Page 39 of Rough Rider (Bad Boy High)
I give her a terse shake of my head. “An hour,” I repeat. Then I step back into Andy’s apartment and shut the door. ”You should have told me you were having money problems. I’d have taken care of it. Get your coat. I don’t want you staying here alone while I go get the rent money.”
“I have the money, Niki. It’s just…” She trails off and shoves her hand through her hair in frustration. She winces as she does it.
It’s then that I notice the bruises on her hand. I’ve been in enough fights to know exactly how those marks appear. She hit someone.
I grab her and tilt her hand toward her. “Who’d you fight?”
Her eyes widen. “What? No one.”
I kiss her palm. “It’s okay, babe. Let’s go get the money.” I’ll find out who she hit later, like after I’ve had my tongue inside of her.
“I’m paying you back.”
“Sure.” I know better than to argue. If she pays me money, I’ll just tuck it away. I’ll be the Bank of Niki, holding the account of one.
”You know, you don’t have to live here anymore. You can stay at my place. The one I share with Bam. It’s full of Riders, too, so I know you’ll be safe.”
“No, because my mom is only at the wellness center for so long. She needs a place to come home to. We have the money. Well, it’s at the strip club where she worked. I haven’t been able to get it. Yet.” She tacks on the last word after a moment of hesitation, but that little hitch tells me everything.
She went to the club to get the money from the owner and had a run-in with someone. Probably another woman who was managing the place. I squeeze her other hand. This is an easy task. I’ll go over tomorrow, collect the money like I always do, and bring it back to her. She doesn’t need to be involved at all.
Chapter Twenty-Six
ANDY
In the end, Niki ends up talking me into staying at his place. Which is fine; he’s stayed over at mine a few times already. It’s only fair, and I know it will make him feel better to have eyes on me. He also stopped pushing me on my hand.
Pretty sure he thinks I got into it with one of the girls from the club, and I’m not correcting it. Niki might leave it alone then. I don’t need to be dragging him into any more of my crap. He’s already done so freaking much for me.
“Here, let me.” I bump Niki over with my hip. On the way over to his place, we stopped at a store and picked up a few things for dinner.
It's been a long time since I’ve had a home-cooked meal. I'm sure some will say this doesn't count because it's spaghetti sauce out of a jar, but I'll take it.
"Yes, ma'am." Niki smirks, stepping to the side so I can stir the sauce to mix it in with the hamburger meat.
"This is nice," I tell him. "Easy."
"It is," he agrees. Niki and I in the kitchen hanging out beats going to any fancy restaurant. People don't get how much the small things can mean to a person.
"Is your sister okay with you not being home tonight?"
Now I understand why he hasn't tried to slowly introduce me to his family. I'm over here hitting strip club owners and dropping my mom off at rehab. Niki's mom would probably tell him to stay away from me for sure.
I almost laughed when my landlord warned me to stay away from Niki. I’m the one that’s constantly dragging him into some drama. People should be telling him to stay away from me at this point.
"Bam is going to be there tonight." He gives a small shrug.
"You know that you don't have to stay with me. I'll be fine." I don’t want him to give up time with his family because he feels as though he has to babysit me.
"Maybe I won't be fine."
"Thank you." I reach out to grab his hand.
I know that I told him he didn't have to stay with me, but I'm still jarred from what happened with Rico. There is no way I'm going back there. I'll have to pick up extra shifts at the diner to try to come up with the money. I know Niki told me that he would take care of it, but it’s not his responsibility. There is also a part of me that doesn’t want to become dependent on him. He might not always be here. I hate that thought.
“You don’t need to thank me.” He tugs on my hand, pulling me to him. “You’re my girl, and I take care of you.” Niki says that with pride. I love hearing him say I’m his girl. I want to belong to Niki. To be his everything.
“But what do I do for you?”
