Vi Keeland - Worth the fight

After he is emptied, his body gone lax, Nico pulls me to my feet and lifts me, cradling me as he carries me into my apartment.  He gently kisses my forehead as he walks to the couch, and sits with me still cradled tightly in his arms.  “That was incredible.”  He kisses the top of my head and speaks gently.  “Thank you.”

I snuggle into his chest and look up at him.  “I don’t think it’s proper etiquette to thank someone after oral sex.”  I’m coy in my response.

“I’m not much for etiquette, Babe.  I say what I feel and I feel thankful.  And not just about the blowjob.”

* * *

A few hours later we lie in my bed, spent.  Nico twists a lose strand of my hair around his finger as we talk.  I’ve always been a sleep after sex person, preferring to avoid the lingering intimacy that comes after two people share their bodies.  But it’s different with Nico, I like the quiet time getting to know each other almost as much as the physical time.  Both settle me, leave me feeling replete.

“I set a date for a fight.”

Mindlessly, I trace the beautifully woven ink patterns on his thick chest, following the circular design lightly with my nail.  “It’s your first fight since...”  My voice drops off, I don’t know how to finish the sentence.

“Yeah.”  Nico’s voice is low and contemplative, but it doesn’t sound like I’ve upset him with my thoughtless question.

“How long’s it been?”

“Too long.”  He pauses.  “Since May 1st last year, a little over 13 months.”

His answer tells me the day is etched in his mind.  I bet he can recite the number of days and hours and seconds since it happened.  It’s always there, in the back of your mind, even when you aren’t thinking about it.  It never goes away.  I should know.

“What made you decide it was time?”

A long moment passes as Nico contemplates his answer.  “I don’t really know…I’m just ready to move on.”  His arm pulls me closer and he kisses the top of my head.  The gesture is so small, yet so big.

Elle

“Good morning, Regina.”  I hand my friend a tall caramel latte as I walk in even later than my usual late.

“Looks like you had a good night.”  Regina raises one eyebrow with a knowing smirk.

I look down at myself, wondering if something is out of place.  Is my shirt on backwards? How could she know?  “Are you joking?  Is it that obvious?”

“Well you don’t usually speak in singsong.”  She winks at me as I walk around her desk and lean against her file cabinet.

“Nico came over last night.”  I sigh, thinking back to the sight of him in my kitchen making me breakfast this morning wearing nothing but sweats that hung low on his waist in a sinfully delicious place.

“I guessed that by the just-fucked smile on your face.”

“I thought it was my singsongy voice that gave me away?”

“That, and the flowers that came fifteen minutes before you walked in.”

* * *

My day goes by in a rush of calls and work I hadn’t planned on doing.   But Leonard is due back soon and I want to make his first few days back easy, so I neglect my own files and spend more time with his.

I call Nico in the afternoon and thank him for the flowers.  I love that he sent me wildflowers instead of something more common like roses.  They’re beautiful and colorful and befitting of the sender.

Regina and I both stay late and we order in dinner at the office.  It’s almost nine and our dinners are cold before we finally sit down in the conference room to take our first bites.

“Does he know?”  Regina’s usually direct and sarcastic voice is gentle and apprehensive.  She knows what bringing up the past can do to me, so she steadies for my response.

“No.”

Regina looks at me concerned.  “Don’t you think he’ll understand...with what happened to him?”

I do.  I really do think he’ll understand for some reason.  But I’m just not ready to say the words out loud yet.  “Don’t start, Regina.  It’s new and I’m not avoiding it, it just hasn’t come up.”

“It will never come up, unless you bring it up. How many years did you spend with William and it never came up?”

I sigh heavily, I know she’s right, but I’m not ready for Nico to look at me differently.  He’ll see someone different once he knows.  Or worse, he’ll look at me with pity.  The way he looks at me makes my heart skip a beat, something I’m only just learning to enjoy.  Too many years of my life went by with me flatlining, trying to evade all emotions. It’s the first time I want to feel in a long time.  Feel the highs and the lows and all that’s in between.

“I’m just not ready yet.”

