Kissed by Winter [Discontinued]

9. The Pack has Arrived!

A/N: Heyya guys. Ze update is ze finally here!!!!!!! If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions please do let me know. I was planning on re-casting Nick. AGAIN. I don't know, I just can't find the right face that fits my imagination. Gah! Please help if you know anyone with wholesome hotness who could play our sexy Nick. Vote, Comment and Share. La.La.Love JPC <3

Jeanine.

How did she catch wind of this? Uncle? No, he knows the risks, he wouldn't. Nick tried to suppress a memory which was threatening to surface. Knowing long back that they weren't blood related, Nick and Jean had developed an intimate relationship. She was tall, beautiful, cocky, like her brother and a confident bully, like her father. Her steel blue-grey eyes and killer, tanned legs were what every man wanted. She was 2 years older to Nick. As teens, they were inseparable. But Nick always knew there was no future to this. He knew this arrangement was purely sexual, but Jean...She had begun obsessing over him.

Once, she caught him having sex with one of her friends in his studio apartment. Not only did she thrash his apartment after catching them in action, but also kicked the poor girl out in her undies. After that, she tried to force herself on Nick, demanding him to 'revive their love lost'.

Nick managed to knock her out with his cell-phone and called the only person he thought could help. Julian. His uncle was furious upon learning this bit of information and made Nick swear to keep it under covers. An obsessive-possessive-destructive daughter wouldn't be ideal for anyone's business. Jean was put in therapy, and a couple of years later, she was deported to Milan where she became the mega successful owner of a high-end modelling agency.

Julian made sure she had enough cash to keep herself entertained and that she stayed away from Nick. Now almost 8 years later, she was back in his life. For what? Why does she give a rat's ass? She was sleeping with dozens of the models she 'interviewed', that much everyone knew. What poked the dragon now? One thing was for sure. Maybe marrying closet girl could solve his problems. Jean could finally get the effing hint and leave him alone. Or not.

Either way, Nick had no time to waste on blasts from pasts. He had a business to run. Just when he was returning from his trip down memory lane, his cell-phone buzzed. Very few people had this number. It had to be...

"Nicholas."

"Uncle! I was just thinking about..."

"Stop thinking and start acting."

"I don't follow. What are you talking about?"

"Your marriage to that girl, boy. You need to take her ring shopping and sundry. Rodney is back from Bosnia, he'll take over that deal. Now get your ass out of California and get to Seattle ASAP."

Rod? He was not so sure about that.

"But, I can..."

"No buts son, this is priority. You leave in an hour. Your luggage is packed and sent to the tarmac. Coordinate with Adam. My son spared your fave. Consider it a gift." That was a short call.

For the first time in a long time, Nick smiled. Adam would be working for him again.

Nick met Adam on the first day of high school and they hit it off like a house on fire. They also got selected in the football team of Valmont High Chicago. Adam then received a generous fellowship to Harvard Business School, where Nick and Rod were studying. Rod had kept his distance from the 'charity case' and would spend a better part of his time chasing women around, age no bar. Adam was Nick's only friend then and only friend now. When they graduated, Adam, with all his love for Nick intact, came to work for him. But after Rodney lost his 12th P.A., Julian had to get creative. He twisted words and convinced Nick to loan Adam to Rodney temporarily, till he found a stable P.A. and now, almost 3 and a half years later, here they were.

Nick's spirits were lifting up but his stone cold face barely showed. On his way to the tarmac, Nick managed to think about everything from Jean's obsession to Julian's surprising, calmer than expected approach on the situation then; from Rodney's rumoured sexual assault on the janitor to Adam's family-bitching. Adam always felt that Nick had a dysfunctional family. To say he mentioned his views subtly would be the understatement of the century. That was one of his qualities Nick admired – come what may, however rude or sarcastic, Adam would always say what was in his heart. He feared no one. Not even Julian. Especially not Julian.

***

"There you are bitch-face."

"Not in front of my staff you dickwad. Come here."

The two men hugged like rowdy varsity boys and screamed their football team chant from high school. Nick's driver would probably be the only human alive, besides Adam, to witness him smile and laugh so openly. He quickly helped the airport staff load his boss' luggage in the jet and made a beeline for the company car as the men shouted, "The pack has arrived! The pack has arrived! The Valmont Mighty Wolves have cried. The hunters are here, to win it all. The pack has arrived! The pack has arrived!"

"Nope, it's still lame."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I could never figure out if it was patronising or pitiful."

Classic Adam.

***

(In the jet)

"I am telling you man, you do not care about me anymore. What kind of an animal does that to their only best friend?"

"What are you talking about? I thought you were enjoying yourself in Rod's larger than life firm," Nick said taking a sip of his champagne, loving the horrified expression Adam gave at the mention of Rodney.

"Dude, I swear, for all of those three years, seven months and 22 days, I thanked God for giving me a schlong and a flat chest. Who knows what Rod would do?" Adam gave a distasteful expression.

"You are exaggerating as always. I agree, Rod plays the field but you make him sound like a..."

"Go on," Adam smiled viciously behind his champagne glass.

"He is misunderstood. He is a tool but he...isn't that bad a person."

"There you go, protecting that bastard again. I will pray that you are transformed into a woman and thrown at his office desk."

At Nick's puzzled expression, Adam elaborated, "Role-playing gives him kicks."

They took a beat and burst out laughing like idiots. After what seemed like a really long time, Nick laughed a genuine laugh; one that originated from his heart.

"Okay enough. Tell me about your would-be wife. Is she clinically insane to have agreed to marry you?"

"There is nothing to tell, she is asshole Collings' daughter. I am not sure about clinically insane, though she has taken me by surprise on a few accounts. Looks okay." The last part was a lie and Adam caught on.

"Looks okay? Hmmm...Well I have been cut-off because your brother was metaphorically on my ass. You have a picture?"

Nick unlocked his phone and browsed through a few pictures in his gallery. "Here," he said attempting to act normal.

Before taking the phone from his hand, Adam asked, "You have it on your phone? That is not your style."

Looking at Adam's expanding demonic smile, Nick felt trapped and hurriedly elaborated, "No need to smirk. Uncle had sent her photo, before we met them at Collings' surprise party."

"Which was long ago. Why do you still have it? Unless you use it to get your pl..."

"Don't! Do not finish that sentence."

"Let me s...Holy Fucking Shit! Is THAT your wife?"

"Fiancée," Nick corrected, "yeah. Why?"

"Sorry dude, she is smoking hot. I wish I knew how to wolf whistle."

"Eh, give that back here..." Nick snatched his phone back but when he watched Adam's devilish smile return, he said, "...before you slobber all over my phone."

"Your phone or your girl?"

A/M: I have a weakness for tall men in dark jeans and a crisp white shirt. :O