Part Nine

I could still feel Nick as I sat in the bathroom trying to regain my composure. I could taste his glorious tongue in my mouth and feel his breath on my neck and it was driving me wild. I vowed not to break into the familiar tears that were normally associated with him and instead sat hyperventilating as I took one deep breath after another. I wasn’t sure how long I stayed in the bathroom, but apparently it was pretty long, because as I cautiously stepped back into the club AJ was standing nearby with a look of worry on his face.

"Hey..." he said hugging me gently.

"Uh, hey..."

"Nick told me..." he said and smiled supportively.

Panic washed over me again and I blushed, "He... I... um... AJ, I..."

"Yeah he said you turned green before running in here. Too much tequila huh?"

I looked up at AJ blankly and made the connection of what he was telling me... of what Nick had told him. "Uh..." I muttered and my eyes drifted up to the VIP lounge where Nick was sitting with Kevin and Kristen. My eyes met his and he raised his beer bottle to me slightly and nodded. My heart broke just a little bit more and I nodded at him before looking at AJ again, "I think I need to go home. Why don’t you let me take the car, and you can have Howie drive you home?"

"No way..." AJ said shaking his head. "You’re sick, I’m not letting you drive alone."

"AJ, I’m okay. And you’re not ready to go home. Just stay and finish hanging out with everyone and I’ll go home and warm up the bed." I smiled giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

"Kel..."

"AJ..." I smiled. "If you take me home you’ll be bored. I’ll be asleep in no time and you’ll be sitting there wishing that you were here."

"But..."

"No but... You know it’s the truth."

AJ looked at me and smiled, "You know me too well. But still, Kel, I don’t want you to be alone if you’re sick."

"I’m not sick... just tired. Think about it, I was up at the crack of dawn’s ass... had to sit on a plane for several hours next to a fan, then we hung out outside in the sun, and then we danced for several hours while drinking. It’s a wonder I’m still standing."

"That’s true..." AJ giggled.

"So gimme the keys, Sexy..."

AJ looked at me and tipped my face up toward his so that he could read my eyes. I stared at him hoping that I could cover the stew of emotion brewing just beneath the surface from my encounter with Nick. He looked into my eyes and sighed, "Okay..."

I smiled and he hugged me before digging his keys out of his pocket and handing them to me. "Thank you..."

"Yeah... just promise you’ll be careful driving home?"

"Always..."

"Okay... you gunna go up and say goodbye to everyone?"

My heart beat rapidly within my chest and I looked back up to the VIP section where Nick was still watching us. I ran my fingers through my hair and nodded, "Yeah... my shirt’s up there anyway."

We made our way through the club to the others and I actually did begin to feel ill. Every time I looked up at Nick he was watching me, his deep blue eyes burning my skin. My skin was flushed and I could barely look at him. Kevin stood up as we approached the table and he handed me my shirt. "Hey... how you feeling?"

"I’m fine..." I said forcing a smile as I put my shirt back on. "Just tired I think, from the traveling, dancing and drinking." Kissing... Touching... Grinding...

"Yeah, you’ve had a long day," Kevin smiled. "Get some rest okay?"

Kevin reached out and pulled me into a tight familiar hug that I wanted to get lost in. I held him tight, "Okay."

When he pulled away from the hug he looked at me and I could tell immediately that he knew something else was going on. With all of the kidding around and flirting that Kevin and I had done over the years, we’d also become really good friends and he could read me as well as AJ could, sometimes better. He kissed me on the cheek gently and whispered in my ear, "Call me..." I smiled and he pulled back speaking at a normal level, "We’ll all have to get together again soon okay? We’re going to get as much Kel Time in while you’re here as possible, got it?"

I giggled, "Got it..."

Kristen, Howie and Brian all hugged me and said their assorted good-byes to me and then I was faced with the inevitable. Nick. If I didn’t hug him and say goodbye, someone might notice the tension between us. Yet if I did hug him I risked breaking down into tears. I looked at him and could see that he too was wondering what I was going to do. Airing on the side of keeping up my façade though I stepped toward Nick and leaned down toward him. "Bye, Nicky..." I whispered as I slid a hand over the side of his face and kissed his cheek gently.

He kissed my cheek in return and reached out to hold the hand that I’d had on his cheek. Shocked at his grasp I stood back up and looked down at his hand holding mine. He stared at me for a moment making me squirm under his gaze and then kissed my hand gently, "I hope you feel better..."

I took a deep breath and nodded as I took my hand back from him, "Thanks..." I took a step back and walked into AJ, "Oh sorry..." I laughed nervously.

"You sure you’re okay to drive?" he asked in his best fatherly tone.

"She’s fine, Bone, just walk her out..." Kevin intervened and I thanked him with a look.

"Kev?" AJ groaned.

"Yeah?"

"We’re not working, you don’t have to be the Daddy right now..." AJ laughed.

"He’s always the Daddy," I smiled and blew a kiss at Kevin, which he caught in his hand.

