Nick: Justice Series (7 page)

~~~

Addie moved slowly. She more than likely shouldn’t be up yet, but the nurse told her so long as she was careful, didn’t lift anything over a loaf of bread, and made sure she sat down a lot, she could get up. Just taking a shower had made her feel like she needed to return to bed, but she wanted to explore and made herself work through the exhaustion.

“Hello.” The woman standing next to a large butcher block table caused her to pause. She was the tiniest thing she’d ever seen. “I’m making bread and rolls for dinner. But I have you some breakfast here should you want it.”

“That’s fine. There’s no reason for you to stop what you’re doing.” But she did, pulling her hands from the soft-looking dough and wiping her hands off on a towel that hung from her apron. “I didn’t know people made homemade bread anymore.”

“I do when I’ve a problem to work through. Sit before you fall down.” Addie gladly took the seat. And before she could even begin to think that she should have gotten something to drink before sitting down, there was a large glass of orange juice in front of her and an empty cup. “We’ve no coffee in the house. Tea that’s as black as the night, and strong. Would you like a cup of it?”

“I would love a cup of tea. And some toast if you have some. I’m still feeling a little off.” The woman nodded. “I’m Addison West. But everyone…well, everyone used to call me Addie. I don’t know that many people any longer.”

“Izzy Manchester. My husband Jake is about somewhere. He said something about going to clean out the closet. I think he’s hiding from me.” The food that Izzy started to pull from the refrigerator was massive. She saw two dozen eggs, three pounds of bacon, and a platter of what looked to Addie like a ham. When she turned and looked at her, Izzy smiled. “The boys are coming soon. Most of them will have eaten a little something just to hold them over, but the rest will be starved. They left here last night to help out with a problem.”

“You mean ghosts.” She knew that she sounded skeptical, but she was having a hard time believing this thing. Izzy nodded, and Addie started to stand to help with breakfast when another tiny little woman came in and started buzzing around the room like she was on something.

“Steele just called me. They’re at the airport. You should have woke me up. Now I’m so far behind that I’ll never be able to—” Izzy put her hands on the woman. “I’m nervous. I go to the doctor today.”

“I can see that, Miss Kari. Why don’t you have a seat with Miss Addie here and we’ll get you both fed before the boys come in? And so you know, they told me that Nick is hurt. Fell or something when one of them tried to talk to him.” Addie stood up and started for the door when Izzy stopped her. “There’s nothing you can do for him right this minute. When he comes in, you just give him some pampering and he’ll be fine.”

“I’m not pampering him.” Her voice was high and her face heated up with it. “I’m not going to pamper him. I’m not sure what I feel about him, but we’re not in the pampering stage of…well, at anything right now.”

Plates of food were placed in front of her and Kari. Addie liked her, and wondered if she was a necromancer as well. When Aster came into the room with an elderly lady, Addie tried to ignore them, but Kari introduced them to her.

“My, but you’re very pretty, aren’t you?” Addie blushed hotly when Connie spoke to her. “You must look like your grandmother, because you don’t look a thing like your parents.”

“You know them?” Connie nodded and said that she’d known them for some time. “I’ve not been home in a long time. I’m assuming that I’m no longer welcome in their home. I was never what you’d call a very gracious child.”

Connie and Aster laughed, along with Kari. Aster put her hand on Kari’s belly and told her that she was doing fine. Addie felt slightly dizzy when she realized what she was seeing. Aster didn’t just put her hand on her belly, but had reached inside it. The next thing she knew, her head was between her knees and someone was shouting at her.

From the boots, she figured it was a male. From the sound of the voices, she could hear now that there were more than one, and that it was Aster and Nick arguing. When Addie tried to lift her head up, he shoved it back down, and that was when she got pissed. Putting her fingers into her mouth, she did something that she’d not done in years. She whistled like it was her job.

Lifting her head now, she looked around the room. Aster and Kari were smiling, Connie was staring at her with some sort of awed look on her face, and Izzy was covering her mouth with her towel and laughing too.

“Now. First things first, you push my head down like that again, and you’d better have a damned good reason.” Her face flushed hotly again when she realized what she’d said. Nick only cocked a brow at her, but she decided to ignore him for now. “Secondly, I’d like to know when I can leave here. There are, from what I’ve been told, several people looking for me, and I’d very much like to avoid having them find me here. There are…you guys are not a part of this and I don’t want you hurt.”

“Your grandmother is on her way.” She looked at the man standing there…Billy, she thought his name was. “She’s a mite more like you than I would have thought. Bossy little thing too. Should have heard her arguing with that hotel—”

Everyone looked at Nick when he said Billy’s name. “Just the highlights for now, okay?”

Billy nodded and smiled at her. Nick was looking at her like she was some sort of bug on a peg board. Addie gave her full attention to Billy and the others.

“She’s coming. Put her house on the market and gave your parents the boot too. Only reason I know all that is ‘cause I’m on the good side of Mr. Harrison, her lawyer. Well, he’s not her lawyer anymore, but his son is. Good man, he was. We’ve been hanging out together for a while now. And he’s the one that helped me clear up my will for—” Nick cleared his throat. “Dang it, man, I’m getting there. Can’t a man have a little side trip on occasion? Well, she’s on her way. You want more information, then you ask me, darling.”

“Why is she putting her house on the market? Wait, because of Joel being killed there. I’d say that’s a smart thing to do.” She smiled at Billy. “You have things to tell me, no matter how many side trips you need to take, I’ll listen to you. Now, tell me about why she’s giving my parents their walking papers.”

Steele burst out laughing and sat beside her at the big kitchen table. Another woman came in, and after she was introduced to Beth, mother of Aster and Steele, and the rest of the people in the kitchen, they were asked to move to the dining room. Steele sat on one side of her and Nick the other. She felt like she was being crowded, closed in, and turned to Steele.

