Beautiful Disaster (The Bet) (16 page)

"That wasn't a life. I was just living for the sake of living. Meeting you has actually given me a sort of purpose to be bigger than what I was---if that makes sense." The fact that he said that to Ellie made Nicholas realize exactly how much he had changed in such a short time. The thought once again set him on edge.

"It makes perfect sense; I'm glad you forced yourself into my life and made me realize you could be so sweet. You turned out to be a nice surprise."

"I'm glad I finally warmed up to you."

The
cell rang again. "Go answer it.
I'll clean
up
Sophie."

Reluctantly
,
Nicholas handed Sophie over
and
excusing himself
,
he stood to answer the call. He came back later and Ellie instantly knew something was wrong.

"Nicholas?"

"My mother's been in a car accident." He uttered the words so impassively that Ellie wondered whether this was the same guy whose voice had been filled with warmth a minute ago.

Nicholas pocketed his phone and picked up the keys to his bike from where Sophie had left it after playing with it.

Ellie deposited Sophie on the floor and hastened after Nicholas.
She caught
him halfway out
of
the foyer
,
and
grabbed his hand to get his attention. "Are you okay? Can I help with anything?" He shook his head, pulling his arm away.

"I'll call you." His voice was like ice, his face stoic. He turned and walked away.

"Nicholas!" Ellie went after him.

"We're only just starting to understand each other. Don’t…don’t pull away from me.” Hesitantly
,
she raised a hand to his cheek.

"Old habits," He said quietly, turning his face into the warmth of her palm. He tenderly brushed his lips on the inside of her wrist. "I'll call you." He said just before walking out the door. 

Chapter
Eight

By the time the weekend rolled around, Ellie was a complete and utter mess. The stress of dealing with her attorney, the judge and finally Tony himself, had taken its toll on her by Friday morning. Having woken up with a throbbing head and stuffy nose, Gabe had forced her back to bed. Therefore
,
the whole of Friday was spent in bed trying to fight a cold. Saturday, feeling relatively better, her thoughts reverted back to Nichola
s, who, for the better part of
the week had been oddly absent, not even bothering to show up for the two classes they shared. Concern for him had caused her to swallow her pride and
to
go ask his friends of his wh
ereabouts. T
hey, as she'd expected, refused to cooperate with her. The entire scenario was enough to drive anyone to illness.

Adding further insult to injury, she now had to share visitatio
n rights with her worm of an ex. N
ot exactly one to drag a custody battle through the courts, she'd taken her attorney's advice, choosing instead to allow Tony his rights in seeing their child. Sophie, despite how he'd wronged her mother, deserved to know her father. They'd both made mistakes and each had gone to great lengths to rectify those mistakes. Tony, despite his faults, seemed to genuinely care about his daughter. Ellie just hoped she wouldn't come to regret her decision in allowing him to see her. 

Another person who also worried Ellie had been Maddie and her progressively
un
-Maddie like behavior.
Ellie had
made it a goal to find out what was going on with her friend during the week
and
had been more than surprised to find that Maddie hadn't been feeling particularly happy with her. Happy, to put it mildly hadn't been the exact sentiment Maddie had used. "Boyfriend stealing bitch" had been more like it, which, she'd practically screeched above the din of the cafeteria a few days ago, causing everyone, Ellie included to gape at her.

Her bafflement hadn't ended there. That very same day, on her way to the last track practice of the season, Maddie had cornered her, apologized wholeheartedly and then gone on to break down in Ellie's arms, with little to no explanation of her peculiar behavior. Ellie, unsure of what to do, but knowing Maddie needed her had instantly forgiven her. They’d made plans afterwards to go to Splendor and grab a bite to eat. That date had been made for Saturday night, which was today. Feeling remotely better than yesterday morning, Ellie dressed for the occasion, minding the fact that it was about twenty below outside.
She finished
the final touches on her two French braids, grabbed her wool hat, matching scarf and mittens from her closet
then
strolled out of her bedroom.
She made
her way down t
he stairs. Ellie
was grateful that Gabe had volunteered
to take Sophie to a friend's
house tonight, giving her time to be a normal teenager for once. 

The simultaneous ring of the phone and bell had Ellie rushing downstairs to pick up the headset. Hitting the talk button, she made her way to the door.

"Hello?"

"Hey,"

"Nicholas!" Ellie almost dropped the phone at the sight of him, his haggard appearance alarming.

"Ellie?" Maddie voice filtered through the headset.

"I'm still here." Ellie stepped aside, silently allowing Nicholas to step in. "Are you on your way?"

"Actually do you mind if I take a rain check on this one? Something suddenly came up." Funny, how Maddie conveyed her own thoughts, Ellie silently thought.

"No that's fine, uh...just…I'll call you later, okay?" there was a slight squeal, before Maddie’s breathless voice answered Ellie.

"Y---yeah-la---later, Ellie."

"Madd---"

Click.

Frowning down at the headset, she hit the off button, curious as what exactly was going on with that girl. But that was a subject for a later time. Her heart stuttered in her chest at the thought of the dark haired man waiting for her in the living room. She bit her bottom lip, both elated and wary, but more than happy to see that he was alright.

