I knock and feel more alive than I have in days when she responds. Just hearing her voice brings me a sense of relief. She yells from somewhere in the distance. She thinks I’m Regina. “What are you knocking for? Come in.”

I open the door and step inside, looking around.

“Was Lawrence pissed I didn’t come in again?” Her voice is coming from the back of the house somewhere, but it’s getting closer. “Was the drive…”

She finally rounds a corner and stops in her tracks when she sees me.

“What are you doing here?”

“I talked Regina into giving me the address.”

“But…why?”

Hesitantly, I take steps in her direction. She doesn’t move toward me, but at least she isn’t running the other way either. I stop when I get in front of her. She isn’t wearing any makeup and it looks like she’s been crying recently. I’m such a complete ass**le.

“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”

Elle says nothing, she’s waiting for me to continue. “I was out of line the other night. You were trying to help, and I was…a total ass**le to you.”

She half-heartedly smiles at me and nods her head. “It’s okay. I get it. You were upset. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

I should be happy at hearing her say she forgives me, but it’s what she’s not saying that gives me a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Will you give me a chance to make it up to you?” I reach out for her hand. She looks at my hand and then up to my eyes, but she doesn’t give me the hand I am reaching for like a lifeline as I begin to feel myself sink.

“I’m not mad at you, Nico. But I thought about some of the things you said. And you’re right. We’re just too different.”

My heartbeat pounds in my chest. I forgot that I had told her she was better off with someone more like her. Fucking William. That was her response. I want to break that stuffy ass**le in two. I can’t even look at her. I need to get out with at least my dignity intact. At least she let me say my piece.

“Okay, Elle.” She doesn’t try to stop me as I turn and make my way to the door.

Chapter 38

Elle

The next morning I find Regina sleeping on the couch. Traitor. She wakes as I’m making breakfast. Okay, so maybe she didn’t wake, but instead I woke her up by slamming all the pots and pans I took out. Some of them didn’t actually need to be taken out of the cabinet. But those just looked extra loud.

“I take it you hate me this morning?” Regina walks into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. “I’m sorry. He looked so sad and, I thought…thought maybe there was a chance you could work it out.”

“Did you not hear what I told you? He thinks I’m a monster. An unredeemable monster. And he’s right.”

“He said he was a monster.”

“Only because he doesn’t know who I am. And we’re keeping it that way.” I look over at Regina for confirmation and she doesn’t look firm on her answer. “Right, Regina?”

My best friend makes a growl of frustration in response before I hear the words I need to hear. “Of course, you know I would never tell your secrets.”

Regina is my most trustworthy friend, yet I’m a little relieved to hear her recommit to our vow of secrecy. She has a soft spot for Nico Hunter.

***

The next week passes in a blur. I work twelve hours a day for seven days straight to catch up from the three days I spent wallowing in my self-pity. There’s always plenty of work to do at my small firm, but ninety hours in a week isn’t really necessary and I know it. But I need to keep myself busy. I hate going home. There’s nothing to do but think. Think about a man that made my steady, even-keeled life into a roller coaster. A roller coaster of emotions that I had forgot I was capable of experiencing.

My life was simple before Nico Hunter walked into it. A good job, a nice guy to date, and no more nightmares. For ten years I managed to keep my life steady. I existed. Then he walked in and suddenly existing wasn’t enough anymore. And I wanted it. I wanted to stop existing and start living. Finally. But I should have known it wouldn’t work. Even at my weekly support group, I watched as people’s faces changed once they heard my story.

***

It’s Thursday evening and I’m late for meeting William. We’re meeting a client we share at a restaurant. It’s the last place Nico and I had dinner and just walking in stirs my emotions. The slightest reminder is all it takes.

William waves to me from the bar when I walk in. He’s not seated at a table like he normally is when he waits for me because I’m late.

“Hey.” I look around for our client. “Is Mr. Munley later than me?”

William stands and kisses me on the cheek and smiles. “He’s not coming till seven.”

“Oh, I thought it was six.”

William sips his drink. “That’s because I told you six.”

I look at him confused, although I really have no right to be. He continues, “Munley doesn’t like to be kept waiting, so I told you six and him seven, so he wouldn’t be kept waiting.” William grins.

I’m surprised, but I shouldn’t be. I smile at William and pretend to be offended. “Are you accusing me of being perpetually late?”

“In all the years we’ve known each other, I don’t think you’ve ever once been on time. You’re forgetting how we met. I was the one that let you copy my notes when you walked in a half hour late to class every day.”

He’s teasing me, but he’s right. The only time I can even recall being on time was when I went to see Nico. I couldn’t wait to get to him. The thought brings my mood down.

For the next twenty minutes William and I catch up on clients. We haven’t really spent much time together since the night Nico and I got together and I realize that I really do miss the familiarity. We slip easily into our roles and our conversation is light and steady, almost as if we pick up exactly where we left off. My mood lightens, slightly.

