Chapter 9
Nick
Three hours, a shot of whiskey, and two beers later, I have one thing on my mind: Cat and her barely-there emerald green dress.
She’s even cute when she’s had too much to drink, giggling after every other sentence that comes out of her incredible sexy, lickable lips.
I can think of a lot of things I want to watch those lips do.
I should have been her first and only in every way.
I let her get away, and it won’t happen again.
She’s going to be mine; damn, I know I have to hurt her before I can love her.
Then again, she might hate me before I get the chance to show her how much she means to me, and I want her in my life.
I go to the bathroom, and when I come out I see Ava leaning beside the door.
“What, have you started using the men’s bathroom now? Has it come to this? Is it so hard for a beautiful girl such as yourself to find a decent man?”
She pokes her lips out at me and flips me the bird. I grin and give her a wink. “I love you too.”
“It will never come to that, no matter how many assholes I have to endure to get to Mr. Right.”
“It better not. Okay, so what do you want? Why are you accosting me by the men’s bathroom?”
“Seriously, sister to brother?”
I know she’s serious because “sister to brother” is what we used to say to each other when we were younger. We didn’t have siblings growing up until when I was ten and my dad remarried. We were more like siblings than cousins. “I’m listening.”
“You need to be straight with Cat and tell her the truth about what’s going on with you and Kate before it’s too late and someone else comes in and gives her what she thinks she wants. You fucked up royally, messing around with her bitch of a sister, who I will remind you hates my guts.”
“Believe me, I know I fucked up, more than you know.” I look down, rubbing my hand across my eyes.
“Fix it before it’s too late.”
“I need you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Can you get Chris to stay here with you so I can get Cat alone and talk to her?”
“I’m pretty sure I can, since he’s had too much to drink. He can’t drive. So it should be easy enough to take advantage of him for once.”
“Thanks. I’ll take Cat home.”
I watch Ava lead Chris back into the crowd on the dance floor when we get back to the table. I’m about to offer Cat a ride home when Matt calls her name.
“Cat, can I give you a ride home?”
“Back up, playboy, I got this.” I stand up and hold my hand out to her.
“Thanks, Nick, but I’m leaving with Chris.” She looks at my hand hesitantly and looks back into the crowd where Chris and Ava disappeared.
“No, you’re not. Chris is trashed. Ava will take him home.”
“You’re not too steady yourself. How are you going to get her home, golden boy?” Matt says.
“I’m not driving, wise ass, my driver is.”
“That figures. You always come prepared, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” I take Cat’s hand and throw three hundred-dollar bills on the table. “That’s for our drinks.” I pull Cat with me from the table, not giving her a chance to hug Matt. He’s had his damn hands on her enough.
“I forgot to tell Chris I’m leaving.”
“Don’t worry, Ava will tell him, he won’t mind. He seems to have warmed up to her in his current condition.”
“Are you sure she won’t try to take advantage of him on the way home?” She giggles and looks back in their direction.
“That I can’t guarantee.”
It’s windy as we walk outside and wait for my driver. I look down at her and see a shiver run through her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She doesn’t look at me, instead keeping her eyes looking straight ahead.
“No, you’re not, come here.” I take her by the hand and pull her to my side. “What, are you afraid I’m going to bite you?”
“Not at all.”
“You’re cold.”
“A little.”
“I’ll keep you warm.” I wrap my arms around her, and we stand there for about sixty seconds before the car pulls up in front of us. In those sixty seconds, I wanted to tell her all the things I’ve done wrong and hope that she will forgive me.
She lifts her head off my chest, and I can see for the first time in a long time what I’ve been missing—her. I look deep into her eyes when I tell her.
“I’m sorry.”
She licks her lips, staring back up into my eyes. I can barely hear her response, her voice is so low. “For what?”
“For letting you go.”
Still looking at me, not blinking and with her lips parted, she says, “The car’s here.”
I back up and open the door for her. We don’t say a thing to each other until the car starts moving again.
She sits as far away from me as she can, staring out the window.
The partition is up in the car, separating us from the driver.
I roll it down and give him her address before I roll it back up. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You had two Long Island iced teas. I know you’re not a drinker, and those things can sneak up on you.”
