by Dawn Martens
“And who is this lovely lady?” she asks, moving in to give me a hug too.
“This is Nikki,” Kade says, sounding… proud?
Lucy glances between Kade and me and grins slyly. “Nice to meet you, Nikki. I’m Lucy, but you can call me mum if you like. Come on inside, everyone.”
I glance over at Layla and give her an evil look. She ignores me and gives me a huge smile in return. I know she’s happy I’m here so she’s not alone in meeting her future mother in law. I, on the other hand, would prefer to be somewhere else, not meeting the family of the man I have an extremely complicated relationship with. We all sit down and Lucy flutters around being a wonderful host, getting us all something to drink and eat. We all make small talk, and I avoid Kade’s penetrating gaze, listening to the family interact with each other instead. When I find out Lucy put alcohol into James’s coffee I burst out laughing, and when she says YOLO, I almost choke with laughter. Who knew this prim and proper looking woman had a sense of humor? Certainly not me. Kade’s mother really is lovely. This is why I didn’t want to come today. I don’t want to think of the ‘what-ifs’ anymore. I'm happy for Layla. It’s a little depressing to think she could have been my sister in law if Kade and I had worked out.
“Layla, you and Nikki will have to come visit sometime. We can have a girls' day; go to the spa, do some shopping, and maybe some lunch. How about it?” Lucy asks us, her eyes bright with excitement. Layla agrees on both of our behalf. I force a smile and avoid Kade’s knowing gaze.
******
My phone beeps with a text message from an unknown number. I scan over the message and frown.
It’s Layla.
She says that she's fine, not to worry about her, and she will call me in a few days. Also that I’m the only one with her new number, aside from her parents. I ask her why she has a new number, what the hell is going on, but she doesn’t respond. A few days later I get a call from Chase, begging me to tell him where Layla is or how he can find her. I had already guessed Layla’s running had something to do with Chase, and when I spoke to her yesterday, she confirmed it and told me everything. I tell Chase I’m sorry, but I can’t help him. When Kade calls me, asking me to please come over so we can all talk, I reluctantly relent.
When I step into their house, Chase, Kade, and James are all standing there looking quite pitiful.
“Alright, asshole, what did you do?” I say to Chase with my arms on my hips. He puts his head down and fills me in on his version of what happened to make Layla take off.
“Can you please call her or give me her number? I need to talk to her; make her listen,” Chase pleads.
“I can’t do that, Chase. When she gets home, you can try talking to her then,” I tell him, avoiding his eyes. The man looks almost desperate.
“I need her home now, Nikki, what she walked in on was not what she thinks it was! She overreacted like always and took off.”
That's true, Layla overreacts over everything. James remains quiet the whole time, just staring at me intently.
Kade sighs, then grabs my arm and pulls me out of the kitchen. I roll my eyes- here we go.
“Nikki, the man is hurting. You need to tell us where she is,” Kade demands. “Kade…” I trail off.
“Nikki, you know she needs to be back home, with Chase; with us. She can’t run forever, and it’s not safe, Nikki. Think!” he says gruffly. I sigh. Layla does need to hear Chase’s side of the story. I know he’s telling the truth, the man loves Layla way too much to ever stray. He's totally whipped. Layla is going to kill me though.
“Fine,” I grunt. Kade nods, and gives me an approving smile.
“Come on, let’s get the two lovebirds back together.” He smirks.
We walk back into the kitchen, and I hand over Chase my phone. Fuck, Layla is gonna be so pissed at me. They don’t talk for long before Chase hangs up, gives me back my phone, and stomps off pissed. I quickly leave after that, well, I try, but Kade grabs my arm.
“What now, Kade?” I ask with a sigh.
“Stay for a bit,” he suggests.
“No, I need to get back home. Layla is probably pissed at me now, so I need to try and talk to her.”
I pull my arm away and head out.
