Seeking Vengeance: Callaghan Brothers, Book 4 (10 page)

A huge billow of steam wafted out as she opened the bathroom door.  The smell of fresh pizza had her stomach growling in no time.  Thank God!  Nick was back.  With food. 

“I hope you got me veggie,” she called out as she padded barefoot into the small living/dining space.  It was a constant source of contention between them – Nick always wanted the “all meats”; Nicki, the “all veg”.  Nick usually won out, and Nicki contented herself on eating the crusts and scrounging from her ever-present stash of fresh fruit, nuts, and peanut butter.  Home-cooked meals were not a priority, but then, as Nick said often enough, you didn’t miss what you never had.

“Yeah,” Nick said, his voice smooth as he handed her a beer.  She took it gratefully, then paused with the bottle halfway to her lips as Sean stood up from the sofa in an old fashioned gesture.  To his credit, his lips twitched only slightly, though he wasn’t as successful at keeping the amusement out of his eyes.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” she asked, suddenly all too aware of what she was, and was not, wearing.  It shouldn’t have mattered, really.  She had worn far less the night before.  But without her costume, without her make-up, she felt strangely... exposed.  She swore Sean’s eyes glittered when her traitorous nipples hardened to granite pebbles beneath the soft white V-neck.  Thankfully, his eyes rose quickly and locked on her face instead. 

No,
shit
, that was even worse.

“Sean’s cool, Nicki.  Chill.  Here, this is for you.”  Nick handed her a white box.  She looked at it as if it might bite her.  “Go on, open it.”

Suspiciously, she lifted the lid.  The heavenly smell of onions, mushrooms, black olives, and three different kinds of peppers smothered in cheese hit her full-on.  So that was it – Nick and Sean were joining forces, no doubt thinking that between the two of them they could make her see reason.  Nick had been on her case about working at
Angels
the minute he found out.  And he’d involved his boss.

Nicki had a sudden, vehement urge to throw the pizza at him.  At both of them.

But as aggravated as she was, her hunger won out.  She would eat first and battle later.  Nick smiled cockily when she took the box over to the far corner and sank down into the large chair there, no doubt thinking he’d won the battle.  She would not correct him.  Yet.

With the box propped in her lap above her crisscrossed legs and the lid open, Nicki could concentrate on her pizza and ignore them.  Within a few minutes they seemed to forget she was even there, digging into their own pizzas – Sean seemed to share Nick’s penchant for the heart-stopping, artery-clogging, flesh-topped variety – and beers. 

She snorted in another wave of indignation.  Why didn’t guys have to watch their calories like women?  If she ate like that all the time she’d really be out of a job, but them – they looked like they spent hours a day in a gym without even trying.  Yet more proof that God was a man. 
Bastards
.

Nicki ripped into the extra-cheese, smothering her groan of delight as she pondered the injustices of the universe while Nick and Sean talked about the garage.  She couldn’t remember when she had been so hungry.  Then again, she couldn’t actually remember the last time she had eaten sitting down.  Usually she was in motion, running late on her way to somewhere to do something.  Passivity did not come naturally to her.  Even now her foot bobbed in steady rhythm to the songs that were always in her head, keeping her (relatively) sane. 

It took her a while to realize that their conversation had stopped and both men were staring at her. 

“What?” she asked, swallowing the last of her fourth piece.  Nick had a smug little half-smile on his face, but Sean was gaping at her in disbelief.

“Where do you put it all?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve never seen such a tiny woman eat so much.”

Nicki muttered something distinctly unladylike, not to mention anatomically impossible, and grabbed another piece.  Nick laughed, and even Sean smiled.  Nicki really hated when that man smiled.  It sent strange sensations into her chest and made certain parts of her clench and unclench rhythmically.  Thankfully, Nick turned on some kind of sporting event and they went back to ignoring her.

The incessant drone of the announcers conspired with the heavy food and comfortable clothes, and soon Nicki drifted off.  When she opened her eyes again, the room was noticeably darker and all the pizza boxes and beer bottles had been cleared away.  A soft lap blanket had been tucked around her legs, a pillow beneath her head.

“So.”  Nick’s voice drifted over from somewhere on the other side of the room.  “You gonna offer her a job?”

