Page 93 of Steeling Her
“So, you knew?” Nicks voice sounds tense. I rinse my hands under the water to get the blood off.
“I did, but like TJ said, it’s not for me to say, and if that’s a problem, then I’m sorry. It’s none of my business,” I say out of frustration. Today has gone downhill so fast. I grip the towel and wring it out, watching the water and blood flow down the sink.
“Hey, it’s fine. Sure, I’m pissed, but not at you. I’m pissed at TJ. Carter, come here.” I start to ugly cry in Nick’s hold, sniffling every chance I get and wiping my eyes. “Carter, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve got you.” He starts to pull me with him in his arms down towards his room, cooing me to calm down. “You shouldn’t be stressing, you should be resting.” He lays me back in his bed, and I blush at the thought of the two of us together in bed. Then it’s quickly stomped on with the thought of him having other girls in his room too.
When he sees the quick change in emotion in me, he asks, “What’s wrong?” He hovers over me. I just stare at his hunter-green eyes that are roaming around my face, looking for any sign or clue as to what I’m thinking about. “Carter, come on, talk to me. You feeling alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good . . . You have a comfy bed.” He chuckles to me while I spread my arms wide, feeling the coldness hitting my skin from the sheets. I don’t want to know how many people have slept in this room. I can’t bare the thought of it.
“So does yours. I actually prefer your bed to mine.” I can feel the air leaving his lips on my face as he spoke.
“I prefer my bed too,” I joke, and we laugh once more. But somebody passing by the hallway stops me. Haley pushes the door open for TJ, but not before spitting out, “Hope the sex is worth our friendship ending.” I immediately look down to the floor at the thought of her thinking I used her to get to Nick.
“Right back at you.” Nick sits up and starts to walk over to the door. “I hope you know you’ve ruined my own friendship with TJ, Haley. The thought of you two together makes me sick. Going around behind my back, fucking each other . . . I’ll give you guys a week, max.” He slams the door in their faces and locks it. He locked us inside. His back is turned to me and he hasn’t moved an inch from the shut door.
“Nick?” He turns his head over his shoulder to look at me. I sit up and cross my legs over one another. He comes over and sits on the side of the bed. “Do you want to talk about it?” I ask him, unsure if he wants to forget about what just happened.
“She’s my sister. I don’t want to see her hurt by anyone, even if it’s my best friend. You don’t know what he’s like, Carter. I used to do half of the shit alongside him with lots of girls. I just . . . I know what he’s like . . . This is so messed up.” He sighs, looking at the door in front of him. I shuffle a fraction closer to him. I don’t know what to say, but I feel like he doesn’t need advice, he just needs someone to listen to him; so, I stay quiet. He lays back on the bed beside me. “My hand hurts like hell too!” He looks at his knuckles and I see they’re red.
“You need to ice your hand, Nick.” I look at his hand while he clenches and unclenches it.
“I know, I’ll survive though. You can nurse me.” He winks at me, causing heat to rise on my face. Not just my cheeks but everywhere. “You’re adorable when you blush, Carter.” He smiles up at me, his hand resting behind his head, making his bulging biceps more evident. I stare at his arm and then back to him. He’s smirking at me now.
“Stop!” I laugh and sit back on my butt. His head follows me as it tilts to the side.
“Stop what?” he asks knowingly. He’s teasing me now, and I try to stop my own smile from growing on my face while biting the inside of my cheek. I rest my head back against the headboard as I watch him sit up and shuffle closer to me. He sits himself next to me and places his arm around me. My face is flush against his hard chest. He smells amazing too. His black shirt is soft and thin; I can feel his heat radiating through it. “You know, the amount of times you have nursed people is really cute. But . . .” he trails off.
“But what?” I turn my head up to face him.
“Two things.” He turns his head down to me. Holding his first finger up, he says, “One, you can only nurse me, alright? I don’t want you going around helping the guys.” He grins down and I copy him. “Two, you’ve got to wear that sexy nurse outfit, while doing it.” He winks and I start to laugh to cover up my blushing cheeks.
I could never pull something like that off. I’m not brave enough. I send him a smile once I stop, but his face drops into confusion. “What? What did I say?” he asks, starting to slightly panic at my face. I thought I covered it pretty well; I guess not.
