Slow Burn - a Novel: The Elite (13 page)

I contained an eye roll. “Right. Cause Nick has obviously been the one instigating.”

She smirked. “He was last night.”

“What?” An explosion of panic ripped through my stomach and I was glad I wasn’t holding my coffee mug. It would have dropped from my hand and shattered on the kitchen floor. “What are you talking about? Last night?”

Alesha grinned more deeply. “When I got here last night, he was awake on the couch. I think I scared him, coming in like I did…”

“What do you mean?” I asked, too quickly.

Alesha shrugged. “I was a little tipsy and he sprang at the door and ripped it open while I was messing with my keys. Anyways, he told me that I owed you an apology—”

“Good advice,” I muttered, a sinking feeling still heavy in my chest, but grateful for his attempt to repair the situation.

“I don’t know why he didn’t tell me about what happened at the cafe. I guess we got off track…”

“Alesha, for fuck’s sake, just tell me what the hell you’re talking about!”

“We messed around on the couch.”

My stomach turned inside out. Thankfully I hadn’t had time to eat so there was nothing to toss out onto the floor. Instead, I stood there, paralyzed, my eyes bugging out at her as she smirked to herself at the memory of her illicit night.

“That can never happen again,” I said, the rasp in my voice startling Alesha from her dreamy, far off stare. “Never. Again. Do you understand?”

She rolled her eyes, but after taking another look into my eyes, she backed down and nodded her consent.

“I’m going to the shop.” I couldn’t stand still anymore. I needed to move, to breathe, to get out of the fucking house that felt like it was ready to collapse on top of me right there at the coffee pot.

“Are you sure? You seem…off…”

“I’m fine.” I turned in a jerking sweep, dumping the coffee from my mug and clanging it down with too much force.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

Although my back was to her, I shook my head. “No. Not today. I need some space.”

“Okay…” a hint of apprehension tinged her voice, but before I turned back around, I heard her footsteps scamper back up the stairs, obviously eager to get in another hour of sleep.

A warning rang in the back of my mind, reminding me that this was the part where I needed to tell her that she wasn’t to leave the house, that she needed to be to the shop by noon for the lunch rush, or that she was grounded for the rest of the summer. But nothing came out.

None of it mattered anymore.

All of my anger had been redirected like a channel of water. And that force was all ready to slam into a devastatingly handsome man with thick auburn hair, a mysterious smile, and warm honey eyes.

I was going to fucking destroy him.

* * * *

The espresso machine had barely finished going through it’s warm up cycle, when a gentle tap sounded on the glass door. I looked up from the tray of scones I was arranging and scowled at Nick’s cheery face staring back at me. I dropped the tray, straightened, and dusted my hands on the front of my apron. With clipped, marching strides, I stalked to the front door, flipped the lock, and swung it open. “We’re not open yet,” I growling, thumbing at the vinyl lettering on the glass labeling the business hours. “You’ll have to come back later. Or not.”

Without waiting for him to gather a reply, I pulled the door closed with a loud slam, flipped the lock, and made my way back to the counter, ignoring his knocking.

After a little while, he called my name, but I didn’t look up or acknowledge it.

I was done with Nick. And the sooner he knew it the better.

He should just be glad I wasn’t kicking his balls in.

“Carly? What the hell?” He was at the side window now, tapping on the glass, trying to get my attention. I considered my options. Within a few minutes, my first wave of customers—the early birds—would be assembling outside. There was enough gossip in this town without a major scene to fuel it along. Up until this point, I’d been fortunate enough to fly under the radar. I didn’t relish the idea of an entire town full of bored retirees and housewives making me their front page, hot item news for the next month or two.

I planted my fists on my hips as I spun to face him. “Go away!” I bellowed back, knowing there was no way he wouldn’t hear me.

He reeled back and his expression registered several layers of shock. “What the hell did I do?”

“I talked to Alesha! Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? Leave, or I’m calling the cops!”

