Start a War (Saint View Psychos #1)(74)

He was hard. So very hard it took my breath away.

The door slammed open, and Vincent rushed through.

“What the fuck?” Nash jolted back.

I held a hand up to Vincent in a stop motion. “I’m okay.”

He stopped instantly, halting in his tracks. His gaze flickered between the two of us. “He’s not hurting you?”

The growl that started up in Nash’s chest was feral and angry. “What the fuck do you mean? Of course I’m not hurting her!” His gaze tore to mine. “What is this? You’re scared of being alone with me?”

I shook my head, instantly knowing how stupid I’d been to let my imagination get away from me. “No, no. I’m not.”

Nash’s hurt expression gutted me. “Yeah, you clearly were. Enough that you had your guard dog follow us in. What the fuck did I do, Bliss?”

I couldn’t bear the expression on his face. I felt awful. I knew in that moment that no matter what Sandra thought, and no matter what Axel’s emails had said, Nash wasn’t the one who’d killed Axel. “Nothing! Nothing! I just let someone get in my head, and it all got confused, and then I found some emails about the money Axel was paying you…”

Nash staggered back, running a hand through his hair. “This is about that stupid money? Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“I was going to!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Sure you were. Right after you took out a restraining order? Not that it’s any of your business, but I never even wanted that money. A while back, I did a stint in jail. Axel started paying me when I got out to make up for the money I didn’t earn while I was inside. Plus some.”

I blinked. “Why would he do that?”

“To ease his guilt. It was his fault I went away. Or so he believed anyway. I tried telling him a hundred times to get over it, and that he would have done it for me too. But he needed the money to make it right in his own head.”

“He let you take the fall?”

“More like Nash fell on a sword for him,” Rebel said from the doorway.

I hadn’t even heard her come in. She didn’t seem too pleased with me, and I couldn’t blame her.

Nash shook his head. “I wasn’t innocent. We were young and stupid. We were both in the wrong, but there wasn’t any point to both of us doing time for it.”

I had to try to explain myself. I hated the disappointed expression on his face. “Axel was going to sell Psychos. I found an email from a broker. He would have stopped paying you. That gives you…”

It all sounded so stupid now when I wasn’t all wrapped up in my own fears.

Nash’s eyes flashed. “Motive? Is that where you’re going with this, Bliss?” He leaned hard on the door behind him. “Jesus fuck. Anything else you want to accuse me of? Rape? Torture? How about global fucking warming?”

He was so angry. And it was mixed with a healthy dose of hurt and betrayal.

Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” He twisted the doorknob behind him and let it swing open. “Here. This is what I brought you back here for.” He turned and glared at Vincent. “Not to fucking attack her.”

He stormed from the room, back into the bar. Rebel gave me a sad look but followed after him, which told me she was upset with me too.

That left me with Vincent. “I’m sorry. I owe you an apology, too. I really messed that all up. I’ll talk to Nash and explain. He won’t make things hard for you here.”

Vincent shook his head. “I don’t care about that. As long as you aren’t hurt.”

I put my hand on his chest. “I’m not. I swear.”

Vincent hovered, but I just wanted to be alone.

“Can I have a minute, please?” I asked.

“I’ll wait by the main door.”

I thanked him and watched him walk away. Embarrassment and guilt washed over me. I couldn’t stop seeing the hurt on Nash’s face.

I’d make it up to him. I’d grovel and beg forgiveness.

I didn’t want things to be weird between us. Not when we were running this business together.

I stepped into the little room Nash had opened up and gasped. The walls had been freshly painted a soft pink, the chemical scent from the paint still lingering. A stained wooden desk sat in the very center of the room with a small love seat pressed to one side. The room was full of natural light courtesy of a skylight, which made up for the fact there was no window, and it fell over a couple of indoor plants in rose-gold-colored pots. A little pink name plate sat on the desk, and when I picked it up, I almost burst into tears.

Boss Girl was printed in gold lettering.

He’d made me an office.

A beautiful one that was me through and through. It was perfect. It was right by where all the main action happened on the party side, just like his office was right where all the action happened on the bar side.

I wanted to cry looking at it.

I’d been working so hard to change. I didn’t want to be a sheltered, na?ve, stuck-up woman from Providence who let her fiancé hurt her and her best friend fill her head with elitist rubbish. I didn’t want to be the sort of person who jumped to conclusions about a man who’d done nothing but help and watch out for me.