“I need to leave.” He didn’t say anything but looked at Nick. “This is my decision, last time I looked. I’m well past the age of asking for permission for anything. Not that I did all that much anyway, but I’d like to leave here. You have my money, right?”

“I do. It’s in the safe. May I ask you why you were living in an abandoned house and barn when you had all that at your disposal?” She told him she was hiding. “I see. Did you know that he’s been looking for you, or had you only supposed he was?”

“He told me once that he’s not a man that gives up. I just…I had some contact with people who could give me information that I might need. Not Grandmother, though I wanted to contact her, but her lawyer. He told me…my parents made no bones about disowning me, and then Joel made it clear that he was going to get me back no matter what I had been up to. He made it sound as if I’d been out whooping it up with a dozen men instead of—” The growl behind her made her turn to Nick. “You have something to say to me? If so, use your words, not those animal sounds. I’m a person, not a dog.”

The feeling of being lifted up quickly made her dizzy again, and when she was pressed against a wall, Nick’s body keeping her there, she looked into his chocolate brown eyes and saw something she doubted anyone had ever seen before: Fear.

“He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.” He nodded, but still said nothing. “What do you want? Tell me, Nicholas.”

“I want to kiss you.” Nodding at him, she watched as he lowered his head to hers. The smallest of touches sent her heart beating wildly. “Then I want to take you to my bed and make love to you for hours. I’m not even sure that’s going to be long enough to have my fill of you for the moment.”

“We don’t even know each other all that well. You think this is moving kind of fast?” He brushed his mouth over hers again, this time longer and harder. “Okay, just this one time you can kiss me, but we need to talk about a few things before we end up in the bed together.”

“If you want.” His mouth touched hers again, but only lingered there without taking. “But I have news for you…you’re mine. Forever.”

Chapter 7

She tasted not of paradise but of something more. Her body fit against his like she’d been made for him, and Nick had a feeling that she had been. When he lifted her up by cupping her firm ass in his hands, she moaned against his mouth and curled her arms around his shoulders. Nick thought for sure that he’d just gone to another place, heaven.

Rocking into her, he knew on some level that this was wrong. Not what they were doing, but where they were. He kept telling himself that he’d have to let her go soon, to either move to another part of the house or stop what they were doing. But the moment that her naked breast filled his hand, he knew that he was screwed. Leaning his head to her pert nipple, he watched her face while he suckled at the morsel.

“We’re going to get caught.” He rocked into her again while making his way back to her mouth. “Nicholas, we have to be careful; this isn’t a good place to be doing this.”

“I can’t stop.” Her nod had him grinning. “What if I told you that I want to take you into the dining room, run them all out, and take you right there?”

“I’d say that they’d leave us, but the bed would be so much softer.” Nick lifted her body to his and started for the stairs. “Where are we going?”

“My bed.”

Her mouth was everywhere. Her teeth scraped against his skin so many times that he had to stop on the stairs just to catch his breath and to take off her blouse. As it fell from his fingers, he thought of what Izzy was going to say, but suddenly didn’t care. He needed Addie, right now.

He made it. Not in any kind of record time, but they were in his room. He was so glad that his bed was made and that someone had picked up his things. Laying her on the bed, her body still wrapped around his, he pulled her hips up to his as he moved them to the pillows.

“I have to taste you.” Addie curled her fingers in his hair and pulled him to her mouth. Christ, he wanted her in every way that he could have her. So long as he was touching her, he was going to be a very happy man. When she let him go, he moved down her body, unwrapping her for him by pulling her soft pants off. The wound at her side had bled a little, and he paused when he saw it.

“Please don’t stop now. I swear to you if you do, I’m going to hurt you.” He kissed her navel and then swirled his tongue in the small indentation. When she moaned again, he sucked hard on her flesh and then looked up at her as he sat up on his knees. “Please? Nicholas, please, I need you. I think I’ve always needed you.”

He pulled her pants off the rest of the way, lifting her legs up. Pulling his tee-shirt over his head, he dropped it alongside of her pants. When she sat up and put her hand on his ribs, he hissed through the pain. She asked him if he was all right.

“I am. I fell when one of our clients took me over. She wasn’t all that happy with us trying to expel her from her former home. She was…kind of pissed at me about something I’d said to her.” He didn’t want to talk about the job right now. He wanted to cherish the woman in front of him. “I’m going to eat you, Addie. Is that all right?”

He nearly came when she spread her legs for him. Her body was battered and bruised, but it was also the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. Running his hands from her ankles to her thighs, he flared his nostrils. He could smell her. Every scent of her seemed to call to him. Sliding his fingers into her heat, he felt how wet she was and knew that he had to have it. Leaning his head to her, Nick took his first taste of utopia.

Her juices ran down his chin, his fingers were flooded with them. Christ. He thought as he drank her down that he was never going to get his fill, that having her any other way wasn’t ever going to be a good as this. When she tightened her thighs around his head, he nearly stopped, but she screamed then and he could taste the difference in her immediately.

Riper, fuller tasting, she gave it all to him. Even as he felt his own cock filling, he knew that she was going to come again and when she did, he was going to fuck her. As soon as that thought entered his head, she screamed again. Her fingers curling into his hair held him to her as he sucked hard on her clit. Lifting his head from her when he could, he made his way up her body, unfastening his pants as he went. There was no way he was going to be able to slide into her without coming quickly.

“I’m so close.” She nodded and wrapped her hands around him as soon as he was free. He wanted to tell her to stop, he was going to come all over her if she didn’t, but her hands felt good on his body. They were hot and soft, strong and yet didn’t hurt him. When his balls tightened to his body, he knew that he was going to come on her and not in her and told her so.

