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“Classy,” he deadpans.
I’m just about to shoot back a retort when the slapping of flip flops echoes throughout the space. I peer around him to be met with the sight of a leggy blonde sporting denim cutoffs and a bubblegum pink crop top. She quickly scans me, not bothering to hide her evident distaste for my presence before her face morphs into a menacing smirk.
Shit. Catalina Holbreck. Her younger brother, Linus, is in my grade. Though lately, I’ve been more familiar with her older brother, Colton. If the rumors are even half true, she’s just as mean as she is pretty.
“Well, well, well…” Catalina eyes me on her approach, her fingers trailing up Nicky’s back and coming to rest on his shoulder. “I was wondering what was keeping you. I didn’t realize you had to babysit today. Set her up in the living room with cartoons and come back upstairs for round two.”
A wave of nausea hits, threatening to drag me under, and I suddenly can’t flee the room fast enough. “No babysitter needed.” I start to back away. “I’m more than capable of tending to myself.”
“Are you?” she snarks. “I don’t know, Nick. Is the house babyproofed? Does the medicine all have childproof caps?” She arches a judgmental brow, causing my feet to freeze at her implication.
No. No. No. Colton, you dick!
“You need to go.” Nicky’s voice is hard, his words stabbing clear through my heart. Oh God, she told him. She knows, and she told him. And to think I was more worried about Colton spilling the beans to Rico, given they’re on the soccer team together.
“Yeah.” Catalina giggles as she flutters her fingers at me. “Run along.”
“Not her,” Nicky asserts. He stares at me a moment longer before his angry gaze sweeps toward the smug-looking cheerleader on his left. “You. Out.”
Her head whips to the side, her mouth falling open with shock. “Excuse me?!”
“You heard me. Get. The fuck. Out.”
“Nicky, I—”
“OUT!” he roars, shoving her off him.
A violent tremor surges through her, her eyes wide with fear as she bolts past me out of the kitchen. The sound of her retreating footsteps speed down the hallway before the slamming of the front door echoes throughout the house.
My head whips back and forth, swiveling between the entryway and the boy before me, as I try to figure out what the heck just happened. When my gaze finally comes to rest solely on him, I find his back turned to me. The muscles in his broad shoulders are tensed, and I mentally trace them down through the length of his forearms to find him gripping the counter’s edge.
The anger still radiates from him in waves, cautioning me to keep my distance, though somehow having the opposite effect. I step closer, the shrinking space between us allowing me to become aware of his low murmurs. The words become clear, but they don’t make much sense.
“The hard marble… soft rug beneath my feet…”
What the—?
“…Hum of the AC…”
“Nicky?” I press my hand to his back when I reach him, and he jumps in response. Nicky spins, his eyes locking with mine.
“Emeralds,” he whispers. “The brightest emeralds.”
“Are you okay?”
Recognition sparks within him, as though he’s waking up from a dream, and he shakes free of whatever trance is holding him hostage.
“I’m fine.” He pulls away.
“You didn’t need to do that.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Nicky assures me, his demeanor much calmer than only seconds before. “We were finished. No reason for her to stick around.”
“Ugh.” My nose wrinkles in disgust. “I hope you’re wrapping it. Wouldn’t want it to fall off.”
“And just what would you know about that?” His gaze narrows.
“I’m not a child, Nicky.”