Nick opened his mouth, ready to argue, but after a sweeping glance at me, he closed it again. I figured my eyes probably were blazing enough that they could have cut through the glass like some kind of super spy gadget. Another half a minute passed, our eyes locked together from our opposite positions behind the glass.

A soft chirp called to me over my shoulder, a reminder set to go off each morning to open the front door. Often times I got so wrapped up in baking or writing down a new recipe idea that I got lost and forgot to go unlock the door and would be reminded by my customers knocking. My early bird clientele was a lively group of seniors who would go on for days if the shop was locked when they arrived.

It was easier to set an alarm than to be reminded about my mistake for a week.

I backed down from my standoff with Nick, flipped the alarm off, and went to the door to unlock it.

When I turned back, Nick was gone.

I breathed out a sigh and pushed back my hair. “Good riddance,” I told myself, wishing it didn’t have to be that way—but I wasn’t going to put up with a grown man trying to get to my sister. “Fuckwad.”

* * * *

The morning carried on like normal—other than the fact that Nick wasn’t there like he had been every other morning since arriving in town—and in the hour before the lunch rush, a different familiar face came to visit.

“Good morning, gorgeous.”

I glanced up at Aaron’s arrival and gave him my best smile, hoping it didn’t look as forced as it felt.

He arched a brow as he strode over to the counter. “Damn, Nick was right…”

I bristled at the mention of Nick. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re surly today.”

My hands balled tight. Very few people could get away with calling my surly.

Fortunately for Aaron, he was one of them.

“I’m not.”

He leaned against the case and stared down at me with a disarming look that was a blend between concern and amusement. “What’s up, buttercup?”

“Nothing…” I growled.

“All right, all right,” he conceded, holding up his hands. “Listen, seriously though, Carly, I heard about last night. Are you okay?”

I nodded, the grumpiness fading slightly. “Yeah. It shook me up, but I’m okay now.”

“I wish I’d been here. If I had been, even Gemma wouldn’t have been able to stitch that asshole back together again.”

I couldn’t help but smile softly. “Thanks, Aaron.”

“So, come on, tell me what’s wrong. Nick told me you wouldn’t even let him in the shop this morning. That doesn’t sound like you…”

I blew out a sigh, my side swept strands of hair billowing away from my face. “He crossed a line with Alesha. Or, at least she
says
he did. I don’t know what to think yet, but right now, I need him to stay away from me until I figure it out.”

“Are you serious?”

I nodded. “I know she’s not exactly a reliable source of information, but I’d hate to think she’d lie about something like that.”

“He forced himself?” Aaron hissed, his hands clenching into tight fists on top of the bakery case.

“No, no, no.” I shook my head frantically. God, if I wasn’t careful, I was going to be giving Nick a death sentence. “Alesha’s been flirting with him since he stepped into town. If anything,
he
was the coerced.”

Aaron didn’t look comforted. His face remained contorted with twisted rage.

I sighed. “I’ll figure it out. I just didn’t want to deal with it this morning.”

The bell tinkled at the front of the shop as a new customer entered. I smiled and called out a friendly “good morning” before turning my attention back to Aaron. “Your usual?”

He shook his head. “No. I gotta go take care of something…”

“Aaron!” I called after him as he stormed away, but it was too late. He was gone in an angry flash, his jaw set, eyes blazing.

What have I done?

Nick

“Adams, my office. Now!”

Aaron’s roar echoed through the hangar, shocking me into dropping the bit I’d been fussing with. What the fuckin’ hell? First Carly, now this?

Should have stayed in bed.

Or rather, on Carly’s couch.

I pushed off the floor and went after Aaron. A second later, I was in his office, staring into his nearly black eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Aaron crossed his arms. “I’m only going to ask you once. You bullshit me and your ass is out of a job. Got it?”

I nodded.

“Did you fuck around with Alesha, Carly’s sister?”

A laugh that bordered on hysterical escaped my lips. “What? No. That’s insane!”

Aaron didn’t budge.

“Rosen, come on. You know me. At least well enough to know I’m not out chasing jailbait to get my rocks off.”

“Actually, I don’t know you that well. You just got here, remember?”

