Lucian

Chapter 25

[Madelyn]

Lucian is the first one to break our hug. I meet his eyes as he pulls away. He looks like he's about to be sick, like he just thought of something that makes him want to throw up. I reach my hand out to touch his cheek but stop myself and let my hand fall to my side. For a split second I see his eyes fall to my hand before going back to my eyes and it is almost like I imagined it.

"I am sorry." He tells me honestly but for what, I am not sure. I nod, looking down at my feet. Nick wasn't about to hit me but he scared me and so Lucian hitting him made me even more scared. I can't keep feeling scared like this anymore. I cast a glance in Nick's direction and immediately regret it. He looks like he's dead but breathing. Barely. I hope he will be okay. I am still so angry at him for laying his hands on me. Again.

"I should probably go home." I say. My voice barely a whisper. Lucian's body stiffens and he grabs my chin gently but hard enough to make me look at him. His hands feel warm on my face. Safe.

"You should not. Have you already forgotten that Nick lives there too." I gulp and try to look away but he drags a thumb over my lips and my attention is stolen by him, yet again. I meet his hard stare revealing nothing of his thoughts. "Do not go back there with him." His eyes suddenly sadden. "Stay. With me."

My eyes widen in shock, my lips parting. It almost looks like asking me that was hard for him. I want to stay. I want to stay and I should probably stay but...Nick-
He notices the sudden shift in my eyes and his own harden. I can't leave Nick out here all alone even after the previous events of today and yesterday.

"I-" I'm cut of by a groan coming from Nick and quickly turn my head to his direction. Lucian's hand on my chin falls and I see in the corner of my eyes how he ticks them in his pockets. Like I burned his fingers by pulling my head from his grip. Nick groans again but this time I ignore him. Fuck him. "Okay." I tell Lucien and it takes him a second to understand what I'm saying okay to. When he does he only gives me a nod and reaches out to open his door for me. I step inside, not spearing a single look in Nick's direction as I do.

The door closes after Lucian also steps in and I release a breath I didn't even know I was holding. A click of a lock echoes through my ears and my heart beating is not the only thing I can feel anymore. You are safe now. I am safe, for now.

I make my way back to the kitchen where we were about to...before Nick knocked on the door. I should just have ignored it like Lucien did. I turn on the faucet and lean my face down under it. Cold water cools my face and wipes the remaining tears away and when I'm done I use the hem of my shirt to dry my face. I look to where I was sitting on the counter a few minutes ago and my cheeks heat at the thought of what we could have been doing now if it wasn't for Nick.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucian says, appearing behind me. His breath heats the back of my neck and I shudder. I don't want to talk about it because there are a lot of things I would rather do instead. But-

I turn around to face him. "Only if you tell me what you were thinking about that made you look like you had seen a ghost." I tell him and notice how close we are standing, our chest almost connecting. His face reveals nothing of what he thinks of what I just said. He only pins me down with his stare and manages to make me feel a little claustrophobic.

"What happened?" He says and I take that as a yes. I smile but it falters as I think of what to tell him.

"He wanted to talk about yesterday. What were you thinking about?" His lips curve and he raises an eyebrow. I shrug and play it off like it's nothing, ignoring the heat forming in my belly.

"My old nanny. What was so special about yesterday that he needed to come here and talk about it?" I snort. A question for a question. Fine.

"He told me that he wants me to come back and he was willing to beg for it." Lucian quirks an eyebrow and I look to something behind him. "He also said that cheating on me was a mistake and that I was the only one for him. Something like that." I finish off with a nonchalant shrug. "What specifically did you think about regarding your nanny." His eyes darken but not the good kind of way.

"You do not want to know." I gulp and I trust that he knows that I don't want to know. My stomach turns with the thought of what those words possibly can mean and the heat from before is gone. So, I ask him another question instead.

"How long has Nick owed you money?"

"A couple of months. He needed them, for what reason, he would not tell me." I nod and think of another question.

"You told me last night," I try to remember our late night conversation yesterday. "That you were in love at some point in your life. Who was the lucky woman. Or man, I don't judge." I say and a small smile takes over his masculine features.

"Her name was Samantha and I do not sleep with men, Madelyn. Not anymore, that is." He watches me closely for a reaction and my whole face flushes red when an image of him with another man appears in my mind. He did- he used to- I turn around making him face my back and a laugh appears behind me. He...laughed? My hands grip the edge of the sink and I hold on to it so tight that my knuckles turn white. His laugh manages to make its way down to the very end of my stomach while I try to blink away the image still in my head.

Big hands close around my hips and pull me backwards. I let out a breath of air and my back collides with his chest. My ass hits something hard and my eyes are ready to pop out of my skull as I realize what it is. He breathes down my neck and pulls me harder against his growing- oh god.

Another, smaller, laugh from him causes me to shudder at the feel of his breath vibrating against my neck. "You seem so innocent yet you look like you want me to touch you like I did yesterday. Why is that, Madelyn?" He says in a low voice into my neck and a small moan manages past my lips. My eyes grow bigger, realizing what I just did. I can already feel my underwear getting soaked under the T-shirt he let me borrow. How is this even- his bulge rubs against the middle of my butt and his grip around my hips harden. "Look what you are doing to me Madelyn."