"I believe you."
Grabbing me by the back of the head he kisses me long and hard until I can't breathe. I put my head on his chest and my arms around his waist. He cradles me in his arms, finishes his beer and I listen to the steady beat of his heart, the moon, and the many stars which are the light of the city watching us.
Nick
"What time is it?"
"Too early for you to be up. Go back to sleep," I tell her kissing her on the forehead. "I'll be back."
"Where're you going?"
"I need to go to the precinct to see a potential client. Go back to sleep. I'll be back as soon as I can." I pull the covers up over her shoulders and walk out the door regretting having to leave her alone in my bed.
"Let me get this straight, you now stand accused of assault and battery by your now ex-girlfriend and you don't have any money to pay your legal fees. Is that right?" I say across the table to my brother's friend.
"Yes."
"I don't own a Bugatti, hell, I can afford to buy ten of them and still not put a dent in my bank account."
Logan nods his head at me and remains silent looking down at his hands on the table.
"But you bought a Bugatti, a Bugatti! You don't have a pot to piss in, you don't even have a bush to piss in. You get an advance for your album and you blow it all on a car."
"No, I needed a place to live. I rented an apartment."
"Where?" I say, becoming increasingly annoyed.
"Upper East Side," he says, lifting his head up. "But I got a good deal because I know the guy."
I shake my head at how ludicrous this is.
"After I got the apartment I needed furniture. Then I needed clothes."
"You have nothing to your name, no stream of income, and you live with your mother; when someone hands you a check for one million dollars one of the first things you do is get yourself a lawyer and an accountant. The lawyer to save your ass from all the false accusations coming your way and the accountant and financial advisor to manage and diversify your money so you don't find your ass in this predicament."
"That's good advice. I'll make sure I take it for next time."
"I believe you, I'll take your case pro bono."
"Thank you. I'll pay you back, I promise." He looks down at his hands on the table.
"You don't have to do that. I'm doing this because I know your family, you've been friends with my brother for years and I know your parents raised you right."
"They're going to lose it when they find out. They never did like Shannon."
"Question, is this the same girl I saw you with a couple months back? The aspiring swimsuit model?"
"That's the one. Crazy bitch!"
"I told you she was trouble. If I remember correctly, you said, 'I like trouble.' See what trouble can get you?"
"Yeah, I see now, two to five."
"Remember that next time."
"Don't worry, I will."
"When you see Gage, tell him to call me. When I haven't heard from him this long it means he's up to something."
I leave the precinct and decide to go back to the office to pick up the legal documents I left on Friday. From now on when I look at this desk I'm going to have a smile on my face. I turn to leave and there she is. What is she doing here? She's not supposed to come back until tomorrow.
"Hello, Nick."
She closes the door and walks to me. The first time I saw her she walked into my office tall, beautiful, long blond hair, sophisticated, hips swaying, sexy as hell. We were a match for each other in every way. She worked as hard as I did and we played even harder especially in the bedroom. At one point I thought maybe I could see myself marrying her, on paper we were a perfect match. Glad I dogged that bullet to the head. Too bad it grazed my heart though. I watch her slide her fingers down between the collars of my coat.
"Aren't you going to say hello to me, Nick?"
"What are you doing here on a Sunday? You're not due to come back till tomorrow."
She sits in the chair in front of me. Crosses her leg over the other making her skirt ride up past the top of her thighs, to the underwear I know she doesn't wear.
"I took an earlier flight. After I called you yesterday and they spoke to you the deal was done. I saw no other reason to stay by myself. It's not like when we were there together like last time."
Whenever we would go away for business we would stay in the same room. We believed in mixing business with pleasure; a lot of pleasure. Even after we broke up.
"Nick, we were good together."
She gets up, not bothering to pull her skirt down, and brushes up against me like a feline. I watch her and will my body not to react to her. By now we would have been all over each other, with her legs and ass up in the air. I need to get back to Cat. The last thing I want to do is fuck up. Being here alone with her is the beginning of fucking up.
"The sex was good," I say stone-faced with no intentions of having any type of contact with her.
"Yes, it was, but that's not all that was good. Don't act like you don't care about me, Nick."
She runs her fingernail along my jawline. I take her wrist and put her hand down to her side, looking at her without blinking an eye. "I have to go, Paige." She pouts and looks back at me and doesn't move out of my way.
"Nick, you can't ignore me. Don't act like we didn't have something good!"
"We had something, I don't know how good it was. We won't find out because you fucked it up. That was the best thing you could have done for me."
"Really, why's that?"
"Right now I'm going home to the best thing that ever happened to me, and the sex is fan-fricking-tastic, out of this world."
She sneers at me and rolls her eyes up and down my body. "Ha, that will be over before the month is up. That's why you didn't answer your phone last night. When you're done with your plaything of the month, call me."
"Goodbye, Paige." I walk past her and open my door so she can get the hell out. I lock it and head home to the best thing to happen to me.