“Fuck me.” He told her he wanted that too, and felt her pull him to her. “As soon as you’re in me, I’m coming too. Christ, I’ve never needed anyone inside of me like I do you.”

With his pants still around his hips, Nick slammed into her. She did come, screaming out his name as she dug her nails hard into his back. He bowed up over her, his cock so tightly in her sheath that he could hardly move. But it mattered little, as her body rippled around his, pulling and twisting his cock, he came with her, crying out her name even as he felt his cock and balls fill again to empty quickly. Filling her with his seed, all he could think about was that she was his. Forever, as he’d said before.

Her hands went limp off his back just as he dropped atop her. His body had never felt this good, this spent before. Rolling to his back, taking her with him, took more strength than he thought he had, but he smiled when she settled over him, his cock still buried inside of her.

They lay there for several minutes. He felt his ribs pull a few times when she moved, but he didn’t say anything. It was special having her with him, and he was going to do everything in his power to keep her there. When she lifted her head and looked down at him, he could see the worry there.

“You believe in ghosts.” He nodded, not sure where she was going with this. “I’m seeing them too. I know that the doctor said that I didn’t die that day, so why am I seeing them now?”

“We just made love, pretty fantastically I might add, and you’re questioning your ability to see ghosts?” He was kidding, but he could see that she was scared about it. “I don’t know, love. It might be because you were meant to, or maybe you have been able to all along and it’s just now coming out because we’re so open with it.”

“What if…what if Joel comes here and I don’t know it? What if I can only see the ones that live here?” He didn’t know what she meant by that and asked her. “I won’t let him hurt any of you. I know that he has…had this thing about marrying me, but I never loved him. I didn’t even like him.”

“Why did you run? Why not just tell him you didn’t want to marry him?” She moved off him, and he turned to his side. It was really painful, and his breath caught. When she rolled him back to his back and put her hands over him, he looked at her. “I think I might have broken a few ribs. I’m okay. I just took a hard tumble when she was pissed.”

“What happened?” He tried to shy away from her question, but she asked him again and again. Nick knew that she was still nervous about what he did, and he didn’t want to add to it. And he was sure that when he told her, it would.

“There was a haunting. We don’t normally go to these, but we were helping out with something next door when this man comes over and asks to speak to me and Steele. Steele is in charge, you see, and somehow this guy knew it. Anyway, we go to his house and there is so much anger in the house that we can feel it. The man explained to us that his wife of ten years had passed away about four years ago and he’d gotten remarried last week. He told us that was when it started.” Addie asked him what. “She wasn’t happy that he replaced her. And when she was angry, she could…some dead can move things. Others can speak to the living. Not like you and I are talking, but a whisper in their ear. Maybe a small nudge in another direction. Most of the time it’s harmless. Other times, like with this woman, it was violent. Hurtful to the new couple.”

“She made them do things that they wouldn’t normally do?” He nodded and tried to think how to tell her. “You can’t just leave it at that. What sort of things? Bad? Illegal?”

“No. She wanted the new wife to hurt her son. She’d been widowed before as well, and she had a little boy. Peggy, the ghost, was trying to get the mother to harm…kill the boy.” She asked him how that had gotten him hurt. “She entered me when I told her she was being a bad person and that she should be ashamed of herself.”

“Entered you how?” He stared at her, just waiting for her to get it. “You mean that her ghostly body entered yours and she took you over?”

“Yes. But it really doesn’t take me over. I can feel the temper, if there is one. The person’s words will come from them, but I speak them. I usually have complete control should I need it, but it wasn’t like that with this one. Angry ghosts are stronger than ones that simply walk around.” When she got up off the bed, he had a second to marvel at her luscious body. Then she pulled his shirt over her head, and he liked that as well. Taking the sheet and covering his own body, he stayed on the bed when she went to the window seat and looked at him. “Tell me what you’re thinking. I mean, whatever it is, it’s not as bad as you think it might be.”

“Can she…can any of them do this without your permission?” He shook his head, then nodded. “Well, that was very unhelpful. And the reason I ask is, in our shared dreams, I think that’s what your father is doing.”

“Stepfather…and how do you know?” She started to pace the room, and he had to put his hand over his cock. Christ, she was sexy like this. “Can you please sit down before you hurt me?”

Her look said she was confused. Nick lifted his hand from his straining cock, and she grinned at him. Nick wanted to beg her to come back to him, but she sat in the chair now and he moaned.

“We’ll play in a bit. Okay, the reason I think your stepfather is taking you over is because your eyes are brown. His aren’t. I’m betting that they were blue. Right?” He nodded. “So are yours when he takes you. I would bet that anyone that enters you, that’s what you can see…their eyes, not yours.” Nick lay there for a second before he leapt from the bed. He had to know. It was a conversation that he and Steele had had on the way home…how one would know if they were possessed. As he pulled on his jeans, he looked at Addie.

“Dress. We have to figure this out. You might have just saved us a world of hurt.” He pulled a clean shirt over his head and winced at the pain. “We had no idea that she’d taken me until I fell. It was as if I was in a trance when I tried to kill her husband. Now we can figure it out. Christ, we should have…are you coming with me?”

Nodding, she stood up and pulled on her pants he’d taken off her. He wanted to have her things moved in with him, but he didn’t want to do things too fast and upset her. As soon as she stood up, Nick pulled her to him and kissed her. The thought of going back to the bed and making love to her again was profound. Instead, he took her hand and led her out of the bedroom. This was great news if she was right.

And she was right. Steele was thrilled not just to have had this figured out, but he said he was glad the two of them had worked things out. Nick was so happy that they had, he took Addie back up to his room and thanked her several more times, taking her against or on any hard surface he could find. And sometimes they even made it to the bed.

