The Leaves 03 (Nico) (24 page)

“Nico! Nico! Wake up! Nico!” I could hear her, but I couldn’t answer.

“Nico!” she urged.

She was crouched in the bed next to me, her hands on my cheeks. “Nico, baby, please snap out of it. You’re scaring me, please!” 412/510

I drew in a deep breath, like I was drowning. I had been looking right at her the entire time, but didn’t respond until that moment.

“Lark?”

“Nico?” she cried.

“Fuck me.” I grabbed her and pulled her into me. “Fuck.”

“Nico, what happened? You started gasp-ing like you couldn’t breathe, and then I couldn’t wake you up.”

I could hear how scared she was. “I think I had a nightmare, fuck. Hasn’t happened since… since I was a kid.” But this was different. It was real. Whether it was the fear of losing her or what, I had no idea, but I felt a real pain right in the middle of my chest. I sat there, rubbed one hand on the spot, but then I saw Lark, so scared next to me. “I’m so sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s okay,” I soothed.

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“What is it, Nico? You can tell me what it’s about,” she said in that small voice I hadn’t heard in months.

“I’m not lying to you. I really don’t remember.” I brushed her hair from her face. “Let’s go back to sleep. We both have a big week, yeah?”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“If it happens again, I’ll get sleeping pills.” I smiled.

“I love you,” she said and squeezed my hand.

I laced my fingers with hers. “I love you, too,” I said and pulled her to my body.

When her breathing became even, when I was sure she was asleep, I whispered, “I found you.”

***

Zack and Frodo were in rare form. It was Thursday and the decision had been made to close the studio early on Friday, the day 414/510

before Zack and Teensy’s wedding, for their joint

bachelor/bachelorette

party.

Everything was ready for the ceremony the next

day.

The

weather

was

prefect.

Everything was in order. Moira had outdone herself as assistant, best friend, and wedding coordinator.

The only thing that wasn’t ready was me.

I listened to Frodo telling Zack he was sure the Feds would never question him about his time in Germany. Now that the country was part of the E.U., they had no reason to ask him about his involvement. Frodo was pretty fuckin’ good at giving just enough information to make whatever he was telling you believable, but only I knew the truth. And I enjoyed watching Zack squirm so much, I just sat and listened. Shaking my head for dramatic effect every now and then and making comments like, “Fuck man, that’s some serious shit.”

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Zack didn’t seem to realize he was getting married, that or he didn’t care. Whatever had happened before to make him freak out, it was temporary. Teensy ruled his world, and he was lost without her direction. She was his true North, and it was kind of beautiful to watch. He could be clueless about some shit. He could also be an absolute, inconsiderate dickhead too, but when it came to Teensy,

he

would

do

anything

and

everything to make her happy.

I hadn’t spoken to my folks in over a week.

They didn’t try to call me, and I didn’t call them. I was happy they were giving me the space I needed, but it didn’t matter. I had Dee, in my face, watching me and sticking to Lark like glue, every minute of the fucking day and night. But today, Lark had managed to ditch Dee and asked me to meet her at our café downtown.

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She was sitting outside, wearing huge black sunglasses and a red halter dress with little black sandals.

“You look like a movie star, babe.” I leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks, baby.” After my nightmare, the term had become her new name for me. Not all the time, but when the moment called for it, she used it.

She wanted a blueberry muffin; I ordered plain, black coffee. “Everything all set for the wedding?”

“Yep. She has her dress and all the fixin’s.” She smiled.

“And what about you? You all set?” I asked and took that first scorching sip of coffee.

“I’m not sure yet,” she answered in a kind of offhanded way.

“What do you mean? I thought you had a dress and all that shit months ago,” I teased and grinned at her.

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“Do you think that dress makes me look like somebody’s mother?” She took a bite of muffin.

“What, like it makes you look old? No way, you look hot in that dress.” And I proved it to her when I fucked her against the wall of the bedroom wearing it, tags and all.

“I want it to look like I’m going to be somebody’s mother, Nico.” She put down the muffin and smiled at me.

I felt my chest get tight. “Yeah?”

