Nic's Devotion: An Endless Series: Book One (5 page)

     My dick twitched and my heartbeat increased. It
couldn’t be, but that voice…I spun around looking for the speaker’s body.
“Yeah, I think I might.”

     Footsteps headed my way and I saw a black beanie hat
bobbing around some clothe isles. Beanie hat? My heart and dick dropped.   

     Then
she
stepped into view and both heart and
dick ascended again. I positioned the arm guard in front of my groin hastily.
No need to display my inappropriately timed woody. Though her hair was covered
by the cap I’d recognize that arresting face anywhere; those eyes, those lips,
those sexy fucking moles. She was make-up free again and wearing baggy khaki
cargo pants, the stores white polo shirt with the schools emblem, and a black
button up sweater over that, though it hung open. Another name tag was attached
to her chest.

     A shy smile curved those lush lips, and I actually had
trouble swallowing. “Hey again.” She lifted her hand in a small wave as she
came closer.

     “Hey back. You work here?” I asked. The answer was
obvious, but it was one that needed to be posed since my wits were kind of
scrambled and nothing else came to mind. I had lines a plenty I could use on
her, only she’s not someone I wanted to use them on, and I just knew that they
wouldn’t work on her anyway. Scare her away more likely. 

     “She gave a delicate shrug. “I started last week.” 

     “So you work here and at the restaurant.” I knew she
wasn’t at that restaurant any longer because I’d gone back
merely
to
make sure she’d received the tip I’d left, but they’d said she no longer worked
there. The manager I’d spoken to had been the same sour faced lady the night
Carrie had to leave abruptly.

     I never told the guys that I’d gone back.
I
wasn’t really sure why I had. 

     An uncomfortable expression crossed her face, but she
attempted to wave it off with a smile. It was another one of those fake smiles
that didn’t come close to her real ones. “That wasn’t working out so well. So,
is there really something you need help with because if it’s a question about
brands or ‘is this better than that’ then I don’t think I’ll be much help yet?”
She gave me a self-depreciating smile. 

     Another smile I didn’t like. “No, actually, I thought
I’d recognized your voice and I had to make sure I wasn’t imaging it.” 

     “Really.” She wore a surprised look; like it was
inconceivable that someone might want to see her.

     “Yeah, we were all really disappointed that you had to
leave early that night. Did you get the tip we left? I specifically stated that
you were to receive it. If you didn’t I’m going back to that place and cracking
some skulls together.” I smiled menacingly and cracked my knuckles for effect.

     She smiled crookedly…a real one this time…and lifted
her hands. “Whoa, holster those fists of fury. Yes, I received your tip. One
hundred dollars was way too much…” She shook her head and looked at me like I
was crazy… “But as it’s already gone I can’t protest too much.”

     That crooked grin she gave me almost had me hauling her
into my arms and devouring her whole. I was able to control it, but it was
close. Damn, this girl affected me.  

     I shook out my hands. “That was close. I would have
hated to subject you to the site of all that blood and gore.”

     Carrie’s face went absolutely white. Holy shit!

     “Are you okay?” Surprisingly, my first thought was to
hold her, comfort her, but when I touched her arm she flinched away. I dropped
my hand not wanting to cause her any further distress. She breathed in and then
out, and it looked like something she practiced regularly because it was sort
of a measured. She met my gaze and hers was haunted but focused, a synthetic
smile spread her mouth.

     “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern. I had a bad
feeling there for a second.” She responded properly in a husky voice.  

     I didn’t like her formality, and I was pretty sure the
bad feeling she got was from the words blood and gore. It had me wondering what
had happened in this girl’s past that put such a haunted look in her eyes.

     “Man, I am such an ass.” I exclaimed dramatically. Her
eyes went wide at my pitch or maybe the word ‘ass’; either way it accomplished
what I wanted, surprising the haunted look right out of her eyes. Why I cared,
I wasn’t sure? “We’ve been having a whole conversation here and I haven’t even
introduced myself. My name is Nic Stanford.” I held out my hand. 

