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Cheryl’s blunt statement threw Nick. It would take time for her to fully process the fucked up scene and he planned on being there for her.
Although he never pulled the trigger himself, he’d been around when it happened. The surreal experience couldn’t be explained. One second alive, the next dead, but Cheryl wasn’t a hardened criminal who didn’t give a shit about taking a life. She wouldn’t be able to brush it off even if Johnny deserved what he got and more. Nick would make sure he paid attention to any signs of guilt or remorse.
“It was self-defense.”
“Strange. I don’t remember picking up the gun or pulling the trigger. I only remember him surrounded by so much blood.”
“It never should’ve gone down that way. I was having him tailed. I was trying to keep eyes on him. I knew he was dangerous but I?—”
“Don’t.” She tugged on his hand.
“We got a lot of things to figure out, but we’re gonna take our time?—”
“What do you mean?”
“You, me, and Portia,” Nick said. “For now we can live here at the penthouse, but I get you’ll probably want a bigger place and a yard for Portia. We’ll move to a good school district too, cause I only want what’s best for her.”
Cheryl’s brow furrowed and she cocked her head. “Izzy and I want to get the Vegas office up and running, but I haven’t decided if Portia and I will stay in Vegas indefinitely. I still have the California office to oversee.”
“I’m not talking about your business I’m talking about us.”
“There is no us.”
“Are you sayin’ I can’t see my daughter?”
“Of course not, I said you can share custody. We’ll set up regular visitations.”
“Visitations?” Nick shook his head. “No fuckin’ way. I want the both of you in my life. Like all the time.”
Cheryl pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Not possible.”
“What aren’t you getting? I want us to be together as a family.”
“We can’t always get what we want and who are you to talk about forever? We’ve been separated for ten years. How do you even know we would work?”
“I just know.” He spit out the three words with more conviction than he felt. It had been a long time apart but . . . He was sure they would work—yeah, he was fuckin’ sure.
“Just like that? After all these years.”
“Yup, after all these years.” He reached out to her. “You probably don’t remember, but I told you all these things at the Bellagio.”
“I remember—some of it.”
“So?”
“You just said those things because I was waving a huge gun around and you wanted to talk me down.”
“How fuckin’ stupid are you?” Nick hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but she was frustrating the hell out of him.
“Excuse me?” Cheryl pushed off the bed in full fight mode.
“I can’t figure you out. You keep pushing me away even though you know we’re right together.”
“If I remember correctly you’re the one who said, ‘this can never work.”
“Maybe I was wrong.”
“And maybe you weren’t. Every time including the first time we met we were thrown together by some crisis. The adrenaline, the urgent need, the drama—we crave it like an addict craves dope.”
