Beautiful Disaster (The Bet) (13 page)

Maddie glanced at him, face alight with joy
as
she slowly licked her lips with a shy smile. "I missed doing that." She murmured. "I can't wait to do that…and more." Her face bloomed violent red.

Nicholas took a step back, inwardly cursing. He hadn't expected this, maybe he should've, maybe then he wouldn't have been taken so off guard. "Maddie, we're…I'm sorry if I made you believe that this was more than an offer of friendship."

Maddie frowned, pressing her fingers to her mouth, "Friendship…but you kissed me!" she said distraughtly, staring up at him with accusing eyes, wounded eyes. "You kissed me." She whispered brokenly.

Overlooking the fact that she'd been the one to initiate the kiss and he'd hardly done any sort of kissing in turn, Nicholas attempted to placate her, not exactly sure of what else to do. "I just want to be friends, Maddie."

"But I love you!" her bottom lip quivered. "I love you so fucking much it hurts! Please," she fisted the front of his shirt desperately, clutching it for all she worth. "Please say that you want me too, Nicky. Please..." she didn't care if she was making a fool of herself. She didn't care that her pride lay in tatters at her feet. Desperation blinded her. Love blinded her.

Nicholas mournfully shook his head. "I---I can't, I'm sorry." His chest constricted at the sight of her broken expression.

"Why? Is it because of Ellie? What the hell is so fucking special about her? Huh? Answer me!" She pushed him and he stumbled back, indignation flashing in her eyes. "She isn't even going to put out for you and you're mooning over her like some love sick puppy! Tell me Nicky, have you gotten
some
time to tell her about your little game since becoming her best friend? No? Well maybe I should tell her, lay all your fucking shit bare and see what she has to say about it."

Silver eyes hardened to diamond gray slits, the sudden dark expression on his face shocking Maddie into silence.  "Don't threaten me, Maddie." He said very slowly.

Maddie swiped the tears from her cheeks. "She's goi
ng to find out. If not by me, the
n by someone else and when she does I hope she hurts you just as badly as you’ve hurt me." Her voice was eerily calm now, a far cry from the unrestrained shrill it had been seconds ago.

"Not before I tell her." Nicholas woodenly turned around and walked away, Maddie's bleak words unsettling him.

Maddie pushed the bathroom door open, ran to a sink and emptied the contents of her stomach, which wasn't much,
just the blue Gatorade she'd dru
nk before her heat earlier.
She forced the taps open
numbly watched as the dilut
ed blue liquid swirled around the
sink, before disappearing down the drain. She cupped her hands beneath the running water and splashed cold water on her face.
She knew how pathetic she looked and so avoided looking in the mirror
on her way to the hand dryer.

Feeling relatively human again, she exited the bathroom, heading back to
the
gym, now, more than ready to go home and hide away from the world.

"You Ok?"

Maddie looked over her shoulder, stopping short. "Are you talking to me?"

She gave him the once-over and could only surmise the man to be the Devil's incarnate. Everything about him was so devilishly charged and menacing that it drew Maddie in as much as it repelled her. He was incredibly hot. Not Nicholas hot, but he had a sort of dark sensual magnetism that was just as strong as Nicholas's.

His hair was midnight black and it fell in uneven layers around his head. He had a face that was not easily forgotten and within that face were a pair of impenetrable obsidian eyes, so dark that it induced an involuntary shudder in Maddie. His athletic build was encased in a black turtleneck sweater, a pair of black slacks and matching Doc Martins.

He approached her, a sympathetic smile on his face. "Yeah, I saw what happened earlier with your boyfriend...I just wanted to know if you were all right."

It was none of his damn business and she had every intention of telling him so, but instead Maddie shrugged. "What if I told you I wasn't
,
what would do?" she challenged.

"I don't know, maybe ask if you wanted to get a cup of coffee and see if you wanted to talk about it." He said smoothly, lifting his shoulders in nonchalance, "Or not talk, whichever." 

If
her ego hadn't been so bruised,
Maddie could've sworn she was being hit on. Fortunately for her, she had just about enough of
men for today, especially dark-
haired men. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"It's his loss
." He called after her and Maddie foolishly spun around. "If he doesn't know what a great catch you are, then screw him."

"I already did," she murmured bitterly. "W
hat the hell do you know anyway
? You don't know me enough to make that assumption."

"I know people...and I know that you didn't deserve that."

"Whatever, I'll live. Thanks for the pep talk---I didn't catch your name?"

He stepped closer and extended his hand with a smile. "Tony, Tony Carlyle."

"I'm Maddie. Thanks again for the talk, I'll see you around."

"Count on it
." Tony whispered as he watched her walk away.

"So how goes it with the newest prey?" Chase Lyman, drunk off his ass and irritating the hell out of Nicholas
,
plopped down beside him and made his inquiry over the hip hop music blaring from the surround sound system.

It was a typical Friday night at Matt’s house with rarely any parental supervision, endless amounts of alcohol and horny teenagers
,
it presented
a perfect recipe for decadence; a
virtual orgy of depravity that once upon a time Nicholas would’ve reveled in.

