Imperfections (23 page)

I hear the water running, and it's like raindrops on my windowsill lulling me to sleep. My eyes are so heavy that I can barely keep them open.

The only thing I hear is the sound of the water, and the only thing I feel is the rise and fall of Nick's chest against me while his powerful arms are wrapped around me. I'm safe. I feel the warmth of the water against my skin as I slide into the wetness, and the darkness of the night washes over me.

Mmm…I try to open my eyes but they feel heavy. It's a major effort trying to open both at the same time. I'll try opening one first and see how far I can get. I slowly pry one eyelid open. The sliver of light that peaks through has me slamming my eye shut, at the same time, a sharp pain slices through my eyeball up to the front of my head. I think it'll be safer to keep my eyes shut permanently.

What the hell happened to me? Think…think…think. My brain feels sluggish, so does my body. Like being in a steam room wrapped in cellophane for hours. Let me see, I was with Ava. Yes, I must be at Ava's. We were drinking, yes, drinking, drinking a lot. My head. I can't even shout in my own head without it feeling like the inside of a bell someone is taking a hammer to. I'm going to lie still and take deep breaths.

I think I have a hangover. If this is what it's like to have one, I don't know why anyone would want to do this to themselves. Next time I'm going to leave all the drinking to Ava and Matt, she's an expert at it.

Matt, he was with us! We were all drinking and doing tequila shots. Never again! Ava's ass is on her own with that shit. Let me see, we were dancing and…before that Matt and I were talking—what were we talking about? Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! I didn't. Did I? Flashes of last night are coming back to me. Pieces of the conversation with Matt before the drinking. Dancing and drinking in the club, which was more like dry humping.

Then what? Holy fuck! My eyes fly open and a flood of light crashes into them, I think I'm blind.

"Oh my God, my head is killing me." My hand comes up to my face to protect my eyes from the blinding sunlight as I groan into my hand. I don't know if the pain in my eyes or my head is worse. It's like they're merging into one, coming together to make me nauseous.

"Hey, sunshine. Good, you finally woke up."

I slowly pry my fingers and my hand away from my face to see Nick walking over to me. What is he doing here? "Why is it so bright in here, are you trying to kill me?" I feel like a vampire burned by the sunlight.

"No, I'm not, but I hope you've learned a valuable lesson. You should remember this feeling the next time you go out with Ava and you start doing shots of tequila."

"Believe me I will. What do you mean I finally woke up, and why are you here?"

"To answer your first question it's now twelve thirty in the afternoon. And in answer to your second, where else am I supposed to be? This is my apartment."

"Your apartment?" I crunch up my face letting my eyes adjust to the light in the room. I look around and realize this is not Ava's apartment or her bed. I notice something else that's not mine when I look down at the bed I'm in. "Nick." I swallow and bite my bottom lip nervously keeping my eyes down. I don't want to look in his eyes when I ask him this question. "Where are my clothes?"

"I don't know; this is what you were wearing when you came here. The guy that dropped you off said you two had a hell of a good time."

"What!" My eyes and my head immediately snap up to see him grinning at me. At the pain that shoots through my head I press my lips together grimacing and a little moan escapes from me. "Mmm...I hate you."

"No, you don't. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

He hands me two white pills when he sits beside me on the edge of the bed. I lean back against the headboard looking at them. "What's this?"

Nick stares at me for a second, studying my face as I look in my hand at the pills. I don't feel uncomfortable, I think it's because my head is throbbing from the effect of way too much alcohol.

"Something to make your head feel better."

I look at him skeptically, not because I don't trust him but because I don't think two little pills are going to make me feel better.

"It's Tylenol."

"Did you forget the rest of them? I don't think this is going to work for me."

"You're not getting any more. It won't get rid of your hangover but it will ease up some of the pain. Only time will help you feel better."

"I have a massive headache and my mouth is as dry as the desert in the middle of the day. I'm surprised I can't make sand roll out of my mouth." He smiles at me, leans over and brushes a lock of my hair out of my face with his fingers. He hands me a glass of water off the table next to the bed. I pop the pills into my mouth, drink half the glass and put it back down. Nick picks it up and hands it back to me.

"Drink all of it. If you want to feel better, you have to drink a lot of water."

I take the glass and finish it. I want to feel better as soon as possible. "Thank you."

"No thanks needed."

"How did I get to your house?"

"You called me. Don't you remember anything from last night?"

"Not much, it's all a little fuzzy."

"You called me from the club. After hearing you talk about orgasmic peeing I decided it would be in your best interest if I came to get you."

"Oh my God, did I say orgasmic peeing?"

He's shaking his head up and down. "And something else about being from the 'BK BITCH!'"

He's laughing at me and I close my eyes, press my head back into the headboard and cover my face from the embarrassment of it all. I'm never getting drunk again. I don't know how some people do it. They must really hate themselves to go through this torture.

