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Chapter Twelve

Nick

"Heather..."

"Heaaattth-errrrr..."

Due to my complete inability to comprehend time, I had woken up at seven a.m. I had two options: go to sleep or try to get lucky. I was attempting the second plan. Heather had been ridiculously quiet after Brian left the night before; her mom had been the one who was talking a mile a minute. I had tried to get a little sometin' sometin' after we had gone to bed, but Heather had made a big show of taking her time in the bathroom. By the time she got out, I had apparently fallen asleep.

But now I was awake and I needed her to wake up. I stretched my arm out around her and grabbed a nice handful of boob. I nipped at her neck and swung my leg over her slender ones.

"Heathhh-errr..."

"Br---hmmm."

She moaned and rolled over, staring up at me. Call me crazy but she looked...

Disappointed.

"Good morning," I said with a smile. I ran my thumb over her nipple. "I'm up."

I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively and pulled her back against me. She let out a little gasp.

"I can't," she said quickly. My hand fell from her cantaloupe.

"What? Why?"

"I started."

I groaned. Sometimes Mother Nature royally fucked up my plans.

"Oh."

Heather tugged the blankets up to her chest, her forehead wrinkling. "Sorry."

"Hey, you can't help it," I said. "But how about--"

I was cut off by the ringing of my phone. I rolled over as Heather curled back up and checked the display.

Brian. Really?

"Lo?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked.

"You sound awake."

More than he knew. A forbidden image of Lauren sliding down my body sprang to my mind...and sprang something else. I tugged at my hair.

"Let's meet for breakfast. Eight thirty. Then afterwards you can help me do what I asked you about yesterday."

"Yeah." His voice was unnaturally void of emotion. It wasn't like him. At all. He was like a country version of a Mexican jumping bean. Usually.

"Okay, see ya then," I confirmed. I disconnected and slid my phone back on the nightstand. Heath and I were sharing her bed, but it was a tight squeeze in the Full size bed. My hand slid along her hip again.

"So, can I entice you to--"

Before I could finish, she let out a soft snore. I groaned and rolled away.

If my fiance's libido didn't increase by the time we said 'I Do,' I was going to have a huge problem.



"Damn, these are some good pancakes. You gonna eat your pancake? I think I could eat a dozen of these pancakes. You know what I think is jacked up?" I waved my fork over my plate. "You don't even make these things in a pan. And they're not really cake. It's--"

"You can't marry Heather."

I choked as the syrupy piece I had been smacking on flew down my throat. Bri's hair and clothes were dishelved. I couldn't remember exactly, but it looked like the same outfit he was wearing the night before.

"What? Why?"

"Because..." Bri trailed off. He picked up his glass of OJ and swirled the liquid around. "She wants a family."

I coughed one more time to completely dislodge the piece of pancake. I took a sip of my coffee and nodded. "I know. I figured I'd suck it up enough to have one kid. I mean, that should shut her up and it won't completely ruin her figure. As long as she does all the diapers."

Brian's fingers tightened around his glass. He pushed his plate away. For a moment, I thought he was actually going to hit me.

"What?"

Before he could answer, I turned to look out the window. The jewelry store across the street had just flipped their closed sign to open. I smacked at his wrist.

"Hey, let's roll! I need to put a ring on it before she changes her mind."

- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *


Heather>

When I woke up a couple hours later, Nick was gone.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I looked at my bare hand, at the empty ring finger. I heard his words replay in my mind over and over, heard my yes over and over, saw Brian’s eyes cast themselves to the floor over and over. Nick was a desirable man. He was sexy, he was every woman’s dream. Despite the fact that he’d cheated on me –and, I rationalized, I didn’t really, beyond a doubt know that—he was still Nick Carter.

And soon, I was going to be Heather Carter.

The thought made me feel uncomfortable, and I quickly climbed out of bed and threw my hair into a ponytail and trotted down the stairs to the kitchen. I poured myself some cereal and went outside and sat on the porch. I spooned cheerios into my mouth and stared at dew collecting on the grass, listening to the sound of my own crunching.

