From This Moment On Part 19

Chapter Twenty-one.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on with you guys?" Gabe asked as he and Zach walked into the garage, with Chase and Ryan following closely behind.

"Marcus has been doing our pretty young guest."

Marcus grabbed a handful of Smith's shirt. "Watch it, a.s.shole! Talk like that about her again and I'll make sure you can only do horror films from now on."

"Whoa," Gabe said, moving to put himself between his brothers. "Hold on a second."

Marcus was on the verge of letting Smith go when he said, "What the h.e.l.l are you doing with someone like her? Isn't she a little young and s.l.u.tty for you?"

A split second later, Marcus was throwing the first punch. The two of them each got a couple of good slams in before Zach and Gabe worked together to pull them off each other.

"You don't know the first G.o.dd.a.m.ned thing about her."

"And you're telling me that you do? Beyond how wild she is in bed, that is."

"I warned you," Marcus growled.

Smith held up his hands and took a step back, "Look, I'm not trying to p.i.s.s you off. I'm just trying to talk some sense into you."

"Hold up," Zach said. "Somebody give me the Cliff Notes version of what the h.e.l.l is going on."

All eyes turned to Marcus and he bit out the words, "Nicola and I met after the engagement party. I didn't know who she was at first."

Gabe whistled low and long. "Trust old man Sullivan not to recognize a huge pop star. So, when did you figure it out?"

"When Lori invited me to the dance studio the next day for their rehearsal." He ran his hand over his face. "I thought Nicola was one of the dancers."

"You're an idiot."

Zach was right. He was an idiot. What the h.e.l.l was he doing in the garage with his brothers when Nicola was outside in the yard with his mother and sisters? He'd vowed that the next time he saw her he'd fix everything. Instead, all he'd done was make everything worse.

"I've got to go talk to her," he said, but Smith grabbed his arm. Hard.

"Do you have any idea what it will be like to date her?"

"I don't give a c.r.a.p about her fame."

"That's easy to say now," Smith said, "but what about the fiftieth time you guys try to go out? You'll think you're having a private conversation about grapes or songs or whatever the h.e.l.l you two talk about and someone will snap a shot that looks like you're fighting. The next thing you know, the headline will be that you couldn't hack it, that you were too different from the start. They'll even throw in some quote from an anonymous friend saying Nicola always knew you were wrong together. You'll want to trust her when she says it isn't true, that she didn't say that to anyone, but you'll start wondering if she actually did."

It was the most Smith had ever said to any of them about the trials of fame, but Marcus didn't give a c.r.a.p right now about how hard life could be for his hugely famous brother. All he cared about was the woman he'd hurt by being careless with her heart.

"I know you think you're helping, but this is between me and Nicola, not you guys, and not the rest of the G.o.dd.a.m.ned world."

But Smith wouldn't stay out of his face. "Listen to me, I get it, she's probably great in the sack."

Marcus came at him again, but Smith held his ground, despite the fact that Marcus's hands were around his throat.

"But for a guy like you who likes his expensive wine, his peace and quiet out there in the grapevines, all that fame c.r.a.p will drive you crazy. Fast." Smith frowned. "What I don't get is how the h.e.l.l no pictures of you two have surfaced yet?"

Marcus abruptly dropped his hands from Smith's throat. Hopefully he'd left one h.e.l.l of a bruise.

"We've been careful," he said between his teeth.

"You two are skulking around in corners? See, it's already f.u.c.ked up, man." Smith gestured to his brothers. "We all get that Jill turned out to be a cold b.i.t.c.h and Nico is a hot rebound-a d.a.m.ned great rebound, bro-but her life is way too messy for a straight-ahead guy like you."

Ryan nodded. "Hate to say it, but he's right, Marcus. The press will drive you insane. Even playing baseball, they're in my face way too often."

Surprisingly, Chase nodded. "She seems great-much sweeter, more innocent-looking than I thought she'd be after some of things I've heard about her." He pinned Marcus with his steady gaze. "But it doesn't help that she looks like she's barely graduated high school. Everyone is going to think you're nothing but a dirty old man."