“Already did,” Sean answered quietly.

“When?”

“I happened to run into her earlier.  She told me to fuck off.”

“I expected as much.  She didn’t believe you were serious, right?”

“Right.”

“Well,” Nick sighed, “it was worth a shot.  Fuck, I guess I need to wake her up for her shift.”

“Let her sleep,” Sean said.  “Jason pulled her off the floor.”

Nicki held her breath through Nick’s stunned silence.  “No shit?”

“No shit.  She told me earlier today.”

That wasn’t exactly true, Nicki thought.  She’d never actually given him any details, just accused him of trying to get her fired.  Which meant he’d just proven her theory that he’d known all along.

Fucking A
.  Either way she felt a compelling urge to shove one of those longnecks right up that fine, chiseled ass of his.

A
fter leaving Nick’s, Sean went back to the hospital with some flowers for Maggie and to hit his brother Michael up for some information.  A few well-placed inquiries were all it had taken to discover who Nicki had been visiting there earlier that morning. There were definite benefits to having your brother on staff.

Sean held his nephew tucked against him as Maggie dozed on the other side of the hospital room.  “I’m surprised you’re still here,” he said to his brother.  “How did you get Maggie to agree to stay the night?”

“A compromise,” Michael said. 

Sean grinned.  “A compromise, huh?”

“Yeah.  Ryan stays in the room with us.  Maggie wants to breastfeed, and nearly flipped out when she discovered one of the nurses was giving him formula anyway.”

Sean noted that Michael had positioned himself between Maggie’s bed and the door and recognized it for what it was - a precautionary measure against anyone who might be foolish enough to attempt to take Ryan back to the nursery again.  It was probably a pretty smart move.

“So, what have you got?”

“Doesn’t look good,” Michael said quietly as he glanced over the medical records he had pulled up on his laptop.  Sean nodded.  He didn’t have a medical degree like his brother, but he understood enough to have guessed that much. 

“Time?”

Michael blew out a breath, stretched his shoulders.  “Hard to say.  With damage like this, she could be gone in an hour or hang on for weeks.  If I had to guess, though, I’d say a few days, a week at most.”

Well, Sean had answers to at least two of the questions he’d been asking.  He now knew what the “family stuff” was that had brought Nicki into town – her mother was hospitalized for a drug overdose and not expected to survive.  He also now understood the indefinite time frame of Nicki’s visit. 

At forty, Michael told Sean, Charlene Milligan had the stats of an eighty year old, the result of a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse.   

“Thanks, Mick.  I appreciate it.”

“What’s your interest, anyway?”

Sean didn’t answer right away.  Michael inclined his head thoughtfully.  “Ah.  So the rumors are true.  Do you want to talk about it?”

Sean shook his head, handing the sleeping baby back to his father with a final light kiss to the baby’s unbelievably soft, down covered head.  “Not yet.” 

He flashed a look over at Maggie.  It was selfish of him to wish she was awake, he knew, but Maggie had a very clear way of looking at things.  And sometimes, as in the case of his brother’s ill-fated mission several months earlier, she was able to see things that no one else could. 

“Sean, thanks, man.  For taking care of Maggie today.”

Sean grinned and shook his head, remembering their mad dash to the hospital that morning.  It already seemed like ages ago.  “She is stubborn, isn’t she?” 

Michael grinned and kissed the top of his son’s head.  “You have no idea. But she’s coming around.  And she certainly makes life exciting.”

“I heard that,” Maggie murmured sleepily, making them both chuckle.

* * *

“B
ecause it’s pointless, Nick,” Nicki was saying.  Ever since he’d gotten up this morning Nick had been trying to convince Nicki to take Sean up on his offer.

“Give him a chance.  He really is a decent guy.  Tough, but fair.  And we could work together.”

Nicki raised an eyebrow.  She hadn’t seen her brother so genuinely excited about anything since they were kids.  And even more surprising, Nick never had a good word to say about anyone.  Maybe, just maybe, she admitted reluctantly, Sean Callaghan was having a positive effect on her brother.

Regardless of what she thought of him, she had to give him props for that.  Still, she wasn’t entirely convinced that taking a job at the garage was in her best interests.

“I still haven’t made up my mind about the bartending job.  I could make a hell of a lot more in tips.”

