No Bad Days Read online

  “Nick,” I whispered, but the word barely came out.

  “Come on. I got you.”

  He lifted me into his arms, cradling my body as he walked me down the rest of the long hallway toward what I assumed was his room.

  Falling or Something Like It

  Nick

  When I saw my frat brother David pressed against Jess in the hallway, I almost lost my fucking mind. And it wasn’t only because I didn’t like seeing her in the arms of someone else.

  No, it was the way she struggled against him that really set me off. She tried to move, to get away from him, but she wasn’t strong enough. And he refused to let her go, his face and body inching closer with every second that no one stopped him.

  I saw red, blood fucking red, and it took Jess yelling in my ear to get me to calm down. I wasn’t sure what would have happened if she hadn’t gotten me to stop, but I had an idea.

  I’d never been so out of control before. Usually I was too preoccupied sticking my tongue down someone’s throat, as Jess would say, to pay attention to what was really going on at my parties. The thought made me wonder if this type of thing had ever happened before, but either way, I sure as shit was going to make sure it never happened again. I had no tolerance for that kind of behavior toward girls. It did everyone in our gender a disservice.

  Shaking my head to rid myself of those dark thoughts, I turned and focused my attention on Jess, who was now sitting on top of my king-sized bed, staring down at her hands.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I think I’d like to go home,” she all but whispered.

  She looked up at me, her blue eyes brighter now they were swimming in tears. When a few slipped free and started to spill down her face, I sat next to her and rubbed my thumb along her jawline before pulling her close and giving her a tight hug. She gulped in her breaths and trembled a little in my arms. Watching her wade through her emotions and not be able to help was one of the worst things I’d ever experienced.

  As president of the fraternity, I was always expected to attend our parties and act as host. So when the party was in full force earlier, I knew I should have been out there socializing, but I’d started feeling sorry for myself when I realized Jess wasn’t coming. Or at least, when I thought she wasn’t.

  Assuming she had blown me off, I’d moved my pity party to my bedroom and stayed out of sight, not wanting to see everyone else having a good time when I wasn’t. Alone in my room, I was idle but my mind was busy, coming up with scenarios of her and her stupid ex-boyfriend getting back together, or thinking that maybe she hadn’t enjoyed the time we spent together the day before.

  It all came back to Jess not caring enough to show up at the party tonight, and I couldn’t fucking handle it. And because of that, because of my stupid fucking ego, I wasn’t there to protect her when she needed me.

  “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” I said. Reluctantly, I released her, but ran my palm over her back, up and down and back again, keeping my movements slow and easy. “I’d been out there waiting for you all night. I actually thought you weren’t going to come, so I was sitting in my room. Sulking, to be honest. I’m so sorry, Jess.”

  And I was. I felt responsible in some way. Even though I knew logically that it wasn’t my fault, my mind refused to give me a reprieve. Certain things were my responsibility, and this felt like one of them.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” she said softly.

  When her eyes moved to meet mine, I knew in that moment that I’d do whatever I could to keep this girl safe. She was vulnerable, yet strong, but I’d be damned if anyone would ever hurt her on my watch again.

  “I should have been there.”

  “I wanted to tell you that I was on my way, but I didn’t have your number.” She tried to smile, but it slipped away.

  “Where’s your cell?”

  I held out a hand and waited as she pulled her phone from her back pocket and handed it to me. After typing my name and phone number into her contacts, I sent myself a text from her phone so that I’d have her number as well. My phone pinged in response, and I returned her phone.

  “That’s taken care of. I have your number, and now you have mine.”

  “Was that a pity handout?” she said with a sniff, and I smiled.

  “No. I meant to ask you for it when we had lunch yesterday, but I forgot.” I reached for her free hand and gave it a squeeze, but didn’t release it. “Do you want me to take you home?”

  One slim shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I came here with Rachel.”

  “Any idea where she is now?” I asked, but there was no way Jess could know. She couldn’t possibly know anything after what she just went through.

  “She went off with Trevor when we first got here.”

  “Can you call her? Or send her a text?” I suggested, looking at the phone still in her other hand.

  “Duh. Yeah, I’m an idiot. Sorry.” She shook her head, frowning at her herself, and pecked out a quick text to Rachel.

  My heart beating fast, I shifted a little closer next to her on the bed, half afraid that my closeness would alarm her. When she leaned against me, I relaxed a little.

  “You’re not an idiot. You’re shaken up. Anyone in your position would be.”

  The cell phone vibrated in her hand, and she jumped as if it had scared her half to death. It killed me to watch her react that way to something as simple as a text message notification.

  “Is it her?”

  Jess looked down, pressed a couple of buttons, and looked back at me. “She said I can go with you. She’ll see me later.”

  My pulse finally started to settle into a normal rhythm. “So I can take you home now?”

  “On one condition.”

  At this point, she could ask for anything and I’d give it to her. I’d do anything Jess asked me to.

  “What’s that?”

  “Will you stay there with me for a little while? Please.” Her brows pinched together as I tilted her face up with my fingertips. “Don’t just drop me off and leave. I don’t want to be alone; I just don’t want to be here.”

