Chapter 27 Papaw & Memaw

Allie

I stepped into the shower with the echo of Nico's words in my head. "You're the absolute fucking best I've ever had, love." I wasn't sure I believed that - after all, he'd been with dozens if not hundreds of women - but it was definitely nice to hear.

I'd only had five lovers, including Nico. I'd lost my virginity to my high school sweetheart our senior year, only to find him getting a blow job from the school slut a few weeks before graduation. That summer, I had a rebound fling with a guy my ex-scumbag hated. He's the one who taught me you didn't have to love someone, or think you loved them, to have sex with them. He also taught me the art of giving a great blow job. I was a particularly good student. I tested my newfound knowledge with another guy the night before I left for college, and he reciprocated by screwing my brains out in the back of his car. Then, I met Alex. Our sex life was wonderful, and neither of us had any complaints, but I was a much different person now than I was with Alex. I'd grown more independent and was stronger and more capable.

Whether it was a by-product of losing Alex and having to fend for myself and Gracie alone, or whether it was because I was older and more mature, I wasn't sure. With Alex, we'd clicked from the moment we met, and things were easy and comfortable between us, even the first time we'd made love. With Nico, I felt like we'd fought hard to get here, and maybe that's what made everything so much more intense between us than anything I'd ever experienced before.

I was still contemplating the changes in my life when I dressed in the clothes I'd worn here this morning and headed down the stairs. I'd grabbed my phone and purse, knowing I'd need to be getting back to my parents' house soon for Gracie. I could hear Nico yelling about something and hurried down to the living room. I found him pacing back and forth, with his cell phone pressed to his ear. From his end of the conversation, it was clear that Matt was on the other end of the phone and that Nico was livid.

"Is Lana working on getting that shit taken down?" he listened to Matt's response, which apparently wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"I don't fucking care how hard it is, Matt. I want that shit down now before-" he whipped around to face me when he heard my footsteps.

"I'll call you back." He ended the call and tossed his phone on the end table before striding over to pull me into his arms. His entire body was tense, and I could almost feel the waves of anger emanating from him.

I pulled back to look up at him. "What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "Nothing, Sunshine. The online shit is just pissing me off, but Michael and Lana are working on it."

I rolled my eyes and gave a bitter-sounding chuckle. "Anything new I need to know about?" I asked, pulling my phone out of my back pocket and tapping the screen.

Nico pulled it out of my hand and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "Nothing for you to worry about, sweetheart." I frowned at him and reached for my phone, but he held it just out of my reach.

"Give me my phone, I want to see what has you all pissy."

"No, Allie, you don't need to get online right now. Please, you know how those assholes can -"

"Give me my phone, Nico. I don't need you to protect me. I'm a big girl, remember?"

He signed and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He handed me the phone and said "Dammit, I don't think you should do this, Allie."

I tapped the screen to bring it to life again and typed in my passcode. I pulled up my social media notifications that I had set to alert me about anything related to Nico, Storm Front, or me, but didn't see anything new at first glance. Just the same shit that they'd been regurgitating for the two days. I looked up at him questioningly.

"What am I looking for, honey? What set you off? I'm not seeing anything new, except for more support for us after the truth about that redheaded hoebag came out."

Nico closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them to stare at me for a moment. "Some stupid motherfucker put a video together with a bunch of goddamned pictures, and it pissed me the hell off. Matt saw it and sent it to me. He said Lana and Michael are working on getting it removed from the site and pulled from everywhere else it's popping up at. Something about copyright infringement because of some fucking song playing on it."

"Ah, the lovely Sesame Street video?" I asked, sounding more self-confident than I felt. At his look of confusion, I clarified by singing the opening lines 'One of These Things Is Not Like the Others, One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong'.

He winced, his mouth tightening in anger. "You've seen that shit?"

"Yeah, I had the pleasure of seeing that little gem on Sunday. I have to give the guy credit, he's pretty creative," I choked out a laugh, trying to pretend I didn't want to crawl in a hole right now. I looked back down at my phone, scrolling through it and pretending that I could actually see the screen through the haze of my tears. I turned toward the kitchen, hoping to be able to wipe my eyes before Nico realized I was upset. I was embarrassed enough about that fucking video, I refused to cry over it anymore.

"Allie?" Nico called softly behind me.

