Chapter Two: Duty Calls
Nick sighed as he watched the second hand move leisurely around the clock face. He wanted the day to be over with, so he could be at home with his fiancé relaxing together, maybe just stay in for the night watching movies and screwing around. To him that sounded like heaven. But no, he had to come in for yet another meeting with E!, they still hadn’t decided on whether or not there was going to be a second season or not.
“Well the first season has gotten a great response.” One producer announced.
“Yeah but we need to know what’s going on if we’re doing a second season or not.” Nick reasoned.
Ken gave Nick a stern look, “We don’t know at this point.”
Leslie rolled her eyes, “So I took time off of work flew out here to LA for you to tell me what I already knew?!”
Nick patted her knee trying to calm her. “Leslie, it’s okay.”
“No Nick it’s not okay, you don’t have an actual job where there are set hours, you get to run around the world and play rockstar.” Bobbie retorted at him.
“Leave Nick alone.” Angel chided, “If it weren’t for him and Aaron we wouldn’t have anything. Do you not remember it was Nick and Aaron that bought us everything, from our houses to cars, money and clothes. Hell they even put food on the table because of their hard work.”
“Yeah and maybe mom and dad wouldn’t have broken up.” Bobbie said and stormed out of the room.
Nick closed his eyes for a moment then gave a pitiful look over to Ken, “Well I guess we’re going to have to do this by phone conference next time.” He said adjourning the meeting.
Nick walked everyone else out to their cars and sighed. Angel noticed the sadness on his face and gave him a hug, “I love you, don’t worry about what Bobbie said, you know she doesn’t really mean it.”
He pulled back a little and nodded, “Yeah but damn she can channel mom so well.”
Aaron chuckled at the comment, “Yeah I noticed that today. Mom always knows what buttons to push what guilt trip to pull…”
“Yeah and what Beej said…that was so classic mom.”
Nick sighed again, “I just wish we weren’t so damn fucked up.”
“Don’t we all?” Angel asked with a witty expression on her face.
Later that day…
Alyssa trudged into the house completely exhausted from grading and lecturing for most of the day. She walked up the stairs hearing light snoring coming from the master bedroom. Delicately she opened the door and slipped inside. She padded over to the bed seeing Nick out cold under the covers. She grinned and stripped down to her underwear and pulled on a tee-shirt of his that was lying on the floor then slipped off her underwear and bra. Gently she slipped into bed lying on her side she stared at him wondering what he was dreaming about.
Nick moved his arm out unconsciously running into Alyssa’s stomach making her giggle lightly. Hearing this he opened his eyes seeing her smiling at him.
“Hey you.”
He gave her a lazy grin in the process, “I’m glad to see you.”
“Me too, how’d the meeting go?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes in response.
“That good eh?” She asked brushing his hair off his forehead affectionately.
“They still don’t know what the hell is going on, and to top if off my sisters hate me.”
Alyssa scoffed at him, “What did she do now?”
“What?”
“Anytime you say that it’s because either your mother or Bobbie said something to you.”
He grimaced knowing exactly how right she was, “She blames me and Aaron for the divorce.”
“And she’s one to talk. Nick I love Bobbie, I do really she’s a great girl, just she’s very complicated. You have to really understand where she’s coming from. You, her older brother, got to go off and travel around the world and make money, while she stayed at home with no one there besides the other kids. Do you realize how abandoned that must have made her feel?”
He nodded, “I know, and I feel terrible but I try to help and I get it spat back in my face.”
Alyssa sighed and moved closer to him, “Just give it time, she’ll come around someday. Hey at least you’re making progress with Aaron and Angel right?”
“Angel I don’t have to worry about, she’s the sane one. Aaron still has a lot of growing up to do.”
“He’s 19, he’s going to be that way for a long time. You do remember what you were like at 19 right? So in love with Amanda, even though you guys were on and off for so long.”
“True… But I wasn’t that dumb.”
“Umm, yeah you kind of were baby. Besides he’s still a kid, yeah legally he’s an adult but mentally he’s still about 15.”
Nick shrugged and pulled her to him holding her there. “I just wish I could wave a magic wand and make all the problems go away.”
“I know but life’s not like that, you gotta work through it, together.”