  “Of course. I’ll stay however long you want me to.”

  Staying with Jess was an easy thing to agree to. I was only a man, after all, but the need to protect her, to make her feel safe, far outweighed anything else at this point. I wasn’t sure why it was suddenly so important that this girl knew that she could feel secure with me, but it was. I felt like it was my mission to make sure she knew I wasn’t some douchebag who would hurt her.

  “Thank you,” she said, looking tired as I pulled her up from my bed.

  “Come on. I got you.” I wrapped an arm around her and tucked her in close to me.

  Ignoring the shouts of my drunken frat brothers calling my name, I navigated us away from the party. Her body tensed in my hold with the shouts. She was uncomfortable, and I hated the way it made me feel. I was the one who had invited her here; I had put her in this position. I furiously scanned the room like a crazed lunatic, looking for David, and when I didn’t see him anywhere, I tried to calm my breathing.

  We left the house and crossed the poor excuse for a lawn. When we neared my truck, I pulled my remote from my pocket and clicked the unlock button. Jess seemed to relax a little as the lights clicked on.

  “Jesus. This is your car?” she asked as I opened the passenger door for her.

  “My dad bought it for me,” I explained, tamping down my discomfort as I helped her up into the seat.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t love my truck; I did. But I’d wanted something a little less flashy for my eighteenth birthday, half expecting a car with a little more age and dust, but my dad showed up with this one—a brand-new, fully loaded, customized model that cost more than most new BMWs, and was just about as luxurious and comfortable as one.

  When I hopped into the driver’s seat, Jess added, “It’s really nice. I’ve never seen a truck so nice on the inside before.”

  I nodded, wantin
g to disagree with her, but couldn’t. It was nice as hell, and I knew it.

  “Thanks. I try to take good care of it,” I said, thinking of all the times I’d detailed the interior myself, as if I had something to prove to everyone. Or maybe I was just trying to feel like I deserved the damn thing.

  “Well, you do. It looks brand new.”

  Connected

  Jess

  We pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex, and I directed Nick into a visitor’s spot. He held my hand the entire drive, and even though it didn’t take us long to get to my place, the gesture was comforting. I appreciated it more than I could tell him.

  What had happened at the party was mostly uncomfortable and jarring. I wasn’t entirely sure how far things would have gone if Nick hadn’t shown up to stop the guy, but the fact that I completely froze in the midst of the incident wasn’t lost on me.

  Honestly, that was what stuck with me the most. I had always assumed if something like that ever happened to me, I’d fight back, or at the very least yell for help. It had never once occurred to me that I might be the type of person who was too shocked to react rationally, or to even react at all. I was mad at myself, embarrassed even. Or maybe it was mostly disappointment that I felt.

  I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, flipping the light switch to illuminate the entrance and kitchen area. The tension I felt eased at the relief of being home.

  “Cute place,” Nick said as he looked around at our beachy decor.

  “Thanks. Rachel found it for us last summer.”

  “It’s really nice. Two bedrooms?” he asked, peeking his head into the first room that came into view, which was Rachel’s.

  “Yep.”

  “And two bathrooms?”

  “Uh-huh. Two master suites. Makes things so much easier.”

  It was nice not having to share a bathroom like I did in the dorms last year. Even though Rachel and I ended up in the same one whenever we got ready, it was nice having our own private space where we could be as messy as we wanted without pissing off someone else.

  “Your room?” he asked, still looking into the darkened space.

  “Rachel’s.” I tilted my head in the opposite direction, where my door was.

  Nick entered my bedroom, flipped on the light switch, and plopped right down on my bed as I headed to get us some water.

  “Comfortable?” I shouted from the kitchen.

  “It’ll do,” he shouted back.

  I smiled to myself before walking in, trying to calm the nerves that had started to break through all of my other warring emotions. As I handed him a glass, our fingers touched.

  “It’ll do for what, exactly?” I cocked an eyebrow, teasing.

  He sat up straighter and lifted his free hand in the air in surrender. “Nothing, nothing. I was just kidding.”

  “Me too. I’m okay, Nick. I’m not going to break.”

  “Are you sure?” He frowned. “How can you be okay? Hell, I’m not okay.”

  My heart melted a little with his admission.

  “It was just a drunk guy. Yeah, he was strong and a little scary, but nothing really happened.”

  Nick scowled at me. “He tried to kiss you. He pushed himself on you and wouldn’t let you move. That’s not nothing, Jess,” he insisted, his voice rising with each word.

  I shifted my weight from foot to foot as what he said sank in.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t mean that it’s nothing nothing, but it’s not like he—” I stopped, not wanting to say those words out loud. The thought of what could have happened, hell, what did happen all the time to other people, was too horrible to consider.

  “Don’t diminish this, okay? I realize that it could have been worse, but it was bad enough. What he did wasn’t okay.”

  “I know that.” Averting my eyes, I took a sip of my water.

  “I’m sorry, Jess.” He leaned back into the stack of pillows as he relaxed. “I’m just a little worked up.”

