Nick and Lilac (19 page)

“Then I’ll go…to you,” she answered quietly, firmly. “I’ll ask…Jason to…drive me---”

“No. I’m just a few minutes away now.”

Lilac blinked at Nick’s words. He was
that
close?

“I’m getting you.”

“But Jason---”

“---won’t mind,” Nick finished flatly. He didn’t know if that was true, didn’t give a damn if it wasn’t. “Lend him your phone, Lilac. I’d like to talk to him if it’s okay.” Nick made sure his tone was light even though possessive rage still burned inside him. The knowledge that Jason and Lilac were together, just a fucking elevator’s ride away from a vacant bedroom, was enough to have him want to kill somebody. It didn’t matter if it was Jason, didn’t matter if Nick knew deep down inside that Jason would never betray him.

There was always a first time for everything. If he had to fight his brother to prove the truth, then so be it.
Lilac was his.
Even before they had become friends, something in Nick had always known, had always seen Lilac York as
his.
For Lilac, he had done his best to keep things platonic but if someone was going to poach on his territory, then he wasn’t fucking going to hold back any longer.

“Let me talk to Jason, sweetheart.”

Not fooled by Nick’s casual tone, Lilac unconsciously shook her head as she said shakily, “No. I’m worried…for some reason…you two… will fight.”

“He should have worried about that before asking you out behind my back.”

The words made Lilac jerk in her seat. She heard Jason curse in front of her. When she looked at him, she realized that Jason had been listening intently all the while and that he had been able to put one and one together to come up with more than two.

“Give him the phone, Lilac.”

“Nick,” she whispered, “you’re starting…to scare me.”

“Fuck.” On the other end of the line, Nick raked a hand through his hair at the unmistakable note of distress in Lilac’s voice. “I don’t want you scared of me,
manarimou.
But you and Jason becoming friends---it doesn’t sit fucking well with me.”

Lilac whitened, unconsciously holding her breath as she asked, “Wh---why?”

“Because you’re fucking mine!”

She almost dropped her phone at Nick’s words. “Nick---”

“I won’t share you with anyone,” Nick said violently. “Not even with him.” He forced air back into his lungs. “So let me talk to him, Lilac---while I’m still making an effort to be civilized about another man trying to steal what’s
mine
.”

Across Lilac, Jason said just as quietly, “I think I’d like to speak to my brother myself, Lilac.”

She looked up at Jason, stunned by his words. What she saw in Jason’s gaze stunned her even more. Surely, it couldn’t be---

Jason held out his hand, palm up, waiting.

Lilac wordlessly handed her phone.

“Brother.” Jason’s voice was as light and charming as ever.

“Jason.” Unfortunately, Nick had never been as good as Jason at playing nice, and his tone came out terse.

“I hope you don’t mind me stealing your friend just for a day.”

So this was how they were going to play it
, Nick thought. He did his best to speak just as casually but there was still the slightest bite to his voice when he answered, “Not at all…but the thing is, I’m back in Florida. I changed my mind about flying to Greece. I realized that I have more important matters to care for
here
.” He paused for a beat. “And I’ll do my damnedest to take care of it. Because it’s
mine.
”

There was a pause before his brother drawled, “Is that so?” His tone was so bland it revealed nothing at all about his emotional state.

Nick bit out, “It fucking is.”

There was another pause. When he spoke again, it was in the Greek dialect they favored for keeping their conversations strictly private. “I thought she was just your friend, brother.”

He understood what Jason was asking, and it was no different from what Christien had asked last night. The good part of him knew the noble thing to do was to let Lilac choose freely – better if he let her go completely because unlike him, Jason had never sworn off relationships, had never sworn off love.

But the selfish part of him didn’t want to even consider the possibility of Lilac
not
belonging to him…not even for a day.

The selfish side won. “You can have other friends, Jason. I can’t. She’s the only one for me.”

Another pause.

“We have never kept secrets from each other, Nick. So I’m going to lay all my cards down. I know you met her first. I know she belonged to you first. And if you want her as your friend, that’s your choice. And if you don’t want to share while she’s your friend – I won’t ask you to change your mind. But…I want her in my life, too. I can promise not to betray you, but I can’t promise to stay away from her.”

Nick gripped his phone hard at Jason’s words, which had almost been a challenge. In fact, it was probably intended to be so and Nick knew the reason behind it. He wasn’t born yesterday, hadn’t forgotten the age-old fact that friends who were there to pick up the pieces could sometimes be more than a friend in the future.

“And if she doesn’t want to be
just
your friend?”

“Then that’s her choice.”

Lilac managed a weak smile when Jason returned her phone. “He…told you?”

“Nick will be here shortly, yes,” Jason answered with another enigmatic smile.

She bit her lip. “Sorry about today…I think I’m…bad luck for you.”

“You’re not,” Jason said gently. “If not for you, I wouldn’t have picked the most beautiful necklace for our mother.”

She shook her head, still embarrassed and guilty. “I’m just…so…I can’t believe…they thought we’re… getting engaged.” She exhaled in frustration. “Can’t believe…it’s going to be…all over the news…tomorrow either.”

“Nick and I will sort it out. You don’t have to worry about that.” Jason dealt her an interested glance. “What did Nick tell you earlier? I noticed how shocked you were at one of the things he said.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t think…I have the…right…to say…it.”

Jason said charmingly, "We don't keep secrets, you know."

She said awkwardly, "Then he should…have told you."

The grin that curved Jason’s lips made him look twice as gorgeous as usual. "I really have to remember that you're not as dumb as the other girls I usually date."

Just like that and the tension between them died, with both of them being able to laugh at Jason’s ruefully voiced words.

“Yes,” she told him gravely. “You really…should.”

He placed his hand on the small of her back again.

