Beautiful Disaster (The Bet) (9 page)

For the briefest of moments neither said anything, and then Nicholas leaned down and brushed her cheek with cool fingers, "I wouldn’t dream of it."

He was at it again. Like a creeping fog he could feel the depression setting in again, blanketing every inch of his being with a debilitating chill.

Nicholas dragged in a lung full of noxious smoke from his cigarette and breathed out on a deep, wearied sigh. He hunched forward, inadvertently causing his overgrown fringe to curtain his vision, he rested his arms on his knees and stared mindlessly at his naked feet.

"...in entertainment news today, renowned actress and socialite Sonja Grayson was seen at last night's Academy Awards with a new man on her arm, looking absolutely ravishing in her Loraina DeRue gown. Rumors have it
that
the mysterious man is reported to be her bodyguard and by that dazzling smile on her face, it seems he's doing a lot more than security detail---"

"Turn that shit off." He groused, leaning back against the leather couch.

"Really, Nicky, you're such a grouch." Evey purred, ta
king hold of the remote control
she aimed it at the flat screen and hit the power button.

She
had
fine contours and sticky hips, swaying them like seduction was going out
of
style as she waltzed his way. Forever legs, pale, perfectly shaped, made the skin to clothes ratio seem impro
bable. The mini she wore showed her
violet lace panties, which judging by the look in her cognac eyes,
was
probably as indecent as the smile on her scarlet mouth.

"This could be the man of her dreams," she
said, falling
b
etween his parted thighs. She looked up at him through kohl rimmed eyes, her grin growing wider.
"You should be happy for your dear old
mother
." Her hands inched higher up his thighs, dexterous fingers tiptoeing ever closer to the evident swell in his pants.

He watched her through hood
ed eyes, features inscrutable as
he reached out and brushed her pale blond curls away from her face, and with an empty smile he guided her head between his thighs. "Suck my cock, Eves." he took a drag and pulled the cigarette from between his lips, "Do it how I like it." He whispered.

She was an eager little thing and quite skilled with the fingers
,
too. In seconds flat, she freed him from his chafing prison and her mouth quickly went to work. She had a mouth like a goddamn vacuum, suck and release, suck and release. She did a wraparound twirl thing with her tongue that had him growling for her to take it deeper. With one hand lost in her curls and the other gripping the Afghan beneath him, he held the cigarette between his lips and groaned. "Fuck."

His eyes were clenched shut and beyond their orangey tint, a pair of almond shaped hazel eyes popped up, large and probing hazel eyes that raped him of his will to breathe the moment Evey deep throated every inch of him.

"Fuck...."he rasped again.

Nicholas saw Ellie’s face as if she were standing right before him, those hazel eyes clouded over with a need only he could satisfy. He bucked, his hand clenched in Evey's hair, holding her down as she milked him, greedily swallowing every bit of his spunk. "Ellie." He breathed.

Evey's throaty laughter dissip
ated his fantasy in a quick and
disheartened he reluctantly opened his eyes.

"You've got
to be kidding me," she chortled. "My God, Nicky, only
two weeks in this Bet and you're already moaning her name? And here I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. Wait until the guys hear about this."

Nicholas's foul mood returned with
a vengeance and
the scowl on his face it seemed, served as ample warning for Evey to shut up. He came to his feet, once again tucked in and fly zipped up, he ambled to the bathroom, the clinking of his belt buckle the only sound in the living room. "You should be gone when I get out." He said before disappearing into his bathroom.

Evey huffed. The guy was moodier than a girl during her period, she silently thought, sweeping her fingers through her blond tresses. He was always so stoic and blasé about everything. But, it wasn't like she wasn't use to it. She'd known him for two years now and they were what most would describe as friends with benefits. She was the dependent booty call and he never disappointed. Knowing him for as long as she did, Evey knew as much about him as everyone else in school. Which wasn't much. He came from money naturally; everyone in their clique was wealthy.

His mother did a few movies back in the day that were considered classics to some now. She didn't really act anymore, but one could always find some juicy tidbit about her in the gossip rags. His father, probably just as infamous as his wife, happened to be a tycoon of some sort, with a whole lot of money and a whole lot of power. That was about as much as she knew and it didn't seem like Nicholas was too amped to share anything with anyone anytime soon.

The only person she could say he was even remotely close to was Matt Bates. They had a relationship that some would consider to be the very best. And Evey kne
w Matt had a thing for Nicholas. T
oo bad for him, Nicholas didn't crunch dick. He ate pussy though, real well too. Tonight, it didn't seem like he would return the favor, but Evey wasn't too worried. With a small smile, she stood, searched and found her designer handbag and made her way out the door. "I'll see you at school, Nicky. Give a kiss to Ellie for me."

He'd call again. Nicholas always called her when he needed to unload.

"Fucking bitch." Nicholas muttered minutes after
the
front door closed shut.
He stepped out of the bathroom with his face dripping wet as
he headed to the bedroom and found a towel to dab his face. He should've known better than
to invite
her over. Another stupid decision brought on by the unexpected call from his mother earlier today. He threw the towel on the bed, stripped
off
his t-shirt and tossed it in the same vicinity as the towel.

He hadn't spoken to his mother in nearly a year. She'd
randomly
called today
,
to ask him to dinner tomorrow night, with her new pet in tow. He had yet to call her with an answer, which should have naturally been no, but like a fool, he'd told her he'd think about it. Thinking about it only managed to raise his blood pressure.