Then something changes in the air. It’s a feeling that speeds my heart and makes my palms sweaty and I look around to see if it’s just me or if everyone else seems to notice it too. And then I see him. He’s twenty feet away and staring daggers at me. My breath catches when our eyes meet and I see that look in his eyes. He’s angry and wild and my traitorous body responds to him, even though I’m obviously the last thing he wants to see.

We stare at each other for a solid minute. Neither of us attempts to close the distance between us and we don’t say a word. When Nico’s eyes finally release mine, I watch as they go from me to William and back to me. Then he turns and walks out of the restaurant, and for a second I think I’ve imagined the whole thing.

“I take it you two aren’t seeing each other anymore?” William’s words confirm my vision was reality and not in my head.

I force myself to return my attention to William and shake my head no. I can’t even say the words out loud. Although I’m facing him, I’m too lost in my thoughts for the small smile that appears for a split second on William’s face to register meaning in my brain.

I’m under a cloud of haze all during dinner. Luckily William takes the lead and I don’t think our client even notices. I try to participate in the conversation, but I find my thoughts running away with themselves, and they all lead back to one place. Nico Hunter.

Chapter 39

Nico

I can actually see that douchebag lawyer’s face on the bag as I pummel it. He’s f**king lucky I didn’t drag his pansy ass back here and hang him from the chain instead.

“You gonna stop acting like a spoiled brat and go after your girl?” Preach is lucky he’s old or I’d kick his ass too.

“She’s not my girl anymore.” I hit the bag hard with a left and then a quick right. My knuckle pops out of place, but the pain feels too good to stop.

“Maybe you’ve grown soft.” Preach stands behind the bag as he speaks. Smart move.

I stop hitting to respond. “She doesn’t want to see me anymore. How does that make me soft?” My words are angry, bordering on violent, and my fists are at my sides clenched tightly. But Preach doesn’t flinch. The old man has balls of steel.

“The Nico I know is a fighter. Isn’t she worth the fight?” Preach hits me with his last verbal jab and walks away.

***

My mind is swimming in thoughts as I shower. I feel like I might explode. Seeing her tonight f**ked with my head. For a second, I thought there was a chance. Why else would Regina have told me to go to the restaurant? Does she want to see me beat the crap out of William? And I could have sworn that there was something in Elle’s eyes when she saw me too. But she stayed put…next to him….and let me walk out the door again. Let me. Fuck, Preach is right, I am being a damn pu**y. I’m done letting her make the decisions. She’s worth it…worth the fight.

***

It’s almost midnight when I arrive at her door. If that ass**le is inside, I’m afraid what I might do. But I’m done keeping on the sidelines. I have a lot of baggage that she doesn’t deserve, but I can carry it for the both of us. I’m not going down without a fight. I knock and wait.

After a few minutes, the door opens and I’m relieved to see it looks like she’s been sleeping. She looks at me and for a minute we just stand there, neither of us saying a word. Then I catch it. It’s the difference between a good fighter and a great fighter. Reading your opponents eyes and finding an opening. And going for it. So I do. I go for it.

Chapter 40

Elle

For a second I think I must be dreaming. He’s so beautiful standing there, a perfect male specimen. I just want to fall into his strong arms and let him block everything else out for me for a little while. It’s selfish to want him and I know it. But suddenly my heartbeat is thundering in my chest and every hair on my body is back on alert.

Neither of us says anything for a minute. Then he comes to me. And I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead he reaches down and lifts me into his arms, cradling me as he walks into my apartment and kicks the door shut behind him.

He doesn’t stop moving or put me down until we reach my bedroom. He gently lays me down on the end of the bed. Our eyes locked as he stands over me. I want to touch his jaw. Run my finger over the squareness of it and feel the stubble prickle beneath my finger. His pale green eyes watch me. Watch me take him in. Greedily, I let my eyes soak up every ounce. From head to toe I devour him. My body aches for him to touch me. Be inside of me again.

When my eyes reach his again, the paleness is replaced with a stormy grey. There’s a huge knot in my throat. It’s blocking the passage of my tears that I’m holding back. I’m afraid to speak for fear that the dam will open again and this time I won’t be able to swim to the surface for air, I’ll drown in my own tears.

Nico slowly leans down, his eyes never leaving mine as he comes to rest on top of me. One hand on either side of my head, he keeps his head pulled back so we can see each other, but his body fully is covering mine. I could no longer move, even if I wanted to. But I don’t want to anyway. God I missed him. The rock hard feel of his body against my soft curves. Being underneath the sheer power of the man.

“Mine.” It’s the first word he says to me, and the last before his lips crash down on me in the most wildly, sensual, seductive, possessive kiss I’ve ever had. One of his hands snakes around the back of my neck and he pulls me tighter to him. I feel the inexplicable need to chase away every single molecule that is between us, until there’s nothing left but me and him. Being held together tighter than I’ve ever been held isn’t good enough. I need him inside of me. To be part of me. To be one indivisible body that shares the breath that fills both our lungs.