I tossed a look in his general direction over my shoulder as I kept walking. "Be right back. I just want to grab a water," I said, proud of the steady tone of my voice. I took two more steps before I felt his arms close around me, pulling me to a stop with my back against his chest.

"Sunshine, talk to me, please?" he whispered, his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke.

I sighed, and allowed him to turn me in his arms, keeping my gaze fixed on his Adam's apple. I couldn't look him in the eye. I didn't want to see the pity, or sympathy, or whatever he was feeling. Nico apparently wasn't going to let me get away with avoiding him, because he put a finger under my chin and lifted my head, giving me no choice but to look at his face.

"I need you to listen to me, Allie, listen and truly hear my words. The fuckwad who made that video doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. I'm not even sure who half of those women are, and I don't give a shit about any of them. You are the one I love, you are the one I want, and you are so gorgeous and sexy you make me ache." His words were quiet but stern, his gaze unwavering as he stared into my eyes.

The tears I'd been trying to hold back slipped down my cheeks, and he groaned, pulling me into him and burying my face in his neck. "Please, don't cry, love. Your tears kill me."

I hugged him tightly around the waist and allowed myself a few brief seconds to pack away the miserable remnants of the pity-party I'd been throwing myself since Sunday morning. With a shuddering sigh, I pulled away a little, and ran a finger underneath both eyes to wipe away the last of the tears.

"I'm OK, really. It's not that big of a deal, and I know I shouldn't let it get to me."

Nico's jaw was clenched, and a nerve ticked on the side of his neck. His eyes were narrowed on me, and I had trouble meeting his gaze again.

"It's rude and fucking not true, Allie. Not one single bit of it. He's just some asshole living in his mother's basement, trying to make him feel better about himself by tearing other people down."

He kissed me again, gently, then pulled me close again. With his arms wrapped around me, he swayed back and forth, rocking me like I do to Gracie when I'm trying to comfort her. I squeezed him around the waist again and patted his ass.

"Come on, I could use a bottle of water and then we need to get back to my folks' house for Gracie. They'll be back from the Pier soon, I'm sure, and Mom and Dad will be ready for a nap if I had to guess."

He gave me a kiss on the temple and let me go. I grabbed a water and my purse before we headed out to the garage to attempt our clandestine getaway. I leaned over to rest my head on Nico's thigh again as he drove out through gate, easily bypassing the four paparazzi waiting outside for something exciting to happen. They made no attempt to follow us, but Nico took a meandering route to be safe.

I called my mom from the car to let her know we were on our way back. They had just gotten home, and Nico suggested that we pick up dinner for all of us on the way. Mom agreed and passed on their order for the Chinese place near their house.

Gracie was excited to see us and couldn't wait to tell us about the "fairy wheel" they'd ridden several times.

"It's Ferris wheel, sweet pea," I gently corrected, over-enunciating the word.

She scrunched up her nose in confusion, as she held a forkful of fried rice up to her mouth. "What's a ferris?" she asked.

"Uh, well, that's a good question. Let me look it up." I put down my fork and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. A quick Google search gave me my answer. "Ferris was the last name of the man who invented the first one. He designed it and it was named after him."

"Oh," she said, looking disappointed at such a mundane answer. "I think a fairy wheel would be more funner."

Nico grinned at her and reached for the carton of orange chicken. "I think so, too, princess," he told her. She was happy to have someone agree with her and held up her hand so he could give her a high-five.

After dinner, she regaled us with tales of their adventures that day, and then decided to show Nico her new dance moves.

"Do you know how to do the chicken dance, Uncle Nico?"

He looked a little startled at the abrupt change in subject. "Uh, I don't think so, why?"

"Cuz I'm good at doing it. Wanna see?" He nodded, and she asked me to pull up the music on my phone for her. It started playing, and Nico looked at me questioningly.

"She means the Funky Chicken," I said with a grin. "She taught it to Hannah and Dean the other day."

Gracie entertained us with her best chicken impersonations, until she was almost asleep on her feet. After she made her rounds telling everyone goodnight, I got her ready for bed, deciding her bath could wait until the morning.

I came back into the living room to find Nico in discussion with my parents about the upcoming album release. As I walked over to sit down, Nico pulled me close to him on the sofa and draped his arm around my shoulders. He kissed my temple and whispered "We should tell them that you're moving in."

