Page 107 of Steeling Her
Once we’ve agreed that this is the tactic I will take, there is a knock on the door. My mom opens it up to be greeted by my smiling dad.Why on earth is he smiling like that?
“Alright, girls, we’d best be off! Goodnight, and we’ll see you tomorrow! Maybe.” My mom waves us off, dragging my dad out of the room in heartbeat. I know she wants to find out what the four of them were talking about. And because I’m my mother’s daughter, so do I.
“ ’Night.” The three of us say in unison as the door shuts closed, leaving the three of us staring at the wooden door.
“Alright, so I’m going to hit the sack! I’m beat and my food baby is making me sleepy. ’Night, you guys!” Danielle waves at Nick but winks at me, knowing she’s referring to our quick girl conversation, all while patting her stomach in the process like she actually has a small baby in there. We both say good night to her. As soon as the door to her room shuts closed, I ask the question I can’t hold back.
“Why did you talk to my brothers and Dad?” He starts to laugh uncontrollably at me, clutching the sides of his stomach.
“Wow, your dad was right! I thought you’d give me at least five more minutes before you hounded me with that question!” He chuckles, wiping his eye a little. I stand there and wait for an answer. I want to know what they were talking about. If it’s something to do with me, then I want to know.
“Well, are you going to tell me?” I shimmy up to him, wearing my best puppy dog eyes that always works on my dad and brothers.
“You know, I hate it when you give me that face,” he groans, looking upwards and then back to me to release a sigh. “It was about football actually . . .” A bucket of ice cold water metaphorically pours over me in an instant. I was hoping it was about me. I guess not.
“Why couldn’t you ask it in front of us?” I question out loud. Why did he go outside away from us to ask them?
“Well, it’s a little on the personal side, and I didn’t want you, your mom, or Danielle hearing about it. They’re guys, so they understand what I’m talking about.” He shrugs hugging me to his rock hard chest. I can see the uneasiness etched into his face. Either he’s lying or keeping something from me, I’m just not sure which one it is.
“That’s it?” I ask him as I lean away from his hold to try to read him. He’s so difficult to read sometimes, I can’t tell what he’s thinking half of the time. And there’s the way his eyes are darting around the room, almost like he’s looking for an escape. He’s up to something, I can see it in his eyes. He’s refusing to make eye contact with me. The shallow breaths are a good indicator that he’s nervous about something.
I quirk my brow at him silently, saying there’s not a chance in hell I believe him.
“Yep, that’s it . . . Well, that and I asked for their permission to take you out on a date.” Dropping that bombshell made me freeze entirely on the spot. I look up to him and feel my eyes widen and my brows ride higher and higher towards heaven.
“What?” I scream.
Chapter Twenty-Four
She Defended You
Nick
“So . . . I’ll take your silence as a no?”
I was afraid to ask the damn question to her father and brothers, knowing that they’d give me such a hard time about it. I can safely say, they threatened me all sorts of unthinkable things that I’m pretty sure are categorized as torture techniques. I knew Carter meant a lot to them, but I was misinformed by how much. I couldn’t help but blurt the entire question out to them while they stared intensely back at me like I’ve all of a sudden grown five heads in the space of five seconds.
Then, when they started to frown a little, I couldn’t stop talking. I do that when I’m extremely nervous or get caught with something I most certainly shouldn’t be doing. So, it was suffice to say, I looked like a babbling idiot.
“Huh?” Carter asks me in a complete daze. She looks so adorable right now, I’m starting to melt into the floor boards.Wow, I sound like such a pussy right now.
“I said, I’ll take your silence as a no?” I repeat myself, feeling so embarrassed and ashamed that the first girl I’ve asked out has said no to me. Safe to say, I won’t be doing that again.
“Nick, I’m flattered, I really am, but I don’t want you asking for the sake of it? Unless I mean something to you? I don’t want to get hurt again . . .” She runs her hands through her hair with a pained expression on her face.
I know she’s remembering all those times she was asked out by those other assholes. Those assholes that have allowed me to pick back up the pieces. Those assholes are the reason as to why she’s so unsure with me right now, and I get why. But I want to show her I’m different. I know I have a track record of bedding an unspeakable amount of girls in my life, but I want to prove that there’s more to me than meets the eye.
“I promise, Carter, I won’t hurt you. I never want to hurt you. I may do some stupid shit, but what guy doesn’t these days?” She giggles up at me as I hold her flush with my body. The way she feels against me is calming all doubts in my mind about this entire thing. “I’m not like those guys, Carter. If I’m good enough to make a career out of football, then so be it. If I’m not, then thank fuck I studied for my degree like my mom told me to.” We laugh, knowing how true that statement was. My mother had drilled me and Haley into getting a degree first before anything else, especially over football. There were no negotiations with her on that. I remember her words exactly to this day.
“If you want to go pro, you get a degree first. Even if I have to beat it into you, Nicholas.”
My dad, on the other hand, would’ve wanted me to turn pro after high school and focus solely on football. If he had his way, I’d be pro right now. But I knew my mom was right, so I chose to sign the contract for Ole Miss and play as the starting quarterback. Best decision of my life, because I met this girl by coming here.
“I know you’ll make it, Nick. You’re so talented.” Those words put an even bigger smile on my face, knowing I have her support. Like a total idiot, I can’t stop smiling at this beautiful girl in front of me. She’s so perfect, it’s insane. The way she supports the people around her is such a beautiful thing, she’s not the type to talk someone down in order to get ahead in life. She’s the type to help them achieve what they want, even when she gets nothing from it. She’s that girl.
“It means a lot coming from you. Not because you’re a Steel, but because it’s you.” I lean down to capture her lips with mine and sigh at the feeling. All throughout dinner, I just want to sit on the sofa with her and hold her in my arms while we watch TV. That’s all I want. Maybe a make out session here and there? But I just want to be with her.
“So, do I get a chance to take you out? I should warn you, though, this is the first time I’ve ever asked a girl out, so I don’t know how this works? Judging on how I asked you, you should have pretty low expectations of the date.” I finally said the d-word, and it’s not dick.