Nick nodded and held her to him, “Can we just elope?”
Alyssa looked up at him for a moment with an odd expression, “Ok captain mc-random what’s that for?”
“Planning a wedding, having my family involved especially my parents, it just seems like more trouble than it’s worth you know?”
“Yeah but the planning is the fun part, getting to tell people how we want our day to revolve around us. That’s what a wedding is for, it’s our day that everyone of our friends, family and guests will have to pay attention to us as a couple.”
He grinned at her, “I love it when you go all sentimental on me.”
The next night…
Nick walked through Concorde waving to Kellie over at the bar she smiled and waved back then motioned to the usual booth where AJ was sitting. “Fancy seeing you here.” Nick said with a smirk.
AJ chuckled and motioned for Nick to sit down. “How’ve you been?”
“Really good. You?”
AJ sighed a little and looked over at Kellie, “I’m in love.”
“Uh oh.”
AJ rolled his eyes, “No seriously man it’s for real this time. I love her, she’s just amazing…but she doesn’t love me.”
“What?”
“She still loves Aaron, I can totally tell…”
Nick twiddled his thumbs a little, “Yeah and he screwed up. She’s trying to move on from that heart ache and you’re helping her Alex.”
“I am?”
“Yeah by just being by her side, distracting her from the pain.”
Just as AJ was about to say something Nick’s attention strayed to where a rather large crowd had formed around a girl doing body shots off of various guys. Nick looked over and saw that the girl was in fact, his sister Bobbie. “Hang on a second.” He said getting up and going over to where she was. He pulled her reluctantly away from the crowd and gave her a stern look. “What in the hell are you doing?”
Bobbie rolled her eyes and pushed him away, “You can’t control me Nick!”
He straightened his back and took her arm just as Emma came running up. “Damnit B, why can’t you control yourself.” Emma looked up seeing Nick there. “Hi Nick, sorry about this Kellie called me to let me know she was here and to come get her.”
Nick sighed and helped Emma carry Bobbie out to his car. “I’ll take her home, thank you for looking after her, do you need a ride?”
“Yeah actually I took a cab.”
Nick grinned putting Bobbie in the back seat. “Hop in I’ll drive B home first then drop you off at your place.”
“Thank you…” Emma replied slipping into the passenger seat.
Nick got in starting the car and glanced over just in time to see her cross her legs making her already short skirt ride up her thigh. He immediately looked away and gripped the steering wheel as he pulled out hoping to God that the paparazzi hadn’t staked him out. He didn’t want to admit it but Emma was truly an attractive girl, and the fact that she seemed to completely respect and want to help Bobbie made her an even better person in his eyes. “So Emma, tell me about yourself, since you’re so close with B and all.”
Emma smiled and inwardly blushed when she saw him grin slightly. “I’m a student chef with Beej at the culinary academy. I would love to open my own restaurant but that will have to wait until I get my finances in order for it.” She said brushing a platinum blonde curl from her face.
“That’s good that you want to open your own business. It’s hard but definitely will be worth it in the end if you’re successful.”
“Yeah exactly my point.” She answered back with a slight chuckle.
He flashed her a grin and stated, “Alyssa would love you.”
“I know, I met her. She’s fantastic.”
“She’s not perfect but she’s the best woman I know. She actually just became my fiancé.”
Emma’s eyebrows raised in surprise, “Oh wow that’s wonderful! It’s always great to hear about couples that really love each other, it gives us single ones hope that true love does exist.”
“You believe in true love? I thought no one in LA did anymore.”
She laughed heartily at him, “True but at Alyssa’s birthday last year, I noticed that you two have that.”
“True love? I’d like to think we do, I love her more than anything, just last year was rough, like really rough we broke up once, and nearly got ripped apart at every turn.”
“So some of the tabloid rumors were true?”
He gave her an odd look, “You read the tabs?”
“Bobbie does, she was ranting and raving about how the show was going to be all about Nick’s relationship drama as she called it.”
“Some of it was true, but what happened was a mistake and we got passed it.”
“That’s good, I don’t mean to pry or anything, just you know she seems to be a really great person.”
“She is, I wouldn’t be marrying her if she weren’t.” He replied feeling a little less confident in that statement than usual. That fact alone scared the hell out of him. that he may not be as in love as he thought he was.
