by Ace Gray
"I have to make my speech," he said and my insides clenched. "Please stay right here, where I can see you." I had to dig my fingernails into my palms to keep from reaching out and stopping him.
Laura took Nick's place when he strode toward the stage. I jumped when she laid her hand on my shoulder.
"Whoa, what's wrong?"
“Nothing,” I snapped and slammed my champagne.
"Don't lie to me." She was speaking aside to me while we clapped for Nick's introduction. In the twenty seconds since Nick had left my side, his eyes had gone colder. Shit had seemingly gone very wrong, very sideways, and I almost couldn't breathe.
“Is I don't know sufficient?" I asked quietly and narrowed my gaze, still unwavering from Nick.
From the corner of my eye I saw Laura furrow her brow, and I was in no mood to reassure her. Honestly, I couldn’t.
"Champagne miss? For the toast?" I turned on autopilot to grab a flute from the tray.
The man carrying it was just a shock of blonde hair and blur of a silver vest. I noticed he hadn’t made eye contact but almost nothing else registered. Something thudded inside of me and my head snapped back to the stage.
Nick was right where my eyes had left him, still perfectly attired, breathing calmly, eyes flipping between note cards and me. But then he looked past me; his face fell and his eyes turned black. My heart jackhammered as I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place but Nick was morphing up on his pedestal. His fury was becoming less and less contained. I slammed my second glass of champagne, immediately making a face.
"That's what you get for chugging champagne,” Laura quipped beside me.
"It tasted funny,” I said as I refocused on the end of Nick’s speech.
“Kate, what’s going on?” Laura, was shifting between my face and Nick’s.
He’d finally cracked enough that others could tell. He was beet red and a vein popped out of his neck. His teeth gritted together so tightly that his razor sharp jaw was somehow more defined, and a dimple hollowed near his ear. Nick was even inadvertently balling note cards in his hand; I couldn’t look away.
“This is way more than funny tasting champagne.”
Laura’s eyes bored into me; studying, evaluating. And she wasn’t the only one. The weight of the room fell to my shoulders.
“I need a scotch.”
Before I start shaking.
"Did someone say scotch?" The voice interrupting was vaguely familiar and I turned to take the amber glass from the same blonde server that’d circled not two minutes ago.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
Nick's voice roared inches from my face only a heartbeat after he finished his last word on stage. The whole room froze when he bellowed and my body reacted immediately, goose bumps covering my skin and hair standing up on the back of my neck.
"It's just scotch, Nick,” I spoke softly hoping to soothe him.
"I wasn't talking to you."
I looked up and saw the glower he'd fixed behind me. Everyone nearby was fixated on us, on the pure hostility radiating off my fiancé. Movement toward us pulled my attention from Nick. Jaime, Colton, and Terrence were all jostling people and shoving furniture to reach us.
What the fuck?
Nick answered my unspoken question and finished his thought with one dreadful sentence.
"I was talking to Christopher."
The shock took my breath away. Even more so than the painful grip Nick used to pull me back or the wildly terrified look on Jaime's face.
Christopher Winthrop was shockingly blonde and dressed to disappear into the ballroom, but once I really looked at him, his sick, sadistic smile made him stand out. It hung naturally on his face—like he didn't have to work to keep it there—and his eyes lit up with an eerie, smoky light that made his skin all the more waxy in appearance. Had I never heard a word uttered about him, that face would have made my skin crawl. Something in that gaze shifted to hungry when his eyes locked on mine. My stomach bottomed out and I tried to keep my face from betraying me.
"She's even better in up close Nicholas." Christopher's laugh cut straight through me, down to my very bones. I didn't even notice Nick's hands had left me until they were clawing at Christopher's vest.
"Not here, not now." Julia's voice came from somewhere behind the wall of men, every bit as assertive and icy as Nick’s could be. "You will not make a scene in public."
"Keeping up appearances Julia? Wouldn't want anyone to know that Nicholas isn't perfect, or that he's marrying a delicious whore."
