Sin With Me

55

Before Brody can answer, I jump in. “So Brody said you guys were going to put together a little care package for me, Kat? Clothes or whatever?”

“Oh. Yes, sorry, sweetie.” Kat sends me a shaky smile. “I’ve got bags and bags of stuff for you in the car. Chloe and I tore through our closets. The only thing we didn’t give you was underwear, for obvious reasons.”

Brody quips, “She won’t be needing underwear anyway.”

He and Barney are still glaring at each other.

Wonderful. Looks like we’ll be having that cockfight after all.

Nico, ever the conciliator, says to Barney, “Hey man, would you get the bags from the car for Grace, please?” “Sure,” he says, holding Brody’s gaze. “Anything for Grace.” For several long moments, he doesn’t move, he simply stands there giving Brody a level, challenging look, but then finally he turns on his heel and stalks out the door.

“Ookay,” says Kat, watching him go. “That was awkward.”

Irritated, Brody asks Nico, “You gonna talk to him about his attitude, bro?”

“His attitude?” repeats Nico. “You know that s**t’s a two-way street, right?”

“That dude is way out of line—”

“That dude has saved your ass more times than I can count—”

“He’s your f*****g employee, man!”

“—and has been a friend for years. Not only mine, but yours, too.”

“Yeah, he has. And now he’s acting like a d**k and I’m not gonna put up with it. Would you, if the shoe were on the other foot?”

Nico’s gaze cuts to me. “You on board with this, Grace? You think I should have a talk with Barney, tell him to back off?”

“No.” I take a step away from Brody, cross my arms over my chest, and meet his eyes. “And since you brought it up, here’s some radical honesty for you, Brody: jealousy is petty, immature, and has no place in a healthy relationship. I won’t tolerate it. Either we trust each other or we don’t. If we do, it doesn’t matter how many other people flirt with us. If we don’t . . . well, we might as well just quit while we’re ahead and save ourselves the aggravation.”

Brody looks as if I’ve slapped him.

“Be right back,” he says, and bolts out the front door after Barney.

Watching him tear off across the driveway, Nico mutters, “What the hell have you done to him?”

Kat peers out the open door. “Apparently she’s hypnotized him with her magical v****a. I’ve never seen anyone do such a one-eighty!”

I don’t want to stand there and gape at him in the doorway, so I take a few steps back and ask, “What do you mean? What’s he doing?”

After a while, Nico chuckles. “Looks like he’s eating a big ass bucket of crow.”

“Kat, a little help here?”

She smiles. “Brody and Barney are standing next to the Escalade. Barney has his arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread, in badass mode, and Brody is doing all the talking.” She pauses. “Now Barney is nodding his head.” Another pause. “Now they’re shaking hands.” She laughs. “Now they’re doing that macho guy, hug-it-out thing, lots of back thumping and play shoving.” She looks at me, grinning. “Looks like your boy just went and apologized.”

He can’t be for real. He has to be too good to be true. No one is this perfect.

“Nico?”

He glances at me.

“You know Brody better than anyone, right?”

“Yeah. Like a brother.”

“I need to ask you something.”

Nico lifts his brows. “Shoot.”

“Is he a good guy? I mean, everyone has faults, but bottom line—is he good?”

Nico grins, showcasing his dimples. His blue eyes twinkle with mischief. “Why? You like him or something?”

I exhale a shaky breath. “Please don’t f**k with me. I need an honest, unbiased opinion.”

Kat and Nico stare at me with new expressions, like I’m someone they’ve never met before, some body snatcher who’s murdered the real Grace and is now walking around wearing her skin.

Nico says softly, “You really do like him.”

Chewing my lip, I nod.

Unsmiling, Nico nods, too. “Okay. Then I’ll tell you the truth, Grace. Yes, he’s a good guy. He’s reliable and honest, he’s considerate and unselfish, and he’s generous to a fault. He’s not one to wear his heart on his sleeve and I know sometimes things bother him that he’d never admit to, but he’s definitely good.”

His gaze grows penetrating. “And since we’re truth telling, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the one who needs to worry about getting hurt in this scenario.”

“Nico!” snaps Kat. “That’s not fair!”

But I’m not insulted in the least. If I were looking at things from Nico’s perspective, I’d think the same thing.

“Yes, it is, Kat. It’s totally fair. If you judged things by my dating history, that is.” My voice grows softer. “But if you judged things by the way he makes me feel, you’d know you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.”