After he’d seen me at my worst and stayed.
After he’d shown me his own scars.
The fissure that losing Darren had caused in his soul had been open and gaping in front of me when he’d talked about the medal earlier, the guilt bubbling through his every word. He’d survived, too. I didn’t think of him as less because of it. He was more. It made me determined to be the same. More.
I opened the door to the hallway, and he came with me. He started toward the emergency exit, but I grabbed his arm, shaking my head. “I can’t do the stairs.”
I didn’t want to say I was too weak. But it was the truth. My body was weak. But that would pass.
“I can carry you,” he said. And he would, but I’d been humiliated enough for one day. I’d been weak enough for a day.
I turned and headed to the elevator. I didn’t have my phone with my meditation app, and my palms were already sweating. I’d just relived that entire night at The Oriental in my head. It wasn’t a great time to be climbing back into—what had Nash called it—a rattle trap.
But I wanted to face it.
I hit the up arrow. The doors sprung open, and I walked in with Nash following me. He inserted a key card that was required to access the top floor and then pushed the button. The doors swung shut, and I closed my eyes, letting the sensation hit me. My heart rate spiked, making it hard to breathe, but I focused on just doing that. Inhaling and exhaling.
Then, there were fingers tugging at mine, a warm, gentle hand holding my sweaty one. When I slowly opened my shut lids, Nash was close. Not close enough to cause alarm, but close enough to hold my hand and then to reach out and grab the other one as well. He ran a thumb along my palm.
“Just look at me,” Nash said, requiring me to meet his green gaze. “Tell me something about your life. Something from your childhood,” he said.
My childhood. Mac and me running through the club, taunting each other about who was the best tennis player in the world, me or him. “Mac hated when I beat him at tennis. When he turned thirteen, he thought it was time to become a “man” and make sure his skinny sister didn’t win any more matches. So, he started working out and had Dad add a bunch of workout gear to the game room. He worked out for hours a day. But when the tennis tournament came, I still beat him. He’d spent time building muscle, but I’d spent time on the courts.”
Nash chuckled, and it sparked a light somewhere inside—not a flame to add to the wreckage, but a way out, guiding me. The elevator came to a stop, the door swung open, and Nash put a foot in the opening so it wouldn’t shut. He let go of one hand, ran it over my hair, and then pulled me toward him. He placed a kiss on my forehead. Soft. Tantalizing.
“You did great.”
I hadn’t freaked out, and I hadn’t had my app, but I’d had this imposing man instead. I needed to be able to rely on myself. To trust I could do it on my own, because I wouldn’t always have Nash to ride the elevators with me.
He let me go, and we made our way to the penthouse where Brady and Lee waited. Every team member we passed was on high alert, nodding, speaking into their earpieces, letting them know we were coming. It was completely different from two days before when Nash hadn’t even arrived in Florida yet.
When we walked in, Brady was at my side in an instant. “You look pale. How are you feeling?”
Burnt to a crisp, I wanted to say, but the worry in his puppy dog face was just too much for me. I forced a smile. “I’m okay. Nothing like a deep cleanse to help you lose a few pounds.”
“As if you need to lose any pounds,” Lee said with a frown. I didn’t, but that hadn’t been the point in saying it. I think he knew that.
We made our way into the living area where Tanner, Alice, and a man who reeked detective were waiting for us. The man asked more questions than we had answers for. He asked if I’d be willing to give a urine sample, and when I agreed, he handed me a bag that I went and filled the best I could.
After, he thanked us all for our time and said they’d be on the lookout for Fiona to bring her in for questioning. Seeing as she hadn’t signed her name on the typed note delivered to the front desk or the one at the venue the day before, we had no actual proof it was her.
The door had barely shut behind him when Lee said, “I think Dani should go home.”
I shook my head.
“I think everyone should go home,” Nash said with force.
“No way,” Brady objected. “We only have three more concerts on this leg. Then, we’re off for the music awards and the holidays.”
“Was Fiona on board when you made the arrangements for the tour?” Nash asked.
Everyone looked at each other, the uncomfortable truth hitting them.
“She knows your every move. It’s ridiculous to think she hasn’t already set out traps at each of the next locations. She’s probably been planning this longer than you,” Nash continued.
“The restaurant wasn’t a planned stop,” Brady protested.
Nash was quiet for a beat and then said, “You’re right. It wasn’t.”
His wheels were turning. I could see it as clear as day.
“Just say whatever it is you’re thinking, Otter,” I told him.
He glanced around the room, uncomfortable in a way I never saw him. “The officer was right. How do we know this is even Fiona?”
Tanner scoffed. “What are you trying to
