Maybe it was the residual anger he’d felt at seeing the blood on Izzie’s fingertips. Or maybe it was the rage that flooded his head at the thought that it could have been Izzie the prick had grabbed, but as soon as the guy threw the first punch, Nick reacted harshly.

He’d had a few fights in his day, both before his military days and during them. And it was painfully easy to take down a drunk. The fight was over almost immediately after it had begun. Bernie dispatched of the drunk’s friend just as quickly and the two of them nodded to each other in appreciation for the backup.

“Thanks, man,” Bernie said.

“Not a problem.”

Bernie shook the bleary patron. “I think this is the same prick who grabbed Rose a month ago.”

Nick’s jaw went rock-hard. If the man hadn’t already been in Bernie’s firm grip, he might have found a reason to throw another punch. But he was a fair fighter and wouldn’t do something so out of bounds.

Unless the guy got free…then all was fair.

The guy didn’t get free, Bernie had a tight grip and had begun chewing him out for harassing Rose. That incident had obviously been a more serious one than Nick had been led to believe, because Bernie hadn’t forgotten a moment of it.

Because things had gotten physical, Nick decided to cover his own ass, as well as the bouncer’s and the club’s, and called the police. He wanted this thing on record, now, when there were plenty of witnesses who’d seen both the assault on the female workers inside, and the provocation in the parking lot.

It was just his bad luck that Mark heard the call to Leather and Lace and decided to respond. Nick saw his brother get out of his unmarked car and saunter over, smiling widely. “Get in a fight without me?”

“Just doing my job,” Nick replied, trying to figure out a way to get Mark to leave without going inside the club. If he was on duty, it wouldn’t have been an issue-his brother was too good a cop to go inside a strip club while on duty. But he knew Mark’s hours. No way was he working this late on a Saturday. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I heard it on the scanner. Noelle was already in bed-that woman goes to sleep by eight every night now. So I thought I’d head on over and see if you were okay.”

“You know this guy?” one of the officers asked.

“My baby brother,” Mark replied, his dimples flashing.

“By ten minutes,” Nick said, shaking his head.

It took about an hour to clear up matters outside. Nick had stayed near the entrance, far from the stage, but he’d gotten reports from the bouncers about what was going on inside. So he knew when Izzie had performed…and when she was finished.

She’d done her first number and wouldn’t be back on for at least an hour or two. Long enough to get rid of his brother.

“Come on, let me buy you a beer,” Mark said once the last of the police cars pulled away.

“I’m working.”

“Okay, then you buy me a beer.” Not taking no for an answer, he threw his arm across Nick’s shoulder and tugged him into the club. “Come on, I’ve never been in this place.”

“Noelle probably wouldn’t like it.”

“I’m visiting my twin at work. No harm in that, is there?”

“Depends on whether you visited me blindfolded.”

“I’ll keep my back to the stage,” Mark said. “Seriously, we haven’t talked in weeks. I know something’s going on with you.”

His twin was right. They had been…disconnected. Not just because of what had been going on with Nick and Izzie, but also because his brother was about to become a father. Mark had changed. He had different priorities, talked a different language, looked at the world a different way.

Noelle and their baby were his family now. Oh, sure, he loved the rest of the Santoris, but he’d crossed that threshold from son and brother to husband and father.

Nick was the only one of the Santori siblings who had not.

“Let’s sit out here,” Mark said, nodding toward a couple of low, round tables in an outer chamber between the lobby and the main lounge area. They were out of view of the stage.

Nick wasn’t surprised. Mark was a good husband. Like the rest of their brothers.

“All right.” Gesturing to one of the waitresses, he ordered a club soda for himself and a beer for his brother. Returning to the table, he sat down across from his twin. “Can’t be away for too long, though.”

Mark settled back into the leather chair. “Nice.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Good fringe benefits?”

Holding back a smile, Nick just shook his head.

“Hey, I’m married, these days are long gone. Throw me a bone.”

“Throw me one,” Nick replied before thinking better of it. “Tell me what it’s like.”

Mark frowned, obviously confused by the question. “It?”

“Marriage. What’s it like being tied down, committed?”

Those deep dimples that had charmed girls from the time he was two years old flashed in Mark’s cheeks. “It’s the best. Noelle’s everything I ever wanted.”

“Yeah, but how’d you know what you wanted?” Nick muttered as he lifted his drink and downed half of it.

Chuckling, Mark admitted, “I didn’t. I think it was more of a case of meeting her, and knowing that whatever I eventually did figure out I wanted for my life, she’d be part of it. It was always her. Everything else fell into place around her.”

Somehow, that made a lot of sense to Nick. Because even though he’d been thinking of dozens of reasons why he and Izzie couldn’t make it work-the primary one being that she didn’t want it to-he couldn’t help hoping it would. Because, as Mark had said, he suspected she was the one. That whatever else happened in his life, whatever direction he went in, whatever he chose, he’d want her to be a part of it.

Surprisingly, his brother didn’t press him about why he was asking so many questions. Probably not because he didn’t care-or didn’t suspect there was a reason behind them. But because he knew Nick well enough to know that pushing for answers usually only made him clam up tighter.

Nick appreciated the courtesy. And realized yet again just how much he’d missed his twin.

“Hey Nick, we got a live one at the bar,” a woman said.

Glancing over, Nick saw one of the waitresses, who was rolling her eyes. “Serious?”

“Not yet. But he could be if he’s not handled right.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Addressing his brother, he added, “Is there a full moon out tonight? The crazies are out.”

Mark stood. “Yeah, including me. I must be crazy to be out here with you instead of home in bed with my wife.”

Feeling better than he had in the hours since Izzie’s accident with the chair, Nick reached out and grabbed his brother for a quick hug. Mark’s eyes widened. He was the demonstrative one, not Nick. “What’s that for?”

Nick shook his head. “I don’t know. Give it to your wife.”

“I’ve got plenty of my own to give,” Mark said with a grin. “But thanks just the same.”

The rest of the evening went by quickly, with more of the same insanity to deal with. Nick hadn’t been kidding-the crazies were out tonight, and a lot of them had decided to show up at the club. The bouncers had had to forcibly eject more guys in this one evening than he’d seen them eject in the past month.

The only positive thing about keeping so busy was that Nick missed the Crimson Rose’s final performance of the evening, too. He hadn’t even realized she was on until he heard the thunderous applause, whoops and whistles of her audience. But at that point, he’d been outside, doing a sweep of parking lot to make sure none of their uninvited patrons had decided to come back.

Fortunately, they hadn’t. But there were still other issues to deal with, like his conversation with Harry about Izzie’s broken chair. She had called it an accident…and it might have been one. But he wasn’t taking any chances. He and Harry had talked about adding security cameras to the basement area of the club, to hook into the system already covering the upstairs. Izzie’s accident had confirmed the idea for both of them.