Nash: A Rough Romance Piper Stone (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

heard a thing about. While I like the girl, I ain’t gonna trust anyone at this point. Period. Okay?” I realized I’d raised my voice and huffed, looking away from their prying eyes.

“Makes damn good sense to me,” Mustang chortled. “We should try and find that car of hers.”

“That’s the Reaper we know and love, and we have plans on riding up the mountain tomorrow if the weather holds,” Scorpion added.

“That might be an issue. Another storm is rolling in. You might have to stay with Scorpion a little while longer and from what he says, it’s entertaining as hell.” Mustang moved several feet away from me, holding up his hands.

Scorpion groaned and rubbed his face. “I hate all of you and this man needs to get out of my house!” He finally laughed and while I realized he was kidding, I also knew that our sudden appearance had certainly caught him off guard. The place wasn’t really big enough for three, let alone if his gal came over.

“I’ll find a place to stay,” I said, although I had no idea where or how.

“With what money, dude?” Scorpion snarked.

I tipped my head in his direction. At this point, I was finished with being the butt of jokes. “I have money in the bank.”

“It’s about accessing it without your ID. The banks are very strict.” Mustang cocked his head and lifted his eyebrow.

Hawk was the only one who hadn’t said anything. He re-crossed his feet, taking a deep breath before offering his sage advice, something that used to piss me off like crazy.

“If I learned one thing since returning from hell, it’s that trusting anyone is the most difficult aspect of returning to civilian life, at least after the shit we were forced to go through. I almost lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me because I refused to trust Bryce. Thank God she knocked some sense into me. I don’t think this life would be worth much without her and Ashley in it. Trust your gut, Nash. That’s all any of us can do. It’s never let us down before.” Hawk kept his hard glare pinned on me, his eyes flashing. I could swear the man was daring me to challenge him. “Mustang is right. You’ll never gain access to your accounts until you manage to retrieve your wallet. Bryce has a house that she’s been hesitant to rent out to anyone and isn’t ready to sell. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you staying there. I’ll arrange it.”

If there was one thing I hated, it was taking handouts, but at this point, I had zero choices. What bothered me was their cavalier attitudes.

“What about guilt?” I threw out without thinking. “Doesn’t it keep you up at night? Doesn’t it make you sick at least once a day?”

The quiet in the room was unsettling. Scorpion finally cleared his throat, answering for the other two.

“You know how I feel about that, my friend. All it can do is eat you alive. You can’t bring Snake back. None of us can. But you can live your life as he would have intended. That’s the one thing I do know.”

Another few seconds of tension settled between us. This was awkward as hell.

“What about Bryce checking with her sources to see if she can find anything on this Giordani character?” Mustang asked, breaking the chilled air. “She’s a reporter here in town. A pretty good one too. Tenacious as fuck.” He laughed as Hawk gave him a lifted eyebrow. “You know what I’m saying is right.”

“Yeah, it’s a good idea. If there’s any dirt about or around this guy to find, she’ll be the one to do it. I’ll give her a call on the way to the sheriff’s office. I am coming with the two of you. The sheriff still owes me a favor or two.”

I found it hard to believe they’d simply shoved the experience in a neat little black box, forcing it out of sight and out of mind. That pissed me off more than anything. “Whatever. I don’t want to leave Mitch alone too long.”

“You afraid she’d going to run out again?” Scorpion asked, unable to keep the grin off his face.

I gave him a dour look. “She might, but this time, I think she just might burn down your cabin out of frustration.”

While the other two laughed, once again he gave me the finger. “If she does, you’re paying for it,” he barked.

“You look good, Nash. I think the last time I saw you was when you were resisting arrest. Do you remember?” Sheriff Robertson had a wry smile on her face as she held out her hand.

I narrowed my eyes, half laughing as I realized she’d been the deputy who’d arrested me. “I remember you shoving me to the ground, smashing my face into the concrete.”

“That’s because you threw a punch.” Her eyes twinkled after saying the words. “My guess is that military service did you just as much good as it did the other boys.”

Boys. She’d been a young woman on the day she’d arrested me. The job hadn’t been kind to her, the sadness in her eyes showing what kind of horror she’d been forced to deal with while on the job. What seemed obvious was that she hadn’t heard about what had gone down on our last mission. If she did, she was certainly hiding her disdain well.

“I’ll try not to give you that kind of trouble any longer,” I said, half laughing.

“Glad to see you home. Now, what’s this about some gangster from Chicago?” She moved behind her desk, sitting down behind her computer, motioning to the other chair.

I sat down almost reluctantly, feeling more like I was in an inquisition than hoping to find assistance.

After telling her the story, including the fact we were chased and shot at, she folded her hands, taking a full minute before saying anything. “Look, you need to keep in mind that Mitch is a