There was a pause, because even Nick knew that was bad. “What happened?”
“Josh saw your text. He started an argument. I threw a mug of tea at him. So here I am.”
“Fuck,” he said softly. “It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. Jesus, Evie, I’m sorry.”
He was. That was the thing about Nick—deep down, buried below the asshole surface, was an almost-nice guy who took the time to teach me to box and who didn’t want me to get fired.
But I didn’t want that nice guy right now.
“It’s okay,” I said to him. “They gave me a few days off. I’m sort of maybe fired, but now I don’t have to work with Josh every day.”
“What the hell did he say to you?” Now the growly voice was back, and I got another shiver.
“He called me a slut,” I said.
“He fucking called you what?”
More shivers. “Yeah. I got slut-shamed, and I didn’t even get to have sex. Oh, and he’s cheating with a woman at work as well as Gina, so he completely fucked me over. I’m not having a really good day.”
He took a second to acknowledge this. “You want to hit something?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “Not this time. I want something else.”
“Yeah? And what is that?”
I took a breath. “You said something about dirty sex when we first met.”
There was a pause. Barely a heartbeat long, but it was there. “Did I?”
“You did,” I said. I was picturing him in my mind right now. Lying in bed, mostly naked, like the photo. Oh hell, that photo. “You said that I’m nice, and that you’re too dirty for me, and that’s why we can’t fuck.”
Another heartbeat of surprise at my foul language. But Nick, of all people, knew exactly where I was going. “Yeah,” he said. “I said that.”
“I’ve decided I hate being nice,” I told him. “I want to do things your way. I’ve had the world’s shittiest day, and I think some dirty, dirty sex would make it better. And I think you’re the guy to provide it.”
This was it. The moment when he could laugh at me. Make me feel stupid or ugly. Tell me I wasn’t sexy or attractive. Tell me to leave him alone.
Instead, he said, “Right now?”
My heart leapt in my chest. It freakingleapt.“Yes. Right now.”
He made a rumbling, thinking sound, a little likehmmmbut mixed with an exhale. “That might be a shitty idea, Evie.”
“It isn’t a shitty idea,” I said, because it wasn’t. It really wasn’t. “It’s a good idea.”
“You’re kind of vulnerable, or something. Emotional or some shit.”
“I am not emotional!” The panic in my voice made that a lie, but I didn’t care. “I’m perfectly sane, and I need some dirty sex!”
“See, that right there,” he said. “That’s emotional. We fuck right now, and we do it dirty, you’ll probably change your mind and regret it.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” I slapped a frustrated hand down on the mattress beside me. “This is a booty call, Nick! A serious one! No strings attached!”
“And I very much fucking appreciate it,” he said. “But you’re all twisted up and turned around. And dirty sex with me is very fucking filthy. That’s a bad combination. It isn’t going to work.”
Why? Why was he being nice now, of all times? I was so done with nice. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” I said. “You’re turning me down.”
He made a pained noise in his throat. “Yeah,” he said. “I have to.”