******
A few days later I’m just hanging out in my room, bored as hell, when I get a phone call saying to come over to Layla’s ASAP. Layla forgave me over the Chase incident, and even came and spent a night with me just like old times. I’m glad everything is back to normal. I grab my purse and jump in my car. I love my car. It’s a red lancer, and I’ve had her since I was sixteen. I strum my fingers to the beat of some song on the radio. I have no idea who it’s by but the lines ‘I hit it first’ are super catchy. I pull up to the house and sigh when I see that I need to pump some gas; I’m almost on empty. I really need to find a place nearby soon, this drive is killing me gas-wise because I have to drive this way every damn day for work. I step out, closing my door with a bang. As I make my way to the front door, Layla is already opening it before I can even knock.
“Hey, Layla, is everything okay?” I ask her.
“Everything is fine, come in and I’ll explain” she says, smiling.
We walk into the room together, and everyone is there. Kade and I look at each other and I start to feel awkward. I go to sit on the couch, while Kade and James are standing.
Then Layla and Chase announce they are pregnant. Holy shit. Wow. I didn’t see that one coming. I’m so happy for them. I feel this ache in my chest. Do I want children one day? Before I can dwell on it any further, they announce they are getting married. Oh my god. Wow. I’m stunned.
James and Kade quickly go over and give them hugs while congratulating them on everything.
Kade kisses Layla’s forehead. “Thank you for making me an uncle,” he says sincerely to her.
She smiles. “Thank you for being happy about it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I love kids, I can’t wait to have my own one day.” He looks over at me as he says it. I feel something, and it’s shocking... “And I will especially love my niece or nephew,” he says softly.
I get up and make my way over to Layla and give her a big hug. “I’m so happy for you, Layla. I get to be Auntie Nikki, right?” I say with some attitude.
She laughs. “Of course, Nik.”
“Can I also be there when you tell your parents?” I ask as I give her an evil smirk and take hold of her hand to see her ring.
She shakes her head at me, eyes wide as saucers. I burst out laughing. “It'll be okay, don’t worry, Layla. Holy fuck this diamond is massive!” Wow.
We all head out to celebrate.
While we are eating, I’m seated opposite Kade. “So, as you guys know I’ve been doing my internship at Regal Public Relations, and its going really well. I’m ready to move out of my parents', though. It’s hard to travel back and forth all the time, and I’m excited to finally break free from the nest. Anyone know of places to rent around here?"
“Why don’t you take Layla’s old room at the house, Nikki?” Chase says instantly. I freeze. Oh, shit.
“Yeah, no, I don’t think that will work,” I say, looking up at Kade, my eyes slightly narrowed.
“Why not? I think it’s a good idea,” Kade says, now smirking at me.
“You should do it, Nikki, I'd see you all of the time because I’m always over there, and Kade and James are fun to live with. Never a dull moment, that’s for sure,” Layla says, sounding hopeful.
If I do this, I can’t avoid Kade anymore. The upside would be getting to see more of Layla and it’s significantly closer to RPR. “I guess I could give it a try. It’s sort of close to my new job,” I relent.
I notice Kade instantly looking relaxed, and maybe even a little smug. He has a plan, I can sense it. I groan inwardly.
I glance up at Layla to see her eyes on me, scrutinizing me. “I need to go to the bathroom,” she announce
s, looking right at me, putting down her fork.
“Good for you, Layla,” Kade says cheerfully.
“Would you care to join me, Nikki?” she says, more as a demand than a question.
Uh oh, busted.
We walk into the bathroom and she glares at me. “You and Kade. Explain now. The truth.”
I sigh, resigned. “We slept together. Before you moved in with them.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, sounding hurt.
“You had just moved in with them, and then started dating their brother. The whole thing was awkward,” I explain.
“So what’s going on with you now?” she asks, her finely arched brows furrowed.