     She looked down at my hand and then back up at me.
Those ice blue eyes of hers contained trepidation, and I held my breath waiting
for her touch. It was only a hand shake, but for some reason it felt like so
much more.

     Her hand came up and slipped into mine; it was soft,
and delicate, and I experienced further uncomfortable swelling…thankfully the
arm guard was still in guard mode. Beside the corporeal sensations I also felt
her touch
touch
something deep inside of me. Confusion clouded her eyes
and her hand trembled in mine making me wonder if she was feeling something
similar.

     “Nice to meet you, Nic. My name is Carrie.” She said
softly. Releasing my hand she clasped her sweater and pulled the sides across
her body hugging herself.

     I noted that she didn’t give me her full name, but
beyond that I realized that she didn’t know who I was. I thought everyone in
the school knew who I was, or at least recognized my last name. It wasn’t like
I went around bragging about who I was, but being one of the top athletes at
the school with the name Stanford made it difficult not to be recognized.

     “And are you a student here at UVA?” I asked.

     Another small crooked smile appeared and the sight of
it tightened something in my chest. “Yes, I do.”

     “Well I guess that answers the question about whether
you’re old enough to serve alcohol.” I said with a satisfied smirk.

     She lifted the eyebrow with the mole. God, that was
hot. “Are you sure about that? Maybe I’ve excelled academically and I’ve
skipped one or
two
grades.” She looked at me innocently.

     “You’re cruel, so cruel.” I said mournfully though
loving her comeback.

     “I get that a lot.” There was a somber note to her tone
that bothered me.

      “Well, you must hear this a lot too; you’re very
beautiful and sweet, and I’m glad our paths crossed, again.” I was becoming
such a shmuck; ‘
I’m glad our paths crossed again’
. I’d wanted to say
something entirely different, and inappropriate, but I knew she wasn’t the type
of girl that went for that kind of ‘get to know you’ discourse.  

     Her face went completely red with embarrassment,
spreading down her neck. Yep…if she went red faced over a small compliment than
my other lines would have her fainting…or running.

     “Uhm…thank you, I am too. I know guys hate to hear
this…” She paused dramatically and I actually held my breath in anticipation
for what she was going to say. Was it going to be something naughty? No, she
said I wouldn’t like what she said, and I would definitely like her to say
something naughty.

     She smiled playfully. “But you’re sweet too.”

     I groaned, slapping my hand to my forehead. “No, no,
no; that is the kiss of death. It’s a lie and I’ll totally deny it if you tell
anyone.” I lowered my hand. “What am I worried for; there is no way anyone
would believe that about me.”

     “I don’t know; when I start embellishing about kittens
and puppy dogs you’ll start to look sweeter than candy.” Carrie’s face was
still pink as she ribbed me. It was like she wasn’t used to bantering with
others too often. 

     “You are so bad.” I said with a smile. It was hard to
believe that I was enjoying this entirely innocent interaction.

    “And don’t you forget it.” She grinned back.

     The front door made its ding-dong jingle. She looked
reflexively in that direction and I stared longingly at her smooth neck. She
turned back to me.

     “We’ve been standing here chatting forever; I should
get back to work. Don’t want them to think I’m laying down on the job.”

     Crap! I looked up at the clock on the wall. 9:48.
“Shit!” Carrie looked at me in surprise. Of course I used the nice profanity in
my head and yelled the crass one out loud. For some reason I didn’t wanted to
use my prolific assortment of curse words around her.

     “I’ve got practice in twelve minutes, I’m so going to
get an a…” I just caught myself from saying ass, “butt reaming for being late.”

     Dismay covered her face. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.
I’ve been keeping you talking. Do you need this stuff for practice? I know
athletes get free equipment so go ahead and take it and we can settle up later
after your practice. I trust you.”

