Revive (Storm MC #3) (12 page)

“It’s overheating which it’s been doing a bit lately.”  I had a Suzuki Swift hatchback and I loved it but the problem was that it was just getting to that age where things were starting to go wrong with it.  I figured my savings account was going to take a hit soon.

“Who are you calling about it?  RACQ?”

“Yeah, I’ll see if they can tow me home and then I’ll call a mechanic.”

He frowned again and pulled his phone out.  Looking at me, he said, “I’ve got a friend who can tow it and then I’ll take a look at it.”

“I can handle this, Nash.  You don’t have to do that.”  I couldn’t figure out why he was making the offer after the last encounter we’d had.

“Babe, I think you know by now that I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.”

Before I could say anything else, he was on the phone to his friend organising the towing.  When he hung up, he said, “He can’t get here for another hour or more but he’s going to do it and then take your car to my house so I can work on it.  In the meantime, I can take you wherever you were going; there’s no need for you to wait here.  He’ll call me when he’s on his way and I’ll meet him here with the keys.”

“So you’ve just organised all of that without asking me first?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“I would’ve liked to have been consulted.”

“Shit, Velvet, I’m trying to do you a favour here.” 

“I realise that, but it’s the principal of the thing, Nash.”

“What fuckin’ principal?”

“A woman likes to be involved in decisions that concern her.  That principal.” 

“I’ll remember that the next time I try to help you out but for this time can we just work with what’s been organised?” He blew out a frustrated breath.

Shit, a man who listened to me; call me stunned.  “Thank you.”

Surprise crossed his face and he slowly nodded.  “Yeah.”

We were silent for a moment, just taking each other in.  I broke the silence.  “You got a helmet for me?”

“Just one other thing before I get you the helmet.”

I tilted my head to the side.  “What’s that?”

“I’ve gotta make a stop on the way but it’ll just be a quick one.”

“Sure,” I agreed.

He gave me a tight smile and then walked back to his bike, grabbed his helmet and passed it to me.  “Where were you headed?”

“Grocery shopping.”

“I can drop you there and then get one of the prospects to pick you up when you’re finished,” he offered.

God, he was being so much nicer to me than the last time I saw him.  “Thanks, that would be great.”

“No problem,” he said as he mounted his bike and waited for me to get on.  A moment later, I settled in behind him and put my hands on his hips.  Being this close to him was sending my senses into overdrive.  When he grabbed my hands and pulled them around him, it affected me to the point where I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand without assistance when I got off his bike.

He started the bike and we took off.  The vibrations as we rode only served to thrill me more.  My imagination went wild and I pictured how hot it would be to have sex on a bike; I’d never done it but I bet Nash had.  I squeezed my legs against him while I thought about it and leaned closer, hugging him tighter.  God damn it, I finally admitted it to myself; I wanted to sleep with him again.

We didn’t travel very far, just down Brunswick Street towards the river.  He turned into a side street and then pulled into a driveway before switching off his bike.  A woman came out of the house we’d pulled up at and smiled broadly at us.  She had the same features as Nash, and I decided that she must be his mother.  Or at least be related to him somehow. 

I followed him off the bike and waited for him to introduce us, but the woman wasn’t as patient.  “Hello!” she directed at me, excitement coating her words, “I’m Nash’s mum, Linda.”

I smiled at her.  She was so warm; the kind of woman everyone gravitates to, and I couldn’t stop myself if I tried.  Her arms were outstretched and I moved towards her and into her embrace.  “Hi, I’m Velvet,” I said.  Usually, I’d find it strange that someone I just met wanted to hug me, but this didn’t feel weird; it felt like the most natural thing to do.

She continued to hug me.  “It’s lovely to meet you, Velvet.”

When she let me go, I stepped backwards and ran into Nash who’d come up behind me.  His hand slid around my waist to steady me.  “Careful, sweet thing,” he whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickling me.  A shiver ran through me, and my nipples came to life.  Christ, my whole body came to life when Nash was near me.

Linda’s eyes zeroed in on Nash’s arm around my waist, and her smile grew if that was even possible.  She looked back up at us, and motioned towards the house.  “Come in, I’ll put the kettle on.”

