Second Lies (The Second Life Series) (17 page)

“Nicholas!” He rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around Nick, holding tight.  His heart warmed, and for the first time since I met him, Nick appeared to let his guard down. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Dad,” after another moment, Nick reluctantly pulled out of his hold.  He grasped my shoulder. “This is my girlfriend, Angela.  She’s the girl I told you about.”

Nick’s dad looked me over.  I gulped.  It was so hard to read him.  His expression left me wondering what he was thinking, “So you’re the girl who stole my son’s heart?”

“I hope so, or your son’s been keeping another woman from me,” I joked.

There was a bit of a pause before Nick’s dad laughed.  He planted a kiss on my cheek and said, “No wonder you won’t leave Boston.  I like her, Nicholas.  She’s a very beautiful girl.  You did good with this one, son.  Don’t mess this up.”

“Thank you, Dr. Ward.” I clenched on to Nick’s hand, completely thrilled that his dad took a liking to me.

“Angela, you’re practically my family now.  My son doesn’t just bring any girl around us.  I expect that you mean a lot to him,” his dad gestured to the table, and we each took a seat. “Call me Tom.  I’m not in a hospital.  There’s no need for calling me Dr. Ward here.” He shot a look at Nick. “Perhaps, one day there will be a ring on your finger, and you can start calling me ‘dad,’ but I can be patient.”

“One step at a time,” Nick fidgeted in his seat and put his hand to the small of my back. “Where’s Adriana at?  I heard she’s coming to dinner with some guy.”

“She should be on her way,” Tom grabbed his glass of scotch and slung some back. “Nicky, be nice to this guy.  She says it’s serious.  I don’t want you scaring him away.  You know I worry about your sister being alone in Philadelphia.  She doesn’t have family looking after her.  She needs someone to watch over her.”

The door opened and a waiter appeared, asking Nick and me what we wanted to drink.  I chose rum and coke while Nick chose to follow in his father’s footsteps by ordering a scotch as well.

Nick pressed on, “We’ll see what kind of d-bag walks through the door.  She’s never exactly had the best taste.”

Just as the words escaped Nick’s mouth, the door pushed open again and a remarkably, sexy man entered the room.  His hair was dark and his skin was tan, but his eyes were a prominent and stunning green.

He guided Adriana into the room who was dressed in a lilac colored flowy gown that exposed her ample cleavage and endless legs.  She was wearing chunky jewelry around her neck and wrist, looking more like a diva than the down-to-earth girl I met in Boston.  My cheeks blushed as I turned my gaze back to Tom, mortified for him.   If I ever appeared in a room with my father and I was dressed like that, he’d drag me out on my ass and force me to change, but Tom didn’t seem to be phased by his daughter’s appearance.  Maybe this is how she always dressed?

“Baby, I’m glad you could come,” Tom stood and kissed his daughter’s cheeks.  She clung to his neck like a child. “And who is this you brought with you?”

“This is my boyfriend, Wes Holden.  He’s the one I’ve been telling you about,” she blushed and squeezed Wes’s hand, smiling wide.  Her eyes lit up with adoration.  It was clear.  This girl was in love.

While they greeted each other, Nick sneered in my ear, “Are you seeing this shit?  This guy’s
gotta be ten years older than her.  What the fuck’s up here?”

“Be polite,” I whispered back.  I pecked his cheek. “Remember, this is for your dad.  We’re guests here.”

The attention turned to us.  Adriana gestured, and we both stood. “Wes, this is my brother, Nick, and his girlfriend, Angela.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said with an obvious blush that no one else seemed to pick up on.  They were all distracted for their own, individual reasons.

Wes walked around to our side of the table and pulled me into a brief hug.  I could feel the hardness of his muscles, and the scent of spices drove me crazy.  Luckily, Nick was too consumed with the protectiveness of his sister to notice me checking out the stunning man. “It’s nice to meet you, Angela.”

He turned to Nick and offered his hand, “Hey, it’s great to meet you.  Adriana’s told me all about you.”

Nick didn’t move.  He looked back and forth between Wes and his sister.  He laughed, looked away, and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “This might be a little bit rude, but do you mind telling me how old you are, buddy?”

My senses immediately spiked, and I became tense.  I knew that tone of voice.  Nick was defensive, which was a position he only held for a short amount of time.  His calm would be short-lived before his rage took over, the offensive.  It always did.

Adriana cleared her throat for attention and glared in Nick’s direction. “We’re here for dinner, Nick.  There’s no need to be snotty towards my boyfriend.”

“I’m not being snotty,” Nick gritted his teeth together and started cracking his knuckles, a subconscious warning sign. “I’m just asking a question, a perfectly, normal question that I’m sure everyone else in the room is wondering.”

Adriana opened her mouth again like she was going to protest, but Wes shook his head towards her. “No, it’s fine.  Your brother and father have a right to know.  I’m thirty.  Isabel introduced us.”

“I don’t give a fuck who introduced you.  Are you aware that my sister’s only
nineteen
?  Aren’t you a little old to be picking up girls near the monkey bars?”

I remained quiet, watching in complete shock as the scene played out in front of me.  Nick was horrible at hiding his anger, let alone overcoming it.  He’d gotten in more fights than I could count.  The vein in his neck started to pulsate, and I knew there was no going back.  Nick was officially pissed about this.  He was going to fight.

“Your mom happened to think I was good enough for your sister.  If I was a bad guy, I’m sure she wouldn’t have set us up,” Wes remained cool and calm.  If he was picking up on the boiling rage fuming from his future opponent, he gave no hint towards it.