     I froze for a second at the thought that she would let
me walk out of here with merchandise without really knowing me; that she
trusted me to come back. She wasn’t doing it to suck up to me either. She was
just being nice and taking a hell of a chance. I wasn’t going to let her risk
that even though I would totally be back. I pulled out my school ID and ripped
the tag off the guard handing them to her along with the shaft.

     “All I need is the arm guard.” I high-tailed it toward
the door.

     “What about your ID?” She called after me.

     “I’ll be back for it.” I yelled, running out the door.
I was definitely going to be late, but it was so worth it.

Chapter Four

CARRIE

     I watched Nic run out the door in a full sprint. There
was a large glass window encasing the front of the store and I could see him
running to his truck, a really nice, new looking truck. He jumped in and peeled
out of the parking lot.

     The door jingled again and a girl rushed out. That must
have been the person who’d come in just a minute ago. She was really pretty
with long blond hair, dressed in skinny jeans, and an expensive light tan suede
jacket. She hopped into a black Mercedes ‘something or other’ and drove off in
the same direction.

     Had she come into the store just to see Nic; recognized
his truck in the parking lot and stopped to see him, talk to him? He ran out of
here so fast he most likely hadn’t seen her. They would look really good
together, both of them being really attractive and blonde…and rich.

     I felt a twinge in my chest at the thought of her being
a possible girlfriend, and then frowned at the twinge. Huh, what had that been
for? Was I envious if her?

     I couldn’t help comparing the blonde girl’s outfit to
mine. I looked down at my second hand clothes. I never cared too much about
what I wore as long as it covered me up and kept me warm. My plans for the
future didn’t consist of remaining broke all the time and I looked forward to
that time, but I was getting along okay at this point. In fact, I considered
myself extremely lucky with the scholarship I’d received. 

     Unconsciously I twirled the stick Nic and shoved in my
hand. What the heck was this? I walked over to where he’d been standing and
noticed an array of them.
Lacrosse Shafts.
Huh, Lacrosse? The only thing
I knew about that sport was that they had sticks with pocket things on the end
that they caught and threw balls with, and that they had a goal like in soccer.
Examining the equipment I perceived that they picked their choice of shaft and
attached the lacrosse head to it.

     I walked back to the counter and logged the arm guard
into the lacrosse account under Nic’s name. Hunting down an envelope I put his
ID in it and printed his name on the front. If I wasn’t here when he came back
another employee could give it to him. My shift was seven-thirty to one-thirty;
I wasn’t sure what his practice time went to.

     “Carrie, how’s it going out here?” John Sands asked
stepping in from the back storage room. John was the manager of the store;
middle aged, in really good shape with brown hair and brown eyes. He had a wife
and three kids. I’d seen the pictures on the wall in his office. He was really
nice and I actually felt comfortable in his presence. I appreciated that fact
about him because there weren’t too many people I felt comfortable around.

     Nic’s face flashed in my head…I felt comfortable in his
presence too.

     I gave John a half smile. “It’s been slow; though I did
have one customer. He was a lacrosse player and in a rush. He gave me his
school ID before racing out of here. I logged in his equipment and put his ID
in this envelope for when he comes back.” I handed the envelope to him. John could
be in charge of it. He was the manager so he would want to know about it.

     His brows rose at the name on the front. “Nic Stanford;
our best player on the lacrosse team. Voted MVP two years consecutively. Team
Captain. Expected to take us to the championships again for the third year
running. Good character.”

     I raised my eyes at his ramble. “I’m impressed; in him
and you. You said that like you were reading the back of a player’s sports
card.”

     “Have to know this stuff as the manager of the Sport
shop.” He said gravely. “I know all the important players on all the teams at
this university. Know some of the lesser players as well, but there’s too many
to remember them all.”

     “Tell me that isn’t something I have to know.” The
thought gave me a headache.

     He grinned at my horrified expression. “No, that falls
on just my shoulders. But you still need to read up on each of the sports and
familiarize yourself with all the equipment.” He walked over to the back
counter and pinned the envelope I gave him to the cork board.