ENTANGLED: A McCarthy Love Story

CHAPTER 010

The decision to go back to his prescription drugs wasn’t one Nick made lightly, he decided it was best after he got home from Allison’s hotel suite. He knew that though they would make him a feel drowsy, they would let him sleep through the night. And if sleeping through the night meant that he wasn’t going to go bang on Samantha Baker’s door and beg her to be with him then he was going to take the drugs over and over again because with the way he was feeling now if he as much as laid his eyes on her he wasn’t sure he knew what he was capable of doing.
The knock on his bedroom door was a distraction he didn’t need but he carefully dropped the pill box back on the dresser and went to see who it was.
Telling himself to quickly dismiss to whomever it was he opened the door but what he wasn’t expecting was to open his bedroom door to see Samantha Baker standing at the other side. And then something that had never happened to him before happened, his heart skipped a beat.
He almost laughed, if it hadn’t terrified the crap out of him Nick would have laughed at himself. Never in his thirty-one years of existing had that ever happened to him. He wasn’t the kind of man that those kinds of things happened to.

“Samantha?” he called as if unsure if it was really her,
“Hi” she smiled and his heart did it again. He cursed mentally.
“What are you doing here?” he asked her and watched her smile falter.
“I was… We just got back…” her lips moved but all Nick noticed was that she had done something with her hair, it was now in little curls which made her look chic and somehow more beautiful. She also looked more rested, like she had taken a long nap and had enjoyed it. He didn’t know how he swallowed his tongue but it felt like it wasn’t there anymore, why was this happening to him?
“…I just wanted to thank you” she ended with a smile that wasn’t supposed to be as inviting as it was.
“That’s not necessary” he said and began to close the door,
“Nick?” she called him and he paused.
“Did I do something?” she asked,
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, you seem upset. Is it about the shopping? Because Charlie said that it was your idea, and if it’s a problem I could pay you back or maybe return…”
“Please stop” he said silencing her. She was nervous, he could tell.
He hadn’t specifically said shopping, he had just asked his sister in-law to show her a good time. Of course he should have known that shopping was Charlie’s definition of good time.
He had just felt guilty about running out on her like that but he had little to no other alternative in that moment. The signing of the prenup would have to wait until he was feeling more like himself or until either Jason or his dad came home.
“I’m not upset with you” which was the truth, he was upset about a lot of things but not at her directly. He was upset at himself because he didn’t feel like himself, he was upset that he had taken Chase’s advice, he was even upset that he had gone to his wayward brother for advice in the first place and lastly he was upset that he had all these feeling that he couldn’t afford to do anything about.
“But you are upset?” why couldn’t the damned girl just leave things alone?
“Yes. Yes I am” they was no use to deny it, she would probably find another way to poke.
“Is that why you left this morning?”
No I left so I wouldn’t fuck your brains out!
“No I remembered I had a prior appointment” he lied
“Prior appointment” she repeated and nodded her head in a way that said she didn’t believe him.
“If I did or said something to upset you then I’m sorry”
Nick sighed, of course she’d apologise.
“Samantha you did nothing wrong!” the words weren’t supposed to be as harsh as they came out to be.
“Then why are you speaking to me this way? Why are you being like this? I thought we agreed to be friends?”
Nick inhaled deeply and rubbed his hands over his face in frustration.
Friends? He almost laughed if not for the frustration. Friends didn’t know the way the other tasted, a friend didn’t have such dirty thoughts for his friend and a friend sure as hell wouldn’t want to do all the things he wanted to do to her.
Fuck!
“We are friends”
“Okay” she did the whole nodding thing again before turning around and beginning to leave,
“Samantha” the name left his mouth before he could think about it. That was always the case with her, he couldn’t think anytime he was around her.
“I’m gonna go get some rest” she turned around to say
“I shouldn’t’ve snapped at you. I’m sorry” he watched her exhale deeply.
“If you’re upset about the money…”
“It’s not about the money”
They stood staring at each other for about ten seconds before she said,
“Do you want to make me dinner, I’m starving” she said it lightly and he knew it was to give him room to refuse if he wanted to but the funny thing was, as much he knew he should stay away from her, as much as he told himself that he was going to, he just didn’t want to. So Nick took a deep breath and surrendered to himself,
“Okay”