by S R Dyble
"Sleep well?" he asked.
"Yes, good, thanks," I said, not looking to face him.
"Good," he answered.
I could sense the bitterness in his voice and I couldn't help but think it had something to do with the way I'd acted after he'd kissed me. Who was I kidding? That was likely precisely the reason why he was pissed with me. Once he was gone and I heard the shower water trickling, I took a deep breath before dropping my head into my hands. I stayed that way for a while, trying to answer the constant questions and feelings whizzing around in my head. Then a knock sounded at the front door and I glanced to where Nick had disappeared. Placing my mug down, I headed over to the door and answered it.
"Hey, Lilly," Omar smiled.
He stood with Teddy and Sawyer who both smiled at me. I searched around behind me. If Nick saw Omar here, I wasn't sure how he'd react. He'd specifically told him to stay away.
"Hello," I said politely.
"You ready?" Omar asked.
I nodded, still feeling unsure. "I am… just waiting on Nick."
"We've been told to come ride with you two," Teddy smiled.
"Told by who?" We heard Nick as he made his way behind me. Gently, he placed his hand on my hip and glared at Omar.
His hair was still wet and I could feel the heat radiating from his hand over my hip. It made me stare up at him as he continued to stare at Omar.
"Olivia," Teddy rolled his eyes as Omar stared back at Nick and particularly at how he had his hand laid protectively over my hip. I wasn't expecting it either, but then I was probably obsessing over everything, even such a minor thing.
"Is that okay with you?" Teddy asked.
"Yes, of course—" I spoke far too quickly, feeling on the spot. It was no comparison to how Nick glared at me, stopping me from speaking any further.
"Olivia's car is full," Sawyer piped up.
"According to Olivia, anyway. They don't want a bunch of guys crowding their car," Teddy added. "That's why she said you could ride with them, Lilly..."
"Oh..." I lowered my head to the floor, feeling Nick's hand tightening on my body.
"If I ride with you lads, the car will be packed…" I said, avoiding Nick's eyes.
"It's fine, we will all fit," Nick said with no room for argument. For some reason, he really didn't want me to ride in the car with Olivia and her friends. I would have called him controlling, if not for his objective to protect me from the apparent big bad men. That alone was enough to make Nick act this way, and I assumed that was his only reasoning for wanting me with him.
"Great," Omar said, enthusiastically.
"We'll take the back seats," Sawyer grinned from behind Teddy and Omar.
"Guess we'll meet you at the car," Nick said, making quick work of shutting the front door, keeping me inside. Once it was shut, he kept his hand against it before turning to look at me.
"I told him to stay away, why did you say it was okay for him to ride with us?"
"What?"
"You do remember that I'm here to protect you, right? That Delta is under threat and at every possible second our enemies are trying to find a way in, tryna find any way possible to breach our security?"
"Why on earth do you think I would be a threat to that by agreeing for him to ride with us? It was Olivia that sent them here, go bloody blame her!"
"Because you know, Olivia doesn't."
"So you wanted me to tell them to piss off? Sorry Nick, but he's harmless and I'm not gonna do that."
I saw the stress building on his face.
"Why are you even like this? No one is after me, Nick, will you get that into your head?!"
"You're valuable, Lilly. The sooner you realise that, the better."
"To whom? Delta? The big bad men who will use me as leverage? Or is there something else you're not telling me?"
He rolled his eyes. "You also just opened the front door to bloody God knows who. You're a danger to yourself."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I didn't have to. Stop acting so bloody clueless, Lilly. They wouldn't think twice about using you as a bribe, or worse, as a punishment."
I was silent as Nick continued to give me grief.
"Omar is bad news, so stay away from him."
I glared at him, no longer staring at the floor on the receiving end of his lecture.
"Don't tell me what to do," I warned him. "If I wanna talk to Omar, I will. It will all be under your watchful eyes anyway, so no harm in that. Pull another one of your stunts to get him to back off and you're likely to reveal yourself, so I wouldn't bother…"
Nick stared at me, daring me with his eyes as he moved closer. I could tell Nick was about to speak, but instead, he shut his mouth and stared at me. The longer he stared at me, the worse it got until I turned fast and slid out of the front door. I stormed away from the house in anger.
As I made my way further down the beach, I cursed under my breath until I raised my eyes and saw Omar against one of the houses. He hadn't seen me yet and as I thought about heading over, I realised he was standing discreetly as if waiting. I wondered why until another guy approached him. Omar made quick work of reaching into his pocket and handing him something. My eyes widened when Omar took the money the other guy shoved into his hand, quick to rush away straight afterwards.
What the hell had I just seen? Was Omar selling drugs? I stood there a little longer, then stared back at the beach house we'd been staying at. I noticed Nick heading out, he looked pissed off still and rubbed at his neck. As he glanced down the beach, he saw me standing here and our eyes met. The moment he started walking in my direction, was the moment I legged it through the houses so I wouldn't have to speak with him. I walked behind the houses, keeping my eyes alert in case Omar was still lurking around here. I eventually made my way back to the rear of our beach house, and standing by our car were Omar, Teddy, and Sawyer along with Nick who stared at me as I neared. They all watched me, making me feel awkward under their intense stares. Then another car came speeding into the sandy driveway, creating a cloud of dust. It was Olivia and the rest of her entourage. I didn't miss the way Nick stared at Omar, almost daring him to do something out of line before allowing him to get into our car.
