Page 29 of Catch Me

My thighs clench instinctively when I realise what we’re doing here. We’re no sooner inside the bathroom and Nick is pushing me back against the door, kissing me so hard it takes my breath away. His hands are up my dress, like icicles roaming around and making me shiver. His fingers explore the sopping mess between my thighs before he pushes inside me, curling and hitting that sweet spot. I dig my manicured nails into his back, fisting his shirt and toppling over the edge of the cliff he has me teetering on.

“Oh fuck Nick,” I curse into his shoulder as he steadies me, kissing my lips softly and turning me around. My hands land on the cold, marble sink and Nick’s now moist fingers hoist theback of my dress up to my waist. His eyes catch mine in the mirror and the devilish smirk spreads across his lips before he fills me with his length. My fingers instantly curl but this time there’s nothing to grip onto, so instead I reach for Nick and he clasps my hand tightly. He pounds into me, passionately, evenly and I screw my eyes shut. A tattooed hand spread out around my throat, pulling my head back so he can suck a trail of purple swells down my neck.

“Oh shit, I'm gonna—gonna” he growls in my ear, his grip on me tightening but I don’t care, I want everything he has.

“Come for me Nick, give me all of it.”

“Oh mygod,” he moans against my shoulder and with one last slam inside me he comes, filling me completely.

I wish I could say the rest of the piano concert was as mesmerising as the first half, but to be honest I struggled to focus. The entire second hour my head was in the clouds, thinking about how fucking lucky I am to have landed here. I still don’t know how it happened. From the night we first kissed totally unexpectedly in his kitchen to now, has been a total whirlwind of emotions. I wanted Nick to want me for so long, and now being in London with him at this concert that he booked specifically for me, I just can’t comprehend how I came to be here. He loves me, he actually loves me and I love him, more than I ever thought I could love anyone. The truth is, I always thought I knew Nick inside out, even from a distance I had this idea that he was a shallow pool of cockiness just like my brother. But now I’ve been swimming in that exact pool for almost a month and I must say, it’s right where I want to stay. It turns out Nick is so much deeper than I ever thought he was, really he’s just craving love and affection, which is something he never had much of as a child. I hope he tells me more abouthis dad soon, I know something is going on with him and I also know Nick is reluctant to share that side of himself with me. That’s ok though, I can wait as long as he needs.

CHAPTER 16

NICK

I didn’t want today to come, not ever. Not only is it my least favourite day of the year — my birthday — but it’s also Sunday, which means we have to go home. Home to the place where I have to pretend that I'm not painfully fucking in love with Lois. The place where I have to think about the fact that at some point this will all come out and my best friend will hate my guts for it.

The moment the shower turns on and the steam starts seeping out from under the bathroom door in our hotel room, I'm throwing the covers off and jumping out of the bed. My eyes were still closed when Lois climbed out of my arms half an hourago and started to pack her suitcase. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes and watch her. I can’t bare to think about the fact we only have until 5pm today before we need to leave our secret little bubble here. But the sound of the shower is like a magnet for me because of course, shower equals naked Lois and I'm definitely down for that, no matter how depressed I am.

I twist the knob on the bathroom door and sneak in, stepping out of my boxers and climbing in behind her.

She jumps when she turns around, smacking a hand against my chest. “Fucking hell Nick! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry,” I murmur, pulling her to me, our chests meeting in a wet embrace. “I heard you turn the shower on and suddenly I was wide awake.”

She snickers. “I bet you were.” Her eyes widen all of a sudden and glisten when she looks at me. “Happy birthday by the way, what are you now, thirty?”

“Ha-fucking-ha,” I respond, dead pan as ever. I hate my birthday, but I'm not about to bring down Lois’ chipper mood. “I’m taking you to a park nearby before we leave, we can just go for a walk or something?”Anything to drag out this weekend.

She lifts her face from where it was smushed against my chest and smiles sweetly. “I don’t want to go home yet either.”

Like she can read my god damn mind.

She wiggles out of my grasp and reaches for her shampoo. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you about something and feel free to tell me to mind my own business if you want but…” she stops with her fingers in a soapy cloud on her head. “What happened with your dad? I know he’s in prison but, can I ask why?”

My eyes instantly drop at the mention of his name and Lois begins backtracking.

“I’m sorry, I should never have asked, just ignore me, I need to learn when to keep my nose out of other people’s busin—”

I silence her with a kiss, the water pouring down between our joined lips. “Don’t be sorry Lo. I know I can tell you anything, it’s just…I still have a lot of anger towards my dad and it’s something I'm working on at the moment.” I take a deep breath and continue, “I went to see my mum about a month ago and she told me that he’s set for an early release, around Christmas actually. She asked me to go and visit him, to hear him out. She said he’s sorry and he wants to make amends with me before he’s released but,” my fingers takes a path through my sopping hair and Lois’ hand brackets my jaw. “I just don’t know if I can forgive him for what he did to me.”

Lois strokes a thumb across my wet cheek, the shower still coming down on us both like a waterfall. “What did he do to you Nick?” Her voice is a soft whisper, like she’s scared to hurt me with her words.

I swallow dryly. “He beat me, Lois. He beat me fucking black and blue because I scratched one of his CD’s by accident. I was thirteen and totally fucking defenceless, but he didn’t care about that. He didn’t care that my sisters were there to witness it, he didn’t care about the fact I'm his oldest son.” I shake my head and Lois grips my bicep. “He didn’t care about any of that because he’s a tyrant, a fucking beast of a man. I vowed from that day that if I ever become a father, that I’ll be ten times the father he ever was to any of us.”

Lois runs a delicate finger along my jaw and tilts my head up to look at her. “You’ll be an amazing dad one day and I'msosorry that happened to you.”

We lock eyes for a moment, no more words shared between us and we don’t need them. The only sound being the pattering of the water from the shower on the chrome floor below us, the dull, steamy air floating silently between us. I feel a weight lift from my shoulders having shared that with her. Not many people know the details of what happened with my dad andthat’s how I like it. I prefer to keep my private business to myself, but with Lois it feels different. She’s become my safe haven, the person that will sit with me through any emotion, holding my hand.

LOIS

The sun is setting when we pull back into the driveway of Nick’s house. The day was long but nowhere near long enough and that’s why he refused to drop me back at the dorms tonight. It didn’t take much persuading to get me to stay over at his place tonight, only the fear of Sean catching us prodding at the people pleasing angel on my shoulder. If it wasn’t for Sean I would be telling anyone who would listen that Nick loves me and that I love him. But unfortunately the situation we find ourselves in is this one right here, sneaking up the stairs, trying not to breathe too loudly for fear of being caught. Nick’s hand lands on the doorknob of his bedroom and I quickly yank it away. Confusion washes over his brown eyes as he looks down at me.

“Wait, just close your eyes for a second.” I whisper, glancing over his towering frame down the corridor towards the other closed bedroom doors.

His eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “What? Why?”

“Just trust me.”

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