Page 69 of Beautiful Harmony

Nola’s face flushed, and she straightened her shoulders, staring directly at Nix for the first time. “Ministering to others gives me an immense amount of satisfaction.”

“Does it, or are you just out here because Daddy’s making you do it?” Nix asked, his gaze burrowing into hers.

She stared up at him, her mouth dropping open a little. “How did you know…”

She stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m here because I want to be here.”

“Right,” Nix said.

Lucas watched in surprise as Nix shrugged off his leather jacket and held it out to Nola. “Put this on.”

“I’m sorry?” She stared at the leather jacket, making a small ‘eep’ when Nix draped it over her shoulders. “I can’t… I can’t take your jacket.”

“You’ll freeze if you don’t,” he said.

“This is… I mean, this looks very expensive, and I don’t… I can’t take your jacket,” Nola said. She studied his upper body. He wore just a t-shirt, and her gaze skittered over his chest before landing on his full sleeve tattoos. “You’ll be too cold.”

She tried to hand it back, and Nix shook his head. “I work at Crimson Door Tattoo on Main Street. You can drop it off there some time, or you can keep it. Doesn’t matter to me.”

He walked across the parking lot toward the Sip and Gulp without looking back. Nola stared wide-eyed at Lucas. “He just gave me his jacket.”

Lucas grinned at her. “Nice to meet you, Nola.”

He walked after Nix, stuffing the pamphlet into his jacket pocket. Nix approached the group of teenage boys, and Lucas jogged over, stopping next to the tattoo artist as he eyed the suddenly quiet group.

“You think it’s fucking funny to touch a woman without her consent?” Nix fixed his gaze on the one who’d grabbed Nola’s ass.

Looking like he was five seconds from shitting his pants, the teenager glanced at his friends. They were all staring at the ground, and he swallowed hard. “They dared me to do it.”

“Shut up, asshole,” one of the other boys said before shoving him.

“I didn’t know she was your girl, man,” the boy said with another terrified look at Nix.

Nix looked over the rest of the group. “I’m being a nice guy right now. If you touch her or even fucking catcall her again, you’ll find out what it’s like when I’m not a nice guy. Understand?”

They nodded, gazes still on the parking lot, and Nix said, “I didn’t fucking hear you.”

A chorus of “Yes, Sir” rang out.

“Good. Now get the fuck out of here. Go home and do your goddamn homework,” Nix said.

They scattered like roaches in the light, and Lucas laughed. “You got a way with kids, huh?”

Nix just shrugged before heading into the Sip and Gulp. Nola wasn't standing on the street when they came out, both carrying water bottles.

Nix’s big body tensed, and Lucas pointed to their left. “She’s over there.”

Nola stood further down the street, holding a baby as a woman loaded a stroller into a car trunk. She wore Nix’s jacket even though it was comically too large on her slender body.

“She’s okay,” Lucas said. “C’mon, let’s look at that bookcase and get the hell out of here before your car gets jacked.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were making their way down the filthy urine-coated stairwell of an apartment building.

“What a waste of fucking time. Sorry, Lucas,” Nix said.

“How were you supposed to know they used a different picture to try to sell their piece of shit bookcase?” Lucas said. “The ironic part is I’m pretty sure that was an Ikea one, yeah?”

“Yes,” Nix said as he shoved open the door to the lobby. “Again, sorry for wasting your time.”

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