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“We’re at your apartment.”
Eden smiled. “You mean, our apartment? It’s yours as much as it is mine. And there’s something else I need to say… I love you, Maddie. You’re my best friend.”
There was a long pause before Madison sniffed. “You’re my best friend too, Eden. Which is why I was so upset when you didn’t confide in me.”
“From this point on, I promise I’ll always be truthful—”
“Yeah, yeah, you two are the best buddies ever.” Chloe’s voice came through the receiver. Obviously, Madison had the phone on speaker. “But right now I need you two BFFs to focus before Zac shows up here and our bodies are found floating facedown in the bay.”
It was hard for Eden to keep the smile off her face. Not because she wanted Chloe and Madison to be found floating facedown in the bay, but because she suddenly realized that she had two BFFs. One that needed her help ASAP.
“You’re right,” she said as she got out of bed. “First things first, you two need to get out of that apartment. That’s the first place Zac will come looking. Then we need to come up with a safe house—a place where Zac can’t find you.”
“Good luck with that,” Chloe said. “Zac has spies at almost every hotel in San Francisco.”
“Then we need to get you out of town,” Eden said as she paced. “At least until the police have him in custody.” About then the door opened, and her mother peeked her head in.
“I heard you talking. Is everything okay, Eden? Is that Nash?”
Eden stared at her mom for only a second before she smiled. “Mom, how would you like a houseguest? I have a friend who could really use her chakras cleansed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Nash tried to pretend that Eden’s retraction meant nothing. After his father and Blue left, he made himself an egg sandwich, then turned off all the lights and went to bed. But he had been in bed for no more than a few minutes when the questions started. Why had she done it? Why had she lied and said that the article was false? Especially if she wanted to be a reporter? The breaking story of a Beaumont brother being a pervert would’ve been more than enough to get her out of the tiny closet she used as an office. It made no sense at all.
He mulled the question over for hours. And by the time the sky brightened with dawn, Nash could come up with only one answer. Eden really did care for him. The thought should’ve brought some satisfaction, but instead it just made the hole in his heart bigger. It didn’t matter if she cared for him. Or even loved him. He could never be with a woman he didn’t trust.
With the realization, he finally fell into an exhausted sleep. He slept for only a few hours before the heat of the sun woke him up. The hole was still in his chest, but for the first time in days, his head felt clear. Rolling out of bed, he packed and headed to the airport.
He wasn’t able to get a seat until the last flight of the day so he arrived in San Francisco well past midnight. From the window of the plane, he looked down at the city lights that sparkled like jewels cast between the bays of black velvet. He had first come here in hopes of regaining control over his life. But in the last year, he’d learned that control was only an illusion. No one had control. Life took you where it would. You could only hope that it would take you to a place where you could find happiness.
When the plane touched down on the runway, Nash didn’t feel happy. But he did feel a sense of coming home. This was where his family lived. Where he lived. And where he worked.
After thinking he would never work at French Kiss again, he now realized how much he had grown to love the company. He loved selling clothing that made women feel sexy and beautiful, and he loved working with his brothers. He just hoped that they hadn’t kicked him to the curb for leaving them to clean up his mess.
But he would have to wait to find out. When he arrived home, Grayson’s black Range Rover was gone from the garage. It was just as well. Nash was too tired to have his butt chewed out. Not that Grayson would yell at him. That was more Deacon’s style.
He woke the next morning content to be back in his own bed and on his own routine. After hooking his cell phone up to the charger and getting on his running clothes, he headed to Grayson’s room. But Gray wasn’t in his room. Not that it was easy to tell. As always, his little brother’s room was a mess of rumpled sheets, dirty clothes, easels, canvases, paints, and paintbrushes.
Closing the door, Nash climbed the stairs to the kitchen and living area, but Grayson wasn’t there either. Nash could’ve called him, but decided it would be better to confront both his brothers’ anger at French Kiss, where the chances of them thoroughly kicking his ass were slimmer.
Since he hadn’t eaten much the day before, he made himself a power shake before his run. He had just poured it in a glass when Jonathan Livingston Seagull pecked at the balcony door for his breakfast. Once Nash opened the can of sardines, he took it and his shake out to the balcony. The audacious gull jumped up on the table and waited for Nash to set down the can of sardines.
“Hey, Johnny,” Nash said. “Did you miss me?”
“I certainly did.”
It wasn’t the words as much as the voice that had Nash freezing. He slowly turned his head and found Eden standing on her grandparents’ balcony holding a watering can. She had on running clothes that he hadn’t seen before, although she didn’t look like she was going running. Her hair wasn’t in a ponytail but rather fell around her face in soft curls, and she wore makeup and pink lipstick that made her lips look shiny and tempting. While he tried to catch his breath, she smiled brightly as if it were any other day—as if she hadn’t been the breaker of his heart.
“Good morning,” she said. “How was Louisiana?”
“What are you doing?”
She held up the watering can. “I’m watering my grandmother’s geraniums. Although since it rained yesterday, they don’t really need it.”
“I wasn’t talking about the flowers.”
“Oh!” She lowered the can. “You mean why am I at my grandparents’ this early in the morning. Well… because I moved in with them.” Her smile got even bigger. “So it looks like we’re going to be neighbors.”
