by Marian Tee
The dark spot staining the crotch area made Lilac turn red, but Nick had only chuckled. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I know this won’t be a problem soon enough.” He caressed her cheek, saying teasingly, “Right?”
She could only turn redder and was beyond relieved when he didn’t push it. But they both knew Nick was just biding his time before he would ask her again – and when that time came, Lilac would have to answer.
It was very, very nerve-wracking.
And she did not want to ruin the rest of her night by worrying over it.
“You still okay there?” Nick shouted from the shower.
Her lips twitched, but she kept silent, knowing it would annoy Nick.
“Lilac, if you don’t answer, I’m coming out naked---”
“Still…okay!” she yelled back as quickly as she could. With Nick, one never knew if he was teasing or not.
His rich dark laughter spilled out, the faint sound reaching her even though she stood a small distance away from his private quarters. Another minute passed, but there was no sign of Nick coming out anytime soon. BBFs were so high maintenance, Lilac thought with a sigh as she parked herself in one of the hugely luxurious chairs in Nick’s office and tucked her legs under her. Picking Nick’s phone from the center table, she resumed reading the rest of the contract of Nick’s latest acquisition.
An immeasurable amount of time passed when the sound of a door opening had Lilac looking up. She blinked in confusion upon seeing Nick coming in from the outside. Maybe his adjoining private quarters had its own exit door to the reception area?
And then Lilac saw what Nick was wearing, and her jaw dropped. She forgot everything else, her whole attention now centered on Nick.
He still looked beautiful, of course, but this was also the most casual she had seen Nick. Dressed in a checkered polo, white shirt, and jeans, all Lilac could say was, “Wow.”
****
At the unexpected sound of a female voice in his brother’s private office, Jason’s head snapped towards it even as his body went taut. A part of him was afraid it was Karla, his brother’s greatest weakness, but instead it was the opposite.
This girl, Jason realized with what felt like a punch to his guts, was going to be his weakness. His jaw went slack. No, he thought. She was already his weakness, and he was getting goddamn weaker by the second.
She was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, and of course he had seen a lot. Long dark hair that appeared silky smooth like a mermaid’s, big lilac eyes like a cosplay princess’, alabaster skin like a porcelain doll, and the most amazing curves that even her ghastly turtleneck dress couldn’t hide.
The intense gaze made Lilac blush. “Stop staring.”
Her voice was soft, soothing, with just the slightest hint of rustiness to it, like speaking wasn’t her first form of communication. It just added another layer of mystery to her, making the girl even sexier in his eyes.
His eyes still devouring her, Jason answered honestly, “I can’t help it.”
Lilac waited for him to walk closer but he didn’t, forcing her to ask awkwardly, “Shall we go?”
Yes, they could go. He wanted her to go with him, but…it wasn’t his fucking time to take this girl with him…yet. Jason glimpsed the phone in her hands, its distinct platinum casing letting him know instantly whose phone she was holding. He asked curiously, “What are you reading?”
Lilac frowned. “The report…why?”
Jason raised a brow. “The report?”
Wondering at the odd note of the man’s voice, she answered, “Yes. The report…on Ronin. It’s very…interesting.” She beamed, getting carried away while remembering the details of the report. “The developer…you chose for this…project…he’s amazing. He’s…perfect.”
But Nick hadn’t chosen the developer. It was him. Jason wanted to tell her that, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not even as his heart splintered into pieces at her words, everything in him demanding that he tell this girl it was him who would be perfect for her, the same way she was perfect for him.
“Nick?”
Hearing her say his brother’s name was like a goddamn nail to his coffin. Jason asked with unintentional abruptness, “Why do you say the developer’s perfect?” A look of surprised hurt flickered in her big beautiful eyes at his tone, and Jason silently cursed himself. Gentling his voice, he said, “I really want to know. My brother thinks I’m crazy for trusting him, considering his age.”
