Gift (Enchanted Ardor #2)

Chapter Eight

Nick ran forward, grabbed Anderson by the back of his jacket and threw him backwards against the opposite wall. The knife clattered to the ground as he unfroze with a groan.

“What—what just happened?” Olivia panted, wide eyes on Nick. “Where did you come from?”

“I was just coming to—Quinn said…” Nick’s gaze dropped to the man staggering to his feet.

Nick rounded on him, grabbing him by the front of his jacket, slamming him up against the brick wall so that his feet dangled above the snowy ground. “What the hell is wrong with you, pulling a knife on her?” He snarled into the man’s terrified face, slamming him a second time so that his head cracked backward.

His head lolled.

“Nick, please don’t hurt him. I’ll call the police.” Olivia pulled the back door open.

Nick let him drop to the ground unconscious, with a grunt of disgust.

“Molly call Graham. Mr. Anderson needs a ride home.” Olivia called in through the open door.

“I thought you said you were calling the police?”

“Graham is the local constable that patrols this area. He knows everyone in this district.”

“And you’re just going to send him home? He should be charged and arrested.”

“And his daughter will have no one to support her.” Olivia rounded on Nick.

“Olivia, he had a knife and was about to stab you. He would have killed you.”

Her eyes flicked to Anderson’s inert form as she straightened, drawing a deep breath.

Tires crunched over ice and snow as a black and white cruiser pulled up at the end of the alley.

“Liv?” The constable called as he got out of the vehicle, approaching the alley, his gaze swiveling from Olivia to Nick to the unconscious man on the ground and back to Nick. “Is there a problem here?”

Liv waved a hand toward her attacker. “Mr. Anderson needs a ride home.”

“Mr. Anderson needs to be charged with attempted murder,” Nick spat. “He tried to stab you, Olivia.”

“But he didn’t.”

“Thanks to your friend here?” The constable nodded toward Nick as he straightened from inspecting Anderson.

“Nicholas Klaus,” Nick said.

“Constable Graham Greer.” He held out a hand to shake.

Surprised, Nick accepted it.

“Liv, you’ve got to be more careful. Mr. Klaus is right, you should press charges.”

“I’m sure I would have been fine.”

The constable lifted a brow. “One of these days Liv, your luck is going to run out. Your heart is bigger than your common sense, some times.”

Olivia bristled. “He needs help and so does his daughter. I stepped out with a trash bag and everything happened so fast.” She turned her attention to Nick, studying him again.

“My point exactly,” Graham said. “I’ll take Anderson to the hospital to be checked out. He may have a concussion. Do you know why he attacked you?”

“He apparently didn’t get the job I recommended him for, again. He’s desperate to keep his teenage daughter, and he can’t do that without a job.”

Nick poked at Anderson’s knife with his boot, drawing the constable’s attention to it. “When he swung at you, he said ‘She said you were playing around’. Do you know what that meant? Who is ‘she’?”

Olivia shrugged. “No idea. But I never would do that.”

“I know you wouldn’t, Liv.” The constable picked up the knife with a gloved hand and dropped it into an evidence bag. “I know you keep trying to help him. Everyone knows.”

“I-I told him there were no guarantees.” She turned sad eyes to the unconscious man. “He’s persistent, but he’s never been violent before. I’m not sure what prompted this.”

Constable Greer nodded. “It’s freezing out here, you should grab your jacket and I’ll give you a lift home.”

Liv shook her head. “I still have dinner to serve here.”

Graham shook his head. “So stubborn.”

“I’ll stay and walk her home when she’s done.” Nick said to the constable. “I’ll help you get this guy into your cruiser.”

Nick lifted the wiry man from the ground, trying not to inhale too deeply of the rancid body odor that enveloped him with a hint of overlaying sulfur.

“Graham, you’ll ask him what he meant? Who he was speaking about?” Olivia followed them to the cruiser.

Several shelter patrons lingered on the front step watching.

“Of course.” The constable said to Olivia as he studied Nick maneuvering the full grown man with ease. He held Olivia’s gaze, his eyes flicking to Nick and back. “You’ll be okay here?”

She put a hand on Graham’s arm with a nod before he got into the cruiser.

Nick put an arm around her and she leaned into him for his warmth as they watched the vehicle pull away.

“You okay, Miss Olivia?” One of the patrons called from the front door.

“All good. Go on inside, Mr. Lacroix.” She called back. Lowering her voice, she turned to Nick. “Thanks for that. I’m not sure how you did that, but I’m grateful for your help. You don’t need to stay.”

“I’ll walk you home. Need an extra set of hands?”

Olivia’s brows went up as she looked into his face. “I’ve been walking myself home my entire life, Nick. But we can always put an extra set of hands to work here.” She slid her hand into his, leading him back down the alley, letting go only long enough to finish putting the trash bag into the bin, which Nick did before she could reach it.

Following her inside, they washed up and got to work.

