Page 77 of Pallas & Kawehi

Nick had a feeling that sensation he'd felt on the back of his neck was now walking up behind him.

Turning around, he saw a man in beige slacks and a black polo shirt walking toward him from the stairwell and another man coming down the hall from the elevator.

"Sorry? Are you looking for someone?"

The closer man managed just a hint of a smile. "Nick Carter? I'm Frank Driscoll, a process server with Access. "Here." He held out a sealed document envelope with Nick's name on it. "Take it."

For a tempting moment, he thought about refusing to take the envelope and putting his hands behind his back, but he knew he was good and caught. He just didn't know what this was about.

Nick set his bag down and reached out his hand to take the envelope.

"What's going on?" Charmaine put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in.

He wanted to shrug her off, but he knew he'd catch hell later. And he was already feeling a migraine kicking in. "Where do I sign?"

Yeah, he was no stranger to being served.

The man who'd come from the elevator looked around his cell phone and shrugged. "We've got video proof. No need to sign."

"What's going on, Nicki? What are they here for?"

The man in front of him looked like he was enjoying himself a little too much. "We're process servers, Ma'am."

Her nails dug into his shoulder. "You said that, but it doesn't mean a thing to me. What's in that envelope?"

Nick lifted his shoulder trying to encourage her to ease up a little. "I'll look at it later, babe. Let's go inside."

"No." She reached her other arm around him trying to pull the envelope free from his hand. "You're not hiding this from me. You know I don't like secrets."

Frank reached out his hand and shook hers. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't catch your name earlier."

Charmaine snatched her hand back. "I'm Charmaine Carter, obvs."

Nick cringed at the horrible way she sounded using that slang word. "Come on, Charmaine." He turned around, breaking the hold she had on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her middle and moved forward, trying to back her up into the apartment. "Let's go inside."

"Why?" She tried to shrug past him. "Why do you need to know?"

"I don't need to, ma'am. I guess I was just curious. So you're Nick's sister?"

Nick felt something at the back of his head as if a sniper had just laid his finger beside the trigger.

"What? His sister-"

The process server was still talking, and Nick knew he didn't have time to stop what was about to happen.

"Well, we're here to serve divorce papers to Mister Carter from his wife in Hawaii."

Charmaine was suddenly a granite statue, immovable and cold.

"His what?"

"Nick Carter-"

He was really beginning to hate his name.

"Has a wife in Hawaii who's been trying to divorce him for a little over two years."

Charmaine pushed him and he stumbled backwards.