Only Gabe broke in to say, "Hold up a sec. Are you in love with Nico?"

"Her name is Nicola," Marcus shot at his youngest brother.

And Gabe wasn't the one who needed to know that he was in love with Nicola. None of his f.u.c.king brothers were the ones who needed to hear those words.

The one person who needed to know exactly how he felt about her was sitting out in his mother's backyard thinking he didn't love her back.

All because he'd been too much of a p.u.s.s.y to own up to his feelings.

"Get the f.u.c.k out of my way," he growled to his five younger brothers.

No one said another word. They just parted ranks to let him through.

"Jesus," Zach swore as Marcus left the rest of them standing in the garage with their mouths open, "I can't believe the six of us were in here talking like a bunch of girls about love and relationships."

"At least I tried to talk sense into him," Smith said as they followed him out in single file. He shrugged. "But since he's clearly a basket case over her, we might as well get a good seat for the show."

"Nicola, I can't keep doing this."

She looked up from the conversation he'd interrupted between the women with extreme alarm on her pretty face.

Marcus knew she didn't want him to out their relationship in front of his entire family, but he couldn't keep pretending he didn't know her. He couldn't keep acting like he didn't love her. And he sure as h.e.l.l couldn't stand to listen to Smith talk about her so dismissively, like she was nothing more than a hot piece of a.s.s.

Marcus wanted everyone to see her the way he did-as a smart, focused, brilliant artist and businesswoman.

So what if he didn't fit into her world and she didn't fit into his?

How could he give her up?

She was shaking her head, her eyes desperate as she silently begged him to stop talking. But he couldn't stop now, knew he had to get it all out before another second pa.s.sed where she didn't think he loved her.

He moved to her, pulled her up out of her seat.

"No, Marcus." She looked wildly around at his family, who were now all a.s.sembled in their seats at the table, their faces pressed up to the invisible gla.s.s. h.e.l.l, knowing them, they all wished they had bowls of popcorn to munch from. But he didn't care. Nothing mattered now but Nicola.

And the fact that he was going to lose her if he didn't do something quick.

"Don't. Please don't."

Maybe if he'd gotten five minutes of sleep, he would have been able to see how serious she was, that his declaration was the last thing she wanted right now. But in that moment, all Marcus knew was how right it felt to touch her, to be close to her.

"I love you."

She backed away from him and would have stumbled on a tree root in the gra.s.s if he hadn't been gripping her hands in his.

"Please don't do this. Not here. Not now." Her words were barely a whisper, but the backyard was so deadly silent, with not even a bird chirping or a breeze to sound through the trees, that everyone heard her plea loud and clear.

"I should have told you before. I was a fool to let you go, to let you believe I didn't love you."

Nicola was trying to pull her hands from his and clearly wanted nothing more than to escape. But he couldn't let her go, not without making her face what was between them.

Marcus knew there were a million different ways he could have done this better, but right now there was nothing left for him to do but pull her against him and kiss her...in front of his whole family.

Her body was stiff against his, her mouth tight and closed. But then, their connection took over despite the fact that she clearly wanted to fight him, and the pa.s.sion neither of them had ever been able to hold back from each other came crashing through. They kissed each other like it had been years since their mouths had touched instead of twenty-four hours.

Abruptly, Nicola shoved at his chest, knocking him away from her. Both of her hands were clamped over her mouth and her eyes were wide with horror.

Nicola turned in the general direction of his family. "I'm sorry I ruined your lunch," she said in a broken voice, then turned and ran toward the house.

f.u.c.k.

Marcus had never put his heart out on the line to anyone like that before, only to have it returned sliced and diced into tiny little pieces. His pride told him to let Nicola go, that he hadn't needed her before and he didn't need her now.

At least this time he knew enough to tell his pride to go straight to h.e.l.l.

A heartbeat later, Marcus Sullivan was chasing down the pop star who had stolen his heart.

"Wait a minute," Lori said in the wake of Marcus's departure. "What just happened here?"

