Page 44 of Big Nick Energy

“Yeah.” I glanced over at him. “Anything like that ever happen to you?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “The worst that’s ever happened to me was when an ex stole my peace…”

Nine

The SONs had to be in The Elm’s ballroom early for set up, so Paris and I weren’t going to the party with Nick and Tuck. But they were our dates.

“I cannot believe I’m going to a party with Tuck,” Paris sang happily, turning around in her pink dress. “You were right.”

I refreshed my lip gloss. “I usually am. But what specifically?”

“Well, first, about this dress.”

“You always look pretty in pink, but this dress on you is fire.”

“Thank you.” She pointed at me. “And that dress is amazing on you.”

I slipped into a pair of black pumps with five-inch silver metallic heels then did a little shimmy. The formfitting black sequin dress hugged my curves and made me feel extremely sexy. I bought the dress six months ago and never had a place to wear it.

“I think Nick will like it,” I told her.

“He’d be a fool not to!”

We stood side by side in the mirror. Our hair, makeup, and outfits were perfect, but none of that compared to our smiles.

“We’re going to have a good time tonight,” I told her, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

“I know.” She took a deep breath before looking over at me. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“For pushing me out of my comfort zone.” I shrugged. “Even if it doesn’t end up with me and Tuck having more than just this weekend together, when we kissed for the first time, I saw fireworks.”

“Do you want more to happen tonight?”

“Absolutely.” She smirked. “After what happened earlier today, I’mreadyfor something more to happen tonight.”

My eyes opened wide. “What happened at the tailgate?”

“We got soul food from Wright Now and?—”

“Girl, you know good and damn well I’m talking about what happened between you and Tuck! And why am I just hearing about this now!”

“Because we were surrounded by the whole frat! I couldn’t tell you at the step show!”

“Okay tell me everything!” My pitch was high and excited. “What happened?!”

She filled me in on what happened with her and Tuck as we made our way to the first-floor ballroom. We paused the conversation while in the packed elevator but then picked back up when we made it to the lobby.

“Well, if you want to use our room to take it there, feel free,” I told her as we got in the line to enter the party. “I don’t plan on sleeping there tonight.”

It took almost twenty minutes to get into the party because of how many people were there. The Elm wastheplace to be. Even though I wasn’t walking in with Nick, knowing he was my date for the evening made the time fly by. Flashing our VIP passes, we made our way into the party of the year.

“Tuck!” Paris exclaimed as her man appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Wearing a green suit with a black t-shirt, Nick Williams moved through the crowd with effortless confidence. I saw the way people looked at him. I knew the way I looked at him. And it was so refreshing to learn that he was as amazing on the inside as he was out the outside.

“Wow,” Nick commented as soon as he saw me. “You look…” His eyes swept up and down my body. “Wow.”

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