Beautiful Disaster (The Bet) (25 page)

The vibrating drone of life that continued about them faded to a soothing hush as they
quietly
lay. Ellie's silent strength pulled Nicholas from his madness, grounding him where he belonged.

Her arms were
like coming home. Nicholas sighed, basking in her, absorbing the scent of lavender and citrus permeating from her pores. He loved this scent, soothing, clean, swe
et, paired against Ellie's skin. I
t was ambrosia to his senses.

"Let me make love to you?" he whispered suddenly against Ellie's neck.

"Nicky---"

"Please...?"

The need lacing through Nicholas's voice was so profound that Ellie found herself helplessly agreeing. Their lips caught in a long and lingering kiss that left them both fully aware of the other.

It wasn't frenzied...it wasn't hurried. It was a slow grind of the flesh, the heated interlocking of lips, the gripping touch of hands caressing and intertwining, the gentle paean of lovers softly echoing against the bedroom walls. It was sensual and undeniably hot. They wanted...they needed and they slowly took.

Ellie matched Nicholas thrust for thrust, kiss for kiss, and touch for touch.

"I love you...God, I love you so fucking much it hurts..." Nicholas panted, pressing a kiss to Ellie's hand; he licked her lips and set his forehead to hers. "Feel me, baby?" Nicholas slowly pulled out, his eyes holding Ellie's. "Feel how much I love you?"

"Nghh---Ahh Nicky!" Her body bowed to his, her legs wrapped around his waist, she dragged her finger nails across his back and moaned his name. Nicholas kissed and swallowed her passionate cries the very second their orgasms simultaneously hit.

"Ellie?"

Ellie's euphoric high dampened considerably upon hearing Gabe's voice on the other side of the door. She looked up at Nicholas, still heavily splayed out above her, grinning like a fool.

"Ells? Are you okay in there?" the knob jiggled and Ellie's trepidation spiked.

"Answer him..." Nicholas whispered.

Ellie gave him a disparaging look before opening her mouth to speak. "Yeah, Gabe, I'm fine." She tried to rise, Nicholas's weight held her
still
.

"This is kinda kinky..."He said with a wicked gr
in, mirth dancing in his eyes; t
erribly ill-placed mirth. Ellie hit him and brought her finger to her lips.

"Then get your butt down here, food
’
s re
ady.
"

"Uh
yeah…okay, I'll be right down.”

"And tell Nicholas to have his pants up and buckled when he comes down here or I might be tempted to shoot his dick off."

Could a person die of mortification? Ellie wondered as she heard the retreating footsteps. She rolled over
,
pulling the sheets over her head when Nicholas finally allowed her to do so.

"Laugh it up jerk, but remember that I can goad him into actually going through with his threat." Nicholas sat up on the mattress, his beatific smile firmly set in place as he reached out and captured Ellie's wrist. Effortlessly
,
he pulled her on his lap and soundly kissed her petulance away.

"No you wouldn't, you love it too much."

"Maybe, but I could definitely survive without it." Never had there been a bigger lie told, she was far t
o
o addicted.

"Keep telling yourself that." Ellie laughed as she saw the affronted look that passed over Nicholas's face.

"I love you."

"More than life." Nicholas replied with a kiss.

"Attention seniors. T
he senior slideshow will start in ten minutes. Please follow you
r teachers to the auditorium." a
nnounced the vice principal over the loudspeaker.

Ellie tossed
her pen along with her books and notebook in
her messenger bag and stood.
Mr. P
orter led his fifth period Psych class into the corridor and among the large group of seniors pouring out of their respective classes, they shuffled to the auditorium.
She was grateful for the reprieve, her week hadn't exactly been stellar and having to suffer through an entire period of note taking from the overhead projector while Porter droned on about crap, wasn't something she'd wanted to do. She shuffled mindlessly behind the chattering senior crowd, her thoughts on the fight she had with Nicholas the night after he'd snuck in her room.

The fight had been about Maddie. Gabe had told Ellie of Maddie’s odd call that Sunday afternoon and Ellie had dril
led him for further information. W
hen Gabe said he had none to give, Ellie had immediately jumped on the phone to call Maddie. No one had answered. She'd wanted
Nicholas'
help, but he'd been completely irrational, ranting and raving
about
how Maddie wasn't as good and wholesome as she pretended to be.

"...She's a conniving little slut!"

They were alone. Gabe and Ronnie having taken Sophie out, they were left alone for the afternoon. Seated on the couch, Ellie watched Nicholas pace.

"You're being completely unfair to her! Considering all that's happened I would think you'd want to help. She's my friend, Nicky, and she needs my help!"

"And you're being ridiculously dense if you think that she wants your help! She isn't a good person and I think it'd be in your best interest to stay the hell away from her until I say so!!"

Ellie stood, having had enough. "I'm sorry I didn't get the memo where it said you were my father! Who the hell do you think you are trying to tell me what to do?"

"I'm the fucking boyfriend trying to protect you!"

"From what?! This is Maddie we're talking about here, Nicky, she wouldn't hurt a fly."

Nicholas grounded to a halt, tu
r
ning on Ellie. "Stop
being so fucking n
aïve, Ellie, and open up your pretty hazel eyes, not everyone is as good as you are." Nicholas had walked away then, leaving Ellie utterly confused and frustrated.

That had been Sunday afternoon and today was Thursday, Nicholas hadn't called or bothered to answer any of Ellie's phone calls and it hurt to know he could ignore her so easily after what they had shared. With a disheartened sigh
,
Ellie entered the auditorium and was almost bowled over by the noise. Her peers buzzed around, cheerfully searching for friends to sit with, despite
the fact
that they saw each other on a regular basis. Ellie silently swore as she was jostled by an athletically tall blond haired jock. He luckily caught her arm before she fell.

