Page 7 of Tempting Fate

Chapter Four

Jamie

“Come on, he’s fine,” Nick says.

Robert is not fine. Robert seemed fine, sure, until Nick moved ahead of him to show him Vince’s old room and he gave me a once-over that left me feeling like I wanted to scrub myself clean.

“No. I don’t want him living here.”

Nick sighs but doesn’t argue. I know why Nick likes him. He’s big—bigger than Vince, even—and Nick has been the one to veto every slightly skinny guy we’ve spoken to so far.

He wants someone to protect me. I get it. I’m fairly certain that Vince has a hand in the whole thing, too. Not like Tim is coming back, but what if I start seeing some other arsehole?

I cross my arms over my chest and scowl. This could easily be solved if Patch had just given in to the chemistry that I know exists between us. Whether Vince and Patch really get along is moot; he’d be glad to have another wolf around and Dax would be happy—

I eye Nick for a moment. Well. He might not be pleased. He’s happy to have Dax around, but he’s still clearly uncomfortable with the whole… supernatural thing.

“We’ve got one more today, don’t we?” I sigh.

Nick nods, scrolling through the list on his phone. “Emerson Hedges,” he says. “After that, we’re fucked. Rent’s going out next week.”

Yeah, and I’m sure between the two of us, we can scrounge together enough money to cover the portion that would otherwise go unpaid, but we can’t do that forever. Vince has offered to pay until we find someone. I don’t know exactly what deal he and Dax have, living in Kieran’s pack house, but I get the feeling that if they are paying any rent, it’s incredibly cheap. Nick and I have talked about that, though. We don’t want it. We just need to find someone new.

“Okay. So, let’s hope he’s good enough? When’s he supposed to get here?”

“About—” Someone knocks on the door and Nick huffs a laugh. “Now. Punctual, at least.”

Good. I trail Nick to the door, trying to lean around him to see the man waiting on the other side.

At first, I don’t see his face. He’s looking down the street, but the immediate impression I get of him is that he’s fairly tall but lean, which means Nick is almost certainly going to say no regardless.

“Emerson?” Nick asks.

I swallow a gasp when the man turns to look at us. I’ve definitely had guys say it about me, but he’s pretty, with big, dark eyes behind his glasses and delicate, elfin features. His smile quivers when he meets Nick’s gaze, then mine. “Call me Em, please.”

I shiver at his deep voice, that cut-glass accent betraying, at the very least, a stellar education, and Nick sticks out a hand for Em to shake.

“Come in, please.”

We do an awkward shuffle down the hallway, mostly because I don’t really want Em out of my sight, until Nick nudges my shoulder and I head into the living room.

There’s an awkward moment where I take too long to sit down, and Nick almost walks into the back of me, but after a minute or so, we’re all seated, and I’m ignoring the baffled looks Nick keeps throwing my way.

“So, Em,” I say brightly. Too brightly from the way Nick’s brow furrows and Em’s eyes widen. Jesus. What is wrong with me? “Uh. You’re looking for somewhere new to live?”

Luckily, at least one of us seems to have interacted normally with other people in the past. Em nods, pushing his glasses up his nose before he speaks. “Yes. I’ve just made the move to London. Rent is terribly expensive here, isn’t it?”

“You’re telling us,” Nick grunts, settling on the sofa beside me. He scrolls through something on his phone—the application Em sent in, presumably. I’m suddenly furious with myself. I glanced through all the applications as they came in, of course; I have just as much access as Nick does. I should have spent more time on Em’s. I want to know all about him.

“What brings you to the city?”

For a second, his smile falters. “Work,” he says, and I frown in sympathy. A new, unwanted job—or just an unwanted move, perhaps.

“You’re planning to stay a while?” Nick asks. He seems less than impressed. Fuck.

“At least a year,” Em says, nodding. “And I can pay six months up front, if that’s going to be an issue.”

It’s not, but I feel the way Nick sits up a little straighter beside me. The money would go straight to our landlord, of course, but it’s a nice little safety net should anything happen and Em decides to leave early.