"Mmm hmm... I know. But I can always dream can’t I?" AJ giggled. "Come on, Beautiful..." he smiled and grabbed my hand pulling me through the club again.

~~~~~

The excuse I’d given AJ about me falling asleep quickly once I got back to the house had been pretty much true. I took a quick shower cleansing my skin of the cigarette smoke of the club. I’d hoped that the shower would also take care of the lingering feeling of Nick’s touch on me, but no amount of soap and water could ever rid me of that. I’d pulled on my "comfort pajamas" and slid into my side of AJ’s bed and didn’t even have time to overanalyze the night as I normally would before sleep took over my body. I woke up slightly when AJ got home and crawled into bed cuddling up to me, but even then the grasp that sleep had over me was too strong and I fell back into a deep slumber until later that morning.

AJ’s arms were wrapped around me and I carefully slid out of bed trying not to disturb his sleep. Successfully doing so I made my way downstairs after stopping to brush my teeth and I looked through the fridge for something to eat. I chuckled and shook my head, "Puppy food..." I heard Jack moving around in his play pen and shut the refrigerator with a smile. "Hey, little guy..." I picked him up pulling him to my chest and ruffled the fur on his head making small talk as I looked for food. "Daddy is crazy do you know that? Mmm hmm... he spends more money on feeding you and your brother than he does feeding himself. That’s why he’s so damn skinny..." I chuckled at my own statement and at the fact that I was talking to a puppy like he was going to actually answer me. I sighed and looked around the kitchen, "He’s gotta have cereal. All guys have cereal right?" I looked at Jack and he licked my hand.

"It’s in the cabinet above the fridge..." a quiet voice told me from behind.

I spun around in my spot in shock and came face to face with Nick. He was rubbing his eyes as if he’d just woken up and his hair was messed. My eyes looked him over, drinking in every bit of him. His blue shirt had been shed to reveal a simple wifebeater, which I’d previously decided was the sexiest piece of clothing ever invented for men, and his pants were wrinkled all the way down to his bare feet. I stood there gawking at him noticing his new tattoos, which I hadn’t heard about from any of the other guys, and forgot how to talk. He looked at me with a puzzled look and shook his head as if to clear his mind and stepped past me opening the cupboard that was high above the refrigerator. He looked at the cereal boxes and pulled the Corn Pops out then turned to look at me. I simply watched as he handed me the box and motioned silently to me to sit down at the table. I followed his orders and he yawned as he walked to another cupboard pulling two bowls from it before reaching into a drawer for spoons. He started to join me at the table and then stopped realizing he’d forgotten the milk and went back to retrieve it before returning to the table.

"You still like Corn Pop’s right?" he asked quietly as he poured cereal into one bowl. I watched him until he looked up at me shocking me back into reality with is blue eyes. I nodded and petted Jack who was still sitting in my arms. Nick proceeded to pour a second bowl of cereal as well as the milk and slid a bowl and spoon to me. I sat Jack down on my lap and he curled up into a ball as he settled and Nick and I ate quietly. A few bites later Nick spoke up, "He keeps the cereal up there because no one else can reach it... Figures that if he’s got a girl here or has a party and someone tries to raid his fridge in the middle of the night, at least they won’t get to the cereal stash and he’ll have something left to eat in the morning."

I chuckled, "That’s definitely something I can see him doing. Standing there contemplating where he can hide his cereal..."

"Yeah..." he smiled.  "I was with him when he was doing it. I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was doing. I don’t even think the other guys know... just me."

"And me..." I grinned and he smiled at me in return. We sat smiling at each other for a moment before getting uncomfortable and looked back to our cereal.

Several more moments passed before Nick spoke up again quietly, "I remember the first time we ate cereal together..."

I smiled as I moved pieces of cereal around with my spoon, "You were such a cute little shit back then..."

"I’m still cute..." he laughed.  "Just not so little anymore."

I continued to smile and looked up at his tattoos, "I like em..."

"Huh?"

"The new tat’s..." I mumbled as I took a bite and motioned toward his arm with my spoon.

"Oh..." he smiled looking down over his shoulder.  "Yeah... thanks. I like your new one too... I got a glimpse of it when you ran away from me last night."

Silence enveloped us again and I sighed as I tried unsuccessfully to sink my cereal in the milk. "I..."

"Don’t..." he said cutting me off causing me to look up at him again.  "Don’t give me some excuse okay? I shouldn’t have kissed you. I know the rules. I got carried away and whatever. So... it’s done."

I watched him quietly for a moment, irrational thoughts running through my head and I nodded, "Okay..." Our eyes stayed fixed, our spoons lingering in the air as we both thought words that we couldn’t say. Jack yawned and let out a little puppy sound that made us both laugh and I looked away from Nick to look at Jack. I ran my hand over his small body and bit my lip.

"Can I ask you one thing?" Nick asked quietly.

"Mmm hmm..." I said still looking at Jack.

"Do you ever regret it?"

My head shot up and I looked at him, "No..." I shook my head, "No Nicky I never regret it. I mean..." I sighed and put my spoon into my bowl. "I regret that we can’t sit here and eat breakfast together anymore without feeling uncomfortable... I regret that part... but nothing else." I sighed again as I felt tears threatening my eyes and had to look away from his eyes, "I don’t regret it..."

"Okay..." he practically whispered. I heard him pour more cereal into both of our bowls and then milk. "Cause I don’t either you know?"

I looked at him again opened my mouth to say something else but was interrupted as AJ walked into the kitchen, still half asleep by the look on his face, and sat down at the table next to me. He gave us a confused look and then looked at Nick, "You showed her didn’t you?"

Nick laughed, "She found it on her own, she knows you better than any of us..."

I chuckled and AJ looked at me, "Did he show you?"

"Dude, she was standing on a chair when I walked in. I heard her dragging it around in here making all sorts of noise, it’s what woke me up..." Nick smiled.

AJ looked at us both skeptically and shook his head as he got up and got his own spoon and bowl before looking at us both and pouring his cereal, "You wanna know something?"

Nick and I both laughed and nodded, "Sure..."

He dipped his spoon in the cereal and held it in front of his mouth, "Y’all suck at lying..."