Page 224 of Nico

“Yeah,” she says, a little sadly. "I have to relieve the nurse. It's not her night."

She pushes herself back into her own seat, her face a mess of lipstick I ruined. Her hair is a tangled mess. Her eyes are bright and dazed as she fixes her dress back into place.

She looks wrecked.

She looks beautiful.

I want her more than I've ever wanted anything or anyone before.

I kiss her again, a quick, hard kiss that’s meant to say everything I can’t. She holds on for an extra second.

“I can be in your room,” I say, voice low and dark. “Waiting when you get up there.”

Her laugh is weak and breathy, and she bites it back by kissing me again, but I feel it anyway—through her mouth, through the way her shoulders shake once.

“I can’t,” she says.

“Why not?” I ask.

She swallows.

“Because my dad’s had trouble sleeping,” she says quietly. “And we’re not exactly… quiet.”

That makes my mouth twitch. I lean in and brush my lips against hers, barely anything.

“I know how to keep you quiet,” I murmur.

Her whole body reacts like I touched a livewire running through her. Her breath hitches, and her eyes flutter shut for a second like she’s trying to steady herself.

When she opens them again, she looks wrecked. It’s a small, vicious satisfaction, and I don’t even bother trying to pretend it isn’t.

“Don’t,” she whispers, like it’s a warning. “I really, really have to go. I have to go right now before I do something stupid.”

“Too late,” I murmur.

She swats at my shoulder, weak.

I catch her wrist and kiss the inside of it.

“Go,” I tell her.

She pushes the door open and steps out—and her legs actually wobble.

That pulls a low laugh out of me before I can stop it.

She glares at me over the top of the car door, cheeks burning.

“Shut up,” she mouths.

I lift a hand in surrender, still smiling.

She shuts the door and turns toward the house. I watch her walk up the path, unlock the door, and slip inside.

Only when the door closes behind her do I finally exhale.

Time to go back to my father’s house for a meeting about the warehouse. We’ve all been putting it off because I was bruised and swollen, but we can’t anymore.

I think about Erica again, on these nights when she goes back to her father’s house, and I’m left feeling the echo of her body against mine.