I balled my fists, Nick growled again, and this time even Jaime joined in.
"Upstairs, now." Julia narrowed her eyes at Nick and Christopher. Nick's fingers were turning white on the satin of Christopher's vest. “Now,” she commanded, marginally louder.
Nick was completely unconcerned with a scene as he yanked Christopher toward the staircase. Christopher couldn’t keep up and his feet wheeled and scrambled beneath him. Jaime lunged to Nick's side and the two of them manhandled Christopher up the sweeping stairs.
"Take her home now,” Nick shouted over his shoulder to Colton.
"Wouldn't want her to know the truth?” Christopher laughed.
The comment should have pissed me off, but this time around, it simply freaked me out.
“Christopher,” Nick warned, his temper fraying.
An odd ringing started in my ears. The further they moved away from me, the harsher the sound became.
"I'm not going anywhere. Not without Nicholas." I pushed past Colton’s outstretched arm, following everyone else up the stairs.
"What's going on?" Laura was beside me the moment we made it to the second floor. "More of that you don't know stuff?"
"I knew you wouldn't tell her." Christopher was watching Laura and I intently behind Nick, that smile still hanging on his lips. The ringing in my ears got louder.
It's okay Nick didn't share. It's okay Nick didn't share. It's okay Nick didn't share.
My pulse raced.
"Your damn right I didn't tell her. Why would I subject her to that?" Nick shoved Christopher down an empty hallway, toward the balcony from our first evening.
"Whores don't have feelings. Tell her whatever you want.” Christopher snickered.
Excuse me?
My whole face contorted and that familiar ball of acid welled in my throat but I didn't dare speak. Christopher stumbled a little in Nick's grasp but he recovered quickly, those evil eyes laughing at me all the while. One of Nick’s hands cocked back and his whole body coiled before crushing his fist into Christopher’s jaw and sending him crumpling to his knees.
"You will not call her a whore!" All of us cringed when Nick bellowed.
"But she is one." Christopher shrugged as he regained his footing. He acted as if he hadn’t been punched, as if there was no crunch reverberating through his bones. He didn't even check the blood coming from his lip.
"Christopher, stop this," Julia scolded.
"I've seen the things she lets you do to her.” Christopher kept speaking as if nothing was happening to him.
What?
Jaime and Colton both muscled over to him and pinned him against the wall. With him restrained Nick paced closer, more livid than I'd ever seen. Every inch of him quivered.
"I will kill you.” Nick’s voice was low and menacing in a way that made my blood run cold.
Laura gasped beside me but I kept my eyes on Nick. Nothing else mattered in that moment but him. I wanted to go to him. I wanted to put myself squarely in between the brothers and beg Nick to come home. Even apologize for letting us leave the house in the first place.
“I know you like whores. Whores that do dirty things. Whores like Piper. And now Kate. Just another set of holes that likes filthy, dirty things."
Even from behind, I could tell the effect those words had on Nick.
"Shut the fuck up!" I shouted without thinking. Everyone turned except Nick when my voice rang out. “You're the disgusting one.
And you will not speak to Nicholas like that. Not about me, nor about our relationship. Not about anything.” I’d managed to speak with a snarl that should have made Nick proud.
Instead, I saw his shoulders slump and his being deflate at the same time Christopher's eyes flashed with a truly unholy glint.
"She's feisty, too. Even better." A laugh rang from Christopher's lips that made my skin crawl and my insides twist.
Before anyone else reacted, a few things happened all at once. Jaime stepped back to pull his weapon as Christopher lowered his shoulder to crash into Colton. Colton went flying backward into a potted plant and Terrence tried to shove between Julia, Laura, and myself to get to the wide open hallway Christopher bolted for. Laura grabbed a frozen Julia and hauled her out of the men’s way. I barely noticed any of it as I watched my fiancé fracture rather than sprint after, or even seethe at, what had just happened.
Colton scrambled, sending soil flying across the perfect white carpet, then tore off after Christopher. Jaime ran past me just a breath later, making the material of my dress rustle. Nick still hadn't flinched.
