Nyght's Eve (12 page)

Dare glanced away and stared down at his own
hands. They were clean now, but in his mind he saw them covered with blood.
Looking back up, Dare forced himself to say the words. “I killed someone,
Hammer. I killed him looking him in the eyes just like I’m doing with you right
now. I’m a fucking doctor. I’m supposed to save lives, not take them.”

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Hammer said
softly.

“He was the terrorist leader in Spain. I had
to stop him before he blew up another church filled with people. It was like
something out of a fucking nightmare, all the people dead or dying and there
was nothing I could do. No way to stop it...until that moment. Until I did stop
it.”

“You don’t have to explain your actions to
me, Nyght. Whatever you were forced to do, I know you had a good reason without
you having to tell me. No matter what, you are a good man. Nothing you tell me
is going to convince me otherwise.”

Dare closed his eyes for a moment,
overwhelmed by what Hammer’s acceptance of him made him feel. His chest grew
tight with barely restrained emotions. To know the faith his friend had in him
was staggering. And knowing that helped lift some of the weight that had been
on his shoulders since he’d pulled the trigger in Spain.

“You don’t know how much that means to me to
hear you say that,” Dare said in a low voice, rough with emotion.

“I mean it.” Hammer cleared his throat and
patted Dare’s bare shoulder. “It took me a long time to get my head right. Even
when I thought I had, things really changed for me when I met Kali.”

“She’s a good woman. Too damn good for you.”

Grinning, Hammer tapped the wooden bench with
his fist. “Oh, I know it. But now that I have her, I’m gonna make damn sure she
stays mine. It’s funny what loving the right woman can do for a man. She makes
me better.”

Dare raised a brow at that. “If you say she
completes you, I may just have to hit you.”

“Shut up. You know what I mean. She makes me
want to be a better man for her. Not because she demands it. For some damn
reason she loves me just as I am, but I want to be everything she needs, and
that is how loving her makes me better. So, going back to what I said about my
cousin—”

“Oh, no. I’m not looking for love—”

“Which is the perfect time for it to happen.
I have it on good authority.”

Dare’s eyes narrowed. “And what is this
authority?”

“The women, of course. Sometimes Kali and her
friends get together and I can’t escape, so I have to listen to them babble on
about all kinds of girly shit. According to them, people who aren’t looking for
love are the ones who find it. And happy people who are in love seem to attract
other happy people—”

“Oh my God!”

Hammer bellowed out a laugh. “I’m just
fucking with you now. Come on, get dressed so we can go eat. I’m starving.” He
paused with a smirk. “I would hug it out, but you’re in nothing but a towel and
that is much closer to your junk than I want to be.”

“You’re such a dick.”

“Yeah, love you, too.”

Chapter Seven

Evie glanced at the empty bottle of wine on
the table, then shook her head at her three friends who were sitting with her
in the living room of the her house. “Why is it every time you three come over
I end up with a hangover?”

“Because we’re fun,” Zoe Lang said with a
laugh. As a bartender, she was used to pouring drinks and she topped off their
glasses after opening a brand new bottle of wine.

Nikita leaned back on the couch and smiled as
she pet one of Evie’s dogs who was sprawled out over her lap. “I don’t get
hangovers.”

“Which is why we hate you.” Becca Nuria
glared at her twin sister, making them all laugh. She and Nikita had identical
facial features, but that was where the similarities stopped. Becca worked at
the bakery with Kali and lived in the apartment above Sinfully Sweet. She was
softer, more curvy than Nikita. Becca had a gentle nature, while her twin was
basically bad-ass. “I still don’t understand how you’re not affected by alcohol
the same way I am. It’s damn unfair.”

“Life is unfair,” Nikita replied with a shrug
as she sipped from her glass. “I’m glad the adoption went well today. I liked
that little mutt, and I’m glad you found him a good home.”

