“Charlotte Rose Carter,” he supplied. “We realize this might be uncomfortable.”
I made a sound the boys in the Corps taught me. It wasn’t polite. They wanted me to go up there and pretend to be someone else, to look into the eyes of a woman who loved my brother and who was now going to be betrayed. She would just go about her day like he wasn’t even gone, like all was right with the world, when really everything was all wrong.
“It isn’t as if we are asking you to sleep with her,” the man said.
I barked a laugh. Sleeping with my brother’s woman was the last thing on my mind.
“I’ll be in touch when I have the drive,” I said shortly. I was beyond done with this conversation. I realized these men were just trying to do their jobs, but they were assholes.
I slammed the door to the SUV the second my feet hit the sidewalk. They disappeared into the New York traffic seconds later. I took a deep breath and stared up at the building. Cold air whipped around, pushing against my skin and hair. I didn’t mind the cold. It was a good way to help numb that hollow ache in the center of my chest.
Not quite ready to go inside, I pulled out the phone I was given and dialed a number I knew from memory. As the line rang, I stepped closer to the building, realizing someone might recognize me if I hung out in the middle of the sidewalk.
“This is Reed.” A voice came on the line.
“It’s Patton.”
“Patton? Why didn’t you call from your phone?” Nathan and I had been friends since being stationed together a couple years ago. It really hadn’t been that long, but it was long enough for us to recognize that we were cut from the same cloth. Nathan and I shared the same experiences, the same hobbies, the same Marine Corps mentality that many of the men we worked with displayed.
The instant alert was clear in his tone, the instant urge to rush into action when he felt something wasn’t right. We read each other well. It was that coupled with everything else that made us tight. Hell, it made us honorary brothers.
“It’s a long story,” I explained, not wanting to get into everything out here in the open. “I’m in NYC, family stuff. Can you hold the job for me until I can get down to North Carolina?”
Nathan pulled the phone down so his voice was slightly muffled. “Patton wants me to hold his job,” he said with a hint of humor in his tone.
I couldn’t help but smile. Honor, Nathan’s wife came onto the line. “Patton have you gotten yourself in trouble already?”
“You know it.”
She laughed, but then her voice turned serious. “Call if you need him.”
By him, I knew she meant Nathan. A guy would think after everything she had been through, she wouldn’t want Nathan involved in anything dangerous. It just goes to show how tough Honor really was.
“Thanks,” I replied, and I meant it.
Seconds later, Nathan was back on the line. “What can I do?” he said, his tone serious.
“I got it handled.”
“I have no doubt, man,” he said. “You know you got a place here. I’ll just sweet talk Honor out from behind that computer and she can help me with the first couple cases.”
I heard Honor’s giggle in the background and rolled my eyes. Those two were enough to give a guy cavities. Everyone knew I liked women, but settling down with just one? Wasn’t going to happen.
“We got work already?” I said, surprise and pride swelling in me. When Nathan first invited me down to Jacksonville to be part of a private investigation firm, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I just hoped we could make it work.
“Yep. We got some contracts with the Corps already.”
“Sweet.” A pang of regret hit me because I wanted to be there. But this was important. This was for my brother.
“You’re sure you’re all good?” Nathan asked, reading me again, even from over the phone. Sometimes that guy was so perceptive it was creepy.
“All good.”
“Call me if that changes.”
After I agreed, we both hung up and I pushed the phone back into my pocket and stared down at the new keys to my new apartment.
The apartment I now shared with my brother’s girlfriend.
6
Charlotte
The hot water slid over my bare skin, leaving a trail of tingles along my flesh and causing a deep moan to vibrate my throat.
There wasn’t anything quite like a steaming hot shower to release the tension that always seemed to find its way into my muscles during the day. Massages were good too, but who had time for that?
Stepping backward under the spray, water cascaded over my head, weighing my hair down and pressing the silky strands against my back. I pushed the remaining conditioner through the ends of my hair and as the product made its way down to the drain, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.