“The apron suits you,” Olivia grinned as he tied the strings behind his waist, studying the trays of thick pea soup, dinner rolls and pudding.

Nick maintained his position alongside Olivia and the other staff working the meal shift, serving the vulnerable, observing how she interacted with the diners and their regard for her.

When Nick ventured into the back for more coffee, an old man, gruff and worn, with a milky left eye, sighed as she handed him a tray of food.

“Don’t like pea soup, Mr. Ayotte?” Olivia asked, pouring a cup of tea for him.

“Not particularly.” He accepted the hot tea with a nod.

“Lasagna tomorrow night.”

Mr. Ayotte smiled with an exaggerated wink with is good eye. “My favorite. This’ll do until then.”

Olivia beamed at him. “Enjoy.”

The old man turned away, shuffling along before Nick returned.

“You’ve been doing this a long time.” Nick set a rack of clean mugs on the counter, then placed another loaded bowl onto the next empty tray.

“You could say that.” Olivia smiled as she handed off the prepared meal. “Seems like you have some experience serving crowds too.”

He shrugged, filling the next bowl. “Why do you do it?”

“It’s needed. And so long as organizations like this are needed, I will do what I can to help. Everyone needs a friendly face and a little lift to their day.” She shrugged. “The world is an unkind place.”

“And you’ve experienced your fair share of it.”

“I have—be careful Mrs. Hopkins, the soup is very hot. Miss Molly will be around with your pudding in a few moments, she needed to get more from the back.”

Mrs. Hopkins smiled, toothless. “Just what I need.” Her watery eyes slid up to Nick. “New friend?”

“Indeed. This is Mr. Klaus. He’s visiting the city for the weekend and was kind enough to lend a hand tonight.”

Mrs. Hopkins’ eyes crinkled. “You ladies are all lovely, but it’s so nice to see a handsome face now and then.”

Nick chuckled bowing to Mrs. Hopkins. “I needed to see the very best residents of the city.”

“Oh, such a flirt! Don’t lose sight of this one, Miss Olivia.” Ruddy cheeks deepening, Mrs. Hopkins giggled.

“I shall do my best, now rest and enjoy your meal.”

Eventually the diners thinned out as they made their way to bed down for the night. Nick helped Olivia and the staff clear away the empty dishes and put away the tables and chairs.

The last of the staff left the two to lock up. When Olivia lifted the next trash bag to be discarded, Nick quickly took it from her and put it in the dumpster himself, returning to wash his hands.

Olivia shook her head, chuckling as he re-entered. “Thanks, but I doubt anyone else will be lurking out there again.”

“Never know.” Nick shrugged, reaching for their jackets, pulling Liv’s over her shoulders. He stared down into her upturned face, thoughts returning to their banter about hooligans the previous night, unable to resist her soft lips. He pulled her jacket closer and bent to press his lips to hers. “I’m going to miss you, Olivia.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, reveling in the nearness of her.

“Me too, Nick.” She leaned back, looking up into his face and smiled. “You can visit any time. As I said, we always have need of extra hands.” Her smile turned mischievous, eyes twinkling.

Nick shook his head, releasing her, but allowed his hands to drift down her shoulders and arms, not quite ready to let go completely just yet. “I don’t know how you do it. Keep your spirit so high… after everything.”

“Survival skill.” She lifted a shoulder, then turned her attention to the buttons on her coat. “Just as I suspect your grumpiness usually keeps people at a distance. Usually.” When she looked up at him again, her eyes shone even brighter. “But I’m a grump magnet. It is my mission in life to clear away the thunder clouds and let the sunshine burn away the negativity fog.”

“Is that a challenge?” Nick opened the door for her and waited on the step as she locked it.

Slipping the keys into her pocket, she turned to him. “Absolutely. But that will require regular contact. Say, at least once a year? How about we turn our meeting to an annual dinner date?”

Nick’s heart tripped at the thought of seeing Olivia again and on a regular basis. But part of him balked at the notion of going a whole year in between each visit.

That wouldn’t do.

“Perhaps. We can discuss the details and requirements of this challenge on our way back to your place.” He held out a gentlemanly hand for her to precede him to the sidewalk from the alley.

She glanced around the shadowy alley, surreptitious, shivering. Instead of leading, she took his hand, walking side by side toward the road. “Of course.”

Nick swallowed at the flicker of fear in her eyes before she cleared it away.

He pulled her close, tucking her against his side, arm around her.

She snuggled in as they strolled along the darkened street, streetlamps illuminating the snow swirling around their feet.

“Wherever we meet must have an atrium.”

“Agreed.” He glanced down at her face obscured by her hair drifting on the frigid eddies.

The tip of her nose had turned pink from the cold. “And a nearby guest room?”

Nick’s chest thumped. “Absolutely.”

Olivia suddenly stiffened against him, her head turning, eyes squinting into the darkness across the road.

“What is it?”

“I—I think we’re being followed.”