Chapter 17
861 Words
Adam turned to Katie now. “Hi.”
“Hi.” She was looking him up and down, a bit taken aback at his size. “Wow. Your body is – wow.”
“Is that a good ‘wow’ or a bad ‘wow’?” Adam asked.
“Good. Really good. It’s going to be amazing taking your photo.”
“Well, I’m glad you think so.” Adam looked around. “So – where do you want to do this?”
“Let me walk around a bit, OK?” Katie said. “I’ll call you over when I think I’ve found the place to start taking pictures.”
“Sure, go do that.”
The three of them watched Katie walk off, a look of intense concentration of her face. Adam turned to Mia. “So what will you do while we’re taking photos?”
“Oh, I’ll be staying out of the way,” Mia said. “Gavin has promised to bring me some material about your gym, for background for our interviews, so I’ll go through that.” She looked around. “Is it OK if I sit on that sofa? I need to set up my laptop.”
“Go ahead,” Nick said. “You need any help?”
“No, thanks. I got it.”
The men watched Mia unpacking her things, and Adam turned to Nick.
“So did you have s*x with her?”
Nick forced his eyes away from the curve of Mia’s breasts peeking through the top of her blouse. “What?”
“She stayed at your place overnight, right? No woman has ever set foot in your apartment who hasn’t been f****d there. So I’m just wondering… is it gonna get all weird between you two because you had ill-timed s*x?”
“We didn’t have s*x, Adam. She was drugged and had her head stitched up and was a terrified mess.”
Adam shrugged. “Normally, that wouldn’t stop you. Wouldn’t stop the chick, either.”
Nick paused as the truth of that statement hit him. “Well. For whatever reason, we didn’t.”
“Yeah, well, upon reflection and having met her now, I’m not so surprised, after all.”
“How come?”
“Well, she’s not anywhere close to your usual type, is she?”
“What do you mean?”
Adam waved his hand at Mia. “Well, come on, man. She hasn’t got fake t**s, she’s totally clothed, she's a writer.” He shrugged. “She’s kind of boring for you, really.”
“Leave her alone, Adam.” Nick’s voice was cold. “Back off her, right the f**k now.”
Adam looked at Nick in surprise. “Hey, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean anything by it. I mean, she seems like a nice girl. But that’s exactly the point. Nice girls are normally not your type.”
Nick was silent as he looked at Mia sitting there getting her notebook and recorder ready. Gavin brought her a cup of coffee and a stack of papers, and she smiled her thanks at him. Her whole face just lit up and she looked so soft and pretty, his stomach twisted.
He wanted her to smile at him like that.
Oh, s**t. Am I starting to like this woman?
He turned back to Adam and shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, you ready? Katie’s waving at us.”
Adam stared at Nick, puzzled. He was definitely acting weird about Mia, and Adam didn’t really get why. OK, sure: Nick had saved her from that asshole at the bar, and Adam was sure that Nick’s natural protective instincts had come to the fore. Adam knew that Mia had stayed at Nick’s place, and normally, this would mean that Nick had f****d the girl until she could barely walk. But Nick swore nothing had happened between them, and seemed angry when Adam had suggested otherwise. Nick had never cared before if Adam talked about chicks that Nick had picked up at the bar, and then screwed and sent on their way.
Something about Mia is different for Nick. Interesting.
They walked over to Katie, who was standing by the rough brick wall next to the window. “So, let’s start here, OK?” she said. “I think it’ll look great.”
“Sure,” Nick said. “Which one of us?”
“You first.” She glanced at Adam. “Maybe you can start with Mia?”
“No problem.” Adam wandered back over to the reception area sofa.
“OK,” Nick said. “What do I do?”
“What you normally do – just move how you normally move when you’re training and doing karate. I’m not going to direct you, not at first. I’ll let you know if I need you to turn or move closer to the light or anything.”
He blinked at her totally laid-back approach to her work. “OK. I can do that.”
She raised her camera to her face, and took a step back. “OK, Nick. Do your thing.”
- Writer