“I’m good. Do you think we can listen to something?”
“Sure, what do you want to listen to? My phone is plugged into the speakers.”
“Anything. I’m not picky.”
“Good, because the only music you’re going to get tonight is from my phone. There should be something on it you’ll like; you know I listen to a little of everything.”
“I remember some of the stuff you listened to was really out there.”
“You didn’t give it a chance.”
“I did. The only reason you even listened to most of that crap was to appease your girlfriends of the moment.”
“I’ll admit sometimes I did, but some of it was pretty good; it opened me up to a range of music.”
“I’m sure they did open you up to a lot of things. Some of your choices in girls were questionable. Remember Tara, the punk rocker chick? There wasn’t one time I saw her and she didn’t look like she was going to a funeral, all black from head to toe. You could have done better.”
I haven’t thought about Tara in years. She had a bad attitude, and she smoked half a pack a day, among other things.
There was something about her no one else could see.
She didn’t give a damn what other people thought of her.
She was wild, and yet with all her bad habits and faults, she still looked like a supermodel.
We ended things the day I helped her check into rehab.
I saw her brother a year later, and he said she was doing well.
Enrolled in college and everything. We were friends who hooked up once in a while, but everyone assumed we were a couple.
“Tara happened in my rebellious experimental stage.” I flip through the music on my phone.
“I remember that stage, it coincided with your skanky slutty phase that lasted into your college years.”
“They were not skanky. They were sexually liberated and ahead of their time. We should not persecute them for that freedom and question their right to be loose with their bodies,” I say with all seriousness, looking at her.
“Oh, gimme a break! You are so full of shit.” She laughs and I laugh with her.
“Yeah, I am.”
“So what range of liberating music are you listening to these days?”
“Mostly music that expresses the mood I’m in, like Mikky Ekko.”
“Mikky Ekko? The guy who sang that song with Rihanna?”
“Stay.”
“Yeah, that’s a nice song. I didn’t know who he was until I saw a video clip of them performing somewhere. I love his voice, but I’ve never heard any of his other music.”
“He sings more alternative music; you’re not really into that. You’re kind of musically oppressed, unlike me, who is more open-minded, like my girlfriends of the moment. See what great talent you miss out on when you’re not as liberated as the rest of us?”
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. I roll my eyes back and we smile.
“I have a couple of his songs on here. Listen to this one, since you like his song with Rihanna, you’ll like it. It’s called, ‘Pull Me Down.’ It describes the mood I’m in these days. I think you might be able to relate to it too.”
“Really?”
“Really, just listen to it. It’s a good song.” I turn the volume up, go to my playlist and press play. I lean back and keep my eyes on her when he starts to sing, careful to watch every expression that’s on her face to every word he sings.
When the song stops, she lifts her head up, looks at me, and pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and slowly releases it. I wait for her to say something, but she doesn’t. I wish she would tell me what she’s thinking.
“So what do you think?”
“It was beautiful.”
“Can you relate? I know I can. He’s saying all the things I want to say to you.”
She closes her eyes, takes a breath, letting it out shaking her head.
“Cat, I’m sorry for not being able to show you how much I cared for you, the way you cared for me all these years. For hurting you, for not making you mine when I had the chance. For caring too much about what someone else would think. You should have been the one. You are the one.”
“Don’t do this to me, Nick.” She leans back, opening her eyes slowly.
I reach across the seat to take her hand, turning it over and tentatively stroke the palm before I lace our fingers together.
Her skin is so soft. Closing her eyes, she parts her lips.
God, I want to kiss her and run my tongue across her lips.
Take her inside my mouth, taste her with our tongues intertwined, dancing around each other in sweet, hot wetness.
“I have to.” I place the palm of my hand against her cheek. “Catherine, look at me.”
I can’t help myself. My lips slide over hers.
She doesn’t move; our lips fit together perfectly, full and soft.
Her breathing speeds up, and she parts her lips for me, my tongue gliding between them into her warm mouth.
My other hand travels down the side of her arm to find its way to the small of her back.
She moans softly, on a sigh, her lips moving against mine, and she tastes so good, like gin and tequila mixed with lime, my own personal intoxicant.
I’m not going to stop till I’m drunk. I want to taste every last drop of her.