Perfect World
Nick
Three Days Later
Nick opened his eyes and saw the bed empty.
Three days he’d had his Livvie there with him in Tennessee and each morning he’d had to wake her up.
Now she was gone.
He threw back the covers, knifed out of bed and saw the door to the bathroom open. Seeing that, he prowled through the house but stopped when he saw her out in one of the Adirondack chairs on the back deck.
She was sipping coffee and staring at the mountain view.
He drew in breath, let it out, retraced his steps, took a piss, washed his hands, brushed his teeth and headed back out, straight to the coffeepot.
He got his cup and kept his gaze on his girl as he moved out the back door to join her.
She looked over her shoulder at him, her face soft, untroubled, and Nick relaxed more.
Approaching her at the back, he stopped behind her, bent, and kissed the top of her head.
She gave him a small smile as he straightened and she turned back to facing the mountains as he moved to the chair situated close beside her.
He settled.
They sipped.
No words were said.
But she’d been there days and they hadn’t talked much. There were other things to do. Show her the house. The town. Familiarize her with the area. She’d unpacked the surprisingly little she’d brought. They got groceries. They cooked. They slept. They fucked.
Now there were things she had to know.
“We’re covered, baby,” he said to the rim of his cup. “You know I owned that building where my place was. Sold my place and the building. Knight bought out my stake of the club. Hawk Delgado is lookin’ after my boys. He gets a cut, I get my take. And I got healthy investments. We got no worries here. We’re good.”
She held her cup close to her mouth, eyes to the view, and didn’t respond.
“We gotta get you a car,” he continued. “Go into Nashville, get you some more clothes—”
“Stop,” she said in her delicate voice.
Nick stopped.
She didn’t start, she just stared at the view.
“Liv—”
Still in that voice, she cut him off, “My job to make it worth it.”
Nick didn’t like that.
“That’s not how it works,” he stated.
Finally, she turned to face him.
“You’re wrong. It is. I get it now. It was your job to do all that. Now it’s my job to make it worth it.”