“Fine. Then you’re just gonna have to trust me. Teenage girls annoy the shit out of me. I don’t want to hang out with them, and I certainly don’t want to bang them. The only woman I’m interested in is Carly.”

He continued to eye me as though there were a bare bulb swinging above my head in some top secret interrogation office.

“Rosen, I swear. Whatever her little sister is saying, it isn’t true.”

Although, it did explain why Carly had turned ice princess on me, mere hours after she’d spilled her darkest secrets to me.

“All right,” he said, finally dropping his mask. “But, Nick, you need to know Carly is like
my
little sister. If you break her heart, I’m fully prepared to break your kneecaps, arms, and then your neck. In that order. Got it?”

“Loud and clear.”

Aaron’s threat didn’t surprise me. In fact, I’d been expecting it for a while. After my initial assumptions about the two of them had worn off, I’d begun to see their brother/sister dynamic, and had figured at some point, as I got closer to Carly, he’d deliver the protective big brother speech.

“All right. Well, you’ve got some major damage control to do if you ever have a shot at getting with her…” he added.

I shook my head. “She really thinks I fucked around with her sister?”

Aaron softened. “She doesn’t know. She’s confused. But that’s what Alesha told her. That last night she came in drunk and the two of you messed around on the couch.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

I raked my hands through my hair, forgetting the grease coating my knuckles from the last two hours spent on the F-4. “I gotta go talk to her.”

Aaron clasped my shoulder and walked me out of his office. “Give her some space, man. She needs a little time. Besides, we got a shit ton of work to do.”

I hated to leave it alone for even another minute, but I respected Aaron too much to go against his advice. We went to the hangar and got back to work, side by side, as though he hadn’t just been about to plow a fist through my face minutes before.

The immediate crisis gone, I had to figure out how in the world I was going to make it up to Carly.

* * * *

The Siren
was already closed by the time I was able to wrap up my day at the museum and get down to the beach. As I pulled into the abandoned lot, I saw the lights were still on and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” I sighed, pushing out of my truck.

Carly was behind the counter, staring down at something on the counter, a distracted look on her face. I stood at the door for a moment. Watching her. Wanting her. She was buried so deep in my veins and I knew the small taste I had wasn’t nearly enough. I wanted to unearth all of who she was. The night before, she’d trusted me enough to let me in deeper than anyone else, at least that she’d been willing to tell me about. And yet, there was something about her that was still shrouded in mystery. There was more to be discovered.

But now, her trust in me was broken. And even if I could convince her of the truth, she was bound to put the walls back up that I’d need to scale again.

I was willing to put in the work. She was worth it.

When I tapped on the door, she bolted upright, a flash of fear on her face.

Shit. I hadn’t stopped to think that she might still be shaken after everything that had happened the night before.

When she figured out it was me standing under the antique lantern on the side of the building, and not some bush dwelling creeper, the fear drained away and a hard look set her mouth in a firm line. Her eyes narrowed at me and my heart pounded at the scrutiny on her face. I could just about read her thoughts.

None of them pleasant.

“Carly, please?”

She looked at me for a moment, then with a dramatic sigh, rounded the counter and came to the front door and flipped the lock to let me inside. “What do you want?” she demanded, storming back to her safe haven behind the counter.

“I want to talk to you. Seems there are a few things we need to get cleared up.”

“I should have known…” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, Aaron told me what you think happened. What Alesha claimed happened.”

She flicked her eyes to mine. Waiting.

“I didn’t touch your sister.” I hated that I even saw a shadow of a question in her eyes. How could she possibly not see that it was her that I was interested in?

After she held my gaze for another half a heartbeat, she dropped the stare down. “I know. Or, at least, I figured.”

“What? Then why—”

“Because, Nick! What else was I supposed to think? Alesha’s been throwing herself at you since the moment she saw you. She’s not in the right state of mind right now! It was late. She was drunk. I don’t know…”

Anger built up inside me. I wasn’t used to my character being called into question. Especially not by someone like Carly. She should know better. She should know
me
better.