"Come on, losers, let's go!" Olivia shouted from her car window.
I almost thought about pelting it towards Olivia's car and riding with them, and Olivia stared at me from behind her glamorous sunglasses. I stood on the point of walking that way when I felt Nick's hand brushing against mine. He was pulling me back towards his car, and I instantly pulled my hand away and glared at him.
I marched back to his car as he stood staring at me.
"Do you mind if I sit in the back?" I asked Teddy as he was about to get in.
I could feel Nick's eyes on me as he made his way to the driver's side but I made sure to ignore him. Teddy nodded and offered me his hand so I could climb into the back. Just as I did, Sawyer followed after me which meant I had landed myself in the middle seat in the back of the car, directly between Omar and Sawyer. I pulled my seatbelt on.
"Hey," Omar grinned, obviously not knowing that I'd seen his drug deal taking place only minutes before.
I wasn't going to mention it here, I wasn't sure what I'd even seen. I could have totally misread the situation. Nick was driving, and I had to grip onto his chair in front as he sped out of the sandy road behind the house, making sure to look both ways before racing onto the main road. The lads chuckled, feeling the rush of adrenaline from Nick's ridiculous manoeuvres. I stared out of the front window, knowing Nick could see me in his rearview mirror. His eyes had glanced to mine and he looked more pissed than ever with his jawline set hard.
The drive to the amusement park was a long one, and the other car carrying Olivia and her friends followed behind us. Their car swerved in and out of traffic, beeping at us as they passed.
"Twats," I said under my breath but didn't realise how loud I'd said it.
Omar stared at me
, before he and Teddy burst into laughter. I smiled the best I could despite feeling embarrassed. The longer I sat there, the more awkward I felt being stuck in the back seat with Omar. I couldn't even busy myself with my phone because he could see everything I was doing.
"How are your parents?" he asked me.
I wasn't expecting him to ask me about them, I wasn't even sure how he could have known they were in the hospital. I glance at Nick, noticing his ears almost perking up straight away.
"They're good," I said, hoping to sway away from the conversation.
"Good, you must still be pretty shocked after what happened."
I nodded. "Did you hear about them on the news?"
"Yes. One of the reporters got a nice picture of you sitting on the back of the ambulance after you tried to… save them?"
I scoffed. "I wouldn't say that. I was just being stupid really…"
I should have known that sneaky reporter would have made a story out of me almost killing myself to find them. I felt like such an idiot.
"I thought you looked hot with that wet look, sitting in that tin-foil blanket if that makes you feel any better."
He grinned at me but all I could see was Nick's bare arms stiffening as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. He was playing it cool, only I knew what his body language meant. At least, I thought I knew what it meant. I glanced at Omar, noticing the small smile on his face and it made me frown.
I was desperate to stretch my legs. The journey to the amusement park was a longer one than I had expected and after two hours of being cooped up in the car, I was thankful when we pulled over to the services. I thanked Teddy as he helped me out of the car and felt Nick's eyes on me as I headed away from where he was filling the car with fuel. I headed for the girls’ toilets as the other lasses made their way over to the milkshake counter to order. I made short work of going to the toilet when my phone started ringing. Trying to dry my hands quickly, I fumbled with my phone, nearly dropping it into the sink before staring at the caller ID.
"Eves, what the hell are you doing up?"
"It's a long story. I can't sleep anyway, so thought I'd call you."
"What's happened? Is everything okay?"
I braced myself against the sink, hoping to God I wasn't gonna hear any bad news.
"Oh, I'm just too exhausted to sleep, if that makes sense. Erin has been up and down every fifteen minutes or so. She's now sleeping peacefully in Kit's arms, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I can't bring myself to separate them to put her to bed so instead, I'm watching them both sleep."
My smile only grew the more she spoke.
"I know you're exhausted, but that's literally the cutest thing…"
"Who needs sleep, right?" she scoffed.
"You need to sleep, Eves."
"I know. Eric is coming around tomorrow, I think. Maybe I'll get a nap then."
"Will he be okay alone with Erin?"
She chuckled. "I swear these lads all read a baby book before Erin arrived. They could start their own daycare."
We both laughed.
"How has Nick been?"
At the sound of his name, silence fell and my eyebrows lifted.
"Lill'?"
"Let's just say he's number one on my death stare list right now."
"Oh, not good. Your resting bitch face is enough to make anyone shudder, so trust me when I tell you that your death stare is—"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Eve chuckled, trying not to be too loud.
"So, how pissed off are you on a scale of one to ten?"
"Why?"
"So I can work out the level of arse kissing he is gonna have to do."
"Something tells me you're tryna walk him through this… Whose side are you on, anyway?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Are you insinuating that me telling him how much of an idiotic twat he is on a regular basis, is me trying to help him?"
I sighed. "You know in the first year of secondary school when they'd arrange PE and cooking on the same day?"