At the note of genuine interest in Nick’s voice, she relaxed, answering, “He may just…be nineteen…but that doesn’t…matter because---as you should…know---he’s also…the developer of Samurai X. The game…I mean. If he did that…justice…then he will do…this…justice, too.”
A smile touched his lips at how she so carefully but passionately defended his choice – not Nick’s. “Do you think it will sell then?”
She gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Absolutely.” Then with a smile, she gestured for him to come closer. “I want to…show you…something.” She waved his phone at him. “I found something…online that you will…find…interesting.”
Jason shook his head.
She blinked. “Nick?”
Fuck, Jason thought as he took a step back. His heart banged against his chest. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
This time, Lilac was very sure something was wrong. When she started walking toward Nick, he started backing away. “Stop---”
She reached him. “What’s wro---” Her voice trailed off. She rubbed her eyes. She looked up, and then she rubbed her eyes again. But still it was the same. Lilac stumbled back.
“You’re not…Nick,” she whispered.
“No.” The tone was harsh. “I’m not.”
The door behind Lilac opened and she whirled around, shock making her dizzy when she saw another Nick.
The second Nick cursed. “Lilac---”
Behind her, the first Nick grated out, “Lilac?”
Yes, she answered numbly in her mind. She was Lilac, and she was going to faint.
****
Nick tasted fear like no other as Lilac’s body fell in slow motion before his eyes. The next thing he knew, he was sixteen fucking years old again, and ten men wanted to fill his ass with their cum---
No!
He was struggling, panting, his vision going black.
No, no, no!
They were too many, and he was too fucking weak. He wasn’t a man. He wasn’t a child. He was just a stupid weak fool who thought he was better than everyone else, and now he was going to pay for it.
His pants falling to the ground, someone forcing him to bend backwards, jeering laughter around him---
Nooooo!
He managed to throw one off him, but he got one punch after another as punishment. And then there was the most searing pain----
Nooooooooooooo
“NICK!”
Suddenly, it was no longer Nick with his ass bare. It was Lilac, and her eyes were filled with so much pain and betrayal. “Help me,” she begged him.
Nick wanted to, oh fuck, he wanted to but he couldn’t. Because he was weak---
“NICK, DAMMIT. HELP ME!”
Nick came to with a gasp, white-faced. But he forgot all about his fear when he saw an unconscious Lilac in his brother’s arms. “Give her to me!” He needed, God he so fucking needed to have Lilac close to him.
“Nick---” There was a strange look on Jason’s face, and his tone mirrored it.
“Call the doctor,” he cut Jason off sharply. Without looking back, he pushed the door to his room open with his shoulder.
He laid Lilac gently on the bed. But when her head fell facing him, all he could see was Karla’s stunning face streaked with tears.
I still love you, Nick. I’ll always love you. I will always think you’re the strongest and most beautiful guy in the world. I won’t ever leave you.
But she did. She had. And she should have – everyone should leave him beca
use he was weak and ugly where it counted the most.
****
When Lilac woke, the first thing she saw was Nick – or was it really Nick?
“It’s really me, sweetheart.” The grimly voiced endearment set her heart at ease in an instant. Yes, she thought, body shaking with relief. It was her Nick.
The world spun around her a little as she tried to force herself up, making Nick snap, “Take it easy, dammit.”
Yes, she thought ruefully. That really was Nick.
But his touch was incredibly gentle as he helped her up, murmuring soothing words and stroking her hair after. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You scared me to death, manari mou,” he muttered accusingly.
When he took a seat next to her, it was only then Lilac realized she was half-lying on a bed with silk covers in a beautifully and cozily designed room that was completely unfamiliar. “Where are…we?”
“It’s my private room here in the company,” Nick answered briefly, his gaze still narrowed with concern. “I crash here when I’m working late and I don’t have time to go home.”
Slowly, and with more interest this time after his answer, she looked around. Black soundproofed walls, steel embellishments, and a full-length frameless mirror mounted on the wall next to the ceiling-high windows, its curtains drawn back. No T.V., not even a table or a couch. It was surprisingly bare, considering the sophisticated image that Nick presented to the world.