There was no way I was going to answer the phone last night with Cat next to me. Paige took up enough of my time in the bathroom yesterday, that's what took me so long. She could have handled those minor issues with the Paxtons without calling me.
When I walk in I hear pots and pans, and music playing. I go to the kitchen and see Cat, her back turned to me, in the big, white fluffy robe she looks too cute in. She's looking at something on the counter, I walk up behind her silently. She jumps, making me laugh when I press her against the counter with my body and box her in with my hands on the counter.
"Nick! Don't do that, you scared the crap out of me."
"I kiss her on the cheek and her lips. I'm sorry, baby. I couldn't help myself, you looked so cute standing here. What are you doing?"
"I was waiting for you. I couldn't go back to sleep after you left."
"I didn't mean to wake you up so early."
"It's okay. Since I couldn't sleep I decided to make you breakfast. It's not as good as yours but it's edible."
"I hope it's as edible as you." I kiss her neck. "If it is, then I'm going to love it." She bites the side of her lower lip and smiles. I follow her over to the table where I sit. She whips the lid off a dish. Eggs, bacon, toast, and strawberries are on the plate.
"So what do you think, did I do well?"
I look at her and smile. "Yes, you did." I taste a piece of the egg. It's actually very good. I was a little skeptical because I've never seen Cat cook anything since I've known her.
She beams at me when she sees the smile on my face. "Do you really like it?"
"Yes, it's really good. When did you learn to cook? I've never seen you in the kitchen cooking."
"I had to learn how to feed myself when I was away at college, there was no Sophie around. And she used to let me help her cook sometimes, I learned a few things."
"It's nice to know I'll be getting a gourmet dinner tonight."
"No,
you won't. I said I know how to feed myself. I'm letting you know right now my culinary expertise doesn't expand past breakfast and frozen foods."
"Then we're a match because my culinary skills don't expand past grilled chicken and steak on the Foreman grill."
"You made me a gourmet breakfast yesterday." She puts the lid down with her hand on her hip.
"I never said I made it, you assumed I did."
"And you let me believe it."
"You were impressed with my skills in the kitchen."
"I was, you little liar. I should know better than to trust a lawyer. You're all born liars."
"Hey, hey, hey, don't slander a noble profession."
"Whatever," she says, sitting down. "I guess between you and me we'll never starve. You'll make dinner, I'll make breakfast and for lunch we'll meet in the middle and order out."
"Sounds good to me." I drink some of my orange juice and take another bite of eggs.
"Me too."
"That was good. Thank you."
"Did everything go well with your client?"
"Yeah, it was one of my brother's friends; he was arrested for assault and battery against his ex-girlfriend."
"Did he do it?"
"No, I don't think so. I told him before that girl was trouble. Never trust a big butt and a smile."
"Are you quoting from Bell Biv Devoe?"
"That girl is—" we take a beat and sing at the same time.
"Poison! Poison pa pa pa pa pa poison."
We laugh and high five over the table. We used to do things like that when we were little all the time. It was a game we played if one of us said the words that were in a song. Good times.
"Is that all you did while you were gone?"
"Yes, why?" I'm not telling her about seeing Paige at the office. I'm not going into that. Things have been going good and today is my last day with her. I don't want her to think about something that's over and done with, nothing happened, no need for me to tell her.
"Just asking."
"I did go to the office to pick up some papers I have to look over." I get up and put the plate in the dishwasher.
"I'll be back." She gets up from the chair pushing it under the table.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to put some clothes on. I can't walk around in a bathrobe all day."
"Yes, you can. You can do anything you want to, besides, I'd prefer you keep it on."
"You're not walking around in a bathrobe and didn't you tell me last night you wanted to take me out again?"
"I did," I say slowly. "But I changed my mind. I would rather spend the entire day having beautiful you all to myself on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I don't feel like sharing you with the rest of the world."
"I don't know, what will we do all day by ourselves? Do you have any ideas as to what we would do?"
I walk over to the table where she's standing. "Are you kidding me?" She screams when I bend down and throw her over my shoulder and slap her on the ass.
"Nick, put me down, all the blood is going to rush to my head and give me a headache, what good will I be to you then!"
She has a good point but I can fix that. "Don't worry about it. I have some feel-good medicine to take that headache away."
"I'm not sure it's strong enough for this massive headache I'm about to get."
"Trust me, it is! It's so potent it's downright illegal in some states." I throw her down on the bed. She scrambles up to the top against my headboard. I unbutton my shirt and watch the robe part, exposing her body from the waist down. I love her playfulness.
"What I'm about to give you is a highly addictive stimulant."
"I believe I've taken some of it recently."
"I believe you have, it was a special mix only for you. In fact, it's off the market now to anyone but you, of course. I crawl up the bed after her, between her legs like a predator after its next meal.
"I remember now, it was very addictive. I couldn't get enough of it."
Her hands go over my bare chest and I grab her thigh, pull her down under me kissing her slow and long. She squirms under me, her hands move down my chest to the top of my pants to unbuckle my belt. She pulls back and rubs her lips across mine, down to the column of my neck. I groan and bite my lip hard to stop myself from ripping off her robe and slamming into her with all the intensity and pressure she's building inside of me with her tongue and mouth and her hands fondling me.