This time, she shook her head. “It doesn’t…feel right.”

Jason forced a smile as he let his hand fall, the rejection wounding him in a way he hadn’t imagined it would. “Another thing I have to remember: you are more honest than most women, too.”

Lilac gave Nick’s brother a pained look. “Honestly…are you sure…you have been…dating a…human being?”

He leaned forward and tugged her hair as if in punishment. “Very funny.” His tone was light, but his blue eyes, exactly like Nick’s, had an aggressive light in them that made Lilac swallow.

With Jason still holding her hair, his face close to Lilac’s, she couldn’t help stammering her next words out. “I-I h-had a…good time…t-today.”

Jason instantly released his hold on Lilac’s hair. It was almost as if he knew how close she suddenly was to crying, having heard herself stutter once more.

“Lilac.”

She almost didn’t want to answer him. She wanted to look away, but those fierce blue Christakos eyes were just too irresistible. She said tremulously, “Yes?”

“I want you.”

Her eyes widened.

Shit.
He had never wanted to kiss a girl so badly the way he wanted to kiss Lilac now, with her pretty violet eyes widening, putting Barbie’s famous blue ones to shame. “Nick saw you first and now my hands are tied. I won’t ever make a move on you, Lilac. You’re too important to my brother. But it doesn’t mean I can’t be your friend. I want to be your friend, want to be a part of your life.”

She couldn’t help asking, “Why?” She shook her head, unable to make sense of it. “We just…met.”

Jason’s shrug was elegant and dismissive at the same time. “Sometimes, there’s no fucking way to explain it. You’re just suddenly attracted---”

Lilac blinked.

“---and then there’s no turning back.”

Jason gently cupped her chin. Lilac trembled at his touch this time, knowing what she knew now. “If I have to explain it, Lilac---I think it’s the same reason why Nick thinks of you as a crutch.” He saw Lilac flinch at his words but he didn’t take it back. He had known she would be hurt by the truth, but Jason also knew she would be hurt more if he wouldn’t be completely honest.

“I know what you went through, too, Lilac.”

She froze.

“And I fucking hate it, the way I know it tears Nick apart, to think about how you were once hurt and there is nothing either of us can do to change your past. I think you know what Nick’s demons are – I have mine, too. Maybe one day, I’ll tell you about them – but for now, it’s enough that you know we are the same. We were broken when we were young, when we should have been protected---our rose-colored glasses turned into fucking black-and-white, making us see all the ugliness in the world.”

Jason softly trailed his knuckles over her cheek. “But of the three of us, you’re the one who fought back the hardest – you’re the one who’s strongest, the one closest to the light and I think that’s what draws us both to you.” Then his tone changed, bleak and flat at the same time. “But Lilac – just remember: if you have to choose, remember that Nick can only be your friend for as long as he loves Karla while I…want to be more than your friend…from the very start.”

Her mind was reeling, her heart beating like crazy at Jason’s words. She couldn’t think of anything to say after what Jason had revealed but then the choice was taken from away as a voice distinctly belonging to Nick said silkily from behind her, “Am I interrupting something?”

****

“Nick---” Lilac did her best to go after Nick as his longer strides swallowed the length of the lobby in no time while she lagged behind. He hadn’t even glanced at her once when he arrived at the coffee shop. He had been all charm, and Jason had been the same, the two of them talking as if there wasn’t an awful, awkward truth binding the three of them. And after Nick had said they were leaving, Jason only made matters by kissing her lingeringly on the cheek.

“Wait!” She almost tripped.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Nick swinging back to face her. She might also have heard him curse under his breath as he walked back towards her. The next thing she knew, Nick had her up in his arms without breaking stride.

All eyes went to them, and Lilac caught sight of one enterprising teenager take out his iPhone. The clicking sound that followed was more than enough to explain his intentions.

“Nick!” She struggled to be free.

“Don’t test my patience.” Barely suppressed violence lined Nick’s voice.

Oh, dear.

Lilac slumped against Nick, closing her eyes as she hid her face in the crook of his neck. Nick’s arms tightened around her and then he was walking even more swiftly, as if powered by her surrender.

Briefly, she wondered where Jason was, and if he was seeing how Nick had just made a spectacle of themselves, carrying her bride-style to wherever it was they were going. She…hoped not. If Jason had meant what he said, then she wouldn’t want him to see this at all.

She lifted her head when Nick stopped and started talking in Greek. She caught sight of a stretch limousine just before Nick bent down and slid her inside. She caught a glimpse of cream leather upholstery and gleaming wood accents, incandescent lighting, and a full-sized office desk in the corner.

The door closed just as she was pushing herself up to a sitting position.

“Lilac,” Nick growled.

She turned, and that was it.

He was kissing her before she knew what was happening, one hand fisting her hair to pull her close and another hand grabbing her ass to pull her lower half towards him. Nick fell on his back, the limousine long enough to accommodate the long hard length of his body, and Lilac fell on top of him.

“Nic---” She tried to ask what was going on, her mind close to shutting down at the heat of his touch. But Nick only responded by kissing her more hungrily, as if her ability to speak made him furious. She heard a ripping sound, dimly realized it was her overalls torn into pieces, and then his hand was dipping into her panties.

Lilac moaned against his lips as he traced the lines of her already moist core, thumbing her clit just before he sank one finger in.

She moaned again when another finger joined the play, and already she felt too full of him, her flesh doing its best to stretch and accommodate his penetration.

Nick released her mouth and made Lilac look up at him. Her pale violet eyes were cloudy with desire and when she blinked in bemusement, a dazed look falling on her lovely face, his cock surged up, bumping against her belly and his fingers. Lilac moaned at the contact, and it was the most arousing sound he had ever heard, like a force squeezing his balls, making him want to come.