Meanwhile…
Alyssa walked through the grocery store grabbing the various little odds and ends she had on her list. For some reason she liked shopping for groceries at night, more than during the day, maybe it was because there were less people in lines, or just that everything seemed calmer. Whatever it was she seemed to like it more than going earlier on in the day. She looked around the produce section grabbing a bag and filling it with tomatoes then went over to the fruit eyeing everything. Once she’d looked to her satisfaction she went over to the pharmacy picking up her birth control pills.
When she was done with that she went over into the aisle passing by the pregnancy tests, wondering to herself when she’d have to buy one for herself.
“Funny seeing you here, near the pregnancy tests and condoms no less.” A familiar voice said behind her.
She whirled around seeing his piercing brown eyes. “Brandon….what are you doing here.”
“What everyone does in this section.” He said grabbing a box of condoms and dropping them into his basket.
Alyssa rolled her eyes a little at his apparent flirtation. “So what have you been doing?”
“Working. You?”
“Planning a wedding.” She said flashing her ring.
Brandon chuckled, “Ah so the boy folded and finally bought you a ring.”
Alyssa scoffed a little, “Actually he had it for over a year and a half before he asked me.”
“So he had the ring even when you and I…”
“Don’t go there Brandon.”
He smirked and inched closer, “Can he satisfy you the way I did?”
Alyssa chuckled and moved in closer, “For me to even bear your touch I had to imagine it was him the entire time.” She moved past him grabbing a bottle of Intrigue and smirked, “In fact that’s exactly what I’m going home to right now, the man I love, and believe me, I’m very satisfied with my choice.” She shot back and walked away with an extra sway in her hips.
Alyssa checked out and left the store driving home. She smiled as she pulled into the garage seeing all of Nick’s cars there, the H2, the Escalade and the 950i BMW. She got out bringing the few bags she had inside and emptied them.
Nick bounded down the stairs and went into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck.
She sighed and closed her eyes. “You’re home.” She said simply.
He grinned more and rested his jaw on her temple feeling much more secure in his feelings for her than he had felt just 30 minutes before. He had to admit being attracted to Emma had frightened him. True he’d been attracted to women since he and Alyssa had gotten together, but no one had made him react quite like that other than Alyssa and that is what had frightened him. He shook his head lightly bringing himself out of his thoughts. He looked down at her hands seeing the diamond ring he’d placed there. At that second he was reminded exactly why he’d asked her, that she was the only one he wanted to spend forever with. “I’m so happy I asked you to marry me.” He said his words mimicking his thoughts.
She turned slightly looking up at him and grinned, “Why do you say that?”
Nick sighed a little and gripped her tighter to him, “Because I just am, coming home to you, or vice versa, is just exactly the life I’ve wanted for a long time.”
She grinned wider and kissed him lightly then broke away. “How about we make dinner together tonight?” She suggested.
Her smile grew wider as his eyes lit up at the offer. “Sounds like a plan what are we having?”
“Well I figured we should make something fun, how about we make our favorites, chicken Marsala, mashed potatoes, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert?”
“What no oysters and chocolate too?” He joked in response.
Alyssa giggled at him, “Chocolate drizzled over the shortcake okay for you?”
He nodded and went over to the fridge and started taking out everything they’d need. Alyssa came over and grabbed a bottle of white wine and grabbed two wine glasses pouring them each a glass.. They grinned and took a sip before getting to work. He took all the salad fixings and began washing them and chopping them up while she took and turned on the stove and got the various pots and pans ready for cooking adding water to some, cooking spray to others. Nick smiled at her as they cooked he loved doing this cooking for each other. It always reassured him that their relationship, no matter how many trials they’d be able to get through anything together.
After finishing the tossed salad he took the potatoes that had been boiling for the past ten minutes and drained them while she plated the chicken and drizzled the sauce over it placing them in the warm oven to keep them warm, and took out the shortcake that had been warming up. Smiling to herself she grabbed the strawberries and whipped cream and dark chocolate sauce.
Nick mashed the potatoes adding some garlic and onion to it. “Here taste this for me.” He semi-commanded having her test out the gravy he attempted to make.