Her twin snorted. "Seriously, are you still the only one who's completely clueless? Can't you pay attention to anyone's life but your own for three seconds?"

Before Lori could turn around and jump down her twin's throat, Zach said, "Looked to me like Marcus just completely blew it." He shook his head, looking less than impressed. "Man, that was messy."

"It might not end up being quite so funny when it happens to you," his mother told him with a pointed arch of one eyebrow.

"No chance," Ryan said. "The rest of us are perfectly content to leave love out of it."

Knowing it would irk his siblings, Chase said, "Not all of us," then planted a big wet kiss on Chloe's lips. She laughed and kissed him back.

"I just don't understand," Lori said. "When did Marcus and Jill break up?"

Speaking as if she were addressing a two-year-old, Sophie told Lori, "I guess he finally dumped her and now he's in love with Nico-"

"He says her name is really Nicola," Smith interrupted and Sophie shot him a death glare for cutting her off.

"As I was saying, the only problem is that she doesn't seem to be in love with him."

Gabe's radio went off suddenly, a loud shrill noise that couldn't be missed, along with a quick burst of information about the situation that they all listened in on as he turned the volume up.

He was already standing and pushing away from the table before the fire dispatcher stopped speaking. "Sorry to eat and run, especially when we've just gotten to the good stuff."

Mary stood, too, and gave him a hug and kiss. "After all these years, I should be used to watching you leave on a call." She reluctantly let him out of her arms. "Be safe, honey."

"Don't worry," Gabe replied. "Nothing's going to happen to your favorite son."

"He's right," Smith joked. "I'm going to stay here and be just fine."

Everyone laughed but Lori. As soon as Gabe left, she said, "I can't help feeling responsible for everything with Marcus and Nico. I mean, Nicola." Her usually bright smile was completely nonexistent. "I mean, I'm the one who introduced them and then left them to have dinner alone." She bit her lip. "Or whatever else it was they ended up doing."

"Don't feel bad, Naughty. Evidently he met her before you introduced them."

Lori looked at Chase with huge eyes. "No way. He had no idea who she was when I introduced them and she-" Her words fell away. "Oh my G.o.d, Marcus must have been the guy she was telling me about that day at the studio. And then they both tried to act like they didn't know each other. No wonder he was so weird that afternoon and she kept forgetting the steps that she'd known all morning."

Everyone leaned in closer. "What did she say to you about him?" Sophie asked.

Suddenly, Lori seemed to realize that she was spilling Nicola's secrets. "I shouldn't tell you guys."

Ryan and Smith grinned at each other, both of them knowing how close they were to getting more dirt on their until-now perfect older brother. "We've already seen the worst of it, Lori," Ryan said, followed by Smith with, "Maybe we can help him if we know more."

Seeing right through her sons, Mary said, "Smith, Ryan, I think we've already seen and heard enough about their private business."

"Mom's right," Lori said. "Besides, all she said was that she met some guy the night before and then she fell asleep on his lap before they'd even kissed."

Zach laughed out loud. "Poor sap couldn't even keep her awake."

Mary shushed her kids. "Enough. We're not going to sit here gossiping about your brother when there are tables that need clearing and plates that need washing."

After everyone hopped to attention, Chloe said to Chase, "Your mother is so sweet that sometimes I forget she raised eight children on her own and knows perfectly well how to handle all of you."

"She didn't do it alone. Marcus helped her more than any of us." He twined his fingers through hers and pulled her close to him beneath the shade of a large oak tree. "He sacrificed a ton for us. He deserves a happy ending."

Chloe tilted her face to look into his eyes. "I'm betting he'll get one. Really, really soon."

"How can you say that after what went down here today?"

"Women's intuition. Nicola is in love with him." Before he could ask how she knew, Chloe pressed a soft kiss to his lips, then said, "A woman in love always recognizes the signs in another woman in love. Like Lori said, suddenly it all makes sense-the way they couldn't take their eyes off each other during lunch, the way he jumped all over Gabe for making her laugh and Ryan for calling her gorgeous. I guarantee Nico is head over heels for your brother, whether she wants to be or not."