Page 65 of Dissension

“I see.” He doesn’t. “Shut the door.” Nick’s tone is a demand.

For once, Kara isn’t in the mood to fight him. She does as she’s told, carefully clicking it shut, staring at him the entire time. Trying to see this man in an abusive past, sold out by his mother. Her stomach turns and sadness pricks at her eyes.

“No complaints? No refusals to do as you’re told?” Nick stands up slowly, making his way over to her, using his body to intimidate in a manner that normally makes her knees weak. His voice dips, husky. “How unlike you.”

If he thinks this is unlike her, wait till he sees what’s up next in her box of terrible tricks.

Nick leans over her, smelling of that perfect cologne that still haunts her dreams. He leans down, slowly, as if to avoid scaring her-

She holds up a hand and hates herself for it. “Excuse me. I came here to talk to you. About something serious. I intend to do just that.”

He pauses, staring at her upheld hand as if it’s something offensive. At least, that’s before he determines she’s playing one of their games, that she’s falsely refusing him. He grabs her wrist with a dark smirk and moves it out of his way, leaning down to press his lips against hers.

His body is firm, a solid weight as he pins her against the door. Pleasure unfurls within, soaring like a bird in the sky. The feel of him, the scent of him. It feels like he’s surrounded her,God, yes-

His hands, roughly running down her sides, feeling her curves. Her nipples prick and Kara bites back an indecent sound. The feel of his body pinning her makes her insides quiver. No, no, she needs to control this. She moves her head to the side, escaping his seeking lips, hands pushing at his chest urgently.

“Nick, Nick- stop.” Another searing kiss, his tongue pressing against hers playfully. “Look, I’m fucking serious, I’m not playing around here-”

He presses her up against the door, his mouth at her throat, sending fire licking through her senses. “When do we ever play, sweetpea?” It feels perfect, each kiss against her throat leaving fire in its wake. The desire he inspires within her, open andwanting.

Unable to take it any longer, she pushes him away and says harshly, “Iknow. About what happened. When you were a boy.” The way he stiffens and stares at her with something cold and unusual in his gaze nearly makes her stop talking altogether, but Kara soldiers on. He doesn’t move towards her, seeminglyfrozen. “And…and I wanted to see if we could maybe talk about some of the things that we don’t like to talk about. With anyone. Because we don’t like people to know. This is something we can share between us, to...I don’t know.Heal. Clear the air between us. See why we are the way we are together.”

Nick pauses and examines her as if he’s trying to figure out where she’s going with all this. To be fair, she’s being rather vague, because who just comes out and says,look I heard you were abused, wanna chat?“What is it you think you know?” His gaze is cagey and narrow, as if trying to pretend he isn’t unsettled by what she’s laid out.

She bites her lower lip, preparing herself. He might have a meltdown when she brings this up. She has no idea. “Dieter and I had a conversation…”

A sneer shapes his perfect lips. “Splendid. Was it a conversation with his tongue in your cunt?”

Trying not to turn red, Kara holds her ground against his typical defensiveness. “It was a conversation aboutyou. About when you were younger.” She takes a deep breath, because she can already see the walls going up in his gaze. He’s on edge now. “I know about the Judge. And I’mnottalking about your fucking monster of a mother.”

The way his face pales, expression going rock solid, pupils going to pinpricks…it’s true. The flex of his throat, the way he goes tense. There’s no hiding his reaction to her words. There’s not a single utterance falling from his lips. Nothing. Only silence as he stares at her.

After his visceral, yet wordless reaction, Kara says his name carefully, trying to get a verbal response.

The one she gets is not the one she planned on. Nick grits out, “Get. Out.”

She holds her ground. “No. I’m not letting you push me away. You want us to be something, like you claim? This is step one, Nick.”

“Fine.” He moves her aside and rips open the door, leaving the room, striding out aggressively. Kara stares with an open mouth. Did he justrunaway?!

After a moment of collecting her thoughts, she chases after him, saying, “Where do you think you’re going?!Nick!”

He’s by the front door, putting his shoes on-

Claire is blinking with confusion on her face, gaping as Nick walks out the front door without another word to either of them.

A moment of silence falls between the two women.

“I’m not sure that’s a talent, making men run out on you,” Claire says unhelpfully, headphones now around her neck. “Heavens, what on earth did you do?”

Numbly, Kara races to the door, putting her shoes on hastily. “It’s not what I did, it’s what I said.” She didn’t think he would actually ditch out on her!

Claire huffs out a large breath, shaking her head. “Must have beensomethingto make him run off. Normally, he just gets defensive like a hedgehog.Well.You know.” Yeah, Kara has an idea.

“I’mtryingto help him. I want to help him get help for his…whatever. Proclivities for desiring simulated nonconsent. It stems from his past and-”

“His twisted fetish,mhmm.” His fiancée is making a pitying face in Kara’s direction now. “I thought I already told you once; Nicky can’t be fixed.”

---