“The family that adopted Monster already loves
him. It’s so nice to see when an entire family bonds with a dog,” Evie agreed.
The mutt in question was a dog named Monster, who was one of the ugliest
looking dogs they’d ever had at the center. Despite his looks, he had one of
the sweetest dispositions and was caring and gentle. Evie and a few of the crew
had rescued him from below a highway overpass where he had been abandoned.

“Too bad Kali is missing out tonight since
she’s having dinner with Hammer and Dare. She’s gonna miss out on all the good
gossip. I wanna hear all about you and Dr. Hottie,” Zoe said as she rubbed a
foot on Lancelot who was sprawled on the floor near her feet.

Evie let out a groan. “Can we please stop
calling him that?”

“Yes! I want to hear all about this kiss. Was
it soft and dreamy or hot and steamy?” Becca asked, leaning forward. “What? I’m
not getting any so I need to live vicariously through you.”

“What you need to do is stop mooning over
some guy you’ve never even met and go out with a real man,” Nikita corrected.

“I am not mooning over anyone,” Becca
protested. Aggravated, she shot a glare at her twin. “For the last time, he’s
just a pen pal. You’re just irritated because I won’t tell you who he is.”

“Oh, leave Becca alone,” Zoe scolded. “Sorry
we don’t all have a hot, biker boyfriend like you do. How are you and Tiny
doing by the way?”

Nikita rolled her eyes. “His name is Tate,
and no, I’m not dating him anymore.”

“Aww, what happened?” Evie asked.

“He got...attached. I thought we were just
having fun, but then he started texting all the time and asking where I was. It
was annoying, so I ended it.” Nikita paused with an exaggerated sigh. “He
cried.”

The women all laughed. “Of course he did,”
Zoe said. “Girl, you are the only woman I know who can make a big, tattooed
hulk cry like a little girl.”

Nikita didn’t want to let her friends know
exactly how much her break up with Tate had really bothered her. Her friends
all thought of her as a player of sorts, and maybe she was. But the real reason
she dated so much was because she was looking for someone she really connected
with. And that person wasn’t Tate. Deciding it was time to turn the
conversation away from herself, Nikita asked, “Speaking of men crying, how is
the big bet going? I have to say, it’s been killing me to know and not be able
to tease Dante about it.”

“You can’t!” Zoe exclaimed, wine sloshing
over the rim of her glass as she jerked in her seat.

“Relax. You swore us to secrecy. I haven’t
said a word to Dante about it,” Nikita assured her. “But I have to ask, if he
goes through with the entire bet and doesn’t touch another woman for four
months, are you finally going to put him out of his misery?”

“He does seem to have it pretty bad for you,”
Becca agreed.

“Honestly, I think Dante is serious about
this,” Evie said softly. “But you need to really think about this, because once
he has you, I don’t think he’s ever going to let you go. He’s different with
you. I’m not excusing his past behavior, but I will say that he treats you
better than any other woman I’ve ever seen him with, besides his sister,
Danica.”

“Things are...complicated,” Zoe hedged. There
were things the other women didn’t know. Secrets she couldn’t tell them. Still,
the thought of being with Dante made her breathless with anticipation.

“I still don’t get why you’re torturing the
poor guy,” Nikita said. “You guys practically act like you’re married already.”

Evie laugh. “I know. It’s so cute to see the
way they interact with each other.”

Zoe held up her hands. “Okay, enough about
me. I want to know details about the big kiss. No more stalling, Evie.”

 
“He
is just so...annoying. First he tells me he’s not interested in a relationship
with me, then he kisses me silly. I just don’t get him,” Evie said, the
frustration she felt clear in her voice. Her dogs reacted to the sound and
their heads lifted. She smiled at them and rubbed gently on one of Galahad’s
ears.

“Do you think he’s playing with you?” Becca
asked, concerned.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Nikita said. “Dare
seems to be having a hard time transitioning back to real life. Lots of
soldiers go through that.”

