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“Mr.Sheppard.”The coldness of Rick’s voice, like that of other people that he spoke to, hurt him.Rick and he had gone to grade school together.Had been good friends.Never once had he called him Mr.anything.Now, he was going to be reduced to beg the man for his forgiveness.It was no less than he deserved.“What is it I can do for you?I’ve got a very busy schedule of meetings today.”
“I understand.I was wondering if you could come to my apartment this evening so that I can go over a few things.”Rick told him that he set aside his time in the evening for his family.“Good.You should do that.Then can you clear a morning for me?The sooner, the better, but I don’t want you to make any sacrifices to your schedule for me.”
There was silence at the other end, and Nash was sure that he’d hung up on him.Again, it was no less than he deserved, and Nash knew that he’d have to find himself another attorney if his friend decided to wash his hands of him, too.
“Who is this?”Nash told him again who he was.“Yeah, well, I’d like to believe that.I would, but I also know that Nash Sheppard doesn’t bend himself around anyone’s schedule.I don’t know what you’re playing at, sir, but—”
“I know that I’ve said some things to you that were hurtful.I also know that I hurt you when I said something about your family, telling you that you needed to ditch them in favor of working for me.When I think of a lot of things that I’ve said to people over the last…I don’t know how long I want to bury my head in a hole and never come out.You have no idea how sorry I am…well, for everything.This is me, Rick.I swear to you that I’m trying my best to make amends to a lot of people, but I need you to help me.I…I was going to tell you what happened, but I’m sure you’ve heard.”
“You hurt your mate.”He said that he did, reaching for his tissues when he thought of Sunshine and wiped at his tears.“It’s also said that your family won’t have anything to do with you.”
“They won’t.Not that I blame them for that, either.But I do have a mate and even if she never wants to see me, I’d like to make her life a good deal better than I have so far.I need someone to help me.A friend to help me, and the first person that I thought of was you.”He blew his nose, not even embarrassed that he was sobbing again.“The things that I did to her, Rick, I just don’t know who that person was.My mom threatened to kill me.She would have, too, I have no doubt.And there have been times when I think of myself that I wish she had.I’ve spent the last month getting to know the bastard that I was and working hard at trying to be the man that Sunshine could be happy about.I’m not saying I want to do this tomakeher want to be around me.She deserved more than me.Hell, everyone in the world deserves more than me.Can you help me?Please?I need to set her life up, one without me, so that she can go on living.”
“What do you mean, go on living?Are you planning something stupid?”He told his former friend that he’d been stupid for a very long time.“Yes, I can tell you that I agree with that, but what do you plan on doing once I have this young woman set up?”
“I don’t know.”That was the honest truth, too.He didn’t know what he was going to do once Sunshine was taken care of.“I just know that she needs something that I can provide for her, and there is no reason for her to do without simply because I’m her mate.”
“I don’t know if I can make this work with you, but I’ll try.If I can’t work with you, I’ll let you know right away so that you can find someone else.And I will agree with you, too, on that she could do a lot better than having you as her mate.”Nodding, knowing that Rick couldn’t see him, had him reaching for more tissues.“I’ll have to call you back in an hour.It’ll take some work to get your files out of storage and clear my day for tomorrow.However, one nasty word from you and you’ll be out on your ass so fast that what your family is doing to you will look like a day in the park.Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes.Very much so.Thank you.So much.”He cleared his throat, thinking of the list of things that he’d been working on the last few weeks.“I’ll wait for your call.Thank you, Rick.Very much again.”
Putting his cell down, he curled into the pillow that he’d gotten yesterday and laid down.He’d been a fool.He still might be, but he was going to make things right if it killed him.And someone might be out there right now plotting his demise, and Nash thought that he’d welcome it with open eyes.
At just after ten, he got up and got himself cleaned up.He’d heard twice from Rick.Once, to tell him that he would see him tomorrow and then again to set things up for him with the bank.That had been the most difficult thing for him to get finished.The banker hadn’t wanted him anywhere near the bank for any reason.
For the past week, he’d been going to sit in the room with Sunshine just to watch her sleep.Finding out where she’d been staying had been quite a bit of work, but now that he found her, he wanted to make sure that she was safe, especially from men like him.