Nash moved his hand around to settle in the small of my back as we followed her.  “Mum, we can’t stay long.  I just dropped in to change those light bulbs that you and Carla can’t reach.  She mentioned them to me last night.”

Linda kept walking down the hall and threw over her shoulder, “It won’t take me long to make a cuppa while you change the lights.  Then you can quickly drink it before you leave.”

I heard Nash groan behind me, and had to stifle a laugh.  His mother had him around her little finger, that was clear from even this small interaction.  We hit the kitchen and she turned around and clapped her hands together.  “Okay, you go and do the lights, Nash.  Velvet can stay here and help me.”

Unable to hold it in any longer, I grinned at him.  His mother was priceless; she was obviously very happy to see him, and I loved that about her.  I never warmed to people this quick but she had a special kind of something that had touched me.

Nash narrowed his eyes on me.  “Why are you grinning like an idiot?” 

“Your mum has you, doesn’t she?”

“She has me where, babe?”

I grinned even harder and leant into him before saying, “I’ve never seen a woman have any say in your life, Nash, but your mum does, doesn’t she?” 

A lazy smile formed on his lips.  “A man owes a lot to his mother, sweet thing, so yeah, as you say, she has me.”

We were caught up in each other until his mother cut in.  “Nash, off you go.  I want some time with Velvet.”

He shook his head in amusement.  Before he left he whispered in my ear, “Don’t let her talk you into anything, okay?”

“I’m thinking that your mum could talk anyone into anything,” I murmured.

“She fuckin’ could,” he muttered as he left us alone.

Linda watched him go and then she smiled at me again.  “Are you a coffee or a tea girl?”

“Coffee, please.”

She nodded and then set to work making it.  “It’s great to finally meet you,” she said, surprising the hell out of me.  Finally?

“Umm, yeah, you too,” I stuttered, not really sure what to say because it wasn’t like I knew much about her.  Nash didn’t often talk about his family.  All I knew was that he had a couple of sisters who sometimes did his head in.

“Nash has talked about you a couple of times.”  She continued to stun me, and I stood speechless because I didn’t know what to say to that.

Linda didn’t need me to be involved in the conversation to keep going.  “Nash hasn’t mentioned any other woman since Gabriella so I figured you must mean something to him.”  She paused and pinned her gaze on me before saying, “Something special that is.”

Gabriella?  I had no idea who that was; Nash hardly ever talked to me about any of the women in his life.  He’d once mentioned a woman trashing his heart, and I considered whether that could be who his mother was talking about.

“Velvet, did you hear what I said?”  His mother was watching me carefully.

I did hear what she said but I’d been focusing on the part about Gabriella rather than on the part about me being something special to Nash.  “I’m not special to Nash,” I eventually said.

Her lips pressed together and she made a funny face at what I’d said.  “I beg to differ, honey.”

It felt like I was being bombarded from all directions this morning.  For a start, Nash had changed towards me and was being nice, and now his mother was throwing ideas out that made no sense to me.  And on top of that, I’d learnt something about Nash; he’d had a woman in his life called Gabriella.  I would never have picked that; he seemed hell bent on avoiding relationships.

His mother was waiting for me to say something.  “We’re friends,” was all I could muster.

She pulled a face that I assumed meant something like ‘sure, if you say so’, and then finished making coffees.  She brought them to the table and indicated for me to take a seat.  “Nash, coffee’s ready,” she yelled out.

He didn’t reply but I figured he would have heard her as she yelled so loud.  It reminded me of the way parents yelled out when they had a tribe in the house and needed to be heard.   

“So, tell me about yourself, honey.  What do you do for work?”

I just about spat my coffee out.  That question was always a make or break question for my friendships.  A lot of people struggled with the idea that someone would choose to be a stripper.  However, I loved my job and had no qualms telling people what I did; it was up to them what they did with the information.  And, if they were the kind of person to judge someone based on their profession, I’d rather not have them in my life anyway.  “I’m a stripper at Indigo.”

She didn’t even blink.  “How long have you been working at the club?”

