Her eyes lit up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how you find them, Nix, but the boss says this one’s got to go down. Taser’s got a real woody about this one.” Nicki laughed at that. Taser was their leader, and the closest thing to a legitimate psychic she’d ever seen. It was he who examined potential Chameleons, got inside their heads and decided which way they’d go. He had yet to be wrong about a single candidate.
A vision of Sean filled her mind’s eye, but she pushed it into a neat little box in the back of her brain and locked it away. That was over, effective immediately. Later, when she had nothing but time and space and solitude, she’d take out the key and page through the memories and try to make sense of it all, but she couldn’t afford the distraction right now.
“Great. Now help me nail this bastard and get me the fuck out of this town before I start getting all sentimental.”
Brooke’s grinned in obvious relief. “Get in the car, be-yatch.” Somehow he made it sound like a long-suffering term of endearment.
“Ah, now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings,” she said, faking a pout. “Sticks and stones, baby. And there’s no way I’m letting one of you guys straddle my ride.” She strutted over to her bike and climbed on. “Just try and keep up, will ya?”
Chapter Fifteen
Sean was already coming out of it by the time Shane arrived with Nick. It took both of them to get Sean into a sitting position on the couch. Shane called Michael immediately. After relaying what Sean was able to tell him, Michael confirmed that the best thing they could do was pump Sean full of water and other liquids to dilute the effect of the paralytic and suggested they bring him up to the farm immediately to make sure there were no other ill effects.
Nick was so quiet they nearly forgot he was there. He hovered in the background, watching and listening in disbelief.
“Nicki did this to you?” he finally asked, his expression unreadable. “Why would she do that?’
“Because,” Sean said, the words coming out a bit slurred as he regained control of his jaw, “she knew I wouldn’t let her go.”
Nick’s eyes widened a little. “She’s gone?”
Sean nodded. Nick felt as though something heavy slammed into his chest. Part of him wasn’t surprised, but another part - the one that he thought had been crushed into non-existence a long time ago, screamed in protest. She had promised him she wouldn’t leave without saying good-bye. Nicki had promised.
“But why?”
“I was hoping you could tell us.”
Nick shook his head as the hurt that came from learning of Nicki’s sudden and unexpected departure began to sink in, the disbelief and feeling of betrayal fading – or at least being buried, back under that massive load of shit where it had resided for so long, at least until Nicki came back and it slithered to the surface.
He shouldn’t be surprised, not really. Their mother was dead. He’d left Nicki to deal with that shit all alone, choosing instead to go out and get himself wasted. He’d failed her in so many ways. How could she not want to bolt?
Despite the family issues, though, Nick thought that she and Sean had something going on. Sure, finding Nicki in Sean’s apartment earlier had made him all kinds of crazy, but that was probably more the drugs talking than anything. It hadn’t really been a shock. It would have been impossible to miss the way they’d looked at each other over the past couple of weeks. And, when his brain engaged enough to think things through, he realized that Sean Callaghan was probably the best thing that could have happened to Nicki.
Because of Sean, Nicki was no longer working at Angels. He’d given her a job doing what she loved, even though it had to be a pain in the ass for him with the special hours and all. He’d taken her over to Birch Falls and introduced her to Kyle McCullough; Nicki’s eyes had glowed for a week after that. Sean was strong, solid, and protective of her. And he’d been there for her when Nick hadn’t.
Looking at it now, seeing the tormented look in Sean’s face, Nick could not help but think that maybe there was even a lot more to it than he realized. “It was more than a one night thing for you.”
Sean met his eyes. “Yeah.”
Holy shit. The guy’s eyes were like lasers. And they said a lot more than the single word response did. “You’re in love with her.”
“Yeah.” There was no hesitation, no thinking. Sean never even blinked.
“But she laid you out, man.” Icy flames flared to life in Sean’s eyes, but Shane actually laughed. “That’s like foreplay to him. The only thing she’s done is made herself irresistible.”
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