Her phone starts ringing. Damn it.
"Nick, my phone," she says between breaths.
I run my hands up her rib cage. Between breaths I tell her, "Let it ring, please let it ring." I know she's going to answer it. The damn thing won't stop ringing! I reach over to grab the phone before she does. She tries to take it out of my hand but I move it out of her reach.
"Nick, what if it's my mother or one of my brothers?"
"If it's your family, I'll let you answer it. What the fuck?" I look at the phone, hard between her legs and show it to her. It stops ringing. She looks at it then back at me.
"Nick."
"What?"
She takes the phone and it starts ringing again. She doesn't say anything. It's him again.
"Why the hell is he calling you?"
"We're friends, he probably just wants to say hi."
The phone keeps ringing in her hand and it's bothering me. "Answer the damn phone, Cat, so he can stop calling." I roll off her to the other side of the bed. I want to grab her phone and smash it to pieces.
Chapter Nineteen
Cat
"Hi, Matt." Talk about bad timing.
"Hey, baby girl, you sound like you're busy. Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"Actually, I'm in the middle of something, can I call you back or did you have something important to tell me?"
I look over at Nick. He has a major scowl on his face.
"I wanted to take you out to eat but it sounds like you're busy."
"That's nice of you but I'm not home. I'm spending the weekend at a friend's."
"Too bad, I wanted to see you. I haven't seen you since we were at the club."
I'm trying to get Matt off the phone as fast as I can. The more I talk the angrier Nick looks.
"I know. I'll call you when I get home."
"All right, later."
Shit. I turn off the phone and place it back on the side table. I wait for Nick to say something about Matt calling. I don't have to wait long.
"What did he want?" he snaps.
"He called to say hello."
"That's it, hello?"
"He wanted to go out to eat later like friends do."
He swings his legs over the side of the bed and walks to the door.
"Just friends from way back. Only friends?"
I sit up on my knees and cross my arms. "You don't believe me?"
"Friends who only hooked up once, and nothing's happened since you came back, right?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" He can't know what happened with Matt and me. I didn't tell anyone but Ava and she's not telling.
He clenches his jaw shut, walking out slamming the door behind him. I know he doesn't like the fact Matt was my first but he's angrier now than when he found out. I'm not going to go after him to talk to him when he's like this. He needs to calm down or he's going to end up saying some things and I'm going to say some things back that I shouldn't.
An hour later, he walks through the bedroom door still looking pissed off. I sit up on the bed and put my phone down on the table beside the bed. I make sure I turn it off this time. He stands by the side of the bed with his hands in his pants pocket.
"What was that about, Nick? It was more than you being upset because Matt called me. His timing wasn't great but it didn't warrant you being that angry, insinuating I'm lying about me and Matt only being friends." I sit back against the headboard and wait for him to talk to me.
"I'm not insinuating, I'm saying it. Friends don't fuck friends, Cat.
&nbs
p; Oh fuck. He knows. How did he find out?
"You don't have anything to say?"
"We didn't have sex," I say, looking away.
"You didn't have sex. I'm going to try to remain calm so you can explain how what he was doing to you wasn't sex."
"Nick—" he holds up his finger to stop me from continuing.
"What do you call it when we do it? If I had my face in my ex's crotch, you would call it sex."
"His mouth wasn't down there," I tell him defensively.
"Head, mouth, hand, dick, does it matter? Once I stamped it and put my mark on it nothing should've been between your legs except for me."
I can't believe he's saying this. This is the same man who has slept with how many women? He didn't care if they were with anyone else. "I'm not your personal property."
"You're right. Tell me, since you're not my personal property, does this mean you intend to do this again with him or anyone else? You should let me know so I know what I'm dealing with."
"Don't be a complete and total DICK! You know I'm not having sex with anyone else." My hand is itching to throw this pillow at him and smack him in his face. "Who told you?"
"You did. I thought when you remembered you'd tell me. Instead, you're lying to me."
"I didn't lie to you. I didn't see the need to tell you; we weren't together. I knew it wasn't going to happen again. It didn't feel right, all I kept thinking was, he isn't Nick. I had a lot to drink and I was still reeling from everything I found out about you and Kate."
"You decided to get back at me by doing that with him. In the back of a sleazy club."
"I wanted to forget everything. I wanted to feel something else other than hurt. I wanted to stop crying and let go."
"Do you want to be with him?"
I take his hand and try to pull him down on the bed. He doesn't move a muscle; it's like trying to move a slab of granite. "Nick, please..." He sits next to me, still very angry. "I'm here with you. That was before this. What we have is extremely fragile and new, I don't know what to call it. We're not just friends anymore, we're way past that. I can't even say we're boyfriend and girlfriend. I only know I want to be here, with you." I look in his eyes when I say every word to let him know, I'm where I want to be, with him.
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