by Kant, Komal
“Whoa, put that fist and your stone-cold gaze away, Medusa,” Matt said with a laugh, holding his hands up in surrender. “I couldn’t resist.”
“For God’s sake, Matt!” I yelled over the music, smacking him on the arm. “I thought you were some drunk sleaze hitting on me.”
“Give me a few more drinks and I will be,” he said with a wink.
I rolled my eyes at him and side-stepped as a drunk couple went dancing past me, their drinks sloshing out of their cups.
Ugh. I could not handle sloshing drinks.
“You look impressed,” Matt said with a laugh, holding out his drink at me. “Want to try some? It’ll bring a smile to your face?”
I shook my head at his offer. I wasn’t in the mood to drink—not right now. I knew I was acting like a granny and that I should probably lighten up.
Matt was about to say something, but he quickly became distracted as a group of girls walked past dressed in rags. Yes, rags. That’s what I referred to the minimal article of clothing that hung off their bodies as, barely leaving anything to the imagination.
“You’re such a guy,” I said to him when his eyes found me again.
“I do have the right body parts to be one,” he said with a grin, but then his expression turned somber as he fixed his gaze on something behind me. “Trust me, those girls would never be able to hold my attention for long.”
Turning around, I saw Emily heading towards us with a polite smile on her face. My head quickly snapped back to Matt who was drinking out of his cup with a muted expression on his face.
“Hi!” Emily said, her smile wavering a little as she caught sight of Matt standing behind me. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“I like to go for the shock factor,” Matt said with a wave of his hand, like he was a magician.
I noticed that he avoided making eye contact directly with Emily. At the same time, even in the darkened club, I could see her face turn red as the multicolored lights lit up her features briefly.
Wow. This was interesting. I had never focused enough on Matt and Emily in the same environment to notice anything between them, but now I was starting to feel like there was more to this picture than I knew.
“I need another drink,” Matt declared, crumpling up his plastic cup and tossing it on the floor. “Are you sure you won’t join me?” He was looking at me, but I had a feeling the question was directed at Emily, too.”
“Why not?” I sighed, deciding I’d stop being a bore for tonight. “But nothing too strong.”
“Don’t worry, nothing stronger than tequila,” he said with a sly grin as he began walking away.
“Ugh, are you serious?” I almost gagged at the thought of doing shots of tequila, but followed after him anyway.
“You’re joining us, Emily,” Matt said, shouting over the noise. “And bring that fake I.D. of yours.”
I heard Emily make a cry of protest, but the sound was lost on Matt who was too far ahead. I was jolted and touched too many times before I finally managed to make it through the mass of people to the overflowing bar. There were about twenty people ahead of us waiting to be served.
“By the time we get served, Emily really will be twenty-one,” I said to Matt.
“Watch and learn, my naïve apprentice,” Matt said, smoothly producing a fifty dollar bill and holding it up above everyone’s heads.
Ten seconds later, a petite brunette bartender flashed Matt a smile as she tucked the fifty into her bra. “What can I get y’all, tonight?”
Well, who would’ve thought? I really was naïve when it came to things like this. I also didn’t use fifty dollar bills like they were loose change.
“Six tequila shots,” Matt said, pulling another fifty out of his wallet and handing it to the bartender.
“How many fifties do you have in there?” I asked with a laugh, pretending to peer into his wallet.
My eyes fell on a picture tucked into the plastic sleeve of the wallet, and as the strobe lights lit up the picture for a quick second, recognition hit me. The picture was of a beautiful, young blonde woman. The same woman whose portrait hung in Oscar’s office.
“Who is that?” I asked, leaning in closer and studying the picture.
“What?” Matt asked in confusion, and then followed my gaze. “Oh, Celia, my sister.”
“There’s a painting of her hanging in Oscar’s office,” I said, studying it in fascination. “Did you know that?”
“Uh, yeah I know.” Matt seemed uneasy now as he closed his wallet and stuck it in the pocket of his pants.
“I don’t understand why he would have a painting of her in his office. That makes no sense.”
Matt opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a word out, Emily said out of nowhere, “Matt.” There was a warning in her voice.
I turned to her and saw her staring at Matt intently. What the hell?
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Matt said with a roll of his eyes, reaching for one of the shot glasses of tequila and downing it without any salt or lemon. His eyes settled on me again. “I’m getting sick of keeping secrets all the damn time.”
“Emily, please tell me what’s going on,” I implored, amazed that she was preventing Matt from revealing anything to me.
Emily sighed deeply. “Trust me, I’ve told my brother to tell you, but he’s not ready to. I can’t do it for him; neither of us can.” She shot Matt a pointed look.
“The fact of the matter is that Nick is just playing a sick, twisted game with her,” Matt said. “You don’t keep shit like that hidden.”
“He does care about her,” Emily insisted. “Don’t listen to him, Sky.”
“What are you trying to say?” I asked Matt, ignoring Emily. “That Nick is just pretending with me?”
