Ignore Him

Nicholas wasn't around a lot, spending extra time at the office. He'd already discussed stepping back from his involvement in the company, and they were all putting in a lot of work to make the transition smoother.

Aside from all that, I spent any extra time I had with Courtney and Lory, shopping for Christmas presents and maternity clothes. I was in search of one item in particular.

"This one is gorgeous," Lory said, holding a white floor-length gown in her hand.

Nicholas and I were expected to attend a Christmas ball with his parents, and I needed to find a dress that didn't make me look like a pumpkin.

I shook my head at her selection. "It looks more like a wedding dress. Plus, white will only make me look bigger than I already do."

Both of them rolled their eyes. "You aren't fat, you're pregnant," Courtney sniped. "You're still skinny everywhere but your stomach."

Courtney turned to me. "Are you still planning to take next semester off?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I rubbed my belly. "He's due right in the middle. Besides, I'm probably going to transfer my credits up to a university near the new house."

"I wish you weren't moving away. How am I going to deal with not having you around?" Lory asked.

"I'll only be an hour away." I laughed at her pouting face. "I'm sure we'll be in the city often enough anyway. I can't wait for you two to see the house."

"Well, I'll definitely drive up there to check it out. And to make sure you finish your degree." Lory gave me a bitch brow.

"I'll finish. Nicholas wants to play Mr. Mom, so I'll have plenty of time for school."

"Yeah, Geoffrey's all serious business now with Nicholas putting more responsibility on his shoulders. I barely see him these days."

I sent Courtney an apologetic smile, but she waved it off.

"No, it's fine. He's happy, and I have to admit I enjoy him taking things seriously. Don't get me wrong, I love his goofy side. But he's sexy as hell when he gets all aggressive and determined."

I picked out another dress and peeked over at her. "So do I hear wedding bells in your future?"

She blushed. Courtney actually blushed. I never thought I would see that happen. "I don't know. Maybe one day. Possibly... prob—probably."

Lory and I leaned against each other, laughing at Courtney's stammering. She glared back at us.

"What about you?" she asked, pointing at Lory. "What's up with you and Francis?"

She shrugged and avoided meeting our eyes. "I don't know. We're just having fun."

The uncertainty in her voice made me stop. I'd thought she was happy with him, but she didn't sound too sure anymore. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Hey, is everything okay between you two?"

"I don't know." She sighed and looked up. "It was great at the beginning, but he seems to get frustrated when I tell him school is my first priority." She met my eyes. "Don't get mad at this, I don't mean any offense. But I think he wants something like you and Nicholas. Something permanent. I'm just not ready for that right now. I like him and don't want to see anybody else, but I don't want marriage and kids for a while."

Her words stung a little, but I knew my choices weren't for everyone. "It's understandable you'd feel that way. Is he really giving you a hard time about it?"

"I don't know. He's been a little distant lately."

I spied a dress that had a lot of potential and grabbed it. "Well, the best advice I can give is to talk to him about it."

"Yep, keeping things bottled up will only lead to disaster," Courtney said.

Lory shook it off and gave us a grin. "It'll be fine. No worries. I'm spending Christmas here with him instead of flying home. My parents aren't very happy about that, but it's what I want."

Her words about her parents made me realize how long it had been since I'd even thought about our hometown. It seemed like it had been forever since we were living there, although it really hadn't been very long at all.

A fleeting thought of Oliver swirled in my head, and I hoped wherever he was and whatever he was doing made him happy. He'd given me what he could spare, except any emotional attachment. I didn't begrudge the way he had kept his distance, but I never wanted to live that way again.

Atkins was a universe apart from my life now. When I left I never imagined the twists and turns I would experience, but I regretted nothing. And I'd never been happier.

.

A couple of days later, Nicholas and I were dressed in our finest and attending a holiday benefit raising money for literacy with his parents at the Quentin Public Library. I didn't end up buying a white dress, but I compromised with my girls and got a silver one. It was festive, fluttery, and went very well with the sparkly diamond bracelet Nicholas slipped on my wrist before we left. He called it an early Christmas present.

Nicholas and his parents were all smiles on the drive there, but the underlying tension was palpable. It would be the first public test of Simon's promise to keep his distance from all of us. There had not been a peep out of him, or his evil daughter, since Nicholas and Jefferson confronted him, but they had also not been in the same room either.

Nicholas kept me tucked at his side as we mingled through the crowd, and I put on my polite face as he chattered away with the other guests and introduced me to a bunch of people I'd never remember. About halfway through, he leaned down to murmur in my ear. "Do you need to sit down?"

I nodded. "Yes, my feet are getting sore in these shoes."

Damn heels. He chuckled and put a barely-there kiss on my neck. "Come on, beautiful, let's go find our table and get you two fed."

Before we took another step, our path was suddenly blocked, and Nicholas' body tensed up like a coiled spring as his grip around me tightened. It was Hector. My wish of never seeing him again had been a pipe dream.

He stood there, arrogant as usual, a menacing smile on his face. When his eyes roamed up and down my body, Nicholas snapped. "What do you want, Willis?"

Hector's gaze left me, and he sneered at Nicholas. "Relax, Rowe. I helped you out, remember? We're all buddy-buddy again."

He turned his leering eyes my way again, and Nicholas stepped in front of me, almost face-to-face with Hector.

"Don't fucking look at her." His voice was low and icy.

Hector let out a mocking laugh. "I was just checking on my kid."

He was such a vile, disgusting excuse for a human being. I wanted to claw his eyes out, but we were already starting to cause a stir as eyes fell in our direction. Nicholas' body was vibrating from the effort to restrain himself, and I stepped between them, trying to calm him down before he lost control and a giant scene erupted.

I faced him and rubbed his clenched fists. "Ignore him. Let's go sit down. He's only trying to get under your skin."

Nicholas looked down at me, his rage calming with each deep breath. I tugged on his hands, forcing myself to not pay attention to Hector's laughter until Nicholas finally nodded and pulled me into his arms again.

We started walking away, but I turned back toward Hector. "You're a fucking asshole." If anyone deserved a kick from karma's ass, it was him.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't know he'd be here," Nicholas said after we sat down.

His jaw was still clenched, but at least he no longer had murder in his eyes. I kept one of his hands in mine, so proud of him for not losing it. Hector had pushed every one of his buttons, but Nicholas had been the bigger man. Maybe his therapy sessions were working even better than I'd hoped.

"I thought he was going to get fired?"

He frowned. "Yeah. I guess they're waiting until after the holidays."

A server came by with a tray of finger food, and Nicholas loaded up my plate and ordered drinks for us both. His parents soon joined us, along with a few others, and Hector was mostly forgotten as everyone ate, drank, and chatted.

The food was excellent, but for two thousand a plate, it should have been.

"How are those feet feeling?" he asked once dinner was over.

I raised my eyebrow. "Why?"

He gave me a lopsided grin and stood up, holding out his hand. "Will you dance with me?"