"Does that help bring back anything that happened last night?"

I take my hands away from my face and look into his smiling eyes. Flashbacks of me throwing up in his bathroom and us kissing come back to me. I swallow and bite the corner of my bottom lip. I'm not sure what to say, feeling a little uneasy and my cheeks feel warm. I remember what happened. Every single touch. Every single kiss. From him and Matt. I need to get out of here, now. I can't believe this is happening, I have to talk to Ava. The freaking out I'm doing inside my head must show on my face. Nick's eyebrows pull together and he's staring at me with concern.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good. Are you going to throw up again?"

I look at him and throw the sheets off  me. I do it so fast the blanket flies up in the air barely missing his face when I jump out of his bed. His bed. The throbbing in my head's almost forgotten for the moment. I'm more overcome with a severe case of embarrassment and guilt for what I did last night. More so for what I did with Matt. I can't believe I did that. On a desk with my legs wide up in the air; my mother would be so proud. Not. Oh my God, I have to get out of here. If I don't, I'll probably end up confessing to something I shouldn't even feel guilty about. He stands up and grabs me by the wrist before I can move past him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"If nothing's wrong, then why did you jump out of the bed like you were on fire?"

Nice, Cat, couldn't you play it cool? Now he thinks something is wrong.

"I remembered I didn't let anyone know I wasn't coming home last night, my parents are going to be worried. I need to get home. Where are my clothes?"

"After I took them off in the bathroom I brought them in here, there in the chair."

Letting go of my wrist he doesn't take his eyes off me. I don't take my eyes off him either. He knows I remember what happened between us last night. I put my hands on the front of my thighs, and I try to look away but he puts his hand on the side of my face, my eyes go to his lips when he speaks.

"We kissed. You were sick and I sat with you in the bathroom till you felt better. I helped you take off your clothes and get cleaned up. You were so out of it you fell asleep in my arms. I put you in the tub and washed you off. I dried you off, put my T-shirt on you and put you in my bed. I couldn't keep my promise though."

I look at him a little confused. "What promise was that?"

"I promised I wouldn't look at you when I helped you get undressed. No man on this earth could be that close to you feeling your perfectly shaped sexy as hell body pressed against them and not look. Besides, if I didn't, you would have most likely drowned in the water. I think that's a fair trade off, me looking for you not drowning."

He gives me a little smile. I smile back at him shyly. "Thank you for not letting me drown in your tub by not keeping your promise to molest me with your eyes while feeling me up."

"Well, you're welcome. Next time I think I'll keep my eyes and my hands to myself and let you drown."

"No, you won't."

"No, I wouldn't. Get dressed. I'll make you some coffee before you leave. Don't worry about your parents. I texted Chris from your phone and told him to tell them you were staying at Ava's."

"Thanks." That's when my mind goes back to Ava, my partner in crime, enabler of last night. "Where's Ava, is she here?"

Nick walks toward the door. "I took her home last night. She was so drunk she couldn't tell the difference between a light pole and a man."

"Light pole?"

"She tried to make out with a light pole she thought resembled your brother. I would have laughed my ass off if I wasn't concerned about her drowning in her own vomit."

Oh gosh, I have to go check on her to make sure she's okay. "Why did you leave her alone?"

"I didn't. I called my assistant and sent him over to her house to make sure she was okay. He called me two hours ago before he left her house. She's fine."

His phone rings and he looks over his shoulder then back at me like he's not sure if he should answer it. "I have to get that. I'll try to wrap it up as fast as I can. Don't leave."

I turn around when he leaves and head straight for the chair my clothes are on. I have to go. I know he's going to want to talk about what happened last night. Since we haven't seen each other since we had sex in the back of his car, he's going to want to talk about everything. Me, him, Kate, I can't deal with that now; everything's coming at me at once. I don't feel good, I need to get out of here before he comes back.

Yeah, I know it's the coward's way out, leaving without telling him. I can be brave tomorrow when I don't feel like shit laid out on the street and I can remember more of what happened last night. I put my clothes on in record time and get out the door. I couldn't find my damn underwear so I have to go outside with my bare ass cheeks, and a gust of wind flying up my skirt gives me the cold shaft right up my ass. I probably deserve it, a taste of what's to come for the short list of sins I've recently committed.

By the time I get home I know for sure this is the beginning of me paying for my sins. I walked five blocks down from Nick's place just in case he decided to come looking for me. You would think I would be able to catch a cab in this short skirt and skyscraper heels. No, not me, I'm freezing my butt off like a fifty-cent street walker. My hair is an absolute mess along with my makeup, I look like a drag queen gone wrong. The cab drivers were probably afraid they'd get arrested if they picked me up. Even if I could have gotten a cab I don't know what happened to my money. I only had ten dollars in my pocket, nowhere near enough to get to Brooklyn.