I gave her a little squeeze, let go, and mumbled what was part truth, part lie, “Um, this is awkward and I’m sorry about that, but, erm, nice to meet you,” all while she gazed at me with a mixture of incredulity and pain.
Mag didn’t help either of those when he positioned himself by my side and slid an arm around my shoulders.
He didn’t go for the gusto, curling my front to his side and rubbing it in.
But he did make a point.
“I’m fine,” he told Nikki. “I don’t know who told you, but they shouldn’t have.”
As he spoke, her eyes drifted up at him, hazy and wounded.
“Why not?” she asked quietly.
He did not say it was no longer her business.
He said, “But when you found out, you should have called.”
“I…this…I…” She shook her head, her long, golden hair brushing this way and that on her shoulders.
She was out of it, unable to process the situation she was in, and my heart went out to her.
She then seemed to focus, but it was on Mag’s condo.
And as she looked around, something came over her.
When it did, she said quietly, “Even this is temporary. It isn’t even really yours.”
“Nik—” Mag began in a tone that shared he clearly understood these odd words.
She turned her attention to him, and she was herself again, the woman who walked in with a purpose, feeling she had every right to be there.
Oh man.
“You should be resting,” she declared then her eyes came to me. “He should be resting.”
“I—”
I didn’t get any further than Mag had.
“Don’t let him give you any of that ‘I have a high threshold for pain’ garbage.”
Uh-oh.
Someone was pissing on her patch with her I know how he’s playing this, because, you see, I know him through and through, including how to deal with him, so let me instruct you for the time you have with him before I take over again bullshit.
The “take over again” part being something she thought she was going to do when she showed at the door five minutes ago.
That was when I felt something come over me.
“Pain is pain,” she went on.
I stood there, silent.
She continued with her lesson.
“So, you really shouldn’t let him hand you any of his commando crap.”
“Nik—” Mag tried again.
Her eyes shot right to him. “Has she been struck mute?”
Uh-oh.
I felt it happening.
Now something had come over Mag.
Time for me to intervene.
“Uh, just to say, Nikki?” I called, and she looked to me. “Danny’s the one who sustained the injury. He knows how it feels. He also knows where his pain pills are. I’ve told him to rest, repeatedly. If he refuses to do that, he’s a grown man, it’s his choice.”
But something else came over her the second I started speaking.
And it was back to wounded when her gaze shifted to Mag.
“Danny?” she whispered.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“Okay—” I started.
“Danny?” she shrieked so loud, I winced.
Good God.
“Nik—” Mag began yet again.
“Fuck you!” she shouted.
Oh boy.
“We’re not doin’ this,” Mag growled.
“Danny? Danny?” She mocked then tossed a hand my way. “You let some woman you’ve known, what? A day? You let her call you Danny?”
It was a guess, but I figured he hadn’t let Nikki call him that.
“Let’s go back to the beginning of this visit where I said now’s not a good time,” Mag stated. “And just to add, with this shit, it’s never a good time.”
She turned to me.
Oh boy!
“Just so you know, we were together a long time. We talked about marriage. Kids. And between us breaking up and you, there’ve been about a hundred other yous,” she shared.
I was really glad I knew that already or that would have been a blow.
Something she intended.
Jeez.
Seemed like Mag’s ex was kind of a bitch.
That was when Mag curled my front to his side and bit out, “Nik, stop it.”
She didn’t take her eyes from me.
“So, just sayin’, those hundred yous have yet to replace me.”
“I have a feeling that’s changing as we speak,” I muttered.
“You’d be wrong,” she snapped.
“Just to make shit clear,” Mag said, and I looked up at him to see, surprisingly, he was addressing me, “me and Nik, we didn’t break up. She dumped me.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, not super sure why he was making that point.
I turned my attention back to her, seeing as she turned her attention back to Mag to declare, “I did not dump you. I left and told you when you got yourself sorted to come back.”