He was a sight for sore eyes, surely. Standing at the fireplace, with his back to her, he occupied himself with the pictures on the mantle, intermittently raising his hand to touch each photograph. He wore dark jeans and
a
cream-colored sweater beneath his leather jacket, his sinfully dark mane skimming the edge of that jacket. As if sensing her eyes on him
,
he turned around and she was able to see the day or two old shadow of stubble along his jaw and cheeks. There were dark marks beneath his eyes, making the diamond gray gaze seem sharper, wilder, darker than usual. Unable to meet the intensity of those eyes, she peered down at the silver frame he held in his large hands, the photo in that frame all too familiar to her.

It’d been taken ju
st after giving birth to Sophie. D
espite looking worn and wearied, she'd had the biggest s
mile of her life in the picture.
As she held
her daughter close, she'd looked into the camera, her joy practically shining through.  

"Ugh...I looked gross in that picture." She said self-consciously, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"I can't imagine you looking more beautiful." His silvery blue eyes bored into her so intently that Ellie's own dared not to look on for much longer, afraid to drown in their intensity.

"Thanks." She murmured fiddling with the red mittens attached to the scarf. 

"Were you on your way out?" he motioned to her outfit, which aside from the scarf, hat and gloves, consisted of a pair of dark skinny jeans, a cotton candy pink cashmere sweater and her Ugg boots.

Ellie shrugged, "My date canceled."

"Date?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ellie looked up at the curious sound of jealousy. "Yeah, with Maddie." Something in her reveled at the thought of making Nicholas jealous.

Nicholas set the picture frame back on the ledge, advancing on her with those impossibly long legs of his; he came to stand meters away from her. "I didn't call."

"I know..."

"I wanted to."

"So why didn't you?"

He raked his fingers through his hair, a sure sign of his agitation. "It was easier to stay away than to share my feelings. I'm not like you, Ellie. I don't wear my emotions on my sleeve. I'm not comfortable with exposing myself like that…making myself so vulnerable to someone in a way that
I
could
get hurt
."

"So why did you come back?" She was truly curious.

"Because despite my best efforts to stay away from you, I keep finding myself back in your gravity. You’ve become this thing I can’t be without. Your voice in my head---your face in my dreams---your smell all around me. I---I've changed…" he trailed off.
He began to pace
the length of her living room
,
his rampant energy coiled around him like a venomous snake ready to strike at any given moment.

Ellie watched, unsure of what to do. She ached to go to him
,
but prudence kept her rooted.

"You're so good. You've made life so good for you and your daughter despite your past. Your strength…your heart…I didn't think people like you really existed. All great and morally driven and good. I've seen the way you interact with Sophie and the amount of wisdom you have for someone so young. It's so much Ellie…so damn much." Nicholas suddenly stopped, eradicating the short distance between them. He cupped Ellie's face between his hands and looked into her eyes.

"I know I'm not making much sense. But when I was in that hospital room with my mother I looked down at her looking s
o pale and fragile and all I could
think about was
that you
went through so much just to make a better life for you and your daughter and she couldn't even take a second out of her busy schedule to hug me, her son, her flesh and blood. My respect for you in that moment grew so much and it hit me, like a fucking ton of bricks
,
just how much I have come to need you. You’ve become this thing I can’t be without, Ellie and it scares me.”

"What are you saying, Nicholas?”

Nicholas rested his forehead to Ellie's and softly brushed his lips at the corner of her mouth. "I'm saying you’re here now.” He guided her hand to his chest, right where his heart thundered. “Let me be the guy you run to when you’re ready and I’ll always be there to catch you. I want to be the Romeo to your Juliet.” He said with emotion referencing one of Ellie's favorite Shakespearean tragedies.

"
I don't know, Nicky, Romeo was
pret
ty damned devoted to his Juliet. H
e went so far as to die for her---"

"I'd go through hell for you.” He said gravely, the intensity of his emotions nearly drawing her under. Ellie pulled him into a fierce hug.

“Thank you, Nicky.”

Maddie sat against the wall of her bathroom, had been sitting there for quite some time now. Exactly in that spot with her head on the wall, her bathrobe clad ass on the floor and the idea of committing suicide flowing through her mind. She felt like she'd been crying for weeks and even now, when she believed she had no more left to shed, the tears kept coming, crawli
ng down her cheeks in a slow descend
.

She licked her parched lips and sniffed, h
esitantly rising on wobbly legs. Then, s
he walked to the sink and fearfully her eyes strayed to the sink counter, the small white stick she'd left there taunting her.

Her bottom lip trembled, she slammed her eyes shut as if doing so would make it disappear, make
everything
disappear. Her grip on the sink counter tightened, frantically she prayed the urge to retch would pass. She wasn't so lucky. She hunched over the sink and heaved.

"Oh God." She prayed, lifting her head, she stared with unseeing eyes at the unrecognizable wretch staring back at her through the mirror. Limp hair, raccoon eyes, sunken cheeks, colorless lips.
She looked like a corpse. She felt even worse!

With trembling fingers
,
she took hold of the white stick. She stared at it, fixedly, her brain refusing to accept what the eyes conveyed. But no matter how hard, how long she stared, the result remained the same. The dark blue plus sign glared back at her, taunting her with the horrific fact that she'd more than likely ruined her life.

"Oh God. I can't be. Please
,
God." She breathed, the sharp sting
of tears prickling her eyelids and
her nose. She let a sob escape
,
then covered the ensuing ones with her hand. She stumbled back against the wall and fell unceremoniously to the floor.