Toad

by Cambria Hebert

  I’d only known Aerie a week. There was lots of stuff I didn’t know about her… including what was up with this dipshit. But there was something of which I was absolutely certain—she was not a love ‘em and leave ‘em type of girl.

  She was a bring home to Momma kind of woman.

  You know, if a guy had a momma…

  Anyway, now I understood where the toad comment came from the first morning in the kitchen. Why the hell had she married him?

  What the fuck kind of man would literally trash his girl in the press?

  She’s not his girl. Over my dead body.

  I had lots of questions about their marriage, their relationship. It seemed, as the days passed and the more hours I spent with Aerie, the list grew and grew.

  She wrote like a woman with a broken heart. Like a woman with a past that wasn’t easy.

  Like a woman without much hope for the future.

  As I stared down at the screen, hand fisted beside it, I realized this article just answered all those questions. Without me having to voice even one.

  Suddenly, being here for the album was secondary. Work didn’t really seem to matter.

  I cared about her. A lot.

  It really seemed as though within the walls of this house, the time we’d been isolated here, I got to see a side of Aerie that not many people ever did.

  I wasn’t a hugely successful businessman. I wasn’t rich, didn’t wear designer clothes or have any type of influence. Hell, I used sarcasm like most people used Chap Stick.

  I was the kind of guy who plucked strays out of bushes, ate an entire box of cereal for dinner, and could live out of one duffel bag for weeks.

  But I didn’t mistreat women. And I wasn’t about to stand around and watch someone else do it either.

  Especially not her.

  The sound of my phone went off. I hit the button on the screen, and a giant picture of Cheeto stared back at me.

  “Agh!” I said, dropping it on the table. “Wrong phone.”

  It was totally cute she had a picture of the cat I gave her as her wallpaper, though.

  As I was digging my phone out of my pajama bottoms (casual Friday rules!), it went off again. Two unread texts from different people.

  “I’m a popular guy,” I told Cheeto.

  The first text was from Ten. The news this a.m. is harsh. Better keep her away from it.

  I made a sound. Too late, I typed back.

  Ten: Shit. How bad is it?

  Me: She ran from the room crying.

  Ten: Where are you?

  Me: Studio

  Ten: Go after her, you moron!

  Duh, I shot back.

  I scooped up Cheeto with one hand and tucked him against my chest. As I strode from the room, I pulled up the last unread text message.

  The second I read it, I sent the screen dark and shoved the phone back into my pants.

  I’d deal with that later. Right now, I had a princess to attend.

  Aerie

  I shouldn’t be surprised. Yet I was.

  I didn’t even like Will, not anymore… but his power to hurt me was still unmatched. I shouldn’t care what he did or said about me.

  Words and actions hurt, though, even if they came from someone who didn’t even matter.

  I knew Will wasn’t necessarily a nice person, but this? This was harsh even for him.

  Seth wanted me to issue a statement. The thought was laughable. How was I to respond to the fact the press was referring to me as a toad with warts?

  Don’t worry, I have cream for that.

  Or…

  Thank goodness green is my color!

  Better yet, I should just go running back to Will with my tail between my legs.

  No, no, and, um, triple no.

  I thought regretfully of the contract I’d just signed. If I hadn’t, I could just hide here forever, let my career and stardom fade into nonexistence, and just move on with my life.

  It was cowardly. I knew it. Being a coward was something I was unfortunately used to.

  The sound of a tentative knock on my bedroom door made me freeze as if I were caught in the act of something foul instead of being sprawled across my bed, bawling. When I said nothing, the knock came again.

  “Go away!” I shouted, then put my face back in the pillow.

  “Aerie.” Nate’s muffled voice came through the thick wood. “Talk to me.”

  I ignored him.

  He’d go away eventually. Once he realized I wouldn’t do what he wanted, he’d go.

  After several minutes, he knocked again.

  I ignored him again.

  It was really quite annoying. It was hard holding back the deep sobs racking my body, trying to stifle them into the pillows. The only thing worse than crying your eyes out was when someone heard you.

  Finally, everything went silent once more. My body sagged into the mattress, and I moaned into my pillow. I thought I’d be relieved when he was gone.

  I wasn’t.

  I cried anew.

  But then the sound of the door unlatching and the disturbance I felt in the air made me stop. Whipping my head up and around, I peered over my shoulder through blurry eyes.

  Nate strolled into the room, closing the door behind him.

  “That door was locked!” I gasped.

  He was holding Cheeto against his chest, shrugging one shoulder. “I picked the lock. It’s not hard.”

  Letting out a wail, I face dived into the pillow. He was unbelievable. Stubborn. Insubordinate.

  I wanted him to hug me.

  I was a freaking mess.

  “Get out!” I flung a pillow in his general direction.

  “You almost took out the cat!” he exclaimed.

  I gasped and sat up. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Scrambling on my hands and knees across the bed, I went toward Cheeto. “Poor thing, come here.”

  Nate smirked.

  I gasped again. “You liar!”

  “You could have hit him.” His voice was all kinds of reasonable. It made me want to kick him.