Regina knows what I’ve been through, so she doesn’t push.  But I know this isn’t the last that I’ll hear about it from her.

Nico

“The chick the other night had some rack, hey Lady Killer?”  Frank Lawson is a complete asshole. Always has been.  I didn’t even notice he was in the gym the other night when Elle and I walked through.

“She’s not some chick and keep your eyes off her when she’s in here, or you’ll be finding a new place to train.”  The whole room goes quiet.  “After I kick your ass.”

Frank throws his hands up in exaggerated surrender and I hear a few of the guys quietly laugh in the background.

“Hey Frank, Nico can use a sparring partner, whatta you say?”  Preach chimes in.  Gotta love Preach always looking out for me.  He just gave me an excuse to knock that asshole on his ass and call it practice.

My stare is icy when Frank looks at me.  He knows I’m pissed.  But the whole place is still quiet and now he’ll look like a pussy if he says no.  “Umm…sure.”

Preach winks at me as I turn to finish my warm up.  On a bad day I can take Frank with one hand tied behind my back.  Today I won’t need either.

* * *

A few hours later, Preach and I lock up and I make us both a protein shake.  I need to replenish the calories, Preach is working on a little gut.

“Put some extra peanut butter in mine.”

I slap Preach in the gut.  “You don’t need any extra peanut butter, old man.”

“You better hope you look as good as I do when you’re my age.”  He sucks in his gut and throws back his shoulders as he speaks.

“I’ll worry about it in seventy or eighty years when I’m almost your age.”  I answer back to Preach with sarcasm.  This is who we are.  We bust chops, fight, argue, and get pissed off at each other.  But he’s like a father to me, the old bastard.

“Yeah, well, with the quantity of food you inhale, I’m thinking you might not make it to my ripe old age.  Your new lady cook good?”

I laugh.  “Ah, that would be a no.  I made her eggs the other morning and she thought it was magic that I made them taste so good.  All I put in was salt and pepper.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing she looks like that if she can’t cook.”  Preach goads me.

“Watch it old man, or I’ll knock you on your ass, too.”  I hand him his shake, with a double scoop of peanut butter.

Elle

Friday night Regina and I go out for drinks after work.  Our regular place is packed for happy hour, but we eventually manage to get two seats at the bar.  I have two glasses of wine, while Regina has at least twice that.  Nico is meeting me at the bar at eight and taking me to dinner and I don’t want to be too tipsy.  Anything over two inside of two or three hours is too much for me.

My back is to the crowded bar, I’m surprised when I hear a familiar voice I don’t expect to hear.  William.  It’s not that I don’t want to see him, but the place we’re at just isn’t on William’s revolving list of regular restaurants. I’m pretty sure Zagat’s never stepped foot inside here.

“Hey, Elle.”  William greets me in the same manner he normally would in a public place.  He kisses me on the cheek and gives me a slight brush of his hand on my hip. “Hey Regina.” He gives her a smile, but no kiss on the cheek.

William introduces the man he’s with as one of the new associates at his firm.  He’s older for an associate, but nice looking, a little on the shorter side.  I’m surprised at the lack of awkwardness in our conversation. Oddly, it feels like nothing has changed.  After a few minutes, we slip into easy conversation about one of the cases we had been discussing over the last year and Regina and the new guy seem to have found something they both find hysterical.

I have no idea how long we talk for, but it’s nice, and I begin to think maybe William and I really can be friends.  Maybe it’s what we always were.   I lose track of time, and let myself enjoy the familiarity of my conversation.

William’s back is to Nico as he approaches the bar, but I catch sight of him the minute he walks through the door.  My body responds to him instantly, my pulse increasing and my breaths coming shorter and faster.  My eyes follow his every step and our eyes lock the minute he spots me.  The crowded room falls away as he walks to me and I shift in my seat feeling tingly all over at the intensity in his gaze.  God the man makes me feel so alive.

He’s a few steps away when his eyes finally leave mine and catches the face of the man I’m talking to.  Something in his face changes, his eyes are darker, wilder, when his eyes come back to me only a second or two later.  William notices my distraction and traces my line of sight, turning as Nico reaches us.