“It’s early, so let’s not tell anyone this time.

Just to be on the safe side. But I went to that new doctor and he was great. He said they’re gonna monitor me closely and—” I didn’t give her a chance to talk. I pulled her up from the chair and kissed her. Then, to let her know that I didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought, I dipped her in the middle of the sidewalk and kissed her like she was
my
fuckin’ movie star.

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She took a breath and asked, “Do you have time to take me home and do whatever the hell you want with me?”

I lifted her up. “Wrap your legs around me, babe.”

“I didn’t mean in the middle of the sidewalk.” She laughed as I held her ass and walked with her legs wrapped around me.

“Kinda want the world to know what a lucky bastard I am,” I grinned at her.

“Just don’t drop me… precious cargo and all,”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Lark.”

***

We’d barely made it through the door when she attacked me with kisses. “God, I’m horny.”

“Gotta get you out of those panties, unless you want me to tear them off,” I said and lifted her dress to discover… she wasn’t wearing any. “I walked an entire city block with 419/510

your naked pussy against my dick? Which, you know as well as I do, was like a fuckin’

rock.”

“Yep,” she said and paused her fervent kisses to grin at me.

“You are the perfect woman, you know that?”

I kicked off the sandals I was wearing, didn’t even bother taking off my shirt, and Lark shoved my shorts and boxers to the floor. She was about to take off her dress when I said, “No way. Dress stays on, babe.

I’m gonna wall fuck you, I’m gonna do it quick, I’m gonna do it hard, and I’m gonna make you come. Then I’m gonna go to work for a while and come home and do it all over again, so you tell Dee she needs to find something else to do tonight, because tonight, I’m celebrating with you.” I pushed her backward until she was against the wall. She jumped up and I held her ass as I pushed myself into her.

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“Ah!” she gasped as I lifted her up, my arms shaking after carrying her for a block already. The red fabric bunched around her waist, and with a firm tug of the tie behind her neck, I had access to her beautiful breasts. I took them into my mouth, one at a time, while I pushed into her. “Harder, Nico.

You won’t, you know, hurt anything.”

“Honestly, babe, wasn’t even thinking about that. I was just enjoying being buried inside you. You want it hard?” I pulled back a little and drove back in while I held her ass firmly.

“Oh, yes!” she said on a breath.

“Like that?” I grinned and did it again as she

tightened

her

arms

around

my

shoulders.

“Fuck, yes! Please, I need to come, please, please, please!” On each please, I thrusted harder, and I could hear her breath become jagged. “Now!” she cried out.

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Two more hard thrusts, I held her there, the bottom of my dick and my balls right against her while we came together.

“Fuck me,” I said and kissed her as I let her down slowly. “Don’t move.” I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and kneeled down to clean her up.

“You know, I’ve never had a guy do that before,” she said.

“Would you rather me not?” I already knew the answer. I could see it in her eyes.

“Nico.” She smiled down at me. “Go to work and hurry up and get that tight butt back to me. I’ll make sure Dee isn’t here. Just us tonight. Besides, tomorrow, big party!” Yeah, it was going to be a full-on couple of days. And even though I hadn’t heard from her, I knew I was running out of time with Dee.

Chapter 19

Dear Dish –

I sat on the porch with the pen in my hand, but I couldn’t think of what to say.

Dish had a name and a face, and I was in love with her. That sense of dread, the fear that it was all going to end, scared the fuck out of me. I was putting off the inevitable and probably making it worse.

Lark was fast asleep when I heard footsteps.

“Nico?” I put the journal down. I knew that voice.

“Tawn?” I asked, stunned as she came into the light. “What are you doing here?”

“I need your help,” she said.

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I walked down the porch. “What do you mean you need my help?”

I was about a foot from her when she opened the winter coat she was wearing. It was a really warm night but she had been standing there in that coat and sandals… and boy shorts. No shirt, no bra. The street light was at her back so I couldn’t see she was naked from the waist up. “What the fuck are you doing, Tawn? My fiancé is asleep in the house. You need to fuckin’ leave. I don’t know why you’re here or what you expect from me but—”

She came closer and forced my hands to her tits.

