29

Nikki

I woke up cradled in a sleeping Erik's grip, my head against his bare chest. I realized when my legs shifted that we were both not wearing clothes under the red velvet sheet that somehow found its way over us. I yawned and his eyes opened. "Oh, sorry, I woke you," I said.

He exhaled, stroking my messed up hair back and said, "It's all right. I should be preparing for the morning show." He examined my eye, I realized because he said, "Your eye looks better. How is your wrist feeling?"

I flexed it. "No pain." I sat up, not caring that my chest was exposed, but shivered. "Shit, it's cold in here."

He sat up as well and wrapped his arm around me again. I melted in his grip and sighed, "For a ghost-zombie-dead person thing, you're awful warm."

He chortled and pressed his lips against the back of my neck, sending a wave of pleasure down my spine. "I…don't wanna go," I moaned.

"Then stay," he said before kissing the side of my neck.

"I…can't," I grunted. "My dogs…my aunt…homework."

He sighed and said so solemnly a piece of my heart seemed to physically chip off like it was porcelain, "Then you must go."

"Damn it, Erik, don't make it seem like it'll be forever," I hissed, turning around and holding his bare shoulders. I pushed him against the cushions and rested against him again. "It's not. But when you talk like that, I die a little." He chortled. I sat up a little so he could see the dirty look I was giving him. "Shut up. It's not funny."

"One does not die a little, Nicole," he said.

"Too bad. I just did," I laughed before kissing his lips for a second. I then got up and put on my clothes. He did the same. Without another word, he walked me to my car. I slid my hand into my pocket for the keys and noticed the rose still sitting on the dashboard. "Oh, and thanks for the rose," I said with a girlishly nervous smile. The same one I made before we were boyfriend-girlfriend or something when he was kind of sort of flirting with me.

He didn't need words. He just kissed me again. I wanted nothing more than to cling onto him like a sloth and fornicate, but I had stupid teenager things to do. I couldn't even look him in the eye and utter bye. I just got into the car and left.

I got home long before Auntie Tonya. I took care of the dogs, did my homework and treated my eye. I was making myself a sandwich when she came in, wearing a man's jeans and T-shirt and holding the dress she wore in her left hand, her purse in her right. I didn't hear a hello before she saw my black eye. "Sweet Jesus, honey, what happened to your eye?"

I had been giving it a break from the compresses. There were a million things I could say to her, but only one truth. She deserved the truth, I just didn't need to tell her everything. "Dante…tried to attack me."

She dropped the things in her hands and said, "Dante. Your friend Dante."

"Not anymore, he ain't," I said casually, resuming the sandwich making. "I did what I was supposed to do to heal it. Now we just gotta wait."

"W-what did he do it for, though?" she said.

"It turns out he has the hots for me or something, and because I don't, he…flipped. I'm okay. He just tried to make out with me and when I refused went physically nuts but I got away just in time," I explained.

"So that explains the hickey," she said.

I froze. I then noticed through my reflection on a knife that I had a mark on the side of my neck. Silently, I thanked the God I didn't really believe in that it wasn't Dante who put it there. But the embarrassment drowned out the pride. "Yes, it does," I said, gripping the knife and cutting the sandwich in half. I put the knife in the dishwasher and then picked up one half of the sandwich. I picked it up and took a birdlike bite, struggling to make eye contact with my aunt.

"Did you call the police?" she said. "Battery and attempted rape is a crime."

"It…didn't cross my mind," I said. Then I remembered those two drunk guys that Erik saved me from. He claimed he took care of them and that's it. If I were legit mad at Dante, I would have called the cops. I wasn't mad at Dante. Just a little sickened and I wanted to put it behind me. "I told him to stay away from me."

She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Babe, that may or may not be good enough. I'm gonna email the principal and warn him."

When she used that tone and wagged her left hand like that, I knew there was absolutely no stopping her. It wasn't a bad idea, anyway. Before she went to the computer, she said to me, "Keep treating the eye right, tomorrow I'll slop on some concealer." With that, she left.