"Are you going to take it?"

"God, no!"

"Maybe you should think about it. You could do with the money."

"I don't want to touch his dirty money. He can shove it where the sun don't shine." I barely contained my anger and she felt it.

"It was just a thought; there's no need to bite my head off. I figure you may as well get what you can out of him seems as though he screwed you over in the divorce."

"I've been free of him for five years and that's the way I want to keep it. If I take this money, we're tied together forever; he'll find a way to hold it over me. Plus, I won't sink that low. I've got no intention of telling our story to the world but I don't need to be paid off to do that; I've got more integrity than that."

She listened quietly while I spoke, and then said, "It's one of the things I love the most about you."

"What's that?"

"You hold your head high and live with honesty; you always do the right thing."

Her words meant a lot to me; I was glad I'd come over today because I'd really needed the boost they'd given me.

I arrived early for work that night. James had played on my mind all afternoon after talking about him this morning, and I needed the calm that being at Indigo gave me. I loved working at the club. Scott and the other Storm guys had welcomed me into their family from the beginning; I'd never be a part of their club, but they looked out for me like a family did.

The only thing against being at Indigo at the moment was Nash. His silence was a clear indicator that he wanted nothing more to do with me, and that hurt. But I'd vowed years ago not to take shit from a man ever again and I was sticking to my guns on that. Not even Nash could make me change my mind.

I sighed as I thought about him. He was sex incarnate and I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind that sex with him would be out of this world. And it wasn't like he hadn't tried his best to get me into bed. The thing about Nash was that while he was a well built sex God that every woman wanted a chance at turning into a one woman man, I actually really liked spending time with him. He was intelligent and funny, and I always looked forward to that time right after I finished my shift when I got to sit and unwind with him. We had that easy relationship where nothing was forced and it was just as comfortable to sit in silence as it was to sit and talk about anything and everything. So I'd made the decision a long time ago not to go there with him; I valued our friendship more than I wanted the bliss of a few hours with him and his body.

Harlow interrupted my thoughts. "What are you doing tomorrow at lunch time?"

"Sleeping." Tomorrow was Saturday and I had the day off. I had the entire weekend off for once and I planned to shut myself away from the world and have some Velvet time.

She grinned and I eyed her suspiciously; Harlow was always plotting and planning stuff and I wondered what she had dreamt up this time. "Nope, you're coming to Scott's for lunch. I've convinced him to let me take over his kitchen so you can't say no."

I groaned. "Really? You're going to make me get out of bed on my weekend off?"

"Yes, and no complaints. I'll make you lemon meringue pie."

"Damn you and your food bribery," I muttered. Harlow's food was out of this world and she used it often to get what she wanted. I felt bad for Scott; he was so screwed when she pulled out the big guns.

She grinned again. "Twelve o'clock and don't be late." And with that she waltzed out of the room.

I dropped my head into my hands and rued the fact that I couldn't resist her charms. She was so unlike any of the friends I'd ever had and although it had taken us a little while to warm to each other, I counted her as a close friend now.

"She's got mad skills at persuasion, hasn't she?"

I looked up to find Nash standing in the doorway, his intense gaze burning into me. My skin tingled at the way he was looking at me; a feeling I desperately tried to switch off. "Yes, she has," I agreed. I remained guarded, not knowing what his intention was with this conversation.

He leant against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. The intensity in his eyes remained, and a new tension settled in the space between us. Something was going on here; I didn't know what it was but my body buzzed with anticipation.

"I owe you an apology," he finally said.

"Yes you do," I agreed as I fought with the butterflies in my stomach. Where the hell had they come from?

He didn't say anything, just stood watching me. The look in his eyes was beginning to fluster me; a feeling that was foreign to me. I waited in silence for what he would say next.

Pushing off from the doorframe, he came towards me, the muscles rippling under his fitted black t-shirt. I tried like hell not to look at those muscles, but I doubted there was a woman on earth who could pull that off. His voice dragged my eyes back to his. "I'm sorry for being a bastard to you. Please forgive me because I miss the hell out of you."

His apology was simple, but the emotion tangled in his words was real. He meant every word he'd just said. I blinked. He'd stunned me; I'd never expected him to come to me with an apology. And certainly not a straight up one like he'd just delivered. The honesty and vulnerability in his words meant more to me than he would ever know.

I needed to lighten the mood so I went with sass. "I've missed you too, asshole. Don't ever pull that shit again, okay?"

He grinned, and visibly relaxed. "Thank fuck."

I stood and moved closer to him. His musky scent filled the room and did things to me I wished it didn't. I did my best to ignore it; I had something else that he needed to hear and I didn't want to be distracted. "I meant it when I said I'm the friend who will always be honest. I look out for my friends, Nash. And I only want the best for them."

His grin sobered but he didn't shut down on me. "I know."

I pushed him. "Can you handle that?"

He took a moment but he nodded and murmured, "Yeah."

I smiled. "Good."

It was a charged moment; there was a shift in our relationship and I felt it strongly. By the look on Nash's face, he'd felt it too. But it was clear that neither of us knew exactly what it was or what to do with it.

Eventually he blew out a breath and took a step backwards. "I've got to go. We're good, right?"

"Yeah, we're good."

He nodded and then he left. And I slumped down into my chair, overtaken by confusion. What the hell just happened?

Chapter 7.

Dayum, Baby ~ Florida Georgia Line Nash Fuck.

I had to get out of here.

Now.