  “I understand. And thank you.” I sat on the bed next to him and placed my glass on the bedside table. “For everything tonight. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  Nick’s tight-lipped smile faded as he gritted his teeth, making the muscles in his jaw jump. “I can’t even think about it.”

  Wanting more from him, I asked, “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t think about what would have happened if I wasn’t there, Jess, if I didn’t come out of my room at that moment. You don’t understand what it was like to see you like that. Pinned against the wall, frantic, trying to move but not being able to.” He tossed his baseball cap on the bed and raked his fingers through his hair. “God, seeing how David was controlling your body and the way he was touching you . . .” He winced, squeezing his eyes shut for a second before staring at me. “I wanted to really fucking hurt him.”

  My breath hitched in my throat as my heart stuttered. “I’m glad you were there, but I’m even gladder that you didn’t kill him.”

  Nick’s eyes met mine, something unrecognizable in them. “Only because you stopped me.”

  “Wouldn’t want you going to jail.” Forcing a grin, I added, “You’re too pretty,” trying to lighten the conversation.

  He rubbed a hand along his scruff-lined jaw. “You’re right,” he said and huffed out a laugh.

  I didn’t know what else to do, so I laughed along with him, praying it would release some of the tension. All the emotions, the drama, it was exhausting.

  “Should we play more Twenty Questions?”

  I shook my head. “Not tonight.”

  My response surprised even myself, but I was too tired for games, even if they would help me get to know Nick better. His reaction to my situation tonight had told me plenty. Plus, with the adrenaline starting to wear off, I felt like I was crashing. Hard.

  “Do you want me to take off?” he asked, his tone hesitant.

  “No,” I said quickly, not wanting him to go any more than he seemed to want to. “Maybe we can just watch TV?”

  “Netflix and chill?” he said with a smirk.

  The implied suggestion that we have sex was ridiculous, which was exactly why he said it. Obviously, Nick was trying to lighten the mood too.

  I swatted his shoulder. “You wish, Fisher.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “I might, but not tonight. Why don’t you go do whatever it is that girls do when they get ready for bed, and I’ll find us something to watch while we don’t chill.”

  “Smartass.”

  I pushed off the bed and headed for my bathroom, a little uncertain what to do. Part of me was dying to wash off all my makeup and be clean after feeling so dirty, but the rest of me wanted to leave it all on so that Nick thought I looked this put together all the time.

  It became a moot point when I saw my tear-streaked face in the bathroom mirror. The notion of me looking put together at this point was a total joke. I couldn’t stay like this, not with my foundation streaky and my mascara runny.

  After scrubbing my face clean, I shrugged at my reflection before giving myself a little pep talk. If Nick Fisher didn’t find me attractive without makeup, then he could fuck off, right? I tried to make myself believe it was that simple.

  After brushing my teeth, I changed into a pair of boy shorts and a tank top. Nick was stretched out on my bed when I came back, one arm slung behind his head as he watched the flat-screen television on top of my dresser.

  “All done?” He rolled over to his side to look at me, his gaze roving from my bare legs to my chest and back again.

  “Yep.”

  I crawled onto the bed and reached for a blanket, pulling it over me as I tried to get into a comfortable position that didn’t seem awkward. Nick was practically lying down, his head propped up by a bunch of pillows, so I did the same.

  Glancing at my face, he said, “I like your no-makeup look.”

  Then he looked me in the eye before dropping a sweet k
iss on top of my head. A part of me might have melted a little in that moment, but I couldn’t say for sure.

  “Come here.” Nick wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me gently toward him. His body heat hit me like an oven.

  I propped myself up with my own set of pillows and pretended to be interested in the TV, but all I could think about was Nick lying next to me, his fingers moving lazily across my waist.

  “This is nice,” I admitted, and his hand moved from my waist to my hair.

  As we watched TV, he ran his fingers through it, over and over again without saying a word until my eyes got heavy. I wasn’t sure how long it took me to actually fall asleep, but I woke to the blare of an infomercial so loud, I practically jumped out of the bed. I glanced at the clock to find it was 2:34 a.m., and clicked the remote to turn off the television, leaving the room in darkness.

  “Jess?”

  Nick’s voice startled me as I turned my head to face him. I’d completely forgotten that he was here.

  “Shit,” he said. “I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I did too,” I said with a sleepy smile.

  “I should go.”

  When he shifted to get out of bed, my insides ached.

  “You don’t have to. I mean, you can stay if you want,” I said, hoping he would.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Okay. I need to pee, though,” he admitted.

  Relieved, I released a quick breath.

  “You know where the bathroom is. And I think I have an extra toothbrush in the drawer, if you need one.”

  “You have extra toothbrushes?” The bed dipped as he rolled out of it.

  I glanced up at his muscular frame silhouetted in the dark. “They’re for me, but I’m willing to share with my knight in shining armor.”

  He huffed out a laugh as he walked away. “I could live with that title.”

  “Figures,” I teased as he flipped on the light.

  Nick walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later looking ridiculously hot. He had run water through his hair, leaving it standing in messy spikes. I’d rarely seen him without his baseball hat on, so the wet spikes were utterly adorable.