Page 65 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
Without waiting for an answer, I brushed past him and left the room. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard two relieved exhalations as I went.
Outside it was growing dark. The sun had dipped below the mountains, and the house was filled with shadows, stretching along the floors, crawling up the walls. I hurried up the grand staircase, hugging my arms around my body, desperate for answe
rs.
I didn’t know if I could count on them from Nico. I’d have to get them on my own.
Nico’s bedroom was on the back side of the house, overlooking the city and ocean beyond. Which meant that there was a room on the opposite side that overlooked the driveway and courtyard where we’d parked. That’s where I was headed.
It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. My heart pounding, I crept into one of the many sterile, silent rooms on the second floor, drawn to the soaring windows. The long driveway came into view as I moved slowly forward through the room. I saw the large roundabout with the fountain at its center, Nico’s Escalade, and a trio of other expensive sports cars parked haphazardly around that I assumed belonged to the other members of the band.
I crept closer. Was that shouting I heard?
Trying to stay out of sight from anyone who might glance up from below, I moved even closer to the windows, drawn by what I now realized was, in fact, shouting. Furious shouting. A woman was screaming at the top of her lungs. I couldn’t make out her exact words, but every so often she said a word I recognized.
Nico.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
I leaned in the final few inches and saw the tableau below. The six hoochie mamas who had arrived with the band were clustered together in a knot, all of them standing stock still. Brody, Chris, Ethan, and A.J. stood off to the right side of the driveway, surveying the scene with an air of solemn discomfort, but no great surprise.
In the center of the driveway stood Nico. His back was to me, but I could tell just by his posture that he was once again thermonuclear with rage.
A few feet opposite him, screaming like a banshee, stood Avery Kane.
I gasped. My hand flew to cover my mouth.
She was in rehab. She was supposed to be in rehab! Or . . . was that just a story that had been concocted for the press?
Was that just a story Nico had concocted for the press? Or they had, together?
My mind whirled furiously with speculation. I tried desperately to remember what I’d read about Avery checking in to rehab, or what Nico had told me about it, but couldn’t focus on anything because I was drowning in quicksand.
Suddenly Avery threw herself at Nico, pounding his chest with her fists. He quickly subdued her, wrapping his arms around her to say something into her ear. She collapsed against him, sobbing. They stood there like that for a moment, Nico obviously trying to comfort her, before he led her over to his Escalade, put her inside, started the engine, and sped away, tires spitting gravel.
Shaking, I stepped back from the windows into the deeper shadows of the room. I felt as if someone had just driven a stake through my heart.
What the fuck? What am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait for him to come back . . . from where? Where is he going with her?
“He doesn’t know you saw her,” I said aloud. My words echoed eerily in the stillness of the room.
Nico had his back to the house. He couldn’t have seen me. I was pretty sure no one else had seen me either, given they were too preoccupied with the drama playing out in front of them. And there were no lights on in the room . . .
So as far as Nico knew, I’d gone to his bedroom and didn’t know squat about what had just happened.
I stood there in the gathering darkness for a few minutes, trying to calm myself. Then to the empty room I said softly, “Okay, Nico. I’m done playing. I call. Show me all your cards.”
I turned and went to his bedroom, to wait.
Night fell. Hours passed. He didn’t call. He didn’t return. I lay on my side on his bed, fully dressed, with my legs drawn up and a pillow under my head, watching the city lights shimmer far below, waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
Never in my life had I passed a night so long. It felt eternal. I couldn’t sleep from all the buzzing in my head, all the clamor in my heart. Each minute that ticked by aged me incrementally, so that when the first, faint rays of dawn began to spread pink across the sky and I heard the front door open and close, I wasn’t sure my ancient head would have the strength to lift from the pillow.
Footsteps on the stairs. My heart began a thundering gallop inside my chest. I closed my eyes, lay still, and let him come to me.