I glanced at him and nodded, then turned to my parents. "Uh, so, Nico and I talked, and uh..." Shit! I felt like a teenager telling my parents about my first boyfriend.

Nico squeezed my shoulder and said, "I want Allie and Gracie to move in with me as soon as possible."

My mom smiled and patted my father's leg. "We figured that would happen sooner or later, sweetie."

Dad nodded and said "Well, your house is certainly more secure and safer for them than Allie's place. We drove by earlier, and there were several people with cameras loitering in front of her driveway."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, I'd hoped they had gone away since I obviously wasn't home."

"We really need to release that statement in the morning, Sunshine. Get the ball rolling so they'll leave us alone."

"Statement?" Dad asked.

"Yes, our publicist believes that if we release a statement and a photo or two, they will lose interest sooner rather than later. Allie and I are going to do a video statement."

Turning to me, he said, "What time can I pick you up in the morning? Is Gracie going to preschool?"

Mom piped up, "Why don't we keep her for the rest of the week, to give things a bit more time to settle down?"

"I appreciate the offer, Mom, but I've been away from her so much over the past few days, I hate the thought of having her gone all week."

"Well, at least let us keep her during the daytime instead of going to preschool, then you can pick her up every evening. That way, you can take care of whatever you need to take care of with the move and the statement and whatever else needs to be done." My dad was the voice of reason, as always.

Nico spoke up before I could open my mouth. "That sounds like a solid plan. I'll pick you up at 9:00 then, Sunshine. We'll record the statement at our house, then head over to your house to start packing."

"Our house?" I questioned in surprise.

He smiled and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "Yes, Sunshine, our house."

I gave him what I was sure was a goofy, lovestruck smile and settled back against him on the sofa. The four of us chatted for a while longer about the logistics of the move, then my parents excused themselves for the night. As they headed toward the stairs, Mom yawned and commented how tired she was, then my eyes widened when I saw Dad pat her on the butt. I cringed when I heard him murmur "I hope you aren't too tired, Colleen." Judging by Mom's girlish giggle, she was not too tired. I needed brain bleach.

Nico pulled me tighter against him, burying his face in my shoulder as he tried to stifle his laughter. "Oh my God," I groaned in an embarrassed whisper, shaking my head.

Nico looked up at me and grinned. "What's wrong, Sunshine? I think it's sweet."

"I think it's sweet, too, but I don't need to see or hear about it. And might I remind you that you don't think it's sweet when your parents do that. Remember when we caught them mid-grope in your pool house last summer?"

"Oh, hell no, that did not happen. That was only a bad dream," Nico stated firmly.

"Uh-huh, bad dream my ass. If we'd been thirty seconds later, I'm pretty sure we would have seen naked bits. As it was, your mom almost dislocated her arm trying to get her wet swimsuit back in place before we walked in." I laughed, remembering how mortified his mother had been, and how proud his father had looked.

Nico wrapped a hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in for a gentle kiss. "So, twenty years from now we'll need to continue the tradition and gross out our kids when I grab your ass and they catch us making out." He gave me a satisfied smile. "I can get on board with that."

I stopped smiling and just stared at him, stunned, as his words sank in.

"Our kids?" I asked hesitantly, stressing the plural.

Nico kissed me again, a quick peck on my lips, followed by a slightly longer smooch, before smiling at me. "Yes, our kids. Gracie and however many babies we have."

He had mentioned the future before, but I guess it hadn't really sunk in that he was serious about forever. Seeing the look on my face, he cupped my face in his hands and stared at me in concern.

"What's wrong, Allie. Do you not want more kids?"

"Yes, of course," I hurried to reassure him. "I just hadn't really thought that far into the future, I guess."

"Well, you need to think even further than the next twenty years, Sunshine. Try the next fifty or sixty years. I'll be the handsome old fucker chasing you around the nursing home as fast as my walker allows. Our grandkids will come visit us and cover their kids' eyes because Papaw's grabbing Memaw's ass again."

I snorted out a really unladylike laugh. "Papaw and Memaw, huh?"

"That's what the great-grandkids can call us, to distinguish us from their other grandparents."

"You sound like you've given this some thought, honey."

He stared into my eyes and smiled softly. "I've been dreaming about it for years, love."