Page 63 of Touch in the Dark

“Knew that would be you,” Jordan’s face appears inside the car. “Elsa?” he cocks his head, then looks at Nick and gives him a smile that suggests something beyond what this is.

“What are you doing here?” Nick asks.

“Archer called and told me about Doris. He said we couldn’t go to the hospital, so this is the next best thing. Is she alright?”

“Yeah, I think so. Some broken bones but she’s good.”

“Sir, I don’t mean to interrupt but I think we’re drawing some attention.”

We all look at Thomas and he nods his head at the sidewalk.

“We should go,” Nick says, grabbing his bag. “Elsa, thank you for today.”

“No pro-”

“Come on, Elsa, we have beers and chips and the soccer,” Jordan pulls a face as Nick gets out past him. He nudges him back and I get the feeling Nick doesn’t want me to come up. I don’t think I should either. But before I can protest, Jordan takes my hand and half drags me out of the back seat. I have no choice but to slide along and clamber out. “It’ll be like old times and take Nicky’s mind off everything.”

“Jordan, for fucks sake,” Nick sighs. He looks to me. “I’m sorry about this.”

“Is that Jordan Adair? Oh my God, it is!” A couple of women are gawping at him. “And Nick. Holy shit!” the voice screeches.

A man opens the door to Nick’s apartment building and steps out, he’s wearing a uniform and I realise he’s the doorman. He calls out to Nick. They have no choice but to hurry inside, Jordan waving with one hand and keeping tight hold of me with the other. Thomas gets out of the car and looks at me in surprise.

“She’ll call you,” Jordan tells him as we hurry inside the lobby of Nick’s building and the doorman closes the door, locking out the fans that have started to gather.

Normally, I know they’re not that rude to fans, but these are exceptional circumstances. I pull my hand out of Jordan’s grip and frown at him. “I’ll wait for that to die down,” I point through the doors as they move away from the glass. “Then leave.”

“Nonsense,” Jordan puts his arm around me. “It’s been forever. I never got to talk to you at Remi’s party. Sly dog, keeping that to yourself too,” Jordan prods my side, making me flinch away.

“Jordan, let her go.”

He ignores him and heads to the elevator pressing the call button, still holding on to me. Nick doesn’t argue but gives me an apologetic look. Well, it’s not like I had any other plans. We go upstairs in silence and Nick lets us into the apartment. I’ve never been here before and take it all in with a sweeping glance. It’s nowhere near on the scale of Remi’s place but it’s nice, manly and neat as a pin.

“Hey, how is she?” Archer gets up off a sofa in the centre of the open plan space. There is a soccer game on the huge TV screen. He does a double take when he sees me. “Elsa?”

I wave awkwardly.

“She brought Nicky back, so I invited her up,” Jordan explains.

“And you’re here, why? I told you he was staying at the hospital,” Archer turns to Nick. “Why aren’t you at the hospital?”

“Doris sent me away.”

Jordan laughs, finally relinquishing his hold on me, he heads to the kitchen, which is all part of the same open space and opens the refrigerator like he lives here. I suppose he does feel at home here. I know how close they all are, practically living in each other’s pockets.

“And I’m not entirely sure how I ended up here,” I point out.

“I know,” Nick rolls his eyes. “I’m gonna just get changed. Elsa, you honestly don’t need to stay.”

“Nah, she does, I need to talk to her anyway. Elsa, what are you doing on Christmas eve?”

Nick looks from Jordan back to me, then him and Archer share a look.

“I’ll be back in L.A. Why?”

It is not intimidating standing here between three members of BreakNeck as they clearly have a silent conversation around me. Archer is still surprised, Nick looks like he wants to throttle Jordan, who is grinning widely. Nick heads off to get changed while Jordan brings us a beer and tells me to get comfortable. He asks me why we’re together, with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. I explain about the photoshoot and know as soon as the words leave my mouth, I’ve messed up.

Archer hangs his head but he’s laughing. Then he produces his phone and passes it to Jordan. He hoots out a laugh and turns the phone to me. I try not to react, given I saw him in the flesh like that earlier. Would it be wrong to ask him to send that to me?

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