Chris’ car coasted to a stop in front of the house and he got out, smiled in my direction, and pulled Tessa from her car seat in the back. He placed her gently into her carrier and came towards the porch. He put Tessa down, then sank beside me. He studied me for a long moment as I continued chewing.

“Why are you marrying that asshole?” he asked.

I looked over at him. “If you mean Nick, I really don’t appreciate your terminology for my fiancé.”

“Heather,” he said quietly, “What about Brian?”

“What about Brian?”

“Don’t you love him?”

I stared at my feet. “Chris, this isn’t really the best time for you to be meddling.”

“Meddling?” he laughed, “Trying to stop you from making the worst decision of your life is meddling now?”

I shook my head, “You’ve never liked Nick.”

“He’s never given me a reason to like him,” Chris responded.

“He bends over backwards to impress you,” I snapped, “You judge him. You’re the asshole, Chris, not Nick.” I knew before the words came out of my mouth that I didn’t mean them. Not only didn’t mean them but knew better. Chris had given Nick chance after chance after chance and Nick had repeatedly failed and done me wrong. It seemed Chris had just finally gotten to the last straw.

Chris rolled his eyes, “The only thing that guy bends over backwards for is to shove his penis into other women,” he said crudely. He collected Tessa and stomped past me, through the front door.

I put down my cereal bowl and silently cupped my hands over my eyes and tried not to cry.


- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *


Brian

Nick really did need help.

“No.”

“But it’s –“

“No, I said.”

“But Brian, it’s huge she’ll love it.”

“No she won’t, she hates huge diamonds.”

Nick rolled his eyes and shoved the one he was fingering back into the jeweler’s palm. “You think you know so damn much about my fiancé, then you pick a rock. Jesus.” Nick grumbled.

I glared at him, “Don’t use the Lord’s name,” I snapped, then I turned away and started wandering along the cases, my eyes gliding over a ton of really pretty rings. But none of them were Heather.

“Why are you being so picky?” Nick grumbled as he followed along behind me.

“You’re the idiot that said you ordered it in special,” I said.

“Yeah well, I mean she’s gonna love it no matter what it looks like ,it’s a damn diamond,” he leaned against a counter with a sigh. “Right? I mean all women love diamonds.” He started rubbing his forehead, “Lauren loves diamonds.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. I stared at him for a long moment. “Don’t you dare compare Heather to Lauren.”

“Sorry,” Nick said, “I didn’t mean to, I just –“ he sighed. “Nevermind. Find a diamond for Heather.”

Fuming, I turned back to the cases. I felt like pummelling Nick to the cement. And that’s when I saw it. It was perfect, it was everything Heather would want in an engagement ring. It was small, pear shaped, set on a platinum band. It was displayed in a small, midnight blue case. I pointed at it. “Nick,” I said, “That one.”

Nick wandered over halfheartedly and looked inside. He frowned, “That?” he asked. He looked up at me, dumbfounded. “Brian, it’s barely a whole carrot.”

“Karat,” I corrected his pronouncement, and jabbed my finger at the case, “That’s the one. If you want Heather to truly adore her engagement ring, that’s the one you need to get her.”

Nick stared down at it. “Dude, it’s cheap. It’s not even $5,000.”

I shrugged, “It’s not about the money, Nick, or the size of the rock, I promise you, she’s going to love that ring. THAT one.” I pointed at it again.

Nick stared down at it. “Okay, well, whatever I guess. I just… Are you sure she wouldn’t prefer a heart shaped one? Or oooh, look at these blue diamonds. Blue diamonds from Alaska. That sounds pretty awesome.”

I sighed as Nick floated away from the perfect ring.

“Why’d he even ask for my help if he wasn’t gonna take it…” I muttered under my breath, and wandered after him, nodding blindly as he asked if I thought Heather would like this ring or that ring, knowing she’d hate any of them that wasn’t that ring.