“Nothing. It’s complicated. But for now, nothing,” I can’t tell her anything else just yet. I hate keeping things from her, but this is something I need to do on my own. She also knows all about Ben and what he did. Heck, the girl even had her own screaming match with him. Then she sent Ryder on an errand. Ben never uttered a single word about me again, nor did anyone see him. Last I heard, apparently he moved to another state.
“Fine,” she mumbles. “Everything is okay though, right, Nikki?”
“Everything is fine, Layla. Come on, let’s go eat.”
We walk out of the bathroom, arms linked, and head back to the table.
******
I move in a week later, and all three guys help out. My parents aren’t home when I leave; they have to work, so all the guys come over to help me lug boxes into their cars and mine. Kade insists on helping me unpack, too. I'm fine with it until he starts unpacking my underwear.
“Hey, leave that, I can do it,” I shout over at him.
“Why? I’ll be getting better acquainted with these soon enough,” he says, smirking and holding up a pair of my Victoria's Secret lacy panties.
Boundaries, we seriously need some.
I shake my head, not bothering to retort. We finish unpacking all of my stuff within hours thanks to everyone pitching in.
So, I guess its official. I’m the new roommate. What the hell am I getting myself into?
Chapter Nine
My first day in the house is quiet. James isn’t home. I ask Kade where he is and he just says out. Layla is so right, everyone is so fucking secretive when it comes to James.
Kade is his normal flirty self, but honestly, I don’t want anything to do with him. Why can’t he just leave me alone? After I finish supper, which Kade bitched that I didn’t make him anything, I go to my room and lock the door. I put a TV in the room, so I wouldn’t have to spend time out in the living area around Kade.
The second night Kade isn’t home so I spend the night with James who had returned home early this morning.
“So James, where were you last night?” I ask nosily.
“Out. I had some stuff to do,” he tells me.
“Like what?” I ask, my nose scrunched up.
“Not you, too,” he mumbles under his breath.
“Me, too, what?” I ask, my brows furrowed.
“You, too. Another nosey roomie,” he says with a grin.
“Hey! I’m not nosey!” I say with mock indignation.
We both start laughing. I totally am.
The third night they all have a party. I finally met Derek, he flirts with me a bit and I can see Kade getting pissed. So, I play up the flirting some more.
“So. You and Layla are good friends, I hear,” I tell him.
“We are. I don’t get to see her much anymore with her guard dog,” he says with a smirk.
I laugh. So true, Chase keeps her well-guarded.
“I’m sure she would sneak away,” I say knowingly.
“Oh, she does. We usually have lunch once a month or so,” he says with a small smile. I can tell he is fond of her.
“I never knew Layla had such a hot best friend,” he adds, his eyes raking over me.
“Oh, really? Well, she does,” I say, waggling my eyebrows. Derek laughs out loud.
“Derek?” I hear Kade call out.
“I’ll talk to you in a bit. I think they want to play PS3,” Derek says.
“Okay,” I say, frowning. I look back to Kade, who is now grinning, total cock block.
******
I’ve been living in the house for a week, and so far, Kade and I are doing fine. No drama or anything like that, we're getting along as house mates. On my way home from work I get a call from Layla asking me to pick up some food. She messages me exactly what she wants and how much. I put it on my credit card because the amount ends up being huge. I walk into the house, hands full of bags, and make my way over to Layla.
“You're the best, Nik,” Layla says as she takes a bag and rummages through it. I put the other bags on the counter, my arms dropping with relief. I thought my arms were going to break.
“Hello, I’m Ashley. Who are you?” some short brunette introduces herself. She's wearing short shorts and a white tank top, practically see through, and her nipples are visible. Yikes. Her beady eyes are slightly narrowed, contradicting her saccharine sweet tone.
“This is my best friend, Nikki, she lives here now,” Layla says, a slight warning in her tone. Interesting.
Ashley and I eye each other for a moment. It suddenly occurs to me who this must be. Oh, I’ve heard about this chick.
“Oh yeah, you’re that bitch who told Layla to stay away from Kade!” I say, chuckling evilly.