I'd salvaged my friendship with Velvet but what the fuck had I just gotten myself into? There was a reason I didn't do relationships with women; they demanded more than I was willing to give. And, fuck, I'd just thrown all my rules out the window for Velvet. I hadn't been able to stop myself when she'd pushed me for more. Christ, I'd just gone in there to say sorry, but somehow she'd found a way to break my resolve. Up until now we'd just been casual friends; now it felt like we'd gone past that boundary.

I'd hightailed it out of there pretty damn fast and was now at a loss as to what to do. I'd planned on kicking back at the club tonight, but I needed to put some distance between me and Velvet. I was heading towards the front door to leave when a blonde approached. Her hand snaked out and landed on my chest. "Nash, where are you going?" she purred.

My dick stirred but I wasn't interested. What the hell? She was hot and just what I needed tonight, but I wasn't feeling it. "Heading home, babe," I replied as I removed her hand.

She wiggled her hand out of my grasp, and went in for the grope. I still didn't want her, and pushed her hand away. "Sorry darlin', I'm not interested tonight."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You're always interested. I've never heard of you saying no."

She said it like an accusation and my dick certainly took it as one. You're fucking letting the team down here, he screamed at me.

"Yeah well, not tonight. I've got other things to take care of tonight," I muttered. Like a stern talking to myself about rejecting women who clearly wanted to be fucked.

"I could come over after you're finished with that," she offered.

Christ, couldn't a man say no in peace? I wouldn't know because I'd never done it but surely there were men who did that shit all the time. I changed tactics. Smiling lazily at her, I suggested, "Not tonight, darlin' but maybe another time."

She moved closer to me and rested her palm on my chest again. "Well that would be fun too, but I'd really like you to fuck me tonight. I've heard ah-may-zing things about your talents."

Fuck me! This chick had it all happening and was all over me, and I still felt no desire to go there with her. My mind went into overdrive; what the hell caused this shit to happen to a man? In my thirty-five years, I'd never once had lack of interest issues.

I started to move away from her when a hand curled around my bicep and a warm body pushed itself into my front. "Nash is with me tonight. Sorry, hon."

And at that sultry voice, my desire jumped to attention.

Velvet.

She had her arm around me, and was engaging in some kind of girl warfare with the other chick. I waited to see where this all ended up.

Finally, the chick huffed out a breath and muttered something under her breath about sluts and strippers that I didn't quite catch before she turned and stalked away from us. Velvet loosened her hold on me a little and turned to look up at me. I raised my eyebrows at her but didn't utter a word. I was still mentally dealing with my malfunctioning desire.

"What?" she asked, her eyebrows raised back at me. "You needed rescuing so I rescued you." She let go of me completely, and the pussy in me wanted to reach out and pull her back.

I nodded. "Thanks, sweetheart. Means a lot to me." The words dribbling out of my mouth were not in my control. Nothing I was saying or doing was in my fucking control tonight.

She gave me a strange look that I couldn't comprehend and then said, "Sure thing. But you should go now before she tries to latch on again."

"Yeah, I'll see you later," I muttered, and then exited the club before I fucked anything else up tonight.

An hour later, I found myself at Scott's house.

"Hey brother," he answered the door, surprised. "What's up?"

I pushed past him, and started walking down his hallway. "Nothing's up, just felt like some company."

He chuckled. "I'm not really your standard type of company, am I?"

I scowled at him. "You'll fuckin' do for tonight."

"Trouble in Nash paradise?"

"Yeah, fuck you, asshole. Just make me a coffee," I grumbled and sat at his kitchen table.

Laughing, he did as I'd demanded, and then sat with me. "What's wrong, man? You've been off lately."

Scott was a perceptive guy, often sensing when shit wasn't right with people. I'd always managed to stay off his radar; probably because my shit was packed so deep in my soul that even I didn't feel it. But the last decade was catching up with me, and I could feel myself slowly falling apart. And for the first time in those ten years, I didn't know what to do.

I exhaled in frustration and anxiety, my heart hammering in my chest as I contemplated letting the monsters out. I'd locked them away for so long that just thinking about them distressed me. Talking about them scared the fuck out of me. "Do you have things in your past that no-one really knows about? Things that you don't even want to know about?"

"Brother, I've got things in my life now that I don't want to know about, let alone shit that happened years ago."

"Yeah," I murmured, lost in my thoughts.

"You need to talk about it?"

The concern in his voice was clear; I knew I could trust Scott but I didn't trust myself with this stuff yet. I shook my head. "No, I'm good. Just been thinking about shit lately."

We sat in silence for awhile. It was exactly what I needed and the anxiety I'd been feeling started to ease out of me. Once I had myself under control, I eyed him and asked, "You ever had a problem with your dick not working?"

Surprise flickered on his face and he smirked. "Never thought I'd hear that shit come out of your mouth."

"Yeah, yeah. But fuck man, have you?"

"Can't say I have, Nash."

"Shit."

"Yours giving you grief?" The bastard was laughing at me.

"Not my dick so much but my desire to use it. First time it's ever happened so you could say I'm a little concerned."

"Maybe Velvet was on to something when she said she was worried your dick would need resuscitating soon."

"What the fuck?"

"She told me that she'd said something to you about screwing every chick in sight."

"Fuck, why can't women keep stuff to themselves?"

He shrugged. "Beats the shit outta me too, brother."

I stood up to leave. I'd gotten what I'd come here for.

Scott followed me out. "Shit, I forgot to tell you that Harlow's cooking lunch for everyone tomorrow. She wants you here."

"What time?" Nobody passed up a meal cooked by Harlow.

"Around twelve."