“Laura, take Julia and find your date. If one of the new guys is downstairs send him home with her. I'm assuming Frank got Ari out of here the second they realized Christopher was here.”
"They did." Julia was thawing but there was something in her eyes when she met mine that unnerved me.
"What about you?” Laura asked while Julia’s bleak gaze shifted to her son.
“I'll be fine.” I don’t think anyone believed me.
I waited for them to turn down the stairs before I crept toward the statue of a man in front of me.
"Nick," I whispered as my hand rose to his shoulder. He flinched when I set my hand lightly on the soft fabric of his suit. “Baby?” He shifted again, this time I followed to wrap my arms tightly across his chest.
He sagged into me.
“What have you done?” he asked, no louder than a whisper.
“What do you mean?”
Nick turned in my arms, I still held him as tightly as possible. I was prepared for him to push away, to scream and shout, maybe even foam at the mouth, but he simply wormed his arms out of my grasp and wrapped them tightly around my neck.
Huh?
He didn’t pay attention to my hair as he pulled me tighter to his chest. Or to my makeup as he kissed one eyelid, then the other, before landing with his lips pressed against my forehead.
“Oh Sweets, what have you done?” He lips brushed against my skin as he whispered.
The particularly uncharacteristic softness flat out frightened me.
“I don’t know, Nick.” My voice shook all on its own. “Tell me and I’ll fix it.”
He didn’t say anything. The silence was more unnerving than any fight we’d ever had. He was looking down the hallway in the direction the men had sprinted, but I couldn’t tell what he was seeing. I didn't know why he wasn’t the one leading the pursuit.
“Come home with me?” His lips were still against my skin.
As soon as I nodded, Nick pulled me toward the ballroom, his hand faithfully stuck to mine. He didn’t breathe a word, his eyes didn’t shift from their awful new shade. He didn’t even try to keep up appearances as we tore through the party and out the front door.
In the backseat of the car, I tried to listen for his heartbeat or his usual, deep, even breathing. For the first time, neither registered. He traced his familiar circles on my thigh but they weren’t angry, grippy things, they were tentative and shaky. Each gesture, each moment that ticked by, showed me this completely unfamiliar man and that man had panic gripping my chest.
As soon as we were home, Nick went straight to the office. I let him; sipping scotch in the living room suited me just fine. Jaime, Colton, and Terrence weren’t too far behind, and I simply pointed to the office door when they arrived. The door opened and closed unceremoniously when Jaime announced himself. There was no shouting, no slamming of things, none of the angry Nick trademarks. Nor did I have any desire to burst into the room and demand to be included. Matter of fact, I wanted to be as far away as possible.
When exhaustion hung heavy on my eyelids, I went up to bed. I couldn’t help but tiptoe the whole way. Even in my own closet, I was tense and my heart beat far too fast. My eyes fluttered shut and I took a deep breath as I slowly pulled pins from my hair and let it fall. I unzipped my gown and let it pile on the floor around me. A loud exhale echoed behind me.
“Nicholas." I turned toward the door to see fixated, stormy eyes. I reached out for him and, to my surprise, he crumbled to his knees in front of me. “Nick.” I cried out as shallow breaths wracked his shoulders.
I went to kneel down but he stopped me by wrapping his arms around my legs then holding tight like a stone statue.
A horrified, broken, petrified statue.
14.
"Love, talk to me,” I begged.
He didn't answer.
My hands wandered through his hair as we sat like that for what felt like eternity—me hesitating, him statuesque. I was getting cold and trying to think of something to say when he nuzzled into my bare skin. The proof of life urged me to try again.
"Nick?" His hands dropped from my body and he looked up. I melted down to the floor. “Baby, are you ok?"
"You have to be freezing." His words weren’t what I expected but I was glad he was speaking.
“Yeah, but that's ok." I smiled tentatively, now nose to nose with him.