She tried some from the spoon he offered her and she made a face at him. “That is the most god awful shit I’ve ever tasted.” She replied chuckling at him.
“Thanks a lot…” He said getting a look on his face that made her laugh even harder. Feeling the need for some retaliation he grabbed a spoonful of the potatoes. “Fine you don’t like my cooking then you can wear it.” He replied flinging the food at her so that it hit her cheek.
Her jaw dropped and she turned to look at him letting the potatoes slip off her face. “You are so dead…” She replied grabbing a fistful of the strawberry shortcake and smashed it into his face launching them into a full scale food fight.
Alyssa screamed as he chased her around the kitchen shrieking when he got close. She flung off her shoes and stopped cold when he went to the sink grabbing the dish sprayer.
He flicked it on spraying her a little bit as she tried to run away. He laughed and turned back to the sink putting the sprayer away then grabbed a paper towel wiping off most of the shortcake she’d smashed into his face.
In response she opened the freezer grabbing a handful of ice and holding it behind her back. Quietly she snuck up on him and hugged him from behind with one arm. The other looped around his waist and dropped the ice down the front of his jeans making him yelp. “Shit!” He yelled trying to get his jeans off in a hurry as Alyssa backed away with a smirk on her face. He looked over at her. “What the fuck?!”
She laughed at him, “A little cold lover?”
His eyes narrowed as he kicked off his jeans and his shirt and moved closer to her, “That wasn’t very nice.” He said backing her up against the counter.
Alyssa looked up at him with a playful grin on her face. “Like you spraying me was…”
At that moment he looked at her, her hair wet and tangled, her light blue dress shirt plastered to her body like a second skin making the black material of her bra stand out underneath the wet shirt. He smirked at her making her look down at herself she chuckled as he brushed some of her wet hair out of her face. He leaned down and captured her mouth in a lingering kiss. She groaned slightly as he pulled her to him feeling the heat radiate off of him making her shiver.
Taking that as his cue he picked her up and placed her on the counter. He moved his mouth to her neck sucking on her pulse point making her moan and shudder. In retaliation she moved her hand down between them and slipped inside his boxer briefs running her fingers over him. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath while her fingers wrapped around him stroking him slowly, and ever so lightly. He opened his eyes and looked at her seeing the playful expression on her face and reached out taking each lapel of her collar and ripping apart her shirt sending buttons flying every which way. She gasped a little bit staring at him intently as she shrugged the rest of the nearly tattered shirt off. He took her hand out of his boxers and laced their fingers then pushed her arm down making her lay across the counter top not far from the cooling stove. She glanced at it momentarily and he tipped her chin back to look at him, “Don’t worry I won’t hurt you.”
“I know.” She said seeing the sincerity in his eyes. He walked around to the side of her grinning at her as he leaned down to nibble along her collarbone. Sighing she arched her back slightly and looked just above her seeing the bowl of strawberries she smirked and grabbed one taking a bite.
Feeling her move he looked up seeing the strawberry. He rolled his eyes, “Figures I’m trying to drive you nuts and all you can think about is eating.”
“You want some?” She asked with a grin holding up the half eaten strawberry.
He grinned and leaned in to take a bite and just as he got close enough she pulled it away and closer to her mouth. Quickly she tore off the stem and placed the rest in her mouth leaving half out for him to take from her. He chuckled a little bit at the clichéd move but figured he’d humor her anyways and leaned in kissing her while biting piece off of the fruit. Getting an idea he moved his mouth back to her collarbone moving slowly across and down her chest removing her bra and tossing it aside. She moaned loudly and arched her back again. He smiled against her skin and looked up seeing her eyes close and her expression seem like she wanted to focus solely on what he was going to do next. Getting back to his task he kissed and bit down her stomach making her giggle rather loudly when he got to her naval. That laughter was silenced when he tugged gently on her naval ring then moved down licking across the skin the peeked above her skirt. He stopped for a moment and moved back to the end of the counter. Nick looked at her hips wondering how he’d get to the zipper on the back of the skirt. But instead of asking her to move he brought his hands to the slight slit at the side and ripped the material up to her hip ripping it in half.