“Oh, I’ll get Kade,” Ashley purrs smugly. “I did enjoy the other two, especially Chase,” she gives Layla a boastful smirk. Fucking bitch! My eyes narrow menacingly.
Ashley steps closer and taunts me. “So you're the trash Kade has been interested in. Don’t worry, honey, once he's done with you, he'll come back to me.”
“Is that so? Then how come you haven’t already had him?” I ask snidely.
“Oh, I’ll have him, trust me, and when I do, I’m going to be the one that’s permanent. You see, Kade cares about me too much to sleep with me and throw me away like he does with all the others. When he's ready to settle down, he's going to come looking for me. And I will be waiting,” she says in a knowing tone.
“Keep telling yourself that, Ashley,” I scoff.
“He told me he just wants to get you in bed again, Nikki. Apparently you’re the kind of girl who never says no,” she says with a raised eyebrow.
Oh, that is it, I’ve had it. She leans in once more, sealing her fate.
“I’m sure even Chase will want another taste of me once Layla gets fat with that bastard child of hers.”
Without thinking, I punch her in the face, my fist hurting like hell, but I don’t stop there. I push her to the ground, sitting on her stomach and keep hitting her. Yes, I may have anger management issues.
Suddenly, I’m grabbed and pulled back roughly. “What the fuck is going on here?!” Kade growls.
“No one talks to my fucking best friend like that!” I yell in anger, the adrenaline making me almost jump up and down. I don’t even want to repeat what she said about Layla’s baby. My godson or daughter. I'll probably hit the bitch again.
Everyone suddenly looks at Layla. Kade lets me go and goes over to Ashley.
“Layla?” Chase asks. I hear Layla mumbling something to Chase.
“Kade, get her the fuck out of here,” Chase booms. I flinch. The man can be scary sometimes.
Kade says nothing as he escorts Ashley outside, but his eyes dart to mine once before he leaves. I look away.
“Why the hell is Kade friends with her? She'll be back,” James mutters.
“Why the hell did everyone fuck her?” I blurt out. Like really, what the fuck?
“Nikki, I understand you gotta stick up for Layla, but she's fucking pregnant. She can’t be your partner in crime anymore anytime you lose your shit!” Chase explodes.
I look over at Layla. “Sorry,” I mouth to her. She gives me a small smile.
“Come on, Nikk
i, let’s get you cleaned up, you got blood everywhere. Who would have thought you could lay a bitch out like that?” James chuckles as he takes my arm and escorts me down the hall to the bathroom.
“Actually, she does this often,” Layla yells after us, giggling a little.
James starts laughing, his whole body shaking. I’m so glad everyone is so amused.
“I’ve never seen a girl fight like that before. Usually it’s all hair pulling and slapping,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me. I think that might be respect I see in his eyes.
“Yeah, well, I’m small. So I took some self-defense and kickboxing classes. I don’t ever want to be a victim,” I tell him frankly.
“Good, might come in handy,” James says, looking amused and at the same time deep in thought. “Want to know the funniest part about this? The song ‘Girl Fight’ was playing while you were beating her.” James throws his head back to laugh, and I can’t help but laugh along with him. I didn’t even notice the song playing. How fitting.
He cleans up my hands, since Ashley’s blood is all over them, and my knuckles are bright red. I have a quick shower and change into my red silk pajamas. I put some ice on my hand, which is now getting slightly swollen.
After the fight, people start leaving, and the party pretty much dies down. Fights usually do wreck the mood of everything. Layla and Chase are the last to leave. They help with the cleaning up before they do.
An hour or two later, Kade comes home and storms into my room, not even bothering to knock.
“Why the fuck would you do that to her? No matter what was said, she didn’t deserve that! Her face is a mess, Nikki!” he growls accusingly.
“She deserved it! She should keep her mouth shut and not talk about shit she has no right to! Just because she wants you doesn’t give her the right to say things about Layla!” I hiss back at him.