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Woods’s easy s behind us Grant and I turned at the sa toward us with a look on his face I didn’t understand

Grant’s hand dropped froet to us I wasn’t sure if I should follow hi," Woods said before stepping by lanced back at Della, atching the Woods so I stayed with her

Rush shook his head and looked over at me, then nodded his head for me to join therabbed my arm

"I need you to stay with Blaire and Nate Grant needs to come with me Can you do that?"

I tried to nod but I just stood there, confused even more

"It’s Nan But I need him for this And you have to trust hi here "Okay" was all I could say They didn’t look as if they wanted to answer any questions Grant looked angry and Rush was tense

"I can’t leave with you guys, but if it’s what she says, then let me know I’ll handle it," Woods said, then turned and headed back to Della

Rushto her in hushed whispers She nodded and glanced over at me with a worried frown "If you think that’s necessary" was her only response

"I can’t ignore it I have to check," Rush told Blaire, who didn’t seereed with him

She kept her back stiff and nodded Rush looked torn What in the world was going on?

"If you want to come, then co in on Blaire and pulling her close

She finally seemed to surrender and nodded "Okay," she said Rush pressed a hard kiss to herfurther into hi on but me Woods’s head was lowered as he talked to Della He was telling her Rush was telling Blaire, but then there wasat ht, and I realized I had trusted in hi this for his that mattered was the fact that Rush was my brother But, motherfucker, the look on Harlow’s face when she heard Nan’s na to screw shit up I could see it, and I had to choose I’d chosen Rush He was fa Harlow to believe init for I needed her to understand, because losing her wasn’t an option

"She’ll understand Harloill listen when you explain, and she’ll be okay with it Blaire is probably explaining it to her now," Rush said as he sped toward Nan’s house

If this shit was real and August had just beat the hell out of Nan, then I was all for hunting hieance Nan was a lot of things, but first and foremost she was Rush’s little sister Rush didn’t allow Nan to come between him and Blaire, and he protected Blaire from her But if Nan was in trouble and needed Rush, he caave a shit I had once, but she’d ht bethe shit out of her," I warned hih "I know"

Rush wasn’t blind to Nan’s nastiness He also knew that saving Nan and leaving Harloasn’t easy for me I wasn’t married to Harlow I hadn’tBlaire had all that, and seeing Rush run off to save Nan made more sense to her Nan was also Rush’s sister

I couldn’t clai the truth

Rush pulled into Nan’s driveway, and the fear that Harlow aze found her little black car Fuck, I shouldn’t have left her But Rush had needed me When he needed backup, I was it That hat brothers were for We had each other’s back

We both climbed out of the truck and headed for the stairs at the same time Rush didn’t knock; he slid his key into the door and opened it I was surprised he had a key That

"Nannette," Rush called out when he swung the door open

I followed hi room Rush stalked toward the sound of her voice

He paused when he walked into the room, and I stopped behind hi

Nan’s lip was busted and a black eye was already appearing on her pale skin Her bare arms each had handprints on theh Nan sat there with her knees pulled up against her chest tightly Black streaks of

This wasn’t the Nan I knew It was the one I had known She reirl I had once felt sorry for The one whose problem I had wanted to fix just as ry bitch wasn’t in her eyes as she looked at us Instead, she was scared

"What the fuck," Rush growled and took two big strides until he was in front of her and sitting down on the sofa beside her "August did this?" Rush asked His fury was barely contained, and as I stood there and looked at her, an to boil, too

I didn’t care what she had done No wo If Rush didn’t kill hilanced over at me and then back at Rush--"I was upset about Grant and Harlow I didn’t want to go, then he wanted to have sex and I didn’t want to He tried to force ht back Then he just snapped, and when I woke up on the floor he was gone"

Rush’s body went taut "He knocked you out?" Rush asked

She nodded, and her gaze shifted to ry before, but never like that I didn’t knoas like that I knew his wife left hihter again I believed him when he said he never hurt her That she was a liar," she said in a shaky voice

"You need to see a doctor If you were unconscious, you could have a concussion Grant, take her to the hospital and have them check her out"

Me? "What? Why can’t you?" I asked I didn’t need to be taking her anywhere I was gonna beat the shit out of August, but that didn’t ust I need you to take her to get checked out Please," Rush said, standing up "I’ll call Blaire and explain"

Whichon and why I just hoped she understood Rush believed Harloas strong enough for this ereed He didn’t kno insecure she really was

"Can’t I find him?" I asked

Rush shook his head "No I have Dean to make sure I don’t serve time You don’t"