Page 108 of Things We Hide from the Light

“Damn it,” I muttered and slumped lower in the chair when I spotted him. He was dressed in his uniform, towing Piper on a pink leash, and looking even more furious than Knox and Lucian combined. Nolan strolled along a few yards behind him, his phone to his ear.

“Ladies,” Nash growled. His gaze landed on me and I made zero attempt to cover the fury he inspired in me.

“Morning, Nash,” Naomi chirped.

“Hey, Chief,” Sloane said.

“Thought I told you not to come around my family,” Nash said to me.

Oh, goody. We were gonna go there. In public. With witnesses.

“I’d think long and hard about starting that conversation right now. Unless of course you want to airallthe dirty laundry,” I said, firing poisoned eyeball daggers at him.

Everyone stared at us as if Nash and I had just turned into a live-action telenovela in front of them.

“I said leave her alone, not be a dick to her,” Knox snapped.

“I don’t need you to defend me. Especially when you’re not even speaking to me,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, I’m gonna need an explanation immediately,” Sloane said.

“I’m glad you came to your senses,” Lucian said to Nash.

“Fuck off, Lucy,” Nash snarled. “And fuck you too, Knox.”

Amanda sidled over. “I smell drama. What’s happening?”

“Everyone is mad at everyone else,” Sloane said. “Will someonepleaseexplain what crawled up y’all’s butts so I can choose a side? Spoiler alert: Team Not Lucian.”

Lucian turned his steely eyed gaze on her. “I don’t have the energy for you today, Sloane.”

Naomi put her hand out to keep Sloane from launching herself out of her chair. “Listen, I can only handle one pair of feuding friends at a time.” She turned to me. “What’s going on with you and Nash? And you and Knox. And Lucian and, well, everyone.”

They all turned to look at me. The women eyed me expectantly. The men looked at me with varying degrees of scowling faces. One of the team moms was aiming her phone in our direction, probably recording the whole thing.

Stef chose that moment to wander up with a coffee cup the size of a bucket. He stopped short when he sensed the standoff. “What’d I miss?”

“Lina’s been lying to everyone,” Nash announced.

It was go time. I was really good at go time. I wasn’t one of those people who came up with their best zingers in the shower days after a confrontation. I was someone who fired back hard.

The only problem was, I didn’t feel good about deploying his secret. Nash might be acting like a gigantic asshole, but I’d seen real pain beneath the surface, and I couldn’t in good consciencebreak that trust. Unless of course he pushed me too far, in which case he only had himself to blame.

Naomi put one of her drinks down and reached over to squeeze my wrist. “If Lina’s been less than truthful, then I’m guessing it’s because she has a good reason for it.”

It was such a Naomi thing to say. And she meant it. At least right now, before she heard the truth. But if anyone was going to share my truth, it should be me.

“I’m here looking for Duncan Hugo,” I said.

Naomi’s mom, Amanda, gasped theatrically. Knox’s nostrils flared as he swore under his breath. Lucian, of course, showed no outward reaction.

Sloane was the first to recover. “Why? What are you into, Lina?”

“It’s work. I don’t sell insurance. I recover stolen assets. Hugo stole something from a client and I tracked him to the area, not knowing that he was also wrapped up in other situations. I came to town just to see Knox for a day. But then everything happened.”

“What did he steal?” Amanda asked. “I bet it was jewels. Was it jewels?”

“It was a car,” I admitted.