"Hey, I'm sorry ‘bout that
;
didn't mean to push you." He sheepishly grinned, surprising for someone of his status.

"No harm done." Ellie wanly smiled back before moving pass him, the gentle hand on her arm halted her progress.

"You're Nicky's girl, right?" He asked, moving aside as more students piled into seats.

Ellie inwardly rolled his eyes. "Also known as Ellie Holbrook, nice to meet you…"

"Dominick, but my friends call me, Dom." He gave a firm shake of her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Dom. Uh...I think maybe we should find our seats now." The majority of the students were seated and well settled by now.

"Come on, let's sit up front, we can see the slideshow better."  He led her to the front of the auditorium. Taking a seat in the second chair from the aisle, Dom sat to her left and a pretty blond haired girl who gave Ellie the once over, sat to her right. She wrinkled her nose at Ellie, doing a perfect imitation of a pug, before turning to speak to the guy in her English class.

"Ignore, Evey she likes to pretend she's better than everyone. Name's Matt by the way." Seated in the front row, Matt turned around in his seat to introduce himself with a smile.

"I'm…"

"Ellie, yeah I know, Nicky's told me a lot about you. Nice to meet you." The smile turned into a grin that had the hairs on Ellie's skin standing on end. The sensation of being surrounded by snakes would not leave her even as she attempted to return his smile.

"You
,
too." Noticing Nicholas making his way towards them, Ellie breathed a little easier and, when he traded seats with Dom, Ellie's mood
considerably
brightened.

He took her hand, interlaced their fingers and brushed a kiss to her knuckles. "I'm sorry." Ellie smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I'm just glad you're here."

Principal Roberts began the assembly soon after. "As you all may
be aware, the yearbook committee has been working extremely hard to bring to you all a Yearbook you can be proud of. They have compiled pictures and video recordings of events and ceremonies they wish to show you. At the end of this slideshow
we will pass
around
flyers
where you will have the option of choosing which pictures you would like included in the final result of your yearbooks. Now I'd like you all to give your attention to the president of the yearbook committee, Liam Santos
,
as he walks us through this program."

Jeers and pockets of claps were made for the gangly senior making his way to the front of the auditorium. He nervously smiled as he signaled for the lights to be dimmed. The movie theater size
d
screen that appeared
,
drew everyone's attention as it flickered on to the first image. It was of
the
current senior class in their freshman year being ushered around the school, bewilderment and wonder etched on their young faces.

The screen flickered again to the entire student body in November, cheering the football team
in
their memorable game against Roosevelt. There were some of Homecoming, Winter Festival and the plays put on by the drama club over the past four years. The majority of images were of the popular crowd, the jocks and the cheerleaders participating in various school sports. Ellie even saw a few images of herself on the track, running with perfect stride across that finish line.

"Did I ever tell you how hot you look when you're running?" Nicholas asked, chuckling when Ellie turned to him with a punch to his shoulder.

The screen flickered again and everyone in the dimly lit auditorium drew in a collective gasp at the image splattered across the screen.

It was a still shot, more than likely taken from a video and blown up.  Ellie stared unblinkingly at the image, unable to believe what she was seeing. It was of her and Nicholas in the cabin, interlocked in a passionate embrace. The screen flickered again; the next image was them in the tub, the one after that, of them in the bedroom… against the mirror. It continued on as such until the video came on.

"I have her so wrapped around my finger she'll do almost anything I want her to do. This was too fucking easy, Bates, I'm going to enjoy taking that Desmo from you."

The video seemed to switch again and this time it showed Ellie and Nicholas on a blanket in front of the fireplace, Nicholas licking whipped cream off Ellie's body as he made his way lower. The intimate moment they had shared in the cabin, was painfully put on display for the world to see.

"Nicky...please..." Ellie wrenched her hand from Nicholas's death grip. Her seat creaked and banged against the backrest like an atomic boom in the eerily silent auditorium. She didn't run
;
she wouldn't give them
the
satisfaction.  With as much dignity as she could scrounge up, Ellie wa
lked out, ignorant of Nicholas'
savage yell of her name. 

"ELLIE!" Nicholas ran after her, catching her arm before she could turn the corner. Ellie pivoted on ball of her foot and with strength she didn't know she had
, she let her fist fly. I
t connected with Nicholas's face with a very satisfying crunch.

The punch momentarily staggered Nicholas and once he was able to blink tears of pain away he looked at Ellie in stunned horror. Blood trickled from his split lip and down his chin, but he didn't care as he tried to touch her.

"Come near me again and I swear I'll kill you." Her voice was deathly clear in spite of the tears that trailed her cheeks...she turned around and left.

Ellie ran through the endless corridors of John Edgar, taking the stairs two at a time, she couldn't escape fast enough. Once or twice, she'd stubbed her toe in her haste, but it did not register. The physical pain paled in comparison to what she
internally
felt. The acrid stench of betrayal wreaked havoc on Ellie's senses. Like debilitating toxic fumes
,
it snaked through her
nostrils, swam through her core and hindered
her very ability to move, to think, to breath, to see.

It was nearly impossible to see with the veil of tears clouding her eyesight, but Ellie endured. She was a goddamn fighter and she would surpass this. This was nothing. She had gotten through worst things and this would be no different. Because really, what was public humiliation by the man who professed to love you
,
if not something caused by her own naivety? What was the agony of heartbreak if not another wound that would eventually heal?