Escort

Chapter Three

Days passed by, days turning into weeks which soon turned into a whole month later. Rick tried calling her, but to his disappointment she didn't answer, not even once. It only took him three tries before he understood she had blocked his number, that didn't stop him from trying though. He couldn't help but sulk in his loft, silently praying she would come back. Some other woman had called a few days after she'd stormed out of his home, said she was told he looked for a new escort. He had been able to hear on the woman's voice she'd been shocked when he told her no, probably not used to hearing someone decline her services. She'd asked if he wanted another woman, as if it was something wrong with her, and he'd told her that he wasn't interested in the escort service anymore. If she'd brought up her he wouldn't have hesitated once though, but she didn't. He didn't ask about her because he had a feeling she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. The dreams he had didn't help much at all, he kept seeing the pain and fear that had been in her eyes, he kept seeing her in a nice dress at a dinner his dreams cooked up. God he wished he'd kissed her.

A sudden knock on the door had him sighing, slowly raising from his desk where his laptop screen kept blinking 'You. Should. Be. Writing.' as his screensaver. His mother had come by more often than he'd like, ever since she'd noticed his moping after Nikki had left. He hadn't told her the whole story, only that he'd met someone who he couldn't have, and she had come back every now and then to be able to check up on him and ask him to tell her who this someone was. The knock started again, rapidly, and he wondered why his mother just couldn't grow some patience for once.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he shouted out, tired of not getting enough sleep.

How could one woman make him feel this empty? They hadn't even known each other that well!

"Mother, why can't you just..." he started opening the door but as soon as he saw it wasn't his mother on the other side of the door his voice died out. "Nikki?!"

He felt his heart skip a beat, taking in her appearance.

"What the hell happened?!" he yelped when his eyes caught the cut above her right eye as well as the upcoming bruise around it.

Her eyes were filled with tears, her lip broken, and he felt his chest shatter at the sight. He fought the urge to pull her into his chest, her body looking way too fragile for that kind of movement.

"I-I'm sorry," she stumbled on her words, "I didn't have a-anywhere else to go."

Kate watched the man in front of her move out of the way in order to let her inside, and she slowly let her legs carry her inside. She tried not to let the pain striking up her body for each step she took express on her face, not wanting him to see how much it truly hurt. His eyes were on her though, she could feel how he searched her face, tried to search her eyes but she wouldn't let him see into them fully.

"Who did this to you? Nikki?" his voice displayed worry and she was suddenly starting to regret her decision.

"This was a bad idea, I'm sorry I came, I sh..." as she was starting to back away again he gently laid his hand on her back to stop her from fleeing.

"No, you stay here," he said, carefully pushing her towards his bedroom.

"Mr Castle, I can't..."

"I know, god that's not what I had in mind! I have bandages in my bathroom, come on, sit on the bed and wait there," he immediately said, she could definitely hear he feared she would leave.

He wouldn't leave her side until she sat on his bed and had given him a convincing nod. She actually considered leaving, but, like she said, she literally had nowhere else to go. When he came back he held everything needed to clean wounds and she bit her lip, forgetting for a second it was broken, and let go of it again with a gasp.