“I don’t exactly think my mom’s the ideal person to be making positive choices for her children.  We
are
talking about an alcoholic who walked out on her kids seven years ago,” Nick clenched his fists.  I bit my lip.  This couldn’t be happening. “Maybe you should stop worrying about getting your cock wet tonight and realize this is a family dinner.  I don’t need to sit across from someone who wants to turn my sister into a subordinate, play thing while I’m trying to enjoy a steak with my father.”

“Isabel’s a changed person, but I wouldn’t expect you to know that since I’m sure you don’t even remember the last time you saw her…Or maybe you do?” Wes glared at Nick maliciously. “Now, I’m sure this whole outburst is just an
accident
that you’ll need to
cover up
for the rest of the evening.” For a split second, Nick looked surprised by Wes’s words, although I wasn’t sure what they meant.  He gulped, taken back, stunned into silence.

“Enough!” Tom shouted.
“Nick, calm down!  For once, I’d like to have a pleasant dinner with both of my kids without any drama.”

Adriana remained across the room, red with fury.  She shook her head and snapped, “I’m pregnant, Nick!  He’s the father of my child, so cut the bullshit because he’ll be part of my life forever now!  I’m not some
subordinate
.  We’re in love!”

“
What
?” Tom stalked across the room, glaring down at his daughter.  As if brought back into reality, she met her father’s darkened eyes with fear.  Hell, I couldn’t blame her.  I wasn’t the pregnant daughter, and yet, I was terrified by the look that he gave her. “What did you just say, Adriana?”

“I-I’m pregnant, Daddy…about three months now.” Her voice trembled as she spoke.  Wes blanched, clearly unprepared to have this conversation at the moment.

“You’re pregnant?” Nick cried.  Terrified, she nodded her head in response.  Nick turned back to Wes and spat. “You got my sister pregnant?!”

Before Wes could react, Nick punched him, crushing his nose, making him stumble back onto his knee.  Blood poured from his face and stained Nick’s knuckles, dripping to the floor beneath him.  I leapt and pulled Nick back.  Adriana screamed.  Tom ran to help split them up to prevent a second attack.

“I’m out of here,” Nick stormed out of the room into the restaurant, throwing a chair out of his way and leaving me stranded with his family.

Wes stood to his feet and grabbed a napkin to wipe away the blood.  Adriana came to his side, wrapping her arm around one shoulder and placing a hand protectively to her stomach.  Tom remained in shock, staring at his pregnant daughter and the father of her child with bewilderment.

I gulped, “I’m going to go check on Nick.  This is a private, family moment.”

I didn’t wait for anyone to say anything to me.  I practically ran out of the restaurant to the elevator.  My nerves pricked as my foot tapped relentlessly against the floor.  Something, other than the obvious, didn’t feel right.  The elevator chimed, and the door opened to our
floor.  I pulled the card key out of my clutch and slipped it in the slot.  Soundlessly, the door opened, and I took two steps inside, ready to figure this thing out.

“What the fuck do you think you’re up to?” I heard Nick growl from the other room.  When I opened my mouth to respond, he said. “No, we had a deal.  How does this asshole know about last year?”

I removed my heels so I was barefoot and continued noiselessly into the suite.  Nick still didn’t realize I had let myself in.

“He didn’t have to say anything straight out, but I think some fucker who carefully points out the words
accident
and
cover up
to me knows something,” he growled.

I froze in my steps on the other side of the wall that Nick was standing.  He was in the bedroom on the phone with someone.  His voice continued to rise as he screamed, “Fix this, Darth.  I’m sure you don’t want your wife’s son blabbering to the press about a dead man and a cover up.  That wouldn’t be good for you.  Now would it?” There was a pause. “Yeah, it wouldn’t be good for me either, but I’m willing to take the hit if you can’t learn how to keep your mother fucking mouth shut about something this big.”
Another pause. “Well, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Nick clicked off the phone and cursed.  I slumped to the floor, bracing myself against the wall.  My forehead broke out into a cold sweat.  My heart pounded in my chest. 
Dead man?  Cover up? 
What the hell was Nick caught up in?
 
Whatever it was, this guy, Wes, clearly knew about everything.  He knew everything while I remained in the dark, possibly sharing a bed with a killer.  The thought made me nauseous.

The bedroom door squeaked open, and Nick exited towards the living room.  He stopped in his footsteps and stared down at me on the floor.  His eyes widened at the realization that he had been caught.  Whatever his secret, I was damn close to figuring it out.  The only thing that was preventing me from knowing was a few more details and the fact that I maybe
didn’t
want to know.

“Angela,” he leaned down next to me and caressed my hair.  I flinched away. “Baby, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Don’t lie to me!” I shouted, refusing to let him touch me. “I know what I heard!  I’m not stupid!  Now are you going to tell me the truth?”

“Baby, I didn’t want you to find out that way.  I didn’t want you to find out at all,” he gulped.  His words had faded into a whisper that churned my insides.

“Well I did, so either you tell me the truth or I’m out of here.”

Nick slumped against the wall next to me, looking utterly defeated.  He had a bloody towel wrapped around his fist.  I quickly stood to my feet, deciding to keep my distance.  I didn’t know what he was hiding.  The man I fell in love with might not even exist.  This could all have been a lie.

Slowly, Nick nodded his head and looked up at me, examining my posture.  Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke, “We all have our secrets, Angela.  It just turns out mine’s a little bigger than everyone else’s.” He stood, exhaled, and gestured to the couch. “I think you’ll need to take a seat for this one, baby.”