Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(87)

Strike that.

It was completely, one hundred percent necessary.

“My girlfriend is hot!” I shouted.

“Ollie.”

Nikki’s head whipped around, wondering what attention we’d gathered, but she was giggling under her breath. She struggled to keep up as I hauled her inside and grabbed a cart.

I started pushing it down the first aisle.

“I thought I was just running in by myself?” she asked.

“What, I just wanted to be near my girlfriend.”

Yep, the words were elevated again.

A woman who was probably only a handful of years older than us cut us a glance.

I totally ignored it. “What are we having for dinner? I’m going to need to hang down in the bar for a few hours to make sure things are running smoothly, but I won’t stay too long.”

“Chicken and potatoes. And you don’t have to take off more time, Ollie. You’ve barely been down there all week.”

“What? I just want to be with my girlfriend.” The last I all but shouted.

An old lady blushed, peeking our way, her husband grinning wide.

“My girlfriend is gorgeous, isn’t she?” I asked them as they ambled by. I swept an arm at Nikki like she was a prize.

That’s exactly what she was.

“Sure is,” the old guy agreed, “almost as pretty as mine.”

His wife shushed him with a blush, and I was grinning so fucking hard I thought I was gonna break my face.

Nikki’s smile was just about as big, but she was shaking her head, tugging at my hand like she needed to get me out of there before I caused any more of a scene. “Are you insane? You’re going to get us kicked out of here.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I told her.

“Uh, yeah, and the last time I had to have my mama come pick me up at the station because you and Rex had knocked that whole display over playing chase. Whole wall of glass mayonnaise jars smashed on the ground. It wasn’t pretty.”

“But you’re pretty,” I shot at her.

“Ollie.” She was smiling as she searched my eyes, clearly wondering what had gotten into me.

She had.

She so absolutely had.

I yanked her close to me. “I want everyone to know it, Nikki. That you’re mine. No more hiding.”

She set both of those hands on my face and hiked up on her tiptoes. She pressed the gentlest kiss to my lips. “No more hiding.”

“C’mere,” I told her, voice going soft as I wound her in front of me, wrapping my arms around her and taking the cart again.

She giggled and sank against my chest, my mouth planting kisses along the side of her jaw as we wandered down the aisle. “Mine,” I whispered against her temple.

“Nikki?”

The voice stopped both of us in our tracks, and our attention jerked to the source.

There was Sammie coming the other direction, a baby sleeping in her arms and her husband pushing a cart beside her.

Bottled rage rumbled in that ugly, dark space inside me. I knew it wasn’t gone. There were some things that didn’t just go away.

Like the fury I felt that some asshole had hurt her in some way.

Nikki had confessed to me a few days ago that she was having trouble sleeping because she was so worried about her sister. That her sister hadn’t called her or come to her, and Nikki was fearing she wouldn’t be able to sit idle for much longer.

Worried her sister might be in trouble.

Surprise streaked across Sammie’s face as she took in the two of us.

Nikki was still caged between the cart and me, my head barely angling toward them, two of us about as close as we could get in a public place.

I could feel the strain return to Nikki, and she unwound herself from my hold and cleared her throat.

Sammie actually grinned.

Wry and knowing.

Eyes so close to the same as Nikki’s were locked on me for a beat before she turned her attention to Nikki. “Looks like we have some catching up to do.”

A nervous giggle escaped from Nikki, and she fidgeted with her hair, trying to straighten it which was impossible after the ride on the bike. She peeked back at me. “Yeah, we definitely have some catching up to do.”

Nikki seemed to shake the surprise off and stepped toward her sister, lowering her voice. “How have you been?”

Awareness moved through Sammie’s expression, and my eyes were locked on her husband.

Studying.

Searching.

Watching for any sort of reaction that might be off.

Sammie glanced over at her husband.

There was no warning for her to keep quiet. No hardness. Just a soft understanding in his eyes.

The anger that threatened to boil inside me eased back into a simmer. I was pretty sure this guy wasn’t the one responsible for whatever Sammie was going through.

Sammie turned back to Nikki. “I’ve been good.”

Swore, a thousand unsaid words were offered between the two of them.

Nikki suddenly reached out. “Gimme that baby.”

Light laughter filtered from Sammie. “Bossy.”

“I’m your big sister. It’s your job to listen to me.”

“You wish,” Sammie tossed back at her, but she was passing a sleeping bundle off to Nikki.