Evie nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s like
I can almost feel his pain when I’m around him, and part of me just wants to
reach out and help, but another part is telling me to stay away. Far away. That
nothing good can come of this.”

Zoe waved her glass in the air. “That’s
because you like to over think things. Here’s the most important question. How
was the kiss, really? I mean how did you feel after?”

“You mean after I got my brain to start working
again? Jesus, the second he touched me it was like I just...melted.”

“Damn it. Now you’re just bragging,” Zoe
muttered.

Some of the tension left Evie’s body as she
laughed along with her friends. It was good to be able to discuss her concerns
with them, and have them help rationalize the...situation she found herself in
with Dare. “It’s obvious the sexual chemistry is there, but that doesn’t mean a
relationship between us would work.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try, though,”
Becca protested. “Why don’t you take things slow with him? Feel it out.”

Nikita chuckled. “I don’t think Dare is the
type of guy to take anything slow. Once he made up his mind he wanted you, I
think that was it.”

Evie raised a brow at that. “And I’m just
supposed to go along with that?”

“Now, Evie, don’t get mad. It’s just that
it’s so rare for you to really be interested in a guy, and we don’t want you to
give up on Dare just because he confuses you.”

“Ha! You’re one to talk,” Evie countered as
she wagged a finger at Zoe.

Zoe scowled. “I have two months to figure out
what the hell to do about Dante. Besides, I work for him and things could get messy
if things don’t work out between us.”

“Well, Dare is staying at the boarding house
and he’s been spending a lot of time at the center. That could get messy, too,”
Evie argued.

“Because he wants to spend time with you. I
think it’s sweet.”

Evie shot Becca a look. “It’s because he
wants to sleep with me.”

“Well, don’t you want to sleep with him,
too?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.”

Becca, Nikita and Zoe exchanged knowing
glances. “That means yes.”

“Yes, I’m attracted to him. I’ve talked to
Kali about Dare and even Hunter likes him, and you know Hunter doesn’t like
anyone. I just don’t want to get involved with him if nothing can come of it.
There’s something about him that intrigues me, but why spend more time with him
if it won’t go anywhere? I’m not looking for a fling. What happens if I fall
for him and he just leaves? He could really hurt me if I let myself care.”

“We just have to make him want to stay. Show
him he has a good home here,” Zoe said.

“Christ, he isn’t one of Evie’s dogs,” Nikita
muttered.

 
Becca
frowned. “You have a similar background to Dare, right? And you’re happy here
in Breakers. How long did it take you to start feeling normal again after you
stopped doing...whatever it was you were doing?”

“I’ll let you know when that happens,” Nikita
said, then gulped down the rest of her wine. She couldn’t take the looks of
sympathy the others cast her way, so she stood up.

“You’re not leaving are you?”

Nikita sighed. “No, but if we’re going to
continue this conversation I need more wine. A lot more wine. If we’re going to
open another bottle, I’m going to stash my bike in the garage.”

Evie looked at Nikita in exasperation. “Why
do you act like it’s some sort of big secret that we’re friends?”

“Because it is.” Nikita rolled her eyes.
“Listen, you’re…you. The nice girl that everyone loves. Me? I operate better in
the shadows. If people know we’re friends, then they’re gonna assume that it’s
safe to talk to me. You may like having people blather to you all the time, but
I don’t want it. I’d rather have them fear me, or avoid me. Actually, I’m good
with avoidance.”

“I find your logic strangely fascinating,”
Evie said with a laugh.

Nikita scowled. “Laugh it up, bitch. If
people find out and start calling me for play dates, I will kill you.” Nikita
turned back before she opened the front door. Ignoring Evie’s laughter, she
said, “Dare is the type of man who needs an objective...something to focus on.
Like you, he’s used to being busy. If you want him to stay here, give him a
task. Help him make a connection here and maybe he’ll stay. Come on, boys. I’ll
take you outside to pee while I’m up.”