He grabbed the half-emptied bottle of water from where he'd left it on the dresser, took a swig, recapped it and put it back where it'd been. He then picked
up
the pack of Marlboros, drew one out, his third tonight and sparked it to life. With smoke filling his lungs, he settled back against the black headboard, the bevy of down pillows providing ample support for his back. Seated with one leg slightly raised and the other stretched out on the bed, Nicholas sighed and mindlessly wondered how many sleeping pills he needed to take to get some sleep.

Insomnia was a bitch. Especially
when you were jonesing for a de
cent night's sleep and got nothing but white noise and a
n
urge to drink yourself stupid.

He was beginning to regret kicking Eves out. With her kind of entertainment, he would've been busy
until
the break of dawn with nothing in mind, but good ol' mindless fun. Perverse curiosity had him wondering how good of a fuck Ellie would be. She was a prude, no doubting that, but fro
m his personal experience prude
s tended to be more fun in bed, more adventurous as it were. Imagining her in bed and all the things
that
he could do to her brightened his mood considerably. That Desmo was as good as his, but first there was still the matter of getting her in his bed.

Ellie. Nicholas smiled. Ellie was something else.

"...I don't let too many people get close to me. Don't hurt me, OK?"

Those words echoed in his mind. To think
that
he'd actually cared enough to apologize and
to
genuinely mean it
,
still managed to baffle him. He didn't know he could even still do sincerity. But, he'd done it and quite well
,
too. He leaned over, grabbed the ashtray from the bedside table and set it between his legs. After a few flicks of the cigarette, he brought it back to his mouth and raked his hand through his inky mane, his thoughts lingering on the diminutive girl who spoke her mind and cared absolutely nothing of what he thought of her.

She fascinated him. In her he found a kindred spirit of sorts. Even more so now that'd he'd read the countless entries on her online journal. There'd bee
n a myriad of poetry, some hers, for example, some others, and still some others
collection of her favorite writers, but ea
ch just as poignant as the last; l
ike the one she'd written on Charmant's "
Void
" and the sheer emotions that had taken over her once she'd seen it, had been so beautifully written that the words resonated in Nicholas even now.

She used her words so carefully, her imagery so vivid that it seemed almost tangible. He'd spent hours on her site, absorbing the words of her free verse like some lyrical junkie, marveling at how each poem spoke to him as nothing had before, reflecting points of his life so perfectly. It was as if she knew of the aching loneliness that festered at his core, of the desperation and overwhelming need to remain afloat despite how painful it was to remain thus.

He hadn't cried in years, but in that moment, held spellbound, the tears had come, trailing wet and warm down his cheeks. Afterwards, he'd been so unnerved that he'd guzzled down half a bottle of whiskey before he knew what was what. A quick call to Eves had quickly eliminated any remnants of sentimentality he'd felt that night. That had been then, now he needed to get back to planning how to get Ellie Holbrook into his bed. 

CRASH!

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-"Ellie pursed her lips and looked at her daughter, seated in her highchair with a mess of cereal all over the floor and in her chubby little hands
. S
h
e continued to happily sing
oblivious
of the chaos she'd created.

"Mama!"

"Don't you mama me, you little monster. Look at the mess you made." Ellie chided, standing from her own chair
as
she settled on her haunches to pick up as much as she could before heading towards the closet for a broom and dustpan. "The fo
od is supposed to
go in your mouth," she co
ntinued, opening the trash lid and then tossing she
the cereal crumbs and banana chunks away "not on the floor." She scooped Sophie out of her high chair and perched her on her hip.

Suddenly conscious of her mother's foul mood, Sophie's eyes began to water, Ellie rolled her own eyes. "Don't give me those waterworks, you little faker." She smiled in spite of her words and blew a raspberry kiss on her cheek, immediately halting the crocodile tears. "You're lucky you're so cute. Come on," Ellie settled her on her feet and took hold of her hand
. "T
ime for your bath."

Bath
time took about fifteen minutes. Then, getting Sophie into some de
cent clothes without starting a third World War took another ten minutes and by the time mother and daughter
were
ready to leave for their planned picnic at Charleston Park with Maddie, Ellie was exhausted and Sophie was having another tantrum.

"Sophie Grace Holbrook you put your foot in this shoe right now or we are not getting out of this house."

Sophie's bottom lip jutted out and petulantly she crossed her arms over her chest. "No."

"Alright, then no ice cream for you…"

"Nooo!"

"Then put your shoe on or we won't have ice cream. You want ice cream
,
don't you?" At her enthusiastic nod, Ellie continued, holding the Barbie sneakers out for her, "then you be a good girl, OK?"

She shook her head, "I goo girl, mama,"

The doorbell rang and Ellie came to her feet. "Yes you are, monster. Now put your feet into the shoe and I'll be right back to help you put your jacket on." She dropped a kiss on her tawny curls, and then hastened to open the door.

Sophie was a smart girl, at least as far as two year olds went and
Ellie knew she had her moments. C
hildren, after all
,
weren't exactly giggles and cuteness all the
time, but she took it in stride;
they learned from each other. Lord only knew the amount of patience it took at times not to blow her top, but that was what parenting was about, every moment a learning experience, every obstacle, a building block to rear a better child.

Her gaze strayed to the grandfather clock in the foyer indicating the
time to be quarter past twelve. She had
invited Maddie out with them and Ellie hoped it was her at the door so that they could get going. She palmed the brass knob and pulled the door open.  Nicholas greeted her with a smile, a perfect pale yellow rose held out in front of him. "I asked the guy at the flower shop for a flower that conve
yed both remorse and friendship and
this was the result. And I could have gotten you a dozen or so, but I thought one might be more effective. Forgive me?"