“Fuck you, Tawn, I—” but they weren’t there. “Jesus!” I pulled her into me and held her to my chest.

“I didn’t have clean margins. I know you know about this stuff because of your mom.

Anyway, they took them. We decided on an aggressive

treatment,

but

I’m

having

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reconstructive surgery next week. I know you hate me… but…” she said as my shirt soaked up her tears. “But I wondered if you would tattoo them… after… I have a couple of ideas, a kind of garland of daisies maybe going from my shoulder… a daisy on each breast like a pasty, since I won’t have nipples.” She laughed. “Will you do it?” I tipped her head up, wiped under her eyes, and kissed her on the lips. It wasn’t romantic, but it was familiar. At the end with Tawn, I couldn’t stand her. But I did see a side of her she kept hidden from everyone else. I never knew why. Could be because her parents got divorced when she was in high school, I didn’t know. But this one hit a little too close to home. She knew I wouldn’t say no, couldn’t say no.

“Of course I will.” I leaned down, picked up the coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You’ll need a couple of months at least for the scars to heal up a bit if I have to 425/510

tattoo over them. It all depends how they heal, how you take care of them… Just call me,” I said and brushed her hair back. I kissed her cheek and watched her walk away.

“Thanks, Nico,” she said.

“Yeah.”

When she was out of sight, I just sat down in the middle of the path and let my head hang there a minute. Then I took my phone from my pocket, found the number I needed and waited for an answer.

“Mom.”

***

Lark was up, showered, and dressed while I was still in bed.

“Babe?” I called out.

She appeared in the doorway, a cloud of energy buzzed around her. “I made coffee and I went out and bought bagels. I don’t care what anybody says, I need cream cheese. Smoked salmon I can live without, 426/510

but cream cheese, no way. No. Way!” She smiled, ran to the bed and jumped on top of me.

“You excited, babe?”

“She’s wearing my dress tomorrow. Wait

‘till you see it, Nico. It’s going to be beautiful… well,
she’s
going to be beautiful in my dress. But I know these people. It’s not like the other wedding. This one, I’ll be able to hear what people really think. Oh, and we were there! We were there to see it all happen. The proposal, everything. It’s very romantic.” I could swear I heard her sigh.

“Ours’ll be like that, too, Lark. But better.” I smiled.

“Promise?” She leaned down and kissed me.

“Absolutely,” I said and kissed her back.

“Okay, I’m gonna go pick up your tux.

Your shoes are all polished up and—”

“You didn’t have to do that. I can polish my own shoes.” I chuckled.

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“Isn’t that a wife thing to do?”

“I have no idea,” I said, and I honestly didn’t.

“I’ll see you at the party tonight. I’m going to get my nails done with Dee, Teensy, Becca, and Moira. Girly day,” she said as she grabbed a pair of flip flops from the closet.

“Love you,” she said at the doorway.

“Love you, too, babe.” I called out just before I heard the front door close.

I had a fuck of a day ahead of me. My first order of business was to go and see my mom and pop. Mom took a week off of work, according to Lark. She, of course, had no idea what went down with my folks. I decided to wait until after the wedding to tell her everything. There was so much happening around us, and it was an otherwise happy time. It was only one more day.

Becca stepped back from being in the wedding party. She said she would rather spend the night trying to keep Zack from 428/510

murdering her boyfriend, Flapjack, in cold blood. Since they all lived together, and Zack pretty much hated any man touching his sister. Moira flat-out refused the role of Maid of Honor. She said if anything went wrong, she would never forgive herself, and said she would feel better, ‘Being the puppeteer, not part of the puppet show,’ whatever the fuck that meant.

This left Lark. She was excited that Teensy had chosen her as a dressmaker, but also as her Maid of Honor, even if she wasn’t her first choice. Teensy adored Lark—her words—and already thought she was the driving force behind Zack proposing, and honestly, she was. But she’d never say it.

While my girl was off trying to make something beautiful even more beautiful, if that was possible, I drove out to my folks place. Frodo and Zack were manning the shop until I got back to close up and make my way to the party. Another fuckin’