9. — gowns and goons. #3
“You first,” he whispered.
“So you want to?”
“Every day that I shouldn’t have, and ever since I could.”
She blinked, taking in what he said. “So why not just do it?”
“I don’t ever let things be a question for me.
Especially this type of shit. When certain things follow you for what feels like your whole life, like people saying you’re some type of person or you act some type of way, you get used to doing things that protect you.
I’ll never make the first move. Not unless you start telling me to. ”
“Okay, I’m telling you to.”
Nico shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way. There’s a point two people have to get to between each other for that, beautiful. Maybe we get there someday, or maybe we don’t. That’s all up to you.”
He could tell she didn’t really understand.
Nico didn’t mind teaching her.
“Kiss me,” he said.
He let it be her choice. He needed her to cross it, and then they could burn that bridge for good. If she let him kiss her once, he’d probably never stop doing it. Knowing as much felt as dangerous as it did hopeful.
“Kiss you,” she returned cheekily.
“Kiss me and then tell me you want me to kiss—”
She did, stopping his words flat. Her hands pulled him down for it, but he just brought her up onto his shoes to get her higher anyway.
His arm wrapped the swell of her bottom to give her something to rest against while his other hand found her throat.
His thumb swept the expanse of her cheek as her first kiss turned into two, her sweet tasting mouth opening to find his tongue.
He pulled away just for a breath, but she kissed him harder again and then spoke against his parted lips.
“Now kiss me.”
He did.
The room kept flashing, those people milled around, and he thought the two of them kept spinning. Moving to the music somehow. He felt her breath catch in her throat, pulse race under his palm, and her eyes fluttered shut when his mouth drifted down across her chin.
“And now you get to tell me if I can keep doing that,” he said against her quivering chin. “Right now, I’d really like to know.”
Her laugh echoed in his ears.
“Oh, my God, you better.”
···
Frankie’s head leaned against Nico’s bicep as he exhaled a drag off a cigarette and eyed the passersby on the street. As they waited for the valet to bring the Rolls around to the front of the Ritz, a few more prom goers exited the building.
“Nice show in there, Frankie,” came an unfamiliar voice.
He felt her head snap away from him at the same time Nico looked in the direction from which the voice had initially come. A blond guy in a black tux walked their way with a girl in a silky, slinky white dress.
“Get fucked, Perry,” Frankie replied.
“Did you tell him about that thing I do with my hand so he can do it, too?”
Okay, now they had Nico’s fucking attention. He spun all the way around despite the hand that grabbed his arm. He barely paid any mind to the way Frankie’s fingernails bit through his suit jacket straight into his muscles.
“And who the fuck are you?” Nico asked the guy. “Because I can’t say we’ve met.”
“Oh, don’t worry. My brother knows you. Or maybe you were too fucked up to remember your tenth year at the Academy. Burnt his car out in the parking lot at lunch. Ring any bells?”
Nico arched an eyebrow. “Ah, Perry.”
“James. Just so you’ve got the right name, Nico.”
“And Lucas is the brother, right? Yeah, I remember him.”
“Didn’t you go to Elmswood after that for a little while? That’s what I heard. What school did they put you in after that, huh?”
Nico barely reacted, but he felt Frankie’s gaze turn on him questioningly.
“You’re lucky Mr. Doucette didn’t notice you in there,” James continued. “Isn’t that part of the deal you signed to get out of Elmswood? No attending any functions or events related to Ashbourne Academy?”
“Keep talking,” Nico returned, “and we’ll see how well you do it with my fist down your fucking throat.”
“Oh, threats,” said the girl at James’ side.
“Shut up, Nat,” Frankie snapped, joining the fray.
No, Nico couldn’t have that.
She didn’t need to fight his battle.
“There’s the car,” he told her, pulling her further away from the other two with a pat to her backside and a kiss to her cheek. “Go get in, babe.”
She gave him a side-long look that he held until she was totally out of his peripheral vision. Then, like the cold motherfucker he had learned he needed to be to deal with people like James, Nico gave the bastard exactly what he wanted.
He threw his cigarette to the side at the same time he stepped toe to toe with James and then proceeded to reach out to wipe his hand on the lapel of the guy’s tux. Once, twice, and then a third time to be sure. The same hand he’d just used to pat Frankie’s ass.
“That’s the closest you’ll come to that girl ever again,” Nico said lowly, inching closer by leaning in.
There, forcing James into a staring contest the guy couldn’t win, he added, “And if you say another word in her direction, I’ll run you over with my fucking car, and make sure to feed your intestines to her little dog. Try me.”
On the drive back to the estate after the two had stopped at her favorite food truck, Frankie finished a vanilla milkshake while she stared at him from the next seat over.
“What?” he asked her, tired of the silence.
“You went to Elmswood?”
“For six months. It took a judge, a couple of lawyers, and a lot of fucking money to get me out of there.”
She snorted. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“It took me two phone calls where I just cried to my dad.”
The facility meant for troubled youth who came from especially privileged backgrounds dealt with everything from rebellious behavior to mental health issues. They also continued a teenager’s education while within the facilities walls.
“My dad didn’t care how much I hated it, or that I was there,” Nico admitted, keeping his eyes on the road.
Frankie reached over with cold fingers to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. “You burnt someone’s car on a school day? In the school’s parking lot?”
He scowled. “The idiot almost got me busted for drugs all because I wouldn’t keep selling to him. He thought it was funny to spike people with acid as like an initiation type shit, and I just—”
“Hey,” she said softly.
Nico glanced her way.
“It’s okay.”
“I reacted. It wasn’t an appropriate response to the situation given I wasn’t ready to accept the consequences. Elmswood did teach me something. Alongside a list of medication and diagnoses I never cared for.”
“Like what?”
“Standard shit, mostly, considering my life up until that point. PTSD. Depression, some anxiety. Separation issues. They tracked my ADHD almost the second I walked through the door. Apparently borderline traits. I never agreed with that one. Just because I give it my all when someone deserves it, and I don’t react well when they prove me wrong or leave, doesn’t give me BPD.
My stint there did get my juvenile record scrubbed and it allowed me back into the school system so I could get a diploma. ”
There, he’d laid some of it out. Let her make of it what she wanted. Nico hated the way his stomach twisted at the thought she might pull away now.
She didn’t.
Her hand found his on the shifting gear, and she cupped his hand in hers. A soft press of her lips found the skin between his thumb and pointer finger.
“I’m not gonna do that, just so you know.”
Nico cleared his throat. “Do what?”
“Prove you wrong. Or leave. I won’t do those things.”
He wanted to believe her.
Life just didn’t work that way for Nico.
“So, did you ever go to your own prom?”
“Nope.”
“Did you walk in graduation?” she asked.
He shook his head at that one.
Nico squeezed her hand when she frowned at his answers. “Hey, none of that. I didn’t give a shit back then, even if I was allowed.”
“But you cared to go to mine?”
“I cared to go with you.”
That earned him another one of her brilliant smiles. And a kiss. A kiss that almost had them swerving on the road. He didn’t know entirely why, but as she sat back down into the passenger seat, and he eyed her from the driver’s side, Nico knew...
He’d go damn hard for this girl.
Straight to hell, if he needed to.