Alyssa’s breathing became more shallow and she looked up at him with an eyebrow raised, he smirked and replied, “I’ll buy you another one.” He looked down to see her reaching for her underwear trying to kick it off. “Lift your hips up.” He instructed taking and slipping her underwear over her hips and down her legs as she did so. With a cheesy grin on his face he flung them across the room watching them land on top of the faucet. Alyssa chuckled and started to sit up stopping when he placed his hands on her shoulders pushing her back down. “Not yet.” He replied moving to the inside of her thigh just above her knee and biting her rather roughly.
“Oh….Christ…” Alyssa moaned loving how he’d bite her one second being completely gentle and the next leaving quite impressive bite marks in his wake.
He grinned into her thigh as he continued forward on the insides of her thighs as his fingers ran up the outside to her hips holding her down as his tongue came in contact with her making her shudder and her hips buck lightly. “Relax baby…” He said looking up at her.
“Kinda difficult when you’re….”
He laughed interrupting her and shook his head before going back to her inner thigh tracing her tattoo with his tongue. A moment later he moved back to torturing her slowly making slow rough circles with his mouth that had her practically writhing beneath him. He held his grip on her hips having to more than once force her hips back to countertop.
Almost as if she were afraid he’d stop she moved a hand down and weaved it into his short hair holding him there just as she felt his tongue plunge inside her. As she felt her orgasm approaching her hold on him tightened with every thrust of his tongue to the point where she was practically pulling on his hair. Her body shook as she felt the all too familiar adrenaline rush through her system. She closed her eyes and collapsed against the cool granite countertop.
Nick kissed his way up her stomach then stood up. “Good?”
“Hell….yeah…” She said breathlessly.
He smirked and took her hands in his and helped her off the counter. Her legs wobbled a little and he caught her steadying her in his arms.
He chuckled at her, “Damn I’m good.”
She looked up at him then got an idea, “I believe I’m just as good…” Alyssa replied pushing him up against the pantry cabinet doors. He got a knowing smirk on his face while she placed her lips on his chest and began kissing her way down to his boxer briefs. She glanced up for a moment as she hooked her fingers into his boxers and slipped them over his hips and down his legs so he could kick them off. She kneeled in front of him and slowly took him in her mouth.
He sucked in a breath and threw his head back hitting the upper cabinet door with a loud smack. She moved her mouth along his length gently pressing her teeth to him slightly making him gasp and growl when she did. As she quickened her movement he felt his climax building and he stopped her. She looked up at him with a question in her eyes. He shook his head and joined her on the floor pushing her to lay beneath him. She wrapped her arms around him bringing his body closer to her as he entered her swiftly making her sigh in satisfaction. He raised up a little as he began moving against her. She glanced up at him while she moved her hands to his shoulder blades digging her nails in lightly as she lifted her hips up to meet his causing both of them to groan at the friction. Alyssa pulled him down on top of her and wrapped both her arms and legs around him pushing him over so they could trade places. She smirked at him as she placed each hand on his chest and moved on him. He grabbed her hips guiding them into a circular rocking motion. Feeling that they were both close she took his hands and leaned forward pinning them by his head. He looked up into her eyes and smiled as she leaned in pressing her lips to his as she felt her climax rush over her, the tiny contractions of her muscles sending him over the edge as well.
Alyssa collapsed to his side and they both laid on the cold tile flooring sated and exhausted.
Nick inhaled smelling something that was not quite right, “Is something burning?”
Immediately Alyssa’s eyes widened and she got up grabbing his shirt and throwing it over her head. She grabbed an oven mitt and opened the oven door letting all the smoke out. “Shit, shit, shit….” She exclaimed over and over grabbing the two plates of now charred chicken.
Nick stood up throwing on his boxer briefs and laughed out loud before coughing from the smoke. They closed the oven just as the fire alarm went off making him laugh harder as he scrambled to grab a towel trying to get the smoke away from the fire alarm to stop the shrill beeping. Once it stopped he leaned against the fridge looking over at Alyssa’s dismayed expression.
“Well there goes dinner.” She announced making them both erupt in laughter.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey finally a chapter! sweet! lol Pay very close attention to the last half of the chapter....*evil grin* and that's all I'll say about that for now. You can thank Mel for all her amazing inspiration the past few days, she really helped this chapter out alot! LOL Anyways as always R&R *muah* Teri