Nick frowned.  She’d explained Jason’s offer earlier.  Nick clearly wasn’t happy with her holding any job at
Angels
, but admitted that bartending was better than dancing.

“True, but you wouldn’t like it as much as working in the bays.  And guys won’t be pawing you all the time.”

“I’ve seen the guys you work with,” Nicki said doubtfully.  “I’m not so sure that’s true.”

“I’ll kill them if they lay a hand on you,” he growled.  He was even starting to sound a little like Sean.

“Which is yet another reason why this is not a good idea.”

“Just try it, Nicki.  What have you got to lose?”

My heart.  My soul
.  The words popped into her mind.  She ignored them.  She was fairly certain both had been lost a long time ago.  One had been frozen out of necessity; the other, well, she wasn’t sure she ever had the other in the first place.

Despite leading Nick to think otherwise, Nicki had been giving Sean’s offer a lot of thought.  So far,
Angels
hadn’t provided the leads she’d been hoping for; Jason Michaels ran a pretty clean place.    And, as far as the private BSDM club he ran there, he had very specific rules.  Everyone involved was over twenty-one, underwent frequent health screenings, and was there purely by choice. 

No drugs and consensual adult playtime was definitely not Benny’s style.

She wasn’t completely ready to give up on
Angels
, though.  Someone might know someone.  There was no reason why she couldn’t do both as long as she was careful.  And, she reasoned, just as much information was probably exchanged in a garage as in a bar.  It might actually get her closer to her goal.  Yes, it was risky, but she’d never expected it to be easy.  And unless Charlene regained consciousness, it was her best option.

“Okay,” she breathed, still not entirely convinced she was making the right decision.  “I’ll talk to him, see what he’s offering.”

Nick embraced her so hard it almost made it worth it.  “You won’t be sorry, Nicki, I swear it.”  He grinned.  “We are going to show this town just what a couple of bastards are capable of.”

* * *

“H
ere’s the deal,” Sean said, seated in his office.  He didn’t normally open the place up on Sundays, but he’d made an exception when he received Nick’s call.  “I’ll give you a week.  You do well, and the position’s yours.”

She turned those pale, silvery eyes on him.  He felt the force of it right down into his chest.  Liquid diamonds, that’s what they looked like, moving and swirling with currents of energy all their own.

“Part-time days,” she said, blinking once.

“It’s a full time position.”

“I can do more in four hours than most men can in eight.”  There was no arrogance in her voice; she simply spoke the truth.

If her skill was anything like her attitude, he didn’t doubt it.  He also knew that she had accepted Jason’s offer to tend at
Angels
at night, so he understood at least one of the reasons behind her request.  It wasn’t ideal, but he could work with it.

He appeared to consider her offer, studying her intently.  He gave her credit.  She never once broke eye contact, meeting him head on.  No one had ever done that before besides his brothers, and certainly never a female.  It made him harder than hell.  Christ, he wanted to pound his chest and mount her like a fucking animal.

Finally he nodded, compartmentalizing those thoughts for the time being.  “Alright.  One week, four hours a day, Monday through Saturday.  You start tomorrow.”

Nicki blinked.  Clearly she hadn’t really expected him to go for it.  “You’re serious?”

Sean nodded.  “Don’t expect any special treatment, though.  You pull your own weight.” 

She smiled.  The effect was startling.  “Fair enough.”

––––––––

O
ver the next week, Nicki took more than her fair share of abuse from the guys.  Sean was tempted to intervene several times, but he forced himself to simply observe.  He had to know she could handle herself.

And handle herself she did.  She ignored most of their taunts and comments, but was just as prone to give as good as she got.  It became clear right off the bat that she didn’t take shit from anyone.  And not once, Sean was pleased to see, did she appeal to her brother or to him for help.  Several times, in fact, he had seen her planting a well-placed index finger in her brother’s chest, telling him to back off and let her handle things on her own.  That didn’t sit well with Nick, but surprisingly, he listened.

As a mechanic she was invaluable.  Often she had only to listen to a vehicle for few minutes to zero in on a problem, and had an impressive knowledge base when it came to some of the higher-performing models.  Over the course of the week, she had grudgingly earned at least some respect from the others, even if they weren’t keen on admitting it.