“Oh, I don’t know if…” She looked around, clearly nervous to be seen with him. “I think it’s better if, you know, with our past… what if people…”
“Fuck people. Since when doyoucare what people say? What happened to it doesn’t matter what they’re saying as long as your name is in their mouth?”
Giannalovedpeople talking about her. Shelovedbeing the center of attention. That’s exactly what she would be if she and Niko walked together.
“Yeah, that’s not, I don’t think Brock would…” A chime sounded, and G checked her phone. “I have to go.”
Gianna took off walking, double time, towards the main stage at the end of the street where the tree lighting ceremony was set up for Karina’s performance. Instead of pushing, Niko hung back and walked six paces behind his ex. He wasn’t going to do anything to make her uncomfortable when she already seemed raw and vulnerable.
On the way, several teens stopped G, asking for selfies. She had a fairly large social media following. Niko watched as she interacted with each one, quickly taking their photos. To someone who didn’t know her as well as he did, she would look engaged, but to him, he could tell that something was off. She was absolutely not herself and present in the moment, basking in the attention of her fans. She was distracted and anxious.
He waited, hanging back, as she took the photos, then continued six paces behind her. His plan was to continue to remain several yards behind her, that was until he spotted Tiana, more specifically Brock. He loomed over her. Niko couldn’t hear what he was saying, but from her body language, it was clear she was uncomfortable.
Her arm was lifted, her palm facing toward him, giving him a clear signal to back off. She took a step backwards, and heimmediately advanced. That was all it took. One second Niko was keeping his distance from G, the next, in the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between himself and Tiana, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her to him. He leaned down and kissed her. It was a short, deep kiss. In the ten seconds it lasted, he claimed her, dipping her backwards.
A whimper escaped from the back of her throat. Niko wasn’t sure if it was out of surprise or pleasure, maybe both. When he straightened them both up. He lifted his head and smiled down at her. “I missed you.”
She stared up at him, her lids heavy as she blinked and breathlessly responded, “Oh, um…” She licked her lips, and his cock swelled at the sight. “That’s nice.”
Niko could feel Brock’s stare boring into the right side of his face, and he totally ignored it. G had joined him, and Brock barely acknowledged her.
“How was the cider stand?” Niko asked as he lifted his hand and brushed a stray curl that had fallen from her messy bun back behind her ear.
“Good.” She took in a shaky breath. “It was good.”
“It tasted good.” Niko grinned, referring to the tart flavor that he’d just enjoyed on her lips.
“How’s Pops doing? I was thinking about stopping by to see him,” Brock stated with a casual cruelty in his tone.
Tiana’s entire body tensed, and Niko felt and heard her audibly gasp.
“Oh shit, I didn’t see you there, Bartlett.” Niko played it off as if it was him who was caught off-guard and hadn’t noticed the giant turd of a human.
“No. He doesn’t want to see you,” Tiana stated firmly.
“I want to apologize, man to man.”
Tiana bit her lip and he could feel her entire body trembling with tension.
There was no fucking way Niko would allow Brock to wield any sort of power over Tiana, and it was clear that was exactly what he was doing. He’d made that statement to try and upset Tiana, which it clearly had.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Niko explained.
“You don’t, huh?” Brock puffed his chest out as he squared his shoulders. It was the same thing he’d been doing since freshman year in college. It hadn’t intimidated Niko then, and at that time Brock had at least twenty-five pounds on him. Now the two men were roughly the same weight, so why he was still doing it? Niko had no clue.
Niko stared Brock directly in his eyes. “No. I don’t.”
Brock took a step towards Niko. “I don’t think it’s any of your fucking business.”
Niko grinned, praying the man would make the first move. It would give Nikoso muchsatisfaction to slam his face into the cement.
“What thefuckis so funny?”
Niko’s smile widened even further.
“You want me to wipe that smile off your face?”
Yes.All Niko needed was for this asshole to make the first move.
