Chapter 16
707 Words
They both looked back at Nick as he dropped himself to the floor, and turned around. He saw them and his eyes locked on Mia’s for a second. He smiled, and Mia blushed as she took in his broad, strong pecs and washboard abs.
Nick walked over to them, studying Mia’s face as he approached. The bruise looked worse today than yesterday, but her eyes were clear and well-rested. She didn’t seem to be having any trouble with her balance, and he stared down at the bandage on her head. No major swelling or bruising around it, he was relieved to see.
“Hi, Mia.”
“Hi, Nick.” She forced herself to meet that steel-gray gaze. “This is Katie Lloyd. Katie, Nick Spencer.”
Nick shook Katie’s hand, and tried to hide his surprise at her appearance. He knew, of course, that she was a photographer and so she was what his father so dismissively called “artsy”. He’d been sort of expecting a hippie to show up, someone in flowing pastel skirts with wooden beads and wearing a wooly beret.
Katie wasn’t like that, not at all. She was covered in black; black from head to toe. She was wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt, a black leather jacket, black motorcycle boots. Her dark eyes were heavily lined with black makeup, her black hair was long and wavy, she had very pale but full lips. Her ears boasted about a dozen piercings, and her fingers were covered in large silver rings. She was the ultimate tough rock-chick, at least how Nick imagined one to be, and as she stood next to Mia, her outrageous and dramatic look was even more pronounced.
Today, Mia was in blue loose pants, an orange blouse, and a jean jacket. She had on a necklace that looked like an Egyptian obelisk, and she wore almost no makeup at all. She was so bright and beautiful and natural, Nick just wanted to touch her. He looked back and forth between the two of them, and wondered just how the hell they had become friends.
“I wanted to thank you, Nick.” Katie held his hand for a few seconds longer than usual. “For what you did for Mia. I’m so glad you were there.”
Nick smiled. “Me too.” He shifted his gaze back to Mia. “How you feeling today?”
“Good.”
“And your head? Is it sore?”
“Not really. Tender, I suppose, but no more pain. Not like that night.”
Their eyes met again, and they both remembered Mia curled up in his bed, lying in his arms, shaking and crying and in pain. Nick itched to hold her; Mia longed to be pressed against that chest. They looked away at the same time.
“Hi… you’re Mia and Katie?”
They all turned around to see a man standing there. Mia blinked in astonishment at his sheer size – Nick was big and strong, but this guy was something else altogether. He towered over her, and his arms were probably the size of her legs. He was wearing a tank top, and his upper body was covered in tattoos from the collarbone all the way down to his wrists and the waist of his shorts. His eyes were hard, shining blue, and his hair was dark and cropped close to his head.
“Hey, man," Nick said cheerfully. "Yeah, this is them. Ladies, this is Adam Pierce, my partner and co-owner of The Rock. He’s also one hell of a boxer.”
Adam extended his hand, and Mia’s disappeared inside of it. Good God. The man is a tank.
He smiled down at her from his massive height. “Hi, Mia. I’m glad to see that you’re OK. You gave us quite a scare the other night.”
“Thank you for being there too.”
He grinned. “I just threw the asshole in a trunk. Nick did all the rest.”
They laughed, and Mia watched Adam’s face soften. She guessed he was one of those guys who could look ferocious, but who can also be gentle when they need to be.
- Writer