“It’s nothing.” I laugh nervously back, but it looks like he doesn’t believe me, “I just—I know you’re joking, but I could never wear something like that. I can’t pull that off . . . I’d just look so stupid and desperate.” I run my hand through my hair, laughing nervously again and avoiding any eye contact with him. The thought of me wearing something like that makes me cringe. Sure, some girls could pull it off, but I’m not one of them.
“Carter, you’re so sexy . . . and gorgeous. You could wear anything or nothing and I’d still think the same.” He puts his hand under my chin and directs me back to face him. “Especially nothing.” He grins and I slap his arm at how flirty he’s being today. He leans in quick to capture my lips. I moan at the feeling that I missed once again. We kiss gently for a moment and then he pulls back, releasing a deep breath. “You wanna watch a movie?” Opening up his eyes, his bright green pupils are shining, and I get so lost after seeing my own reflection.
I nod back, not trusting my voice.
He reaches across me, kissing me once more, to get the remote for his TV. “I could do this all day.” He sighs once the remote is in his hand. He turns it on, never breaking eye contact with me. “What do you want to watch? Horror movie?” My eyes widen at the thought of watching something scary. I shake my head rapidly from side to side, showing that I’m not interested. He starts to laugh and flicks through the horror section on Netflix.
“No! I hate horror. Nick, come on!” I reach over him to grab the remote from him but he stretches it out away from me.Damn his long arms. He laughs at my attempts but I end up hitting it out of his hand and it falls onto the floor. I race to it but he holds me up just as a movie starts to play. “Ugh Nick! I’m going home.” He pulls at my waist just as I was about to get up and grab my stuff.
“No, you’re not. You’re going to stay here, Miss Steel, and keep me company until tomorrow morning. You’re staying the night with me.” I immediately see red when he says that. I’m a virgin, and I don’t think I’m ready to lose it just yet. I was close, this one time at a party, but decided not to go through with it. The guy I was seeing passed out and I snuck away. No guy has ever touched me down there. Hell, I haven’t even touched myself down there. “Wow! Okay, I was kidding about the last part Carter, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to!” He sees the panic on my face and starts to back track. I bite my tongue, not saying anything back.
“Carter? It’s alright, you don’t have to stay. We weren’t going to do anything. Just sleep . . . Unless you wanted to?” My eyes widen at his proposition again, and I feel my body is on fire from the embarrassment of him seeing me naked. “No? Okay, that’s fine. Carter, it’s totally fine. Look, I didn’t mean it that way initially. Believe me, I just wanted you to stay with me tonight. It’s been a while since . . . Yeah, I’m just going to stop talking right now. I’m making it so much worse.” He rubs his closed eyes, annoyed at himself. Listening to his words, I debate on whether I should stay or not.
“Nick, I’m not ready for that—”
“I know, I wasn’t expecting you to do anything. I just wanted you to lay with me, that’s all. I liked it when I laid with you in bed, I just miss the feeling, even if it only happened once. But you don’t have to stay if you’re not comfortable. It’s fine, I get it, I really do. We can just watch the movie together and I’ll protect you from whatever is on at the moment.” We laugh at the last thing he said. I roll my eyes with a smile. Looking back, I see a movie I don’t recognize. I sigh then shuffle up the bed and get back into the covers. He watches me with a smile on his face and, soon after, joins me.
Once we’re comfortable, he places his arm over my head and instructs me to lift my head up. I do, and I feel his large arm behind my neck, holding me up. He then bends his arm making me twist into his body and clasps me to his chest with the other arm. He cradles me like last time and rests my cheek on his chest. He picks up the remote off the floor. Pausing the movie, he goes back to the menu and says, “I’m not watching ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’ ” He chuckles and picks another movie.
Poltergeist.
I widen my eyes at the the title. “Are you serious? I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight!” I whine. He plays the movie anyway.
“I’ll protect you. Don’t worry.” He smirks and pulls me even closer to his body, making our legs tangle together. “Plus, we might make out a little at the really scary parts, if you want.” I feel the heat in my cheeks once again and bury my head down into his chest, not allowing him to see me blush again. “So cute.” He chuckles, and I slap him for relishing in my embarrassment.
