Page 57 of Naughty Nicky

Wes shakes his head and takes a step out of Nick’s space. “No, I wanted to apologize. I’ve never seen Pen so distraught, and I was there when that asshole broke her heart and left her for some other influencer with more followers.”

Nick looks over at me, and I give him a flat smile and nod.

“I hate the idea of you and Pen sneaking around behind my back. But I hate the idea of Pen being heartbroken even more.She’s my little sister, and I am supposed to protect her. I feel like all I’ve done the last few days is hurt her even more.”

I sniffle at his words because I know somewhere in there is an apology to me.

Nick looks at me then turns back to Wes. “I don’t want to break her heart, man. But I feel like it’s inevitable if she’s with me.”

“Only if you hurt her. And telling her shit like her needing to be fixed is going to hurt her.”

Nick winces. “You heard that?”

“Yeah, I heard a lot but wanted to wait to come up here to see if you would fix this.”

Nick rubs his brow. “I…I’m sorry,” he says to Wes. “I fucked up with you too. I never should have kept it a secret from you that I was here.”

Wes claps him on the shoulder. “You and me can talk about that later. How about now you just talk to my sister and make things right?”

“Really?”

Wes takes a deep breath but nods. “Yeah, I can get over the fact that my best friend is fucking my sister. But I can’t get over losing both of you in the same week.”

My heart flutters to life, hoping that Nick will listen to Wes and not his own stupid excuses.

“I’m going to let you two talk it out. But you should come over today. No one should spend Christmas alone.” Wes looks over at me and then back at Nick. “I’ll let you two talk.”

I watch as Wes walks back down the stairs and hear him pull out of the driveway. I don’t know how I missed him getting here in the first place. He must have followed me.

I look back over at Nick. His face masked with whatever feelings he is trying to hide. I want to say something, but I don’t even know what to say.

Nick turns like he is about to walk away, and I feel like this is it. This is happening again. It’s over between us, and he is just going to walk away and break my heart.

“Fuck it,” I swear I hear him mumble before he rushes over to me and pulls me into him so quickly I gasp. But I barely have time to catch my breath before Nick is kissing me. He’s kissing me like he did that first time. With complete possession. I whimper against his lips, and he just pulls me in closer. His tongue slipping into my mouth, claiming me.

He eventually pulls away from me, and I am left gasping for air.

“I’m sorry, Pen…I never should have said those words to you. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was losing everything.”

“I accept your apology.” I say it so quickly I’m surprised. He really hurt me with his words but for some reason, I don’t care. Maybe deep down, I know he never meant them, he only meant to try to hurt me to get me to leave.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you or text you. I just thought that with Wes knowing, it wasn’t going to work out. I know how he is, and I just assumed he would make you see his side.”

I snort. “Oh, he tried. But it didn’t work. It didn’t even work on my parents. They lectured him twice apparently. I guess it got through to him finally.”

“You really aren’t mad at me?”

“Oh, I’m livid,” I tease. “But you are just going to need to make it up to me.”

He kneels in front of me and takes my hands in his. “I will gladly grovel at your feet for as long as it takes to make you believe me that I never meant to hurt you.”

I run my hand through his hair. “I know you didn’t want to hurt me, but you still did.”

He drops his head and kisses our entwined hands. “Can I tell you something crazy?”

I cup his jaw and force him to look at me. “Anything.”

“I’ve barely gotten out of bed the last few days. My heart has ached worse than my face since I let you walk away from me. I should have fought for you instead of letting you go inside. I should have run after you. I should have told you this crazy thing I’m feeling because I don’t know how it could possibly be true, but goddamn it, I’ve been feeling the loss for days now.”

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