I squeezed her hand and followed her into the kitchen where everyone was. When we entered the room, the talking died down as all eyes came to us.
“Carla. Havoc.” Carla’s mother gave us both a smile and motioned for us to sit with them. Nash’s eyes met mine and I jerked my chin, but the only response I received was his continuing glare.
“Nash,” Carla said in a low voice and I figured that was her warning to him. He simply threw a glare her way also.
I greeted Linda who then introduced Nash’s girlfriend, Velvet.
And then we attempted to play happy fucking families.
* * *
“Did you contact that young man who came over looking for you?” Linda asked Carla as she served dinner. She’d cooked roast beef and vegetables and it looked like it might be the highlight of my day. The other highlight was the fact that Carla’s mother was easy to get along with.
“Yes!” Carla exclaimed and I took in her excitement. We hadn’t had much time to talk during the day so I had no clue what this was about. “He offered me a job.”
“Doing what, darlin’?” I asked.
“Jack and I attended the same college and he loves the designs I did for various projects. He wants me to come on board as a designer in a new company he’s building. It’s an online business. He’s ready to go now so I’ll start working on designs tomorrow. The best thing is that I can work from home.”
“That’s great, Carla,” Velvet said, throwing her a smile. Nash’s woman had impressed me so far. She’d welcomed me without any bitching and had tried to pull Nash into line when he’d started to grumble some shit at me.
“What about your studies?” Nash asked.
Carla’s smile seeped from her face. “I’m going to do that subject again next semester, but I’m not looking forward to it because I’ll probably have the same teacher.”
My skin crawled with anger at the mention of that asshole. I’d asked her for his information a few times and she’d fobbed me off and told me Nash would help her. I was sure she hadn’t given the info to Nash either, though. “If you get that same teacher, he and I will be having words.”
“I’m with Havoc on that,” Nash said, surprising the fuck out of me. “And while we’re on that subject, you need to be giving me his name regardless. I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”
The smile returned to Carla’s face. “Wow, something you guys have in common. Who would have thought, huh, Nash?”
He scowled but didn’t respond.
“Right, eat up before it goes cold,” Linda instructed as I made a mental note to force that information from Carla.
Linda was a hell of a cook. The roast was one of the best I’d ever had and that was saying something because my mother had been a great cook.
My enjoyment of her food was cut short when a loud bang sounded from outside, as if there was someone in the yard.
Nash and I pushed our chairs back and stood in unison. I ignored the glare he gave me and followed him outside through the back door.
“Stay there and don’t come outside,” he ordered the girls over his shoulder.
There was no light in the back yard but plenty of noise. “Definitely someone out here,” I said.
“I’ve got this, Havoc. You can go back inside and keep an eye on the girls.”
“Don’t be a dick, Nash,” I muttered, tired of his carry on.
He abruptly stopped and I almost ran into him as he turned to face me. “I don’t know what the fuck you thought you were doing coming here tonight. And this”—he swung his arms out to the side to indi
cate he was talking about our search—“I sure as shit can look out for my women on my own. Been doing it my whole life and I’m gonna continue to do it. Especially when you screw my sister over.” He thumped his hand on his chest. “I’m the one who’s always there to pick up the fuckin’ pieces for her. And I’m warning you now, you fuck her up and I’ll fuck you up.”
I couldn’t be angry with him when I’d be saying the exact same thing if it were my sister. “If I fuck her up, come at me. Because I’ll deserve everything you do to me. Carla means something to me, Nash, and I’m gonna work hard not to screw that up.”
“She means something to you? She should mean the fuckin’ world to you, and if you can’t see that happening in the near future, you need to get the hell out of this relationship before it even gets off the ground.” His unhappiness rolled off him, even in the dark.
“I can see it happening.”