"Yes," she said bitterly.
"Yeah, well I'm way more pissed off than that…"
I could sense Eve absorbing what I had said as if she was chewing on her lip and thinking.
"No amount of daily name-calling on my part is gonna help Nick, then."
"Let's be honest, Is there anything that can help Nicholas Carson?"
"I guess not…"
"He said you were on the phone with him the other day, did you give him a lecture?"
"No…" she didn't sound convincing as she trailed on, "okay, maybe just a little bit. I'm sorry! I know I said I'd stay out of it but I just hate seeing you both like this."
I rolled my eyes. "I knew you had, judging by the attitude he had after speaking with you."
"Oh shit, I'm sorry Lill', have I made it worse?"
"Nothing you can do would make it any worse, Eves. I think it's about time I admit that this friends thing we've agreed upon has been as stupid as the friends with benefits thing we first agreed on."
"Don't say that Lill', you know he cares about you."
"Does he?" I frowned, not believing a single word.
"Course he does… he just—"
I heard a lot of mumbling then Erin crying.
"I'm so sorry Lill', I have to go. Erin has woken up."
"Don't worry. We'll talk soon, give her a kiss from me."
"I will, love you."
"Love you, too," I said before hanging up.
Pocketing my phone after our chat, I checked myself in the mirror then left. I saw Nick standing by the car with his arms crossed, watching me intensely. I did my best to ignore him as I made my way back. I was hoping everyone else would hurry up so I wasn't left alone with him.
"You let me know when you've finished your little tantrum, Petal," he said as I passed him.
I turned on my heels and stared at him until I neared him again.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"Who the hell do you think you are, Nick?"
He smiled at me, pissing me off even more. I pushed at his chest, making his back press against the car.
"Come on, Petal," he teased, smiling at me even more.
"Stop while you're ahead, Nicholas."
"Or what?"
"I'm gonna show you what."
"Go on then, other people are watching."
"Do you think I give a damn who the hell is watching?" I told him.
"Clearly not," he said, looking around the petrol station.
"Get in," he said close to my ear as I turned to storm away. His hand reached for mine, softly stroking my inner palm with his fingers. Then, gripping it harder, he turned me back around and pulled me towards him. He kissed me, pulling me even closer so I could only lean against his body while his back pressed up against the car. Wrapping his arms around me, he lowered his left hand to hold onto my behind as he continued kissing me. He'd captured me with his lips, and I lost all train of thought, like I always did. It left me breathless, and as I pulled away, I stared into his eyes. Someone clearing their throat distracted me and I turned to see Omar, Teddy, and Sawyer stood waiting for us. It dawned on me then, the brutal truth of what had just happened. I stared at Omar and back at Nick. He'd kissed me to warn Omar away, to stake his claim. He'd said before how he didn't trust Omar. He'd told Omar to back off once already… That kiss hadn't been about him wanting to kiss me, but a tactic. The realisation hurt and as I stared at Nick longer, I could tell that he knew that I knew. I made my way around the car and got back inside, taking my seat in the back again. The rest of the journey was silent, and it was a long way to be silent. Overall, it had taken around four hours to get to the amusement park. We all climbed out and I made sure to keep my distance from Nick as we entered the park. We were each given a wrist band and I fiddled with mine as the others made their way through the gates.
One of Olivia's friends— Luna—walked up beside me.
&
nbsp; "This is gonna be so much fun!" She beamed at me.
"Have you seen that one?" She pointed out the huge roller coaster, the size of a block of flats and I nodded.
"It's amazing! You gonna ride it with us?"
I gulped. She wanted me to ride that thing? I suddenly realised that I had seriously missed out on the roller coaster thing.
"You don't have to ride it," Nick said as he came up beside me.
I glared at him. "Yeah, I'll ride it."
Luna got even more excited, dragging me with her to line up where the others had. I had noticed the lads had followed us, including Nick who was currently chuckling about something with Sawyer. It had been the easiest I had seen him with these lot, and although I was still fuming at him, it was refreshing to see him smile. He noticed me staring and after a short while of standing in line and waiting to ride the roller coaster, he started making his way through everyone talking. I wanted to jump-queue, to get away from him, but there was no way of getting away. The queue was so compact. I just turned the other direction, making it clear I wanted nothing to do with him.
"You're mad at me," he said against my ear.
"You don't miss much, do you?" I glared around at him.
"I only kissed you, why has that got your panties in such a twist?"
"It's the reason why you kissed me—swear you think I'm thick…"
"Come on!" Luna almost pulled my arm out of its socket as she pulled me with her to get on the ride.
As we climbed up a few steps, I set sight on what we were actually going to be sitting in. I was going to ride this thing. I was actually gonna put my life in the hands of two oddly shaped bars that would encase my body. I wanted to back out but realised how much of a pussy that would make me look. Instead, I waited for the ride instructor to seat Olivia and her friends towards the back of the roller coaster.
"Two spaces left at the front," he pointed out for me.
"At the front?" I gulped.
"Come on, Petal."
Oh no. Surely there was someone else I could ride with. I'd even take Olivia over Nick right now. He took my hand and led me past everyone to the front seats.