Until Nico (Until 4)

Chapter 6

Nico

I quietly open the door to my house, not wanting to wake Sophie, who stayed over to watch Daisy. We have been seeing each other for a few months now. I’m head over fucking heels in love with her crazy ass, yet only Kenton and Asher know about her. This is not by choice; I want my family to get to know her. The day Asher found out about Sophie, he, Kenton, and I had spent the morning moving Kenton’s ex’s shit to her house. As soon as we got back to my place, Kenton and Asher pulled a bottle of Jack out of my cabinet, claiming they were toasting to crazy bitches. Kenton looked at me and smiled right then, and I knew he was going to start some shit.

“How are things going with Sophie?” he asked, and Asher looked at me with a what-the-fuck-is-he-talking-about expression on his face.

“Things are fine,” I gritted out. Kenton knew I had my reasons for not telling my family about Sophie yet.

“Who’s Sophie?” Asher asked Kenton, completely cutting me out of the conversation.

“Who’s Sophie? Now isn’t that the million-dollar question?” Kenton asked, tapping his chin.

“Who’s Sophie?” Asher turned his attention to me, and I glared at Kenton, who shrugged before I looked at Asher.

“Sophie is—”

“Sophie is his boom,” Kenton said, cutting me off and laughing like this was the funniest shit in the whole world.

“What?” Asher asked in disbelief.

“It’s true. Why do you think he has been taking jobs that are closer to home and hasn’t been going to see y’all as often?”

“Jesus, do we need to go to the store so I can buy you some fucking tampons?” I growled at Kenton.

“At some point, you need to tell people what’s going on,” he said, making my temper flare.

“And I will when I’m fucking ready.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Asher asked, and I could see him slipping into big-brother mode. I shook my head before looking at him again.

“Things with Sophie aren’t easy, and I need time before I bring her around everyone.”

“We’re your family.”

“Yes, and I will bring her around. Just not yet,” I told him firmly.

“Mom’s going to flip the fuck out,” Asher said, smiling.

I smiled back. He is right; my mom is going to be happy as hell I am settling down, but she is going to flip because I haven’t told her anything. I know my mom will love Sophie, and it kills me every time I have to go to my parents’ without her.

I’m brought back to the present by Daisy, who’s jumping around at my feet. “Hey, girl.” I drop my bag to the floor before crouching down to scoop her up. “Were you a good girl while I was gone?” I ask, flipping her onto her back so she can get a tummy rub.

When I walk into the kitchen, I see the note Sophie left on the counter. Like always, if she knew I was coming home late, she would leave a note letting me know where I could find dinner.

“You’re home.”

I turn at the sound of her voice to see her standing at the opening of the kitchen. She’s wearing one of my shirts, her hair is up, and her face is makeup-free. I love that she stays here when I’m out of town. I love even more that she wears my tees to bed when I’m gone.

“I am.” I turn away from her and start the microwave.

“Are you okay?” she asks softly.

I take a second, trying to think of a way to answer that question. Am I okay? Fuck no. Do I want to talk to her about why I’m not okay? Again, fuck no.

I turn to look at her. Jesus, she is so fucking beautiful that just looking at her makes my gut get tight. I want to do what she needs. I always want her to be happy. She told me she needs time, that she’s trying to work through some things from her past. I understand that. I know her mom died when she was young, and I know it had to have left a scar on her. She opened up to me about some things, but a lot of information she shared about her past is either from before her mother’s death or after she left home and went to Job Corps. There’s a huge chunk of time she always skims over. I know that whatever it is she’s holding in is the thing keeping us at a standstill.

I want to be with her; I want a future with her, but I need her to want it too. That’s why last night, after getting off the phone with her, I called Justin and had him do a hard run—also known as an extensive background check—on her. What I never expected was for him to tell me about a police report from right before she was emancipated from her father shortly after her mother’s death.

“Come here,” I tell her, setting Daisy on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” She shuffles her feet, not looking at me.

“Come here, Sophie,” I repeat more firmly this time. I hold out my hand, and she finally walks to me, her steps slow and unsure.

“I feel like something’s wrong,” she whispers, searching my face when my hand wraps around hers pulls her to me.

“We need to talk.”

“Oh no,” she whispers.

I pick her up, placing her on the counter, where I stand between her legs, not giving her any room to run when I say what I have to say. “I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.” She nods, her hands balling into fists on her thighs.

“I had your background ran a few months ago. And again yesterday.”

“What?” she breathes, her eyes widening.

“You won’t open up to me, Sophie.”

“I cannot believe you did that!”

“You didn’t give me much choice,” I say calmly.

“I didn’t?” she asks, narrowing her eyes.

“No, you didn’t,” I growl.

“You can’t just force me to talk to you.” She pushes my chest.

“I’m not forcing you,” I argue, not budging.

“You had my background ran, you jerk. What do you call that?”

“I needed to know what I’m dealing with,” I explain.

“Don’t worry about it. You don’t need to deal with it anymore!” she yells, shoving my chest, trying to get off the counter.

“Stop.” I grab her wrists, bringing them around her back and caging her in. “No more bullshit, Sophie. Talk to me. I need you to tell me what happened,” I say, softening my voice.

“I think it’s stupid,” she says quietly, her body finally sagging against mine.

“What?” I ask surprised.

“Now that I’ve been going to my group and hearing stories from other women who have really been hurt, my story seems stupid,” she says quietly.

“It’s not stupid.” I pick her up off the counter, and her legs wrap around my hips as I carry her down the hall to my room.

>   “What are you doing?” she asks as I lay her on the bed then climb in next to her.

“We’re going to talk. You’re going to tell me what happened,” I state.

“You know, I really don’t like it when you completely ignore what I tell you.”

“Okay, baby. Talk to me,” I tell her, adjusting her so that we’re face to face.

“Gahhhh, you’re so annoying,” she whines.

“Talk, Soph.”

“Fine.” She sighs, closing her eyes.

I listen quietly, running my hand through her hair as she tells me everything I already learned from her police report. Hearing it from her mouth has me ready to kill someone, and by the time she’s done talking, I have mentally planned my trip to Seattle.

“So, you see, it’s really not that bad,” she says, looking up at me.

I know it could have been much worse, but I also know that what happened to her changed the course of her life even more than it had already when she lost her mother. And even if she doesn’t want to admit it, I know that the loss of her mom when she was so young has a lot to do with her avoiding any type of relationship with people.

“Sophie, what happened to you was bad,” I confirm.

“Not as bad as it could have been,” she says softly. “I always knew it could have been worse, but I never understood to what extreme. After hearing what happened to some of the women in my group, I understand now, and I’m even more thankful. I hate that I’ve been so weak.”

“You did what you had to do to protect yourself.”

“I didn’t though. I hid out in my house, afraid to meet new people or even date.”

“You moved to another state all alone,” I remind her.

“Only because I wanted to buy a house.”

“You can say you did it because you wanted to buy a house, but I think you did it because you were ready to change your life. You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles, nervously playing with the pocket of my T-shirt.

“I do. Look at how you are with me.”