Before
,
he would've been sitting right there with Matt and the rest of the guys, participating in their inane drinking games,
but
now he felt oddly detached from it all. After spending nights with Ellie and Sophie doing nothing more than wat
ching a movie
or helping each other with homework, Nicholas found that this paled in comparison. The alcohol, the drugs, the gir
ls, it all seemed so sordid now. He looked around and
he felt like a spectator, watching himself attempt to have fun. He raised the beer bottle to his lips and took a long gulp washing down the sudden need to call Ellie
and see how she was doing. Two o
'clock in the morning, s
he was probably sleeping anyway
.

"Yeah, I hea
rd about your latest challenge. H
ow's that going for you?" The captain of John Edgar's undefeated lacrosse team, Dominick Kingston
,
sat on the other side of him with his own bottle of beer in
his
hand.

Nicholas tapped the end of his cigarette in the ashtray and leaned back on the couch. "Better than your relationship with your girl." He nodded his head to where a very drunk Evey was sandwiched between two hulking guys, grinding her mini clad ass against them.

"Man, if I had a girl who gave it up as easy as Eves does, I'd have her ass on the fucking internet, paying for my car accessories." said Chase eyes glued to the simulated sex scene going on a few feet away from them.

"Wha
tever, I'm done with her anyway
. She can be with whoever the hell she wants. Not that it stopped her when we were together." Nicholas had nothing against Dom. Hell, he liked the guy a hell of a lot more than the other morons around them. He just wished Dom had
better sense when dating girls
.

"Nicky, man, quit holdin
g out on us. Y
ou fucked that black chic yet? Was she good? Give me her number. I've been dying to hit that nice round---" Chase did not get the chance to finish his sentence because Nicholas's fist smashing into his face prevented him from doing so.

Seeing Nicholas descend upon Chase, ready to land a few more blows, had Dom springing into action, quickly holding Nicholas back. The at
tempt like holding a rampaging b
ull. The noise around them died a slow death as everyone around turned to look at them.

"What
the fuck is your deal?
" Chase roared as he nursed his bruised jaw.

Nicholas wrenched his arms from Dom's hold and advanced on Chase, his expression ominous as rainclouds. "Go anywhere near her and I'll feed you your balls." The eyes of many followed in his wake as he made his exit.

"Nicky!" Refusing to turn around, Nicholas continued his trek down the cobble stoned pathway.

"Hey, Nicholas, man, wait up! Grayson!" Nicholas only stopped because Matt took hold of his arm, spinning him around. "Mind telling me what the fuck is up?"

He pulled his arm from Matt's grasp with a frustrated sigh, regarding his friend of so many years with a frown. "I don’t know what the fuck is up.” He said after a moment, raking a hand through his hair. “but I’m starting to think I’m over my head on this one.”

Matt witnessed
the range of emotions
playing across Nicholas's face and he honestly
wasn't sure whether to worry or
to
share in Nicholas's frustration. He couldn't say he hadn't noticed the changes over the past weeks. Nicholas's uncharacteristic behavior tonight only proved Matt's suspicions. It was a feat in itself getting a rise out of Nicholas, who was usually so cavalier about everything. He didn't care about much, therefore, making him angry wasn't something easily done. The fact that he'd almost pummeled Chase to a bloody pulp a few minutes ago was disturbi
ng. "Come on, Nicky, talk to me. W
e're best friends and you've been keeping shit from me. What's up?"

Nicholas's hands clen
ched and unclenched at his side. S
haking his head
,
he sighed again. "That's just it. I don't know what the hell is going on. I---She's fucking with my
head and I can't get her out."

Matt's befuddled expression melte
d to disbelief. "The new girl?"

"Ellie."

Matt's eyes widen
ed
, "Oh…Oh man!" he clapped Nicholas on the shoulder, hysterical laughter burbling to the surface. "This…This is one for the books! I never thought I'd see the day!" he doubled over and Nicholas fought the urge to hit him.

"Shut up!" Seeing that he'd obviously made a mistake in sharing his feeling with his supposed best friend, Nicholas hopped on his bike and revved the engine.

"This
is some priceless shit, Grayson. M
an, I'm stunned, really, you've just proven the impossible. And I think somewhere Hell just froze over."

"Fuck you, Bates."

"Oh come on, Nicky, don't be such a bitch, come back and we'll drink to your happiness!" He called to Nicholas's disappearing back, his motorcycle zooming down the steep hill.

Click
!

Clack
!

Click
!

Lifting her head from her pillow, Ellie looked at her window and sure enough
,
another pebble clicked against the glass. Instantly she was out of bed,
rubbing the sleep from her eyes as
she glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand and frowned. Who in their right mind would be waking her up at such an ungodly hour?

She reached over to the table lamp and clicked it on, then st
ood, walking over to her window. S
he looked down at the moonlit backyard and saw---no one.

"What the hell?" she knew she hadn't imagined the noise.
Ellie shook her head and
headed back to bed, but the large shadow perched in the tree by her window prevented her from doing so.
She grabbed
th
e nearest object she could find
which ended up being a crystal paperweight from her
desk;
she
cautiously approached the window and jumped back
. W
ith a squeak
she saw
Nicholas's face
come
into view. She quickly unlocked the latch on the bay window, allowing Nicholas entrance.

"Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Ellie harshly whispered once Nicholas was in her room.

"Couldn't sleep." He whispered back as if it
were
the most natural thing in the world to say. "What were you going to do with that?" he smirked at the crystal paperweight tightly clutched in her small hands.

"Beat you to death."