Page 11 of Tangled Hearts (Mended Hearts #4)

Eli

I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to this plan. It was probably something along the lines of, “Be nice. This means a lot to Uncle Holden,” but now my stomach feels all weird, and I’ve got this low-level buzz of anxiety happening, and I’m not a fan at all.

I wonder if it’s too late to bail. I glance down at my phone, but the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot drags my attention to it. Shit. It’s too late to bail.

Nic steps out of his Jeep, his eyes bright, and waves at me.

I wave back, but I’m already irritated. Must he be so attractive?

Ugh, and he wants to be my family. It’s probably a bit incestuous to find your own family this hot, so I had to shut that shit down.

He can be Holden’s family, and the line can be drawn there because no fucking way can he be mine.

Not when he looks like that. Not when I’m trying so damn hard to pretend he doesn’t.

“Good morning, Eli. ”

I don’t know what it is about him that gets me so riled up, but I have to bite back the snarky comeback poised on the tip of my tongue so I can be myself and not some bratty version of myself. “Good morning to you.”

A huge smile spreads across his face. “You look adorably grumpy today.”

Well, if that’s how he wants to be, then I can certainly play along. “Well, if you hadn’t kept me waiting so long, I wouldn’t be. The good mood train left the station already.”

He laughs, like I’ve somehow said the funniest thing he’s ever heard. I roll my eyes and turn on my heel, stalking into the bakery without even waiting to see if he’s following me.

He is, of course he is, because I’ve barely made it into the building when he’s working his way past me.

His chest brushes my back, and tingles explode through me from the touch and the scent of his cologne filling my nostrils.

God, he’s so annoying. Hot. Trying to take my uncle.

Smells good. Too nice. And now he’s making me do some weird, tingly thing. The audacity.

Nic pauses, turning to look back at me. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Ugh.

We step up to the counter where Mia is standing. Her eyes are volleying back and forth between us and she’s got a slight smirk on her face. “Back so soon, boys? What can I get for you?”

Nic looks at me and I shrug. “Same thing as always.”

“Same for me,” Nic says. “I’ll also take one of the scones I had yesterday morning.” My eyes fly to him. He got a scone yesterday? Is that because of what I said? “Do you want one too?”

I shake my head. “No thank you. I already ate breakfast.”

Mia starts getting our order ready, and Nic pulls out a credit card. I barely resist the urge to burst into laughter. He must sense it because he looks at me with a wry grin. “What?”

“You have puppies on your card.”

He holds it up in front of us. “Duh. I love animals.”

“It’s cute,” I say, giggling. I mean it too. I’m not even being snarky.

I think he can tell because he smiles at me. “Thank you.”

He really has such nice eyes. Sigh. Warm and rich with little flecks of blue and green. Really freaking pretty.

“Here you go, guys,” Mia says, startling me. I turn to look at her and she’s placed our order on the counter. Nic swipes his cards, adding an obscene tip. I need him to stop doing things that are going to make me like him.

Once he’s paid, he grabs his cup and his scone. “Hey, Mia. Would it be okay if I left my car here today?”

Mia nibbles her bottom lip, fighting a smile. I don’t know what she’s smiling about. Who wants a car parked in their parking lot all day? And besides… “I thought you were coming to volunteer with me?”

“I am,” he confirms. “But I was hoping I could ride with you.”

Oh.

“That’s totally fine. You’re more than welcome to leave it here.”

Nic thanks her and turns around. I follow him out to my car, a little dumbstruck.

I’m driving down the highway—trying my level best to ignore how much space Nic is taking up—when Sasha calls me. I answer, letting my Bluetooth take the call. “Hello.”

“Hey, Eli. Lexi’s having a hard time today and she’s asking for you.”

I can practically feel Nic’s eyes on me. That’s my girl, though. My little buddy, so there’s no way I’m going to let her down. “Okay, I was on my way to the center, but let me turn around and call Dad to let him know I’m heading there first.”

“Thanks, Eli,” Sasha says, relief clear in her voice. When she hangs up, I immediately call Dad.

“Hey, kid, what’s up?”

“Hey, I’m going to Safe Haven for a bit. Sasha called me, and Lexi’s having a rough morning. She’s asking for me.”

I know Dad will want me to go help with Lexi, but I still about melt from relief when he says, “Of course. I’m just working on organizing some things for our next fundraiser. You won’t miss anything here.”

Nic is still staring at me when I tell Dad I love him and that I’ll be there in a few hours. He doesn’t take his eyes off me at all. I’m not sure what exactly he’s looking at, but it’s starting to get on my nerves, so when I hang up the phone, I glance over at him. “What are you staring at?”

I barely catch the grin on his face as I look back at the road. “Nothing. You. This means a lot to you, huh? Your job?”

“Obviously. Is your job not important to you?”

Nic hums. “Of course it is. I love what I do—well, did.”

At the next road, I turn around to head toward Safe Haven while silence falls over the car. “What happened?” I finally ask, unable to push down my curiosity.

“With what?” Nic asks.

I wave a hand through the air. “Your job. Whatever. Why aren’t you working? Why did you come here?”

“You want my life story or something?” Nic asks, laughing a bit.

“Whatever. You don’t have to tell me.” Jesus. Why is he so damn annoying? He wants me to talk to him and be friends, and then I ask him a simple damn question, and he’s gotta be rude about it.

“Calm down, I don’t mind telling you. It’s… heavy, though.”

Well, if there’s one thing I can handle, it’s heavy. “Okay.”

