Chapter Eight

Nick floats around like a ghost until the term finally ends and I am free to go.

Nick waits outside my last class until I am allowed to leave. When I reach his car there is a flock of girls crowded around it. Nick is being Kaos, all smiles and cute jokes. And the girls are just eating it up.

“Amber!” He calls when he sees me, and all the girls turn to stare.

Isn’t that the girl in my Lit class? With Nick Carter?

I’m used to people staring when I’m with Nick. Even people who don’t know who he is know he must be of some importance. He has the walk and the attitude of a God, and is treated like one wherever he goes.

“So, you’re ready to go?”

“I packed before class.”

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Nick grin so widely in his life, and in an instant the girls are gone. They get it.

“Are you excited?” He opens the door to his impossibly gorgeous sports car and takes my book bag from me.

I nod, carefully buckling my seat belt.

“Do you need to go to your apartment? To get your bags?”

“Actually, I dropped them off at your house... with my car. I just need to slip in to your house to pick something up.”

“Okay, anything you say...” He leaned over and pulled me into a kiss.

His breath tastes like coffee and Fritos, but I’ve gotten used to his breath not always being minty fresh.

Nick pulls away and starts the car. He rolls down the top of the car, and places his right arm over my seat.

“Why don’t you ever wear your hair down?” He asks, keeping his eyes firmly on the road.

I shrug. “Too much of a hassle.”

“You should,” He reaches and pulls the clip out of my hair. I feel my long blonde hair fall down my back and Nick grins. “That’s much better.”

“Are you feeling okay, Nick?”

“Of course I am, Amber. I just can’t wait to get out on the open road. I’ve planned it all out.” We can spend a couple days in each state we drive through. We can see all that literature stuff you’re into, don’t all those dead authors live in Massachusetts?”

“Yeah, Nick, they do.”

“So we’ll go on all those cheesy tours. And we can see the Liberty Bell, and all that shit.”

“You’d go to all those boring things with me?”

“That’s not all we’ll be doing, of course,” Nick grins. “They have the best tattoo parlors in New York. And Pennsylvania has this amusement park... what’s it called? Whatever the hell it is, the only time I’ve ever thrown up on a roller coaster there.”

“I don’t get how that’s a good thing.”

Nick shrugs. “I guess it’s a guy thing.”

“Must be.”

“So, your bags are all in your car, right? You got the keys?”

I nod.

The car slides through the gate of his estate, and it’s a good quarter mile drive until we reach his house.

“I guess this is the last time I’ll be seeing this place in awhile, huh?” He smiles, a hint of melancholy in his voice.

“Not that long right, Nick? We’ll be hope before you know it.”

Nick smiles uneasily. “Of course, baby. We won’t be gone that long.”