I miss the warmth.
Focus, Erica.
“Right,” he says, then reaches for the nightstand.
He obviously knew they would take it away. Just how familiar with this whole process is he?
He said last night that he didn’t pay for women… but how do I know that isn’t a lie?
I feel an irrational stab of jealousy. He wouldn’t need to. Women line up for a man like him—good looks, money, power. And, apparently, amazing in bed. He has it all.
He hands me his phone. “Call,” he says, and my stomach clenches at the way his voice flattens. He doesn’t sound sleepy anymore. He sounds like Nico Conti.
My breath punches out of me. Relief hits so hard my eyes sting instantly. “You—” My voice breaks on the word, and I hate that too. I take the phone from his hand with shaking fingers, mythumb hovering over the screen like I’m afraid it’ll disappear. “Thanks.”
Then, he shifts back and rolls away from me, giving me space in the bed. He stands—comfortable buck-ass naked, apparently—and walks to the bathroom. I try not to watch his ass and the shifting muscles in his back. The door closes behind him, and I start dialing Maddy’s number.
It takes me a second because who even remembers phone numbers anymore, but soon enough, it’s ringing.
“Hello?” she answers, confused, groggy.
“Maddy,” I whisper. “It’s me. How’s my dad? Please tell me you checked on him.”
“Of course I did,” she says. “I promised, didn’t I? He’s fine. He was sleeping the last time I checked in. He didn’t even know I was there.”
A sound slips out of me that’s half sob, half laugh, and I press my free hand to my mouth to keep it quiet, because Nico is in the next room, and I refuse to fall apart in front of him. Again.
Except it’s already happening.
“Thank you, Maddy. I owe you one,” I say.
“Yeah, you do,” she says, the grogginess leaving her voice. “And an explanation. What the hell happened last night? Where are you?”
My throat tightens around a hundred answers I can’t say out loud. My eyes sting harder, and I stare at the rumpled sheet next to me, remembering who lay next to me all night. “I’m… I’m fine,” I lie, and it comes out too thin to be convincing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Erica.” Maddy says my name seriously. “You sound like you’re about to throw up. Are you at the hospital? Are you—” She cuts herself off, then her voice drops. “Are you safe?”
I swallow, and it hurts, and I hate that it hurts. “I’m safe,” I say quickly, forcing some confidence into it for her sake. “I’m not alone. I’ll be home soon. I just needed to hear you say he’s okay. That’s all. I’ll explain later, I promise.”
My fingers tighten around Nico’s phone until my knuckles ache. “I just can’t—” My voice wobbles. “I can’t talk about it right now.”
The sound of water in the bathroom shuts off abruptly, then the door opens. My whole body reacts before even seeing him. I lift my head a fraction and catch movement in the mirror across the room: Nico stepping out, still naked. His gaze flicks to me and then away like he’s giving me privacy. My pulse trips over itself.
“Maddy,” I whisper, urgency pushing through the last of my control. “I have to go. I’m serious—I will call you later today,okay? I promise. Just… keep an eye on him if you can. Text me if anything changes.”
I don’t wait for her to argue. “Thank you. I love you.” Then I end the call before she can pull another truth out of me.
Chapter Twelve
Nico
I step out of the bathroom to the tail end of her call.
Erica’s curled on her side, the sheet pulled high, one hand clamped around my phone like it’s a lifeline. Her voice is low, urgent, trying too hard to sound normal. She says she’ll call later. She says she’s fine. She says she’s safe.
She ends the call fast, almost stabbing the screen, and sets my phone on the nightstand with careful fingers.
She turns her face away and hugs the blanket to her body like it can erase what happened. Like covering herself can rewind the night. Like if she pretends hard enough, she’ll find herself back in her own bed in her own room in the life she had yesterday.