Nic lets out a long sigh. He’s quiet otherwise, and I’m tempted to tell him not to bother.

I’m not a terrible person, and God knows I don’t enjoy opening up to strangers.

It took my dads six tries to find a therapist I would talk to, and in the end, I only talked because I was worried they were getting frustrated and would give me away if I didn’t.

“You really don’t have to tell me,” I say again, quieter this time.

“My mom was sick. Early-onset dementia.” Oh.

Okay. I guess he’s going to talk then. “It was small things at first. I’ll spare you the details, but it spiraled quickly.

She spent her entire life taking care of me.

I wasn’t going to leave her in the end, so I quit my job to stay home with her.

It was… exhausting. She needed round-the-clock care, but I wasn’t going to give up on her. ”

I nod, even though I can tell Nic’s eyes aren’t on me anymore. I glance over at him to find him gazing out the passenger window. “That must have been awful.”

“It was, but I had people in my corner. My fiancé, and my best friend, Silas.” Oh, he’s engaged?

I wonder if Holden knows. “About a month after my mom’s funeral, I decided to get back to work.

Found a place, started, and was finding joy again.

I was the lowest on the totem pole as far as seniority, so when they needed to cut hours, I was the first up.

I didn’t mind. The last few years had taken a lot out of me, you know? ”

I glance over again to find Nic staring at me. “Yeah,” I say, swallowing thickly.

“I heard them before I saw them.” He looks away. “My very best friend in the world fucking my fiancé in our shared bed.”

I can’t help the gasp that slips out of my mouth. “You’re joking . ”

Nic laughs. “It’s nice hearing outrage in your voice that’s not directed at me.”

Well, duh. That’s fucking ridiculous. My bio dad had a history of cheating on my mom, and it made me mad even as a kid. “Well, it’s bullshit.”

He hums. “Indeed. Anyway, I found out about Holden around that same time. I stuck around trying to make it work. Tried to move past it. They were both deeply apologetic. Swore it would never happen again. I kind of hate myself for that. Staying.”

“I get it,” I murmur. “We put up with a lot for the people who are supposed to love us.”

Nic pauses, and I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face.

Finally, he continues. “Didn’t matter how many apologies they gave.

I caught them the same way a month later.

Put my mom’s house up for sale the very next day.

Kicked them both to the curb. As soon as the house sold, I came here. They’re still together.”

“You’re fucking joking!” Nic chuckles. “It’s not funny, Nicolas. It’s bullshit. She just left you for your best friend? And Silas—is that his name? Asshole. ”

He laughs. It’s so loud and happy that it feels like we’re having two completely different conversations. “Still not my name, and he. But yes, pretty much.”

“Huh?” I ask, looking over at him again.

“The fiancé. Leo. He.”

Huh. I’m not sure why I didn’t consider that was a possibility. My stomach does a strange little flip. What the fuck? Maybe the boba isn’t sitting right. “Well, he’s an asshole too.”

“He is, indeed. Anyway, then I came here and met all of you.”

“Are you planning on staying?” I ask as we pull into the parking lot for Safe Haven.

“I hope so.”

I put the car in park and climb out, mulling over his words.

So is he just here to see if he can replace the family he lost?

If that’s the case, can I really fault him for that?

I mean… not really. Not if he’s serious.

Not when he has blood ties that I never will.

It would be unfair for me to expect him to not stay when I want nothing more than to belong to this family.

I’m almost at the door when I realize I’ve basically left Nic in the dust, and when I turn around to go back to him, I slam against his solid chest. His hands come up to grip my arms, and I tilt my head back to look up at him.

His smile is… fuck. Something else. I really need to add that smile to the mental tally of things wrong with this man.

It can go right beside smells good . “We’ve gotta stop meeting this way,” he says, smile still in place.

“You don’t like me running into you over and over?” I ask, slightly breathless for some odd reason.

He makes little circles on my skin with his thumbs before he drops his hands and takes a step back. “At least this time you didn’t yell at me. Is that a third time’s the charm thing? ”

My cheeks heat, and I try to laugh it off. “Sure. We’ll go with that.” I need to get away from him… like, now. So I turn and head into Safe Haven. Sasha waves at me with a raised eyebrow as she glances at Nic, but I’m already on my way to Lexi, so I wave back without stopping. I can explain later.

Nic falls into pace beside me, and I can tell he’s looking around and taking it all in. “We’ve done a lot of fundraising for this place,” I say conversationally. “When I was here, it wasn’t nearly this nice. It was fine, but nothing like this.”

“Oh?”

I can tell he wants to ask more, and I can tell him more.

At least a little bit, anyway. “Yeah, I was fourteen when I came here. It’s really special to me, so I asked Dad if we could make some improvements, and he let me be in charge of a fund specifically for it.

I was seventeen when I started working on it.

In that time, I’ve helped raise over half a million dollars to improve the building and the quality of life for the kids here.

I spend a lot of time at The Hart Foundation, but most of my time is spent here. ”

“I’m starting to see why Holden talks about you so much,” Nic says quietly.

Something about that makes me bristle, especially since I can’t tell if he means it in a bad way. “Anyway, here we are,” I say, stopping in front of Lexi’s door.

I give it a slight knock.

“Go away!” she yells, but she sounds more sad than angry. Poor thing. I hate this so much for her. She’s too young to be fighting such big demons.

“Lexi, it’s Eli. I brought a friend with me. Can we come in?” There’s a long pause, and then the door’s opening and she’s peeking out at me.