“No, not exactly.” Matt frowned as he reached for another shot of tequila. “I just think you need to ask him for the truth. He may not be pretending about his feelings for you, but he might as well be. If he really has feelings for you then he’ll be honest with you.”
As his words sank in, my stomach lurched like I was about to throw up. This entire situation made me so sick that I didn’t even know what to do anymore.
Suddenly, familiar, thick arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me close. Nick kissed my ear lobe, sending a thrill shooting through me as he hugged me to his chest. For a split second I became disorientated.
“Hey, I was looking for you.” The way his breath tickled my skin did strange things to my body. I could feel his groin pushing into my back and it was making it difficult for me to focus on the conversation I’d been having with Matt moments earlier.
“Doing shots, huh?” Ben asked as he made his way to the bar with Lisa. “I need about a dozen myself after hearing Jordan’s relationship drama for the last twenty minutes.”
Jordan looked comically fearful as he glanced around at all of us. “Listen, don’t tell Lisa I said anything. I don’t know what she’ll do to me.”
“Wow,” Nick said, still holding onto me. “She really has a steel grip on your balls, doesn’t she?”
“Hey, don’t make jokes about it. She’s terrifying.” Jordan visibly shuddered.
As Jordan and Ben joined Matt at the bar, Nick spun me around so that I was facing him, inches away from his handsome face. He reached out and tucked my hair behind my ears and then studied me with squinted eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I bit down on my lip, wondering if I should bring it up right now in the middle of a club with his friends around. Truth was, all the secrets were starting to piss me off and I felt like I deserved to know what was going on.
Without hesitation, I turned around and pulled Matt’s wallet out of his pocket. Before he could even react, I opened it and held it up to Nick’s face.
Then I waited for all hell to break loose.
Nick
As my eyes shot to the picture Sky was holding out at me, I felt like all the blood was leaving my
body.
My head swam as the image of the familiar girl took over my vision, illuminated by the colored lights that lit up the dark club. Being confronted by her tore my insides to shreds.
Why was this happening right now? Why was Sky doing this to me?
Sky had pulled the wallet out of Matt’s pocket—he had something to do with this. Even though I’d warned him for weeks now, he hadn’t been able to help himself. What right did he have to get in my business? Especially when he could tell Sky meant something more to me than just a one night stand.
All I saw was red as I stepped around Sky and moved towards Matt, whose face was turning pale. Not even thinking, I shoved him so hard he fell back against the bar.
“How fucking dare you try to fill her head with doubts! How fucking dare you try to come between us!”
“Nick, stop!” Sky was screaming as she pulled me back, but I ignored her. My attention was fixed on Matt.
My fist was raised--I was ready to start throwing punches—but I felt stronger hands clamp down on me as Ben and Jordan each grabbed me on either side.
“That’s not what I was trying to do.” Matt held up his hands in defense. He seemed shaken and I could tell he wasn’t looking for a fight, but I didn’t care right now. I was beyond angry. I was ready to kill him. “I’m happy for you, I mean it, but you should tell her the truth. She deserves that.”
“Stay the fuck out of my damn business!” I warned, wrenching myself out of my friends’ hold on me.
Even though I still wanted to hit him, I used all my resolve to stay in place. People around us were starting to stare, but I didn’t give a shit.
Sky jumped in between us, her eyes desperate. “Nick, what is he talking about? Tell me! You wouldn’t get so mad over nothing. What’s going on?”
For a second, as I stared down into her pleading eyes, I honestly thought about telling her the truth. I’d been holding so much in over the years that I needed to let go of and I knew Sky could help me. She could take some of that pain away. But I also knew as soon as I told her, she’d look at me differently. She’d be disgusted by me. I wasn’t ready for her to look at me like that. Not just yet.
“I can’t talk about this right now,” I said, glancing away from her as my eyes landed on Emily instead.
My sister was studying me with sad expression, but she also looked disappointed. I knew she wanted me to tell Sky everything, but it was too difficult. I didn’t know why everyone couldn’t understand that.
“Then this is over,” Sky said, her voice wavering. “We are done.”
Without another word, she walked past me, not meeting my eye, and disappeared into the crowd. A second later, my sister followed after her.
And I—I just stood there and let it happen.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sky
Last night had been a disaster. I couldn’t believe how quickly everything had flipped.
All day my head had been overflowing with all the drama until finally I decided to bake a pie to relax myself. I had the night off from taking care of Madeline, so this was the best way to help me unwind.
I settled on making a pumpkin pie mainly because it was a pretty simple recipe, plus it was my favorite dessert—although cheesecake came in at a close second. Currently, I was in the process of combining the ingredients for the filling, but it was hard to concentrate. My thoughts kept drifting back to the pretty girl in the picture—Celia. Matt had said that she was his sister, but then why would Oscar have her portrait hanging in his office?
I wasn’t sure how I’d known, but last night something had told me that I would get a reaction out of Nick if he saw that picture—and I’d been right. His face had immediately paled, like he’d seen a ghost.