  “Give me my cat!” I held out my hands.

  He handed over the kitten, and I snuggled him into my chest and rubbed my damp cheek across his fur. He purred, then scrambled out of my arms to lie on one of the pillows. It was feather filled, so he sank down in until all I saw were the orange triangles of his tiny ears.

  I rubbed my cheeks with the backs of my hands and sniffled. “I’d like to be alone.”

  “No.”

  I jolted. “What did you just say to me?”

  “I said no. I’m not leaving you in here alone to cry.”

  “It’s my house!” I exclaimed like a spoiled child. I couldn’t think of anything better to say.

  “Well, you’re my princess,” he countered angrily.

  Everything froze. I blinked widely. His declaration vibrated my insides… my heart.

  I waited for him to take it back. To make some stupid crack or joke to make light of what he said.

  He didn’t. Instead, he raked a hand through his deep-red locks and sighed.

  “I don’t think you’d still call me that if you read what I just did.”

  He made a sour face, produced my cell phone out of his pajama pants, and held it up. “You mean that piece of trash some ‘journalist’”—he actually made air quotes around the word as he spoke—“wrote to suck Will’s ass?”

  “You read it?” I asked, mortified.

  “You think I would watch you fall apart with that phone in your hands and then not look to see what caused it?” He made a tsking sound. “Not bloody likely.”

  I groaned and fell back on the bed dramatically. More tears leaked out from beneath my lids, and I covered my face with one hand.

  “Hey.” Nate spoke soft, his voice right above me. I sensed his presence, how he stood towering over the side of the bed, staring down. I didn’t have to look to see him. I felt him.

  I began to roll away, but he caught me. His hand palmed my hip
and tugged so I wouldn’t be able to roll. I fell back on my back, the hand covering my face dropping to my side. Nate pulled back from my hip but laced his fingers with my hand and reached out with his other. After a moment of hesitation, I relinquished my other one and allowed him to fold it into his.

  Slowly, he pulled me up off the bed. I didn’t want to move, so I made it extra hard on him. But he didn’t give up. Instead, he released my hands and palmed my hips to steady me.

  The panic and pain in my chest began to recede, a little bit of tingly warmth battling it back.

  “That article fucking sucks,” he said.

  My chin wobbled, and I nodded. “I’m so embarrassed.”

  “Why would you be embarrassed?”

  “I thought you read it? Will told everyone I cheated on him and I have an STD!”

  “Will’s about to have a fat lip and a black eye,” he muttered.

  I sucked in a breath. “You can’t!” My hands grabbed at his T-shirt in handfuls, and I tried to make him pay attention. “Just stay away from him. He… he’s mean.”

  Nate’s voice was all rumbly when it came out. I actually felt his chest vibrate when he spoke. “You worried about me?”

  I started to make a scoffing sound and pull away.

  “No, you don’t.” Nate reacted instantly, pulling me in and wrapping his arms around me.

  He was warm. And his shirt smelled like him, a scent I didn’t even know I recognized until now. I took a deep breath, and one of his palms slid up my back in a soothing motion.

  My breath hitched.

  “It’s okay, princess,” he whispered.

  The dam broke again, and I cried into his shoulder, tucking my face in the crook of his neck while tears rained and my back heaved with sobs.

  He rocked us both back and forth, keeping the strongest of holds on me as we moved. I felt so secure like this. So safe. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt safe…

  My hand curled around his side and fisted his shirt at his back. He held tighter. I felt his lips move in my hair.

  Suddenly, I needed him to know. I had to tell him.

  I ripped back so forcefully he had to steady me again. “It’s not true,” I rushed out. My voice was hoarse. Great. Now I sounded like a toad. “Everything he said… it isn’t true.”

  He used a thumb to brush some fresh tears off my cheeks, and my stomach dipped. “I know.”

  I blinked. The heaviness of my wet eyelashes seemed to make the action take longer. “You do?”

  “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a moron.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

  “There it is,” he murmured.

  “What?”

  “That smile of yours. Favorite part of my day lately.”

  I wanted to believe him. To take those words, swallow them down, and ingest them. I wanted to not fight the butterflies he always gave me.

  I wanted to believe he meant what he said.

  “What do you want from me?” I asked, my voice small.

  “Right now, I’d really like you to stop crying.”

  “I’m sorry.” I sniffled even as another tear tracked down my cheek.

  “I’m kidding. Though, I really hate to see you cry.” Nate cupped my face with his palms and tilted my face up. I never really realized I had to look up when I stared at him.

  “I don’t want anything from you.”

  I searched his emerald eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Fair enough. I lied anyway. You have good instincts.”

  I gasped, my eyes going wide. I would have jerked away, but his hands were warm. Comforting. And they spasmed on my jaw as if he anticipated the move.

  “I do want something from you. A lot of somethings actually.”

  “I don’t—” I started to pull away.

  “Aerie.” The intensity with which he said my name made me stop. There was something utterly commanding about him, but not in a scary way. “Don’t pull away from me.”

  I listened.