“Just over four years now.”

“So that’s where you met Nash?”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  He used to sit and talk with me after my shift some nights.  He was different to the other guys there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most guys just wanted one thing from me; they assume that if you’re a stripper you must be up for anything.  Nash never did that.”  I smiled and then added, “Well, your son is a huge flirt, but he never assumed anything about me and I loved that about him.”

“You said that he used to sit with you.  Doesn’t he do that anymore?”

Damn, his mother didn’t miss anything.  “No, he’s drifted away from me a bit lately.”

Her face softened and she looked sad.  “It’s not just you that he’s drifted from lately, honey,” she said softly, “He’s going through some stuff at the moment and he’s taking it out on everyone he loves.”

“Oh.”  What did someone say to that?  This visit had been very enlightening but at the same time, I had more questions now than when I’d stepped foot in this house.

“Please give him some time to sort himself out.  He’ll push you away because that’s how Nash deals with his pain, but please promise me you won’t let him.”

“Linda, I’ve gotta be honest with you; this has been going on with Nash for awhile now.  I’ve tried to be there for him but he’s made it really clear he doesn’t want me in his life.  I’m not sure what else I can do.”

She looked torn, like she wanted to tell me something but wasn’t sure if she should.  “I’m not sure what he’s told you about his life, but I’m guessing not much because my boy likes to keep stuff to himself.  Something happened to him a long time ago and the ten year anniversary of that is coming up next month.  It was very painful for him and he hasn’t fully dealt with it yet.  We’ve tried to push him to do that but he’s resisted.  I’m watching him unravel at the moment, honey, and I think this year might be the one that finally breaks him.  As hard as that is for a mother to watch, he really needs to go through that to move forward.  And I’d like him to have as many friends around him to help him through it.”

She’d pulled my heartstrings with her little speech; my heart was hurting for him and I didn’t even know what had happened.  I could only guess that it must have been pretty bad because she was right, Nash was unravelling. 

I reached out and squeezed her hand, and nodded.  “I’ll be there for him.”

Relief washed over her.  “Thank you.”

A mother’s love was one of the strongest on earth and it was clear to me that Nash’s mother loved him very much.  He was lucky to have that.

A couple of minutes later, he came back into the kitchen.  “They’re all fixed,” he said to his mum.

She pointed at the table.  “Sit, have your coffee.”

He looked at me.  “You in a hurry to get going?”

“Nope, it’s all good.”

Taking a seat, he asked his mother, “You having any problems with your car at the moment?”

She rolled her eyes.  “My car is not as bad as you make it out to be.”

“Yeah, it is.”

I watched their interaction with fascination.  Nash was like a different person around his mother, and I loved what she brought out in him. 

“Well, nothing has broken on it for awhile.”

He informed me, “Let the record show that when my mother says ‘for awhile’ in relation to her car, she means for a week or so.”

I laughed and Linda pouted, but I could see it was in good humour.  “Did you know that Nash is a trained mechanic?” she asked me.

Raising my brows at Nash, I said, “No, I did not know that; he’s never told me that snippet of information about himself.  I guessed he was good with cars though because he’s offered to fix mine.”

Now it was her turn to raise her brows.  “Really?  That’s interesting.”

I looked between them.  “Why?”

Nash was shaking his head and muttering something under his breath that I couldn’t quite work out. 

Linda answered me.  “It’s interesting because Nash hates working on cars other than his own these days.  He fixes mine out of love but he won’t touch anyone else’s.”

I mentally connected the dots.  He hadn’t even hesitated to offer to work on mine.  I smiled at him, but he just shook his head again. 

Nash stood and jerked his head towards the front door, and said to his mum, “We’ve gotta get going.”

Linda followed us out, and gave him a long hug goodbye.  I watched them again, liking the way he let her do that.  Some guys were funny with displays of affection, but Nash was good with it.  He was a lot taller than her and placed a soft kiss on her head before pulling away.

“Love you,” she said.

Smiling, he said, “Love you too, Mum.  I’ll see you on Sunday.”

She turned to me and pulled me close for a hug.  “Remember what I said,” she murmured.