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Before: I Gots The Hots For Ya


Nick

I spent the entire afternoon with Brian. We played some cards, watched some TV. The nurse came in and kept checking on him, but his bruises were getting less violently purple, his breathing stronger. We played with one of those breathing exercise things where you blow in the tube and make the ball bounce. We made it a game. It was pretty cool except I kept winning and I knew Brian had to start winning before he would be better. His attempts were pretty lame.

Ashley called in the evening, after visiting hours, and I sat in my private little waiting room with another stolen blanket talking to her. The next day, I repeated the same cycle. Play with Brian all day, sleep in the waiting room. By the fourth day I'd been in Los Angeles, Brian was doing a lot better.

"I was scared to death," I confessed after he'd won the game of blowing the ball up the tube, "That you were really bad off."

"Worse than broken rib puncturing my lungs?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"How's it get worse than that?" he laughed.

"...dead?" I suggested.

Brian's face sobered. "Oh." He paused. "Nick, I don't think you should mess around with these guys," he said, "I mean, I know I was the one that was all oh they can't be that bad, but I recognize I was dead wrong now..." he paused. "Do you guys have a restraining order against Chris?"

"Yeah," I said. Even though I wasn't sure.

Brian nodded, "Good. Because Nick... I think he wants to kill you."

"What?"

"That guy that came to my place," Brian said, a serious expression on his face, "He had a gun."

"Chris has a gun," I said.

Brian nodded, "Yeah, well, this guy was looking for you. Not for Ashley. Not for me. For you."

I chewed the inside of my lower lip. "Cos he knows I ain't gonna let him anywhere near Ashley," I said. I paused. "I'd kill the sick son of a bitch myself if he even tried to lay a hand on her."

Brian looked down at his lap.

I took a deep breath. I wanted to get off this topic. "Wanna see what I got Ashley?" I asked.

Brian looked up. "What?"

I pulled the little box out of my pocket and handed it to him. "I don't know how I'm gonna wait until after the annullment goes through..." I said thickly.

Brian opened the box and stared down at the glinting ring I'd gotten at T-Dawg's shop. His eyes widened, impressed. "Wow," he said quietly. "This is nice." He tilted it, then looked up at me. "Have I told you, Nick, that I'm proud of you?"

I laughed, "You told me that day on the way to the prison."

Brian smiled, "Well, just to repeat it. I am. Proud of you, I mean. You've really grown a lot in the last couple years." He closed the ring box, and handed it back to me. "She's going to love it." He drew a deep breath. "You two, you're meant to be together. You're soulmates." He smiled, teary eyed.

I knew he was thinking about Leighanne.

"Has she called you?"

He sighed, "She came by... with Baylee."

"Kev told me."

He nodded. "But she hasn't followed up any."

I slid the ring back into my pocket. "Well," I said. "I told you back in '97 that she was a bitch," I said.

Brian laughed. "You saw into the future, knew this moment, and tried to warn me."

"Exactly," I said. "I saw this very moment right here. All those times you got pissed at me for hatin' on her. Calling her Boob Job Barbie or whatever." I laughed, "Man, if you had my psychic powers you wouldda been all thankin' my ass for warning you."

"Why didn't you just tell me outright?" Brian laughed.

"Because man that breaks psychic code or somethin'," I said, shaking my head.

Brian smiled, "You should tell me the future more often. I'll listen next time."

"Good deal," I said.

That night, when the nurses kicked me out, I waved to Brian and told him, "My psychic powers say I'll be back in the morning." I winked as I ducked out into the hallway. Brian waved. I headed downstairs to my little private waiting room, snagging my blanket on the way past the carts once again. I'd just tucked myself into the little couch when my phone vibed - Ashley's nightly call. I grinned and answered it, eager to hear her voice. "Ashley, baby," I said, grinning, "How ya be?"

Ashley's voice was low. "I'm missing you," she said.

"I'm missing you too baby," I said.

She paused, "No, Nick. I'm missing you." Her voice turned from low to husky... suggestive, even.

I felt something deep in me twitch. "Oh?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice still husky. "I'm missing you a lot."

I licked my lips. This could get interesting.




Ashley

I don't know what made me do it. But now that I was on the phone with him and I had his attention...I felt kinda stupid. I blame Cosmopolitan Magazine. No good can come from Cosmo. Seriously. I'd bought the stupid thing at the bookstore during a walk with Zoey. I'm not even sure what made me buy it except that I'd been thinking about Nick and wanting to surprise him somehow when he came back and the headline on the cover said "Surprise him with fifty amazing, sexy moves that'll blow his mind!" So I'd just grabbed it and now here I was, testing out Amazing, Sexy Move That'll Blow His Mind #4 -- phone sex.

"I wanna... kiss you," I said, finishing lamely. I put a hand over my eyes, feeling stupid.

"Yeah?"

At least he seemed to be enjoying himself. I wondered how many chicks had had phone sex with him in the past, or if I was the first. Yeah right, I don't think there's a single thing Nick hasn't done that way. But I for one was most definitely a phone virgin.

"Yeah," I said. I tried to think of something sexy to say. "And... I wanna... you know, I wanna touch you and stuff. I miss your hands." There, that sounded sexy, right?

"I miss your hands," he said back. Now his voice was husky too. I wondered if he was like... doing stuff... on his end. I wasn't sure if the thought of it excited me or grossed me out. I wondered where he was.

I looked at the magazine. "If you were here, I'd... do really... really dirty things to you," I said. I felt ridiculous.

"What kinds of dirty things?"

"I uh..." I read through the list of things to do that would blow his mind, but none of them were things I wanted to try reading outloud. "I would um..." I paused. "Okay I'm sorry Nick, I can't do this. I thought I could but I just feel stupid."

"What?"

"I bought this magazine," I said, "And there was an article about blowing your man's mind and I wanted to blow your mind and --"

"Blow my mind?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Is that like slang for like ...you know..?"

"No it's the name of the article."

"Oh."

"But I can't do this. I can't do it."

"Do what? Blow my mind?"

"No. Not with phone sex."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed. "But... now I gots the hots for ya. Your gonna just stiff me? Again?"

"Aw honey I'm sorry."

"This is uncool Ashley," he said, but his voice carried just a bit of a laugh. "If I get carpal tunnel I'm gonna blame you."

I laughed. "I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

I looked at the page of the magazine again. "Number twenty-seven," I said.

Nick was quiet. "What's number 27?"

"I can't read it out loud, but I promise you'll love number twenty-seven."

Nick was quiet again for a long moment. "Do I get a hint?"

"It's Amazing and Sexy and Cosmopolitan says it'll blow your mind."

Nick took a deep breath. "It's a good thing Brian's gettin' better," he said, "Because it sounds like I'm gonna need to take the next freakin' plane back to Boston that I can get my ass onto before you forget about this deal to do number 27."

I looked down at the page again. "Oh don't worry, Nick," I said, "I think Number 27 is kinda unforgettable."

"Hot damn," he muttered.