He grabbed my shoulders and crushed me to his chest. When his grip loosened the smallest bit, I twisted to sit in his lap and he adjusted his arms around me. As always, his touch warmed me, even tingled slightly. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and breathed in his purely Nicholas scent.
His hands automatically went to my chest. For a moment, he simply traced the swell of my breasts, and I purred into the cool air. Then his hand slid down to my nipples and yanked roughly. I arched against him as my purr shifted to a loud groan. The sound egged him on, and he pulled even harder. I started gasping and panting just before he dropped my breast and both his hands plunged between my thighs.
My shocked cry echoed off the glass and Nick growled in response. One finger slid into me and the other immediately dug in to my thigh. I couldn’t help but arch away from his chest, even as I pushed myself further onto his hand. He massaged my G-spot over and over, and I couldn’t help but grind my hips in time. Arousal dripped down my leg and dampened his sleeve where it rubbed against me.
When my limbs went limp, he used his grip to push me up to standing. My vision tunneled, my thighs tried to press together—my knees wanted to buckle—but he kept his hand inside me to prevent me from crumbling. Nick gracefully unfolded from the floor and used his fingers, still dancing on my G-spot to lead me to the bedroom.
His hand fell away when I stood next to the bed, and he jerked his chin toward the mattress. I climbed on, and had to consciously keep from flopping gracelessly to center.
“Play with your nipples,” Nick purred his command when I laid back and my hands moved without hesitation.
I tugged and twisted and pulled the way he would. I arched up off the bed into my own hands. He groaned as his tuxedo pieces started to hit the floor. When he was naked, he bent over the drawer before climbing back onto bed and bending over me.
“I need some control back tonight, Sweets. Will you give it to me?”
I nodded, never ceasing the tugs on my chest.
“Tell me you want me to feel in control again.”
“Yes,” I gasped.
“Yes, what?”
“I want you to be in control Nick, feel in control, whatever you need.” The words were a plea to take me. However he damn well wanted.
“Good girl.” His voice broke.
They were the right words but not the right tone. He was sorrowful like the day he’d told me about Christopher in the first place. Something was still very wrong, and I tried to focus long enough to see his eyes.<
br />
He leaned down to fasten my hands to the headboard and tucked his chin, bending to hide his eyes and take my nipple in his mouth as he clamped the cool metal of handcuffs to my wrists. As soon as I was secured, he yanked me down, forcing my arms to stretch straight overhead. His eyes fluttered shut as he continued to roll my breast between his teeth.
Now I was too preoccupied to care what color they’d been.
Nick pushed my legs up, each heel as close to my backside as possible, then he started kissing on my inner thighs. When he got to my clit, he kissed lightly then started sucking. Slowly the light touches of his tongue turned into assertive thrusts. I twitched with each and every one.
I was so focused on his mouth I didn’t pay attention to his hands. They’d left my hips and were now playing with black satin ribbon. The fabric danced against my skin as he looped circles around my bent legs, intersecting each loop with one soft, barely there knot up against my calf. He bound each leg tightly on itself keeping my knees bent and me open to him.
That was when the real torment began. Nick’s lips slowly moved across every inch of skin. Not just my aching sex or beaded nipples, but every single inch. And I couldn’t move in any way; I had to take it, feel it, relish it, and only wish to God I could give it back somehow. His hands followed his lips, tracing my every contour, memorizing every line.
MMMmmm.
“Sweets,” he murmured and the sound was still broken.
His cock twitched against me, his fingers dug into me but he wasn’t enjoying himself. Despite all my pleasure, that voice made my heart hurt.
“Baby.” My hands yanked against the cuffs, reacting only to my urge to console. “It’s okay, baby.” My last word turned into a groan because his tongue waved and rolled inside me while his fingers traced the edges of the ribbon.
His touch was reverential but distant, covering every inch firmly, but not rough. It seemed like he was prolonging the experience and trying to get it over with all at the same time. Nick’s tongue inside me just felt different than usual. But at the end of the day, my G-spot was still a trigger, and when he stroked it all I could do was shake my head side-to-side and moan.
