Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(52)

A plea.

A confession.

“Was I so consumed by that grief, by that loss, that I let everything and everyone else fade into the background?”

Ollie’s face pinched, and he was moving closer. “What are you talking about?”

“I missed it. I failed to see what was right in front of my eyes, Ollie.”

He was at my side. The magnitude of his presence nearly knocked me from my feet.

“What are you saying?”

“My sister.” The words broke on my tongue.

In that moment, I felt something crack.

Chip away.

Secrets slayed.

And all I wanted was this man to hold all of them.





17





Ollie





“My sister.” Her confession carried on the wind.

Like a never-ending echo of horror that would ride on the soundwaves forever.

Regret.

The kind I knew all too well.

Grief clustered in my chest as I looked down at her.

Tears streaking down her defined cheeks.

Nikki. Fucking. Walters.

The bane of my existence.

The one who drove me right out of my mind. Left me clinging to the edge of sanity. Made me weak in the damned knees and hard everywhere else.

She was a carrot dangled in front of me like a tease. Always right there, always just out of reach. A connection I couldn’t keep but wanted more than my next breath.

Because that was what she was.

Breath.

Life.

The goodness and light in the middle of my dark, dark world.

I wanted to lean in, press my nose to her delicate neck, and suck her down like a sweet, satisfying drink.

Sunshine and lemonade.

In the breeze, locks of that honeyed hair whipped around her head. A few errant pieces stuck to her face, those eyes so wide and innocent, and that mouth so goddamned deliciously pink.

It made her look like the girl I’d fallen so hard for.

She’d driven me crazy then, just like she was driving me crazy now.

Swore to God, the burn of that kiss from the other day was still flames on my lips.

“What do you mean, your sister?” My words were guarded. Careful.

Fuck. Maybe I didn’t want to know.

Because a sob tore from Nikki’s throat.

“I think someone hurt her.”

Rage. It was instant. The fury that banged through my being. It struck in the air.

As deadly as a thunderbolt.

I grabbed her and pulled her all the way around so I could fully see her. “Who?”

She stared up at me. Indigo eyes flashing in the night. Agony wheezed out on her words when she reached up and pressed both her hands to my chest. “I don’t know. She . . . she came into the meeting tonight. Neither of us were expecting the other. She saw me . . .”

She choked.

In a flash, I had both my arms around her waist, pulling her up tight against me as I tried to process what that meant. “What was she there for?”

“She ran off before I could get any answers. I . . . I chased after her. Called her name. And she ran, Ollie. She ran from me as if she was scared of me. Like . . . like she didn’t trust me.”

That description all wrong.

That role was one reserved for me.

My mind spun with a shit-ton of horrible possibilities. There was nothing I could do but gather this girl closer, rocking her slowly, knowing I’d give absolutely anything to take this away. “She didn’t know you would be there?”

Burying her face against my chest, she shook her head. “No. I don’t think she realized that my internship meant I would be working in the field.”

I kissed her crown and ran my fingers through her hair, praying it would soothe her. “You know it wasn’t because she was scared of you or didn’t trust you, Nik. You know better than that. She just didn’t know what to do with exposing her own secret. You took her by surprise.”

Hot tears landed on my bare chest, and the girl’s lips moved across the flesh. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

I was such a twisted fuck.

Depraved.

Because just that touch had my mind going where it couldn’t go.

Laying this girl out.

Taking her.

At the same time, I wanted to wrap her up.

Protect her and take every drop of her despair away. Shield her from all the bad shit that ran rampant in this vile world.

I tried to rein in the stampeding need.

“You’ll figure it out, sweet girl. Sammie knows you. She’s just got to deal with whatever she’s going through before she’s ready to confide in you.”

“I can’t stand the thought of someone hurting her. Of her being in pain.”

A shudder raked down my spine, spreading out beneath the surface of my skin.

Rage and grief.

I hugged her closer at the same time as she pressed tighter against me, those sweet arms bent and pinned between us as I wrapped her whole. “I know. I’m so fucking sorry. So fucking sorry.”

There’d never been truer words.

She pulled back. Just a fraction. Enough that those mesmerizing eyes were gazing up at me.

Casting their spell.

Sucking me under.

“I need you,” she whispered, ducking down and placing gentle kisses all over my chest as her fingertips ran down my abdomen.