My hands began trembling.
As I went to return my phone to my jacket pocket, the trembling had me fumbling. I lost my grip and it clattered to the sidewalk.
“Shit,” I grumbled.
I stepped forward to snap it back up, but a sudden wave of lightheadedness took me over.
“Mason!” a voice screamed out.
The awful feeling overpowered me quickly and before I knew it, it had me losing my balance.
I started to topple.
Arms wrapped around me, stopping me from crashing down hard onto the sidewalk.
“Got you,” a rumbling voice spoke to me.
As I was hauled off my feet, I looked up to see Mason Cross carrying me. What on earth? He walked in through an open store door and as we passed on through, I saw Lucy Taylor holding it open.
Mason laid me down on a sofa.
The next thing I knew, Lucy was perching on the arm and holding a bottle of water out to me. “Take slow sips,” she instructed me. “It’s okay, you’re safe here.” She glared at Mason. “Right, baby? She’s perfectly safe here, yes?”
He grunted, then forced out, “Yeah, she’s good here.”
Had I actually hit the ground and passed out? Was this some sort of messed-up dream?
“Drink,” Lucy said, trying to push the bottle into my hand.
“I’m fine,” I said, jerking away and scrambling to sit up.
My sudden, panicked movements brought on another brutal wave of lightheadedness and I was forced back down before I’d even managed to fully lift my head up.
So much for my attempted escape.
As I looked between Mason and Lucy, I realized my failed escape had really ramped up the awkwardness between us. I hadn’t even known that was possible.
Talk about not thinking straight.
“Thanks for the… uh… save,” I stumbled. “Both of you.” I forced myself to focus and started my second attempt to ease myself into a sitting position on the couch. “I should go, though. I need to go.” And now I was rambling aloud.
“Baby,” Lucy said softly, laying her hand on Mason’s bicep.
His intense stare finally left me and he turned to her with soft, lovesick eyes. “Little darlin’?” he questioned.
She ran her fingers back and forth along his bicep and it seemed to act like a sedative, the big, bad SAA of the Steel Titans MC, losing his hard edge and softening for her. Wow. That was a major accomplishment. “Natasha dropped her bags outside when she nearly fell. Can you go get them?” She gave him a pointed look. “No rush, okay?”
He nodded, gave her a kiss on her forehead, then took off out of the shop.
With his overbearing, intimidating presence gone from the place, I was able to breathe a little easier. A little. I was still facing off with Lucy. Her hatred of me was only a little less intense than her boyfriend’s.
Oh well. It was what it was. With Cole and I finally agreeing to be together properly, it was only ever going to be a matter of time before I came into contact with them again. Time to face the music.
As I braced myself, wishing I wasn’t feeling so ill and weak for this inevitable conversation, I was more than a little surprised when Lucy pulled up a chair beside the couch I was on and actually smiled at me.
“Are you okay?”
The genuine kindness in her question was yet another shock.
“I'm fine,” I lied.
“Almost collapsing outside on the sidewalk isn’t fine.”
“A lot has been happening.” I shrugged. “It comes with the territory, the work I do.”
“Word is that you’re no longer doing that work, that you’ve retired your Nightshade alias.”
“The illegitimate aspect is gone, but I’m still in the transporting game. I have a lot of above-board clients.”
She nodded her understanding. “It can’t be easy trying to do all of that from here.”
“It’s fine.”
“You don’t need to be on guard around me. Mason either. Things are different now. We know what really happened back then and why you did what you did.” She rolled her eyes. “Why Mason did what he did.”
I was stumped. Mason had actually finally admitted that he’d been at fault too? That was… unprecedented and a big step in the right direction. Maybe a reconciliation was possible after all. Between all four of us.
“I know what it’s like to be on the run, to live with that kind of awful fear, always having to look over your shoulder. It can make you desperate, having you making decisions that go against the type of person that you are. Most of my childhood was spent like that.” She sat forward on her chair, urgency spilling from her. “I was right the first time about you, before everything got blown out of proportion, before we understood just how bad Nik had been stalking you. You’re a good person. The fact that Cole has been fighting to hold onto you all of this time is proof enough. He’s very cautious with who he allows to get close to him. If you’re up for it, I’d like to try to repair our friendship.”
I took her words in. And then I managed a smile, dropping my guard enough to tell her, “Maybe we can help each other.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“I’ll have a word with Cole, tell him to ease off with his suffocating protectiveness over you.” I didn’t want them at odds like they had been since Cole had returned and found she’d hooked up with his best friend. Lucy meant so much to him, that without her in his life, a part of him was missing.
She grinned. “That sounds great. Thank you, Nat.”
“No problem.”
Her eyes dropped to my belly. “Congratulations, by the way.”
I stilled. She knew?
And then it hit me. That was why her and Mason had been so worried about my near-fainting spell outside. Sure I was starting to show, but it wasn’t noticeable with the way I was strategically covering my bump. So, Cole must’ve told them then. Why hadn’t he given me a heads-up about it?
“It’s okay,” she assured
