Page 24 of Nick: His to Claim

Rory tookeverythingseriously. He was former Special Forces, and despite his seemingly congenial disposition, he had a mind like a steel trap. Everything was weighed, measured, and stored away for future reference. Nothing escaped his notice, and he was a wizard in all things cyber. Even though he was part of a large close-knit family, it always seemed as though there was something he wasn’t sharing—something just under the surface, if you could only figure it out. Her mother called him Black Irish, and with his piercing blue eyes it wasn’t hard to understand why.

Physically, he was the oldest and strongest of the siblings. Rory was still unmarried, but not for lack of every girl in their neighborhood trying to snag him. Privately, Maggie had always thought that most of her high school girlfriends had used their friendship as a way to get to Rory. It never worked of course, but even today she had a couple of friends who would love to use their relationship as a springboard right into Rory’s massive arms.

As Rory came down the hallway, he was already assessing the situation. He hadn’t seen Nick Kord in over fifteen years, but the minute he set eyes on him he suspected he was Jason’s father. The resemblance was simply too striking to be a coincidence.

Maggie had her back to him, and every few seconds he could see her reach back and rub her bottom. Interesting. When Nick looked at her and raised his eyebrow, she immediately stopped.

Has little Miss Maggie finally met her match, he wondered. Rory had liked his brother in law and was genuinely sorry to lose him, but Maggie had run that show, even though she would never admit it. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, and Jim never said boo. If she had wanted to ride naked through the streets like Lady Godiva, Jim would have said, “All right, honey, have a good time.”

“How are you, Nick? Good to see you,” Rory said reaching them and shaking Nick’s hand firmly.

“I’m good, Rory, good to see you too,” Nick replied and meant it.

“What brings you here, Cupcake?” he asked with a grin, knowing she hated the nickname, and sliding his arm around her shoulder for a quick squeeze.

“Bad judgment,” she replied, trying to turn and walk away.

Nick grasped her arm and turned her in a complete circle till she ended up nose to chest with her brother.

“She has a problem and seems reluctant to discuss it. I was hoping we could find a little room where we could talk and get to the bottom of this.”

“No problem,” Rory responded taking a hold of Maggie’s other arm. “We’ll use my office. John, hold my calls unless it’s an emergency.”

Maggie wasn’t sure if her feet actually touched the floor on the way to her brother’s office. With one Neanderthal on each side of her, she had very little choice in the matter. Once seated behind his desk, Rory was all business except for the name Cupcake Cassidy he scrawled across the top of his legal pad. Maggie yelped when Nick’s hand came down firmly on her knee, preventing her from giving her brother the swift kick he deserved.

“All right, let’s have it,” Rory ordered, and before she knew what happened she spilled out the entire story. Refusing to meet either of their eyes, Maggie started with Jack Harley’s threats and the assault at work. She softly told about being followed, the hang-up phone calls, and tonight’s most frightening episode with the drive by and Jack actually getting out of his car across the street. By the time she was finished and raised her head, Rory’s blue eyes were hard as glass, and he had a tic in his jaw. She didn’t even want to look at Nick, but she could hear him cracking his knuckles.

“What did Mason say about this? You did tell him?” Rory questioned as he picked up the phone and dialed a number. “I need a warrant,” he informed whoever answered on the other end.

“Well, not exactly… ” Maggie stated, squirming on her chair.

“What the hell does that mean?” Rory thundered. With a quick, “I’ll call you back,” he slammed down the phone.

Maggie jumped up and tried to get past Nick, but quickly changed her mind when he rose and looked down into her eyes. Oh, this is so not good, she thought, sinking gently back onto her chair.

“I told Mason,” Nick said tightly. “As soon as I found out what had gone on, I was on the phone. Mason fired him the next morning, and we thought that was the end of it.” Nick continued, still standing and running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Neither one of us knew anything about the other incidents,” he finished, glaring at Maggie. “If we had, it probably wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

“Maybe not,” Rory replied, “but you never know. There are a lot of men out there who get off on terrorizing women. This asshole may be one of them. I’ll get a warrant, and we’ll pick him up as soon as we can find him. This is stalking and possibly a felony, so hopefully we’ll be able to put him away for a while. In the meantime, you have three choices, Cupcake. You can go stay at Ma’s; I’m sure you’d enjoy that,” he grinned. “You can hang around here until one and go home with me, or you can go home, but Nick stays with you. What’ll it be?”

Nick took his seat and waited for her answer.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be all right on my own,” she told them, not really happy with any of her options. “I have a gun, and I’m almost positive I can figure out how to load it.”

Dead silence greeted her statement; then all hell broke loose.

“Where didyouget a gun?” Rory roared, jumping up and rounding his desk.

“For the love of Christ,” Nick shouted, on his feet in a split second.

Sandwiched between the two irate men, Maggie rethought her decision. Apparently, neither of them realized how forward thinking she was in wanting to be able to protect herself.

“Never mind. I’ll go home. I don’t want to upset the kids, and Ma won’t sleep a wink if she hears about this,” Maggie told him, picking up her purse and moving toward the door now that Nick had decided to let her pass.

“Maggie, you are not to touch that gun under any circumstances,” Rory ordered her. “Please tell me you have it locked in a safe place,” he pleaded, his face pale.

“Geesh, of course I do. Do you think I’m an idiot? It’s in the safe, although now that I think about it, I might not be able to use it anyway. I can’t seem to remember the combination and have been meaning to call a locksmith.”

Rory sighed with relief and shook his head. What could he say, the woman was a menace. Meeting Nick’s eyes over the top of her head, he could see that they were on the same page.