Elle.
The pet name Nick had taken upon himself to call me despite my insistence that he didn’t.
As if Pax had only just realized I was missing, he looked around with a frown until he spotted me still standing in the hall amongst the thick crowd.
I watched as he wordlessly nodded my way before giving his brother a look I couldn’t read. Something passed between them that had my hackles rising, but before I could call them both out on their shit, Nick was suddenly barreling my way.
“Elle!”
I squealed my surprise when he yanked me off my feet and pulled my body to his until my tits were smashed against his hard chest. I felt his lips on my cheek, but thankfully, before I could embarrass myself, he set me back on my feet.
“Whatcha been up to, party girl?”
I offered up a smirk since he already knew the answer. “Partying.”
We were in our fourth year of university, so Paxton had been on me more than usual to study harder. My grades were fine. He just never missed an opportunity to criticize me. My clothes, my hair, my grades, my dreams—nothing was off-limits. Paxton always knew one day he’d be a powerful man, so he had this vision of how the woman on his arm should act and look.
“Look at Felicity,” he’d say. “Why can’t you be more like Felicity?”
See, Felicity was a party girl like me. However, she appreciated a heavy hand much more than I did. Her father was a retired colonel, so she’d grown used to the stern, rigid, alpha male types. Fel was a submissive in and out of the sheets, which is where she and I differed significantly.
I only liked being told what to do when my ass was up in the air.
“That’s the spirit,” Nick praised. “I want a chance to win back the fifty bucks you cheated me out of.”
“It’s only cheating if I’d shown my nipples too.”
Yeah, that’s right.
I flashed him my boobs to win a drinking game.
Some might think it’s over the line, but President Grant and I would disagree.
“Is that right?” Nick questioned in a low tone.
The look in his eyes made me shift on my feet. I was afraid to name it, but I was sure it wasn’t the way a man should look at his brother’s girlfriend.
Thankfully, the boarding agent chose that moment to order us to board the plane.
Nick gestured me ahead of him, and I actually felt myself blush when I obliged. Call me crazy, but I could feel his gaze on me the entire way down the jetway. Paxton hung back to walk beside his brother, and I could hear them both whispering while Felicity kept giving me weird looks.
We made it onto the plane, and surprise, surprise, we were the last ones.
Glancing at my ticket, I quickly found my seat by the window and stowed my purse. When I looked up, I was surprised to see Nick flopping down into the seat next to me.
“Wha—” I looked across the aisle in time to see Paxton settling in next to Felicity.
She looked just as bewildered as I felt, but of course, she didn’t speak up and made herself as small as possible—which was saying a lot considering she was already tiny.
“So you’re that upset you can’t even sit next to me?” I questioned Pax.
“No,” he answered while staring at his phone. “I just don’t want to spend the entire flight fighting, Noelle.”
The way he said my name always sounded so rigid and cold compared to the warmth and adoration when Nick called me Elle.
Suddenly, it dawned on me what they’d been whispering about just before we boarded the plane. Paxton must have asked Nick to switch seats with him.
Wow.
I scoffed as I sat back and shook my head.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there was nothing to salvage after all.
Still, the question remained why he even suggested this trip. It’s not as if we’d planned it a year ago or something. We made plans three months ago, and not once did he ever seem to have second thoughts.
“I can’t really be that bad,” Nick said. I tore my gaze away from the window to see him watching me. “Do I smell? Is it my hair?” He reached up and playfully shoved his fingers through the gorgeous black strands. “No, it can’t be that. My hair is gorgeous.”
I didn’t want to.
I fought really hard.
In the end, I couldn’t help my smile and the laugh that burst free.
“I would have to agree. Your hair is fabulous. It’s how much time you spend in the mirror I can’t quite cope with. Do you ever take a break?”
“It depends on the view,” he whispered while holding my gaze.
My response got caught in my throat as the plane pulled away from the gate. We managed to taxi down the runway and take off before I dared to exhale.