His face looked lost, his breathing was out of control, and his eyes were gleaming with fury or maybe sorrow, I wasn’t sure. I was scared to see him like that, and I didn’t realize what was happening when he pushed me against the wall and his lips pressed into mine.
“Nicholas,” I said in a trembling voice, caressing his face. But he was elsewhere, incapable of controlling his emotions. He kissed me again. I didn’t manage to say a word.
“Thank you for being here,” he whispered, and when I heard the desperation in his voice, I held him steady and tried to look him in the eye. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over her just leaving me like that. But now you’re here, I have you, and I know what it feels like to be in love. I don’t care what she did to me anymore, Noah. You’ve closed a wound that was still raw, and that makes me love you even more.”
We were so close, his tears streamed into my eyes and I felt a smile cross his lips.
“Come here,” he murmured and kissed me.
That was the second time we made love…and it was tarnished by memories from the past.
* * *
We went to eat afterward. We wouldn’t be able to visit Maddie again for a few hours, so we decided to see the sights in Las Vegas. I had never been, and it was as impressive as it looked in the movies. Wherever I looked, there were huge buildings, luxurious hotels, and spectacles. I couldn’t even imagine what it must look like at night—unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to stay there too late.
“Tomorrow we’ll release her. That’s better than we expected. We could probably just let her go now, but I’d prefer to keep her under observation a little longer,” the doctor said.
It was five in the evening, and if we wanted to be in LA before midnight, we needed to head back. Nicholas seemed not to want to go, but his mother was there, and I knew how hard that was for him.
“I’ll be back this week,” he told Maddie, who got teary-eyed. “I’ll come Wednesday, and I’ll bring you a present, and we can play together.” He hugged her carefully but lovingly.
“In two days?” she said, pouting.
“Just two days,” Nick said, kissing her on her blond hair.
* * *
He looked destroyed, exhausted, as we left the hospital, and he had good reason to. It had been a day full of emotion, and the day before had been, too. We both needed a few hours to sleep it off.
“You want me to drive?” I asked. He grinned as he pinned me against the driver’s side door.
“I seem to remember I ended up losing the last car you drove.”
“You’ll never let that go, will you?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
I turned around and got into the passenger side. We stopped several times on the way for coffee, and when we were on the road, we kept the music blasting to help us stay awake.
Once home, we didn’t even stop to think that our parents might have arrived. Nicholas had an arm around my shoulder and I had mine around his waist as we climbed the porch.
Seeing my mother was like returning to reality. We were startled and pulled quickly away from each other.
“Finally, you’re back. We were starting to get worried,” Mom said, coming over and hugging me tightly. I hadn’t seen her for two days, and with all that had happened, the memories of my father, the things with Nick, I squeezed her harder than I should have.
“Did you miss me?” she laughed.
She greeted Nick as well, and we went inside and were interrogated about the condition of Nick’s sister. I guess he had called them so they’d know where we were, and William was worried about Maddie’s health.
“I’m glad she’s all right,” he said, getting up from the sofa.
Nick was on one side of the room, I on the other. It was strange not to be touching each other, and I felt an odd emptiness in my chest. I’d gotten so used to having him close these past forty-eight hours that I needed him near me at all times. I looked into his eyes just then. I saw promise.
“I’m tired,” I said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go on upstairs. I’ve got class in the morning…”
My mother was watching a movie with Will, and they still had a good bit of it left before bedtime.
“You staying with us, Nick?” my mother asked him, and I had to suppress a scowl. Fortunately, I don’t think she noticed.
Nicholas grinned.
“I should go up, too. I’ve got class myself. Good night,” he said, walking around the sofa and joining me.
I didn’t know if it was the feeling of doing something bad or just knowing our parents were down there and would lose it if they caught us, but when Nick pushed me against the wall in my room and stuck his hand under my shirt, it was the most exciting thing I could imagine.
“Come to my bed. Sleep with me,” he whispered in my ear. The whole time he spoke, he was kissing, nibbling, licking my neck.
“I can’t,” I moaned.
“You can’t make those noises and then tell me not to take you to bed,” he said, pressing his hips into me sexily.
I giggled and closed my eyes.
“My mother could come up at any time, Nicholas,” I said as he skillfully squeezed my left thigh. “I don’t want her to have a heart attack.”
“You’re coming with me anyway,” he said, dragging me off.
“No!” I shouted, digging my heels into the floor. I had no idea what we were going to do now that we were together and living under the same roof with my mother and his father, but I knew there had to be some kind of rules or self-control in place.
He stopped, noticed the noises downstairs, and realized I was right.
“I love you,” he said, giving me a quick peck on the lips. “If anything happens, you know where I am.”
“I do. Second door on the left.”
I closed the door. I needed to analyze everything that had happened. I needed…to catch my breath.
* * *
Everything that had happened those past few days had sunk me in a cloud of contrary thoughts and feelings. I was happy when I was with Nick: I didn’t know if it would last a long time, since we had a tendency to clash, or at least it had seemed that way over the past few months. Either way, I was crazy about him. I had hidden it, even from myself, but now it was out, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially knowing he was just a few feet away. It was hard not to go looking for him when I had trouble sleeping, but I forced myself. I had to learn to keep my distance from him. But when I wasn’t with him, my every thought turned to my father and his threatening letters. I still didn’t know if I should tell anyone…why? He was in jail, and I wasn’t even sure if he was the one sending them. Maybe Ronnie had just found out about my dad and was using all that against me. So I decided to say nothing, at least until another letter came, and my guess was that was never going to happen.
The next morning, I got up in a rush, knowing I was at risk of being late for school. I was nervous because I’d have to deal with the fallout from the party. Everyone had heard me shout like a madwoman, and nobody had come to my aid.
I put on my uniform and ran downstairs. William was already gone, same as most mornings, and Nick and my mother were having breakfast at the island in the kitchen. When Nick looked up at me, I had to struggle not to run over and kiss him. Mom got up and started making my breakfast. With the excuse of getting help with my tie (which I knew perfectly well how to tie by now), I walked over to Nick and gave him a quick kiss while my mother wasn’t looking.
He whispered to me: “Right now I have all these images of my head of you in that uniform in a room upstairs.” As he said this, he knotted my tie, kissed me softly, and stroked my neck.
I turned to make sure no one was watching. But my mother was busy scrambling eggs, and her music was blaring from the speakers.
It was a dangerous game we were playing but a very exciting one, too.
He reached down and felt under my skirt, stroking my legs and my ass.
“You’re pushing it,” I said.
“I know,” he agreed, pulling away just as my mother turned and served my dish.