  He shifted, just his hips at first, but the rest of his body followed, coming close, nearly pressing our chests together. “I want your smile. I want your laugh. I want to know all the unanswered questions swimming around in my head about you. I want you to know that nothing anyone ever says or does could make me doubt what I’ve learned about you in the past week. Most of all…” His mouth lowered closer to mine. So close my breath caught and held. “Most of all, I want to kiss you.”

  My heart skipped a beat. Then two. “All those wants will go away when you get all the answers to those questions.”

  He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so.”

  His lips were so close. So near I was pretty sure it was his air I was breathing and not the room’s. Nate had a hypnotic air about him, sort of as though he were his own force of gravity, and the center of it all was his jewel-toned eyes.

  “It’s almost sinful for a man to have such beautiful eyes.”

  His lips curved up. The smile reached the eyes I so loved.

  I hadn’t meant to speak out loud.

  Gently, his thumb stroked over my cheek, then again.

  My eyes drifted closed. I took the comfort he so casually offered. Will had never been big on affection or even comfort. Maybe in the beginning… before I realized what he really wanted. Before it was too late.

  Thoughts of Will jolted me back into the present. Nate pulled away, putting some of the distance I thought I wanted between us. I really thought he was going to take that kiss he said he wanted. I was low-key anticipating it.

  Now isn’t the time for kisses, my head demanded.

  It’s always time, my heart sang back.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered. The confession ripped right out of me.

  “I feel that way a lot,” he told me. “Usually, I’m just hungry.”

  I giggled.

  His voice turned serious. “There’s something I really need to know, princess.”

  You would think that stupid nickname would remind me of how I “fell” from royalty to a toad with warts. You would think the nickname would make me think he didn’t even care enough to bother with my name.

  It didn’t.

  If anything, it reminded me of how Nate saw me when the rest of the world was the complete opposite.

  “What?” I was anxious, afraid of what he would ask.

  “Are you married or not?”

  I frowned. “You know that Will and I…”

  He made an impatient sound. His finger shot out, tapping me right above the heart. “Are you married or not?”

  “No.”

  Sweeping forward in a graceful rush of movement, his hand slid effortlessly into my hair to cradle the back of my head. Before I could even think, his mouth collided with mine.

  My eyes shot open as a feeling I’d never experienced blew through me like a gale-force wind. He felt it too because his eyes also widened. We stood there frozen, lips locked, staring at each other.

  “Whoa,” he whispered. Then he kissed me all over again. Two first kisses in the span of a single heartbeat.

  He kissed like he was starved, as if I were a full bowl and he wouldn’t stop licking into my mouth until he’d gotten every last drop.

  And, oh, I’d let him lick me dry.

  My God, could he kiss. Nate Roth was one surprise after another. Maybe he was so skilled at kissing because he constantly ran his mouth.

  It was amazing. Absolutely stunning.

  I gripped the front of his shirt and hung on, one of his hands snaked around my back and yanked me against him. I sighed. His tongue danced over my lips, teasing. When I opened, he retreated, sucking my bottom lip between his and coaxing a moan from deep in my throat.

  My head fell back, but his palm supported it. Nate lifted his mouth only enough to change the angle and drop a kiss on the corner of my lips. I sighed at the sweetness in the middle of the frenzy. His tongue stroked into me like a jolt of electric
ity in a blackout.

  I met his fever with my own, for once giving instead of allowing someone to just take.

  Too soon, he started to retreat. I made a sound and grabbed his ears, pulling him back down again. He laughed in his throat, but it turned to a groan when his lips covered mine again.

  My heart was pounding when he finally stepped back. I could barely catch my breath. My head was fuzzy. The second he was gone, I covered my mouth with my fingers, holding in the heat he left behind. Holding on to the feeling no one else had ever inspired.

  “That was better than Fruity Pebbles,” he quipped, swiping at his lower lip with his thumb. I couldn’t help but note the way his eyes had transformed into a deep shade of moss.

  “You just compared our kiss to cereal,” I pointed out.

  He opened his mouth, no doubt to say something else that was ridiculous yet somehow also utterly charming.

  I held up my hand, stopping him. “I need some time. To think.”

  “Thinking is overrated.”

  I gave him a stern look.

  “Yeah. Okay.” He nodded. His red hair flopped around with the movement.

  Damn. I should have run my fingers through it when I had the chance.

  I chewed on my lower lip and nodded.

  “Don’t lock the door. I’ll just pick it again.”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “No more crying.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “And I’m keeping your phone because you’ll just look up more online trash.”

  “I will not!” I declared. Who was he to boss me around like this?

  He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I already tell you I’m not a moron?”

  I let out a huff and went back to glaring.

  “I’ll be in the living room, working, if you need me. Or if you don’t.”

  I watched his pajama-clad self go and sort of wished he would stay. But I knew time alone was the best thing. He made it hard to think, and I definitely needed to.

  “Oh, princess?” he said, turning back around in the doorway.

  “What?” I growled.

  “Just in case you’re wondering, Fruity Pebbles is my favorite thing ever, and you just beat them out.”

  He left me standing there wondering why I asked for time to think.

  Nate