Wild Nights With My Brother’s Ex-Best Friend novel Chapter 36

NICOLE

Who could it be?

The way my heart’s beating suggests that whoever is on the other side of the door isn’t someone I want to see. My mind is racing as I head toward the door.

“Hello? Who is it?”

No answer. I bite my bottom lip and halt. Could it be a mistake? This is a shitty motel, after all. Maybe someone got the door wrong. But then the person knocks again, insistently this time.

I don’t like the way my skin crawls and my heart jumps in my chest.

“Who is it?” I ask aggressively. I’ve never had a good, appropriate, mature reaction to fear. When I get scared, I get angry. “Stop that right now if you’re not going to say who you are!”

I’m not stupid enough to open the door for a stranger. I know terrible things happen to women when they’re alone in certain places.

But the door isn’t locked. I must’ve forgotten when I arrived earlier.

I make a dive for the door just as the handle turns. I slam my weight against it, succeeding in closing it, but before I can turn the key, whoever is on the other side pushes it open, and I’m not strong enough to stop them.

A scream forms in my throat, but before I can let go of it, the intruder pushes his way past the door and I get a good look at his face. My arms lose their strength and the door flies open as I step back.

Roman?

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, his tone laced with urgency. “But I knew that if I told you who I was, you’d never open the door for me.”

Am I dreaming? There’s no way he’s standing a few feet away from me. I place my head on my forehead and close my eyes. A second later, I reopen them and he’s gone.

Just kidding. He’s still standing there,

“What are you doing here?” I hear myself asking. He tries to step toward me but I put a hand up and a wave of anger washes over me. Everything hits me at once. He’s here, in my motel room, trying to talk to me. And I can’t let that happen. “No, it doesn’t matter. Just get the hell out!”

“I had my driver follow you,” he explains as he proceeds to take another step toward me. Dammit, isn’t he listening?

I start to shout. “Get out of here! GET OUT!”

“Nikki.”

The sound of this stupid nickname leaving his lips makes me react. I close the distance between us and shove him back with all my might. He doesn’t even budge. “Get out! I don’t want to hear a damn thing you’re going to say! Leave! Help! HELP!”

Roman grabs me by the neck and slams his hand over my mouth to muffle the screams. I fight against him, digging my fingernails into his wrist, drawing blood, but he ignores the pain completely and kicks the door closed. “I’m not going anywhere until you listen to what I have to say.”

I can’t believe him. God, I’m so angry. I start kicking him, and he gives me a warning look. “If you do that again, I’ll throw you on that bed and sit on top of your fucking legs. Don’t fuck with me, Nikki.”

I ignore him and kick him again. I’ll be damned if I have to stand listening to whatever he has to say. I don’t care. I don’t want him here! I can’t stand the sight of him!

Roman keeps his word and throws me on the bed before climbing on top of me and straddling my legs so I can’t move them. I become more desperate now that I’m immobile. He searches my face, and I decide that if I can’t get him out, I don’t have to look at him.

I close my eyes and turn my head to the side.

“Nikki, look at me.”

I ignore him.

A sigh escapes his lips and he says, “Fuck, I know you’re mad. You have every right to be mad. It’s just…if you let me explain, it’ll make sense.”

I want to punch him on his mouth so hard it knocks all his teeth out. They’ll probably thank me because they have to be tired of all the lies he utters. Then, once I’ve knocked his teeth out, I’ll sit back and watch him choke on them and die.

I want him to die.

“We can stay here all night. I’ll scream again and at some point, someone will hear me. They’ll call the cops. Do you need another scandal?”

Roman searches my eyes, then says, “You don’t believe me.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” I spit.

“You don’t care about me anymore, is that it?”

“Who’d be stupid enough to keep loving you after the shit you pulled?” I ask,

“What did Mason tell you?”

“GET OUT!”

He finally climbs off the bed and I sit up hurriedly, looking around for anything I could use to throw at him. Roman nods slowly and finally heads toward the exit. But before he can disappear, he turns his head and says, “I was genuine. I really fucking loved you. I still do. You know that. You were there. You felt it the same way I did.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” I state. “In any case, I don’t know you. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Roman nods, then disappears. I lock the door and lean against it, mind racing.

I can’t believe that happened.