellie! I don’t expect you to be a freaking saint, Nash. All I want is for you to be honest with me and trust that I can handle whatever it is that’s going on in your life.”
“There’s no reason for me to put this on you, baby. It’s my mess, and I don’t want you to have any part in it.”
“That’s it then? I’m gonna drop you off at Malcolm’s tonight, and then we’ll go our separate ways?”
“I wish that wasn’t the only option, Lucy, I do,” I tell her. “Just trust me when I tell you that I’m going away for a long time, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. This weekend with you is probably the only thing that will get me through the hell I’m about to go through. It meant everything to me, but it’s over and done. You deserve better than this, better than what I can give you, and it won’t take you long to see that for yourself.”
“Fuck you, Nash!” she shouts at me when we come to a stop and I realize we’re already here, sitting in front of Malcolm and Naomi’s old farmhouse. “Get out of my car!”
Even though she’s angry and it will likely get me slapped, I still grab the sides of Lucy’s face and kiss her mouth hard. After a second of my lips working over hers, she finally opens up and lets me in, our tongues colliding like it’s the end of the world. In a way, it is the end for me.
I don’t want to end it, but eventually I make myself pull away and then tell her, “Forget about me. Find someone else to stalk. I was nothing but a waste of your time.”