Celia was the key to solving the mystery behind Nick’s past. There was just something so familiar in her smile and her eyes, but I couldn’t quite figure out what. She definitely bore a resemblance to her brother, so I wish I’d made the connection sooner.
I was also mad at Nick, but I was also hurt that he had yet to tell me whatever he was hiding from me. After all the time we had spent together bonding and become something of a comfort for each other, I needed more from him.
The problem with Nick and I was that we were both stubborn as hell. We’d locked horns since day one and neither of us went down without a fight. I think that’s what had drawn me to him in the first place—the fact that I didn’t pander to him. I did the exact opposite.
I was a challenge, and he liked a challenge.
The thing was, when I knew that I was in the right, I was extra stubborn. In order to make a relationship work, there had to be some form of trust, and that’s what we were lacking.
Nick had a hard time opening up and confiding in anyone. It was something he had to get over if he ever wanted someone to be with him long term.
Especially if that someone was going to be me.
Nick
I was watching her again.
She didn’t know it, but I had been standing in the other doorway to the kitchen for a while now, just watching her as she cooked. I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t help the way I felt about her.
When I was away from her, when I couldn’t seek comfort with her during the night, it messed me up. No one could understand what Sky did to me.
Being with Sky was like stepping into the sunlight and being blinded after being trapped in the darkness with only shadows to haunt you. At first I had resisted, but then I’d started adjusting to her light and now I needed it—now I sought comfort in it.
I needed Sky in my life. I needed to tell her things that she wasn’t aware of, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to explain to her that I was a pathetic, miserable man.
Sky bent over to open the oven door, and placed something inside. She was wearing denim shorts that outlined her ass in a way that made me want to do dirty things to that ass. Her big tits were pushing against the low-cut, white t-shirt she wore.
Damn. Only she could look so simple yet fuckable at the same time.
My dick jumped in my pants as I thought about ripping off her clothes and taking her to my bed. I wanted to do dirty things to this girl—dirty, unspeakable things. I was horny as hell. I hadn’t had sex in a long time.
I wanted to make her scream my name.
But I couldn’t.
Sky was mad at me, and I knew there was no way in hell she would talk to me, let alone let me bang her brains out. But I couldn’t stand not being able to touch her in the ways I wanted to. We had reached a place in our relationship that I had only ever reached with one other girl. Sky made me smile and laugh. We actually had conversations; she understood me. We had a comfortable routine.
Now it was time for the next step, but only if she let me take it.
I cleared my throat, making Sky jump as her head snapped in my direction. When she caught sight of me, her face pinched like she was in pain. She didn’t say anything—instead she poured some whipping cream into a bowl and began to whisk it using an mixer, continuing on with her cooking like I wasn’t there.
As the mixer whirred and hummed, I approached her, noticing that she stiffened when I stopped beside her and leaned against the counter. She was adamantly ignoring me, probably hoping that I would leave if she didn’t speak to me.
“I knew you’d be in here cooking something,” I said slowly, worried that I would push her away before I even got a chance to say what I wanted to say.
She snorted, turning off the mixer and finally facing me. “You don’t know anything about me.” Her tone was as cold as her expression, and it threw me off momentarily.
I’d seen her act stand-offish around me before, but it had been in a flirty, love-hate kind of way. Now she just seemed to downright hate me. I was assuming that anything I said at this point would be taken the wrong way.
But I had to get my point across. I couldn’t lose the only thing that was holding my sanity together. She had to know what she meant to me.<
br />
On an impulse, I reached over and brushed my knuckles gently against her cheek. “You’re wrong. I do know you. I know that you curl up into a ball at night. I know that you like to tuck one leg underneath mine.” I brushed my thumb against her bottom lip. “I know the way you smell, the small sounds you make, the way your face brightens when you see me first thing in the morning. I know you, so don’t ever say that I don’t.”
I noticed her take a sharp intake of breath, as though my words had slammed into her and she was trying to get herself under control.
“Your words mean nothing to me. When you keep secrets from me it shows me that I don’t matter to you.”
“How can you say something like that?” I demanded, grasping her face in my hands. “You do matter to me, Sky. I want you more than you know.”
“Well, I don’t want you.” Her tone was stiff, like she didn’t really want to be talking to me.
I didn’t like her taking that distant approach with me. Plus, I was horny as hell. I fucking wanted her now. I needed her. It was finally time to take things to the next level. I would break through her iciness.
Reaching over, I scooped up the cream she’d been whipping with my fingers and smeared it across her neck before she even knew what had hit her.
“Nick!” She sounded outraged, moving away from me. “Have you lost your mind? I’m making this for Madeline!”
I didn’t bother paying any attention to her cry of protest. Instead, I reached out and grabbed her, spinning her around, and pushing her against the kitchen counter as I pinned her arms behind her back.
Before she could say anything else, I leaned down and licked the cream off the side of her neck, slowly, taking my time, savoring the sweetness of her skin beneath my tongue.
Sky’s protest turned into a moan and she slackened so quickly that I had to grab her so she didn’t slump to the floor.
She tilted her head towards me, and when our eyes locked, I saw how glazed hers were.