“It seems…too simple…for your taste.” Something nagged at her, but she couldn’t make herself ask the question.
“I told you. It’s just for when I’m too tired to go home.” Nick sounded impatient, but his touch was still gentle when he cupped her chin and made Lilac face him. His eyes widened. “So that’s what you’re worried about.”
She shook her head quickly, but that soon proved to be a mistake. Pain assaulted her head once more, and a groan slipped past Lilac’s lips.
Nick’s own lips tightened. “Idiot,” he growled at her but he was already massaging her temples, his fingers surprisingly adept at kneading the pain away. “This really is just a place for me to crash. It’s not a fuck pad.”
Knowing better this time, Lilac took care as she moved her shoulders with what she hoped was a nonchalant shrug.
He slowly tipped her chin up, asking teasingly, “Jealous?” He laughed when he got a disdainful glance, the kind only someone like the aloof Lilac York could ever give. It was arousing, which was also unfortunate since Lilac wasn’t fit at all for a second round of going bad.
“You need glasses again.”
Lilac took a second to react. “Nick!”
“Can’t help it, sweetheart. It seems like everything you do these days is a turn on.” With a sigh, he caressed her lips, with the need to touch Lilac a constant urge. “How do you feel now?”
“Be better…if you don’t stop…the head massage.”
Laughing, he returned to kneading the sides of her temples and was rewarded by Lilac’s blissful sigh. “The doctor will be here anytime soon.”
Her eyes flew open. “I don’t need---”
Nick glared Lilac into silence. “You’re going to see the doctor and that’s fucking final.”
“Arrogant…billionaire.” Lilac muttered the words under her breath.
“Damn right I am,” he growled. Cupping her face, he told her with a snarl, “You almost killed me with worry back there so don’t you fucking faint again!”
Unable to believe how it suddenly seemed like everything was her fault, Lilac could only blink.
“And don’t you try blinking at me to make me less angry,” Nick growled.
Lilac didn’t know whether to laugh out loud or growl back. Unable to stop herself from blinking at the utter absurdity of Nick’s words, she protested, “But I---”
“It’s not a fucking joke, Lilac,” Nick said tightly.
There was something in his words that made her pause.
“Seeing you fall like that…” Nick’s breath hissed out. “It brought everything back. And when you didn’t wake, it became worse. This time, I keep seeing you. It’s you those fucking asses were trying to hurt and---”
With a choked cry, Lilac threw her arms around Nick and hugged him as tightly as she could. His voice had sounded so terribly haunted when he spoke, and she hated herself for being so blind. “Sorry,” she whispered against Nick’s neck.
“I couldn’t help you.” His words were filled with agony. “Even in my dreams, Lilac, I couldn’t---”
Tears stung her eyes as Lilac pulled back to hold his face with her hands. “Look at…me.” How could this beautiful man not see how strong and beautiful he was? When Nick’s tormented gaze met hers, she said haltingly but as firmly as she could, “I believe…in you. You’re strong.” Her face took a mulish expression even as her violet eyes sparkled more with unshed tears. “You are very…brave…and fuck everyone who…says you are not.”
As the darkness in Nick’s gaze faded, his arms went around Lilac, tightening until she almost had difficulty breathing. But she didn’t protest, knowing Nick needed this.
The understanding in Lilac’s words made him shudder, her voice a gentle embrace in itself that healed and made him believe again. Nick took her face in his. “You’re mine, Lilac,” he told her seriously because he fucking meant it. He had to. There was no longer any hope of a normal life without her, not as long as Karla didn’t come back. His chest squeezed hard as he made himself accept that it was more than possible Karla wouldn’t ever come back.
“I want to be your only guy friend.” He kissed her again, a kiss that also demanded her surrender. “You don’t need anyone else but me.” Nick looked into her eyes, telling her the words he couldn’t make himself say yet – that Lilac had to need him back because Nick only needed her.