~~~

Joel hated this. Not the being dead part, just not being able to make any money. He was still sitting at a table in a café when the paper he’d been reading was suddenly snatched away. Before he could yell at the woman to put it back, three other people came to stand beside him.

He still had no idea how to figure out who was dead and who wasn’t. He supposed that there was a trick to it, but so far he’d not been able to pick up on it right away. Usually when Dane would start talking to them with him he’d know, but not before then. Not for the first time he thought of the book he’d left behind. It would have helped him a great deal, he was sure.

He’d also been thinking of a lot of other things. Not just his life, but the lives of the others around him. Addison for one. And then there was his mother. He wondered if she missed him, or even thought of him. Joel thought—

“Ben here says that the old broad is on the move. Got herself a For Sale sign in the front yard with a big tab thing that says sold. Told me that it was on the market for only a few hours before they came out and put the sold thing on it. She’s one rich fuck, did you know that?” He told him he did. “Well, she’s traveling here in Ohio. Any idea why she’d do that?”

“I don’t, not really. Do you suppose she has another house somewhere? And what of her daughter? Did you find out anything about that?” Dane nodded and smiled. It was his “you’re gonna love this” smile, not the one that scared him. “What is it?”

“The big shit lawyer was there when my buddy Taco was there. He said that he served them. Not sure what that meant right away, so I had me a little look-see myself. Damned if the old broad didn’t own that house too. And she’s kicking their asses out of the house, along with the staff.” Joel knew that she owned the house, but had also thought that she’d willed it to them so that they’d have it when she died. Apparently not. “There was some major yelling going on too. Mostly it was the woman, but she calmed down some when the lawyer left. Seems that the mister thought that the old broad had gone off the deep end, and his wife thought for sure that it was all because of their daughter. I’m assuming they mean your wifey to be.”