Page 40 of Big Nick Energy

Even though I’d already seen him and what he was wearing, he was looking good in his green and gold SONs paraphernalia. All of his fraternity brothers were wearing different versions of the same thing and they all looked good. But Nick stood out. Maybe it was because he’d just dicked me down, but there was no one who looked better than him.

“There’s Nick,” I announced with a smile. “And he’s…” My sentence trailed off when I saw who he was with.

“Is that Evie?” Paris’s surprised tone matched the one in my head.

Evie Sutter was Nick’s college girlfriend, the homecoming queen to his homecoming king. She was beautiful in her twenties, but she was absolutely stunning in her thirties. Wearing heeled boots and a skintight minidress, Evie tossed her long passion twists over her shoulder before she and Nick hugged.

“Old friends hug all the time,” Paris quickly assured me.

I nodded, watching their interaction. It was a rocking hug that lasted longer than necessary. My mind was immediately transported back to that day I watched him on that stage and then saw her run to embrace him. I felt a modicum of disappointment then, but my heart lurched in the present.

“Check out Evie and Nick,” a SONs member commented to another one.

“Damnnnnnnnnnnnn!” The second SONs member reacted. “I knew once he saw her again, he’d be back up on it.”

“Well, shit, if he don’t want her no more, I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing what’s up.”

The two men chuckled and then shifted their attention, clapping with everyone else as the performance came to an end.

I tipped my head to the side. Although they were no longer hugging, their arms were around each other as they posed for a picture.

I couldn’t deny that they looked good together—not better than me and him, but good, nonetheless.

“Are you okay?” Paris asked in a hushed tone. “You’re staring.”

Ripping my eyes from the two of them, I turned my body toward my best friend. “I’m fine. It’s fine.” I took a deep breath and smiled. “Plan B, C, and D were accomplished. Plan A was always going to take more than a weekend.”

She nodded. “Facts. To go from ‘I don’t know you’ to ‘I love you’ in forty-eight hours is a leap.”

“It is.”

“But um… did you say Plan B was accomplished?” A huge grin spread across her face. “And Plan B was…” She did a body roll and wiggled her eyebrows.

I nodded. “Yes and yes.”

“Oh my God!” she squealed. “No wonder you look so good and glowy!”

I bit my bottom lip and put my hand over my heart. “It was everything.”

“Then don’t even worry about that.” She waved her hand flippantly in the direction of Nick and Evie. “Because if the way that man was looking at you when he picked you up for the date is any indication, Plan A is in progress.”

My heart thumped at the thought of Nick being in love with me. I remembered the way he looked at me before he slid inside me, and a warm feeling washed over me.

“I mean…” I twisted my lips and lifted my shoulders. “We shall see.”

My phone was vibrating violently in my bag. Pulling it out, I realized I never sent the text to Nick to let him know I’d arrived.

Nick Williams: Is everything okay?

Nick Williams: Where are you?

Nick Williams: Let me know if you need me to come get you.

Asha James: I’m sorry, I thought I sent the message. I’m standing to the side. There’s no seats.

I turned around and looked at him after sending the text. I watched him look up from his phone and search for me. A smile pulled at my lips as he scanned the area until his eyes landed on me. The way his face lit up made my smile widen. When he flashed his pearly whites, I felt the heat creeping up my neck. He wasted no time moving through the crowd to get to where I was.

“The SONs are next,” he told us. “Follow me, I’ll get you two seats.”

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