Lilac’s hands slowly crept up, covering his.
And then she turned her face sideways so she could press a reassuring kiss to his palm, making him not just see but feel that she understood.
Nick pulled her back roughly into his arms. “Lilac.” The name was torn out of him in a low, hoarse cry.
“I…know.” Her arms crept around his neck and Lilac pressed her face against his chest, tears seeping to his shirt. “Don’t be scared…anymore. I’m here.”
****
“…and finally, the asshole who almost killed you, Jason, my twin brother,” Nick said with just the barest hint of temper two hours later. He had wanted to cancel the whole thing, but Lilac had insisted, fearing she would make the wrong impression if they ditched everyone at the last minute.
At Nick’s words, his friends winced while color stained his brother’s high cheekbones. “My apologies again,” Jason Christakos said stiffly.
“It’s not…your fault,” Lilac rushed to say, face flaming as she begged the powers that be to let her die. What was it with Nick Christakos that one moment he could make her feel so alive and then the next moment make Lilac want to kill herself?
She mustered the courage to look at Nick’s twin, who was completely identical but at the same time was also Nick’s opposite. “I’m so…sorry.” Mortification colored her voice. “I didn’t…know Nick…has a…twin.”
Silence.
The tall, cruelly beautiful man with green eyes standing next to Nick finally asked, “You seriously didn’t know?”
“Reid, dammit,” Nick gritted out, seeing the way Lilac turned red at the question.
Reid was at a loss for words, realizing that Nick’s “friend” really did mean it. How could someone not know that Nick and Jason Christakos were twins? His gaze narrowed, taking in Lilac York’s beauty, her abhorrent taste in clothes, and the lack of artifice in her pale violet eyes.
“I’m not aware…much…of current…news.” Her tone was serious and extremely apologetic, and she made it sound as if Nick and Jason Christakos’ love lives were as important as the political situation in the Middle East.
Reid shook his head, amazed. This girl
was the real deal. She wasn’t just another fake bitch who had managed to gold-dig her way under his friend’s skin. And if he wasn’t mistaken, she had no idea who he or Christien was, and she didn’t seem to be affected at all by the fact that she was in a room filled with billionaires.
She was not, Reid was satisfied to see, another Karla in the making.
“What the fuck did you do to deserve this kind of girl, Nick?” he muttered under his breath in Greek.
When Lilac started to blink in confusion, Nick was prepared, slapping a pair of 3D glasses on her. “No blinking,” he hissed.
She didn’t know if she wanted to strangle Nick or herself. “Nick.”
“What,” the blond blue-eyed angel with the mixed European accent asked with extreme interest – Christien if she recalled correctly – “---does blinking have to do with anything?”
“Nothing,” Nick and Lilac answered simultaneously, his voice threatening, hers embarrassed.
Nick’s other friend inserted smoothly, “We’re all delighted to meet you, Lilac.” This one was from Derek Christopoulos, and his gorgeous face was the only one she recognized, being the son of their university’s founding member and one whose generous donations and insightful thank-you letters made the SAC anniversaries extra special.
Derek flashed a devilish smile. “We’ve heard so much about you.”
Lilac’s eyes widened but she didn’t answer, didn’t dare say a word because she had a feeling she would stutter if she did. Words were stuck in her throat and she tossed a helpless look at Nick.
Nick caught sight of it, and without missing a beat he put an arm around Lilac’s shoulders, saying with feigned irritation, “Don’t listen to him, Lilac. I haven’t told any of the guys a goddamn thing about how you and I at the park---”
She forgot all about being nervous in the presence of Derek Christopoulos, her eyes widening at what Nick was saying. “Nick!”
He grinned, never having heard Lilac wail before, and it was a sweet adorable sound – like everything about her was. It made him hard, imagining how Lilac would wail if he played with her body for hours without making her come until the very end.