Sitting in the chair in her room, he thought about what the nurse had told him about her being released tomorrow.While he had an idea where she might be headed, he was still afraid that he’d not be able to see her again.These last nights with her, just being close to her, he knew that it was more than he could have hoped for.When she suddenly sat up in her bed and looked right at him, Nash knew that he was going to end up in prison before the night was over.He was just glad that he’d been able to write out what he had wanted done for her so that she’d be taken care of.
“I don’t want you here.”He nodded and stood up.“Why are you here anyway?If you come at me again, one of your brothers, who I like, by the way, gave me a gun to use on you.I might not be able to kill you, but I will make you suffer.”
“It’s no less than I deserve.”She didn’t move, and he didn’t either.“I’m sorry.It seems to be so inadequate, but I am.Also, if you would contact someone for me after I leave, I’d appreciate it.”
He left her there.Nearly to the elevators, he didn’t turn when he felt the bite of the gun to his back.He knew it was Sunshine.He could smell her.Nash put up his hands and told her not to go to prison for him.He would leave her alone.
When the elevator opened, he stepped inside.Not turning, not wanting to have his last image of her with a gun pointed at him, he stayed where he was and heard the doors close behind him.
Chapter 3
Sunny knew she was making a mistake when she stepped into the elevator with Mr.Sheppard.When he turned and looked at her, she backed into the furthest corner away from him and was surprised when he did the same.
“What’s the matter with you?”He asked her what she meant.“I don’t fucking know.When I met you the first time, you were a rude bastard who didn’t want anyone to speak to you.‘Just bring the food and shut up,’ man.Now you look like…who knocked you around anyway?If you tell me that I did that, I’m going to shoot you.”
“Some of my family did it.”When he didn’t say anything else, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him down to the room she’d been in.Never once did he fight with her or demand that she let him go, which sort of worried her.When she did let him go and slammed the door behind them, he stared at her before speaking.“I’m trying my best here to figure out what it is you want me to do.First, you pull a gun on me, then you drag me down the hall to your room.”
“I don’t know what I want either.”She told him to sit down, and he did.That pissed her off as well.“You’re all…you’re like a domesticated cat that has had all its meanness pulled out of it, and now he doesn’t know what to do with himself.Or is it…you’re here because of something your family said.Like that you were to come here and be nice to me.Something along the lines of if you didn’t, you’d not be welcome to them to allowing you to be around anymore.”
“No.”He stretched his neck and then apologized.“Yes, they’re mad at me.All of them.My mom especially, and more than my next breath, I want to make it up to her.However, this has very little…no, it has all to do with you, and I’m trying to fix it all the way around.I’ve been—”
“Are you saying that this is all my fault?I’ll have you know that I did just what you told me to do and didn’t have an issue with it.Well, I did, but I didn’t get pissy with you about it.Then when you didn’t have the money for your bill—to be honest, I was feeling guilty and remorseful about how I had treated you.However, since you’d already been so nice and friendly about me not speaking to you—that’s sarcasm if you don’t get it, I couldn’t explain to you why I was doing it.Then you hit me.”He asked her when he’d hit her.“When you came out of the woods.You ran me down while I was on my way home.”
“I didn’t run you down.”She said that he had.Sunny explained to him that she’d been on the path and that she’d been bowled over by him.Then he stood over her as his great cat like he was going to eat her alive.“You were already…when I found you in the forest, you were alone and partly naked and unconscious.Yes, there were scratches on your skin.A wound…I didn’t look at it, but I could smell that cat from the diner on you, so I assumed that…What did my cat look like?I mean, you saw the cat that ran you down, I’m assuming?Was he dark or a light-colored fur?”
Suddenly, her knees gave out on her, and if not for Mr.Sheppard leaping forward and catching her, she might well have fallen to the floor.He picked her up, carrying her to the bed when all she could think about was that the cat that had stood over her had been dark, his eyes a shade of brown that looked black.Sunny looked at the man who might well have recused her twice since she’d met him.
“What color are you?”He told her that he was a tawny color, all his family were.“And your eyes, they’re not brown but a very dark blue.Your eyes are blue, not brown.”
Someone was holding her down with her head between her knees on the bed.Sunny was sure that at some point she’d fainted, realization coming at her hard, but all she could think of was the color of the eyes of the other cat that had knocked her to the ground.
