Chapter Nineteen
Evie
I was awake, but opening my eyes felt like a chore. I was hot, and it was hard to move. I lifted my head, checking my surroundings. It was still dark outside—there was almost zero light filtering in through the grey curtains. Wait. My curtains were white. And I didn’t have a dog…did I? Was I at my parents’ house?
I turned my head to the left. Nope. Not at home. “What the actual fuck, Nicky?” I shoved his arm off my stomach, waking Ollie in the process. “Are you insane? I’m pretty sure this is considered kidnapping.”
“Calm down, little bird.” His voice was groggy, like he was still mostly asleep. “You passed out before I could get directions to that chick’s studio, so I brought you here.”
“She was in your shop, getting tattooed by your friend.” I sat up, scratching Ollie under her chin. It wasn’t her fault her dad was batshit crazy. “You could have called and asked.”
Nicky rolled on his back, putting his gorgeously defined torso on display. “And then what? Carry you inside a stranger’s house and drop you on her couch.”
I looked down at him in the dark. “Yeah, or maybe you could have woken me up.” I was pissed that he’d brought me here. I was pissed that he kept trying to help me. And I was pissed that I needed help in the first place. I was mad at Nicky, but I was mad at myself too. “You’re the worst.” He wasn’t anywhere near the worst. He was the best, at everything, unfortunately for me. I gave myself a mental headshake. Now wasn’t the time to start remembering how good Nicky was in bed. “Where is my purse?” I needed to get out of here before I started to drool.
“Your phone is charging on the nightstand. But your purse is locked in my safe.” Nicky sat up in bed, clicking on a lamp and then turning to face me. “Your pills are flushed down the toilet.”
“What?” I shoved him with shaky hands. I carried my pills with me, but I wasn’t stupid; I had more at home. “Who the hell do you think you are? Fuck, Nick. You aren’t my father, you aren’t my therapist—”
“No, I’m the guy that you keep passing out on.”
I sent him one of my best sneers. “Falling asleep isn’t a crime.”
“You don’t fall asleep, Evie, you collapse. Your body gives up, and you go limp. Bleu wanted to call an ambulance the other night.”
I got out of his warm bed, sparing my bare legs a quick glance. He changed me out of my dress? I waved my hands down my body. “And why the hell do you think it’s okay to look at me naked?” I shook my head, glaring at him. “You want me off my pills? You have an odd fucking way of showing it, because every fucking step you take only makes me feel like I’m spiraling further out of control.”
Before Nicky, I could handle my life. I could handle my ups and downs. I knew how to manage every little nuisance of being me. But the second I’d seen his face again, saw the way he looked at me, everything tilted. Now nothing made sense.
Stupid handsome tattooed god.
He stood, his soft shorts hanging temptingly low on his hips. “If you leave this apartment, I’ll call your parents and tell them everything that’s going on.”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“I’m extorting you. How does it feel, princess?”
I saw red, and immediately picked up the thing closest to me. I threw a baseball at Nicky’s head. Quick with the reflexes, he ducked and the ball missed him, but I put a hole in the sheet rock above his head. “Fuck you.”
He stood to his full height, his eyes boring into mine. “Nothing you do or say will change my mind. You’re staying. Like it or not, I’m your only option at the moment, little bird.” His voice had gone a little softer, almost as if he was apologizing without saying the words. “You can kick and scream and throw things…but you aren’t leaving.” He crossed the room, his gaze never wavering from mine. “I can’t explain to you why I care, but I really fucking do. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I had to look up—he was standing right in front of me. “I’m not sorry I threw the ball at your head.” I felt my anger start to dissipate slightly, even though I was trying desperately to hang on to it.
“That ball was signed by the entire Rangers ball club the first year they went to the World Series.” He pointed behind him. “And you used it to put a hole in my wall.”
“You called me princess.” I bit my bottom lip when it started to tremble. I suddenly felt like crying. I wanted to curl into myself and sob for hours. I was all over the place mood-wise, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it.
“Tell me why you don’t like being called princess.”
I shrugged and made my way into the living room with Ollie on my heels, trying to outrun my tears. “It makes me sound like a spoiled brat.”
“No, now that would be me calling you a stuck-up bitch.” When I glared at him over my shoulder he held his hands up. “Which I didn’t.” He reached for my wrist, stopping me. “If you ever want your stuff back, you’re going to need to stop lying to me, little bird.”
Stop lying? Did I even know how to do that anymore? If only Nicky knew I was more honest with him than anyone else in my entire life. “I have a friend, a not-so-nice friend, and that is what they call me.” So hearing it come out of your mouth makes my skin crawl.
“Tell me about this friend.”
I shook my head, mashing my lips together and shifting on my feet. I didn’t want to bring Collin into Nicky’s apartment. I was virtually being held prisoner here, but it still felt like a safe space. I wasn’t ready to violate that by discussing every fucked-up aspect of my world.
“Okay. Fine.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes assessing my body in his thin t-shirt. “Would you like me to take you to your house so you can get a change of clothes?”
I didn’t want to change. I wanted to stay in Nicky’s clothes. They were soft and they smelled like him. “I had another bag with me. Did you get it out of your car?” I also didn’t want to go back to the sorority house, which was why I’d asked Maykin if I could stay at her place last night.
“No, I didn’t realize you had anything else with you.” He grabbed his keys off a small, thin table against the entryway wall. “I’ll get it.”
I nodded and sat on the couch, curling my legs underneath me. When Ollie jumped up next to me, I cuddled close. As soon as Nicky left I laid on her, resting my cheek against her short, soft fur.
If I’d never walked back into Revival Ink, I’d be fine. I’d have spent this whole evening being the life of the party. I would have danced and laughed, I would have winked and flirted. Collin would have draped himself all over me. My fake friends would have swooned when he picked me up to carry me upstairs. They all wanted to be me.
I’d be in his room, not Nicky’s apartment. The sound of Collin’s frat brothers hooking up would be coming through the thin walls. Not the soft snores of a sweet dog and the tick of an old clock.
I’d yelled at Nicky, pissed that he kept taking my choices away from me. But maybe that was what I needed. When I was left to my own devices, I made all the wrong ones.