Hidden Love

Let the good times roll

I watched her face closely. “Of course you do. So let's rally the troops and go get them. Off with their heads and all that.” She grabbed my drink and downed it. “This s**t is smooth. Liquid courage at its best. So come on…up up…let's goooo”

She grabbed Mike's drink and slammed it. Adonis sat back in an oversized chair with an amused look on his face. “Princessa, I think you are drunk. Go rest.”

She spun around and looked at Adonis. She tried to make her way towards him and tripped over an end table. “ I'm fine. I am not-t-t-ta d-d-drunk.”

She basically fell in his lap. I got the perfect view of her peach-shaped ass as she fell. Adonis scooped her up and started toward Mike’s bedroom. “Say goodnight darling.”

“Good night darling!” She shouted over his shoulder.

I began to laugh once she was out of sight. “ She is so going to regret all of that alcohol in the morning. This is going to be hilarious.”

“She is going to hate us because we didn't stop her,” Mike replied.

“You act like we could have. She grabbed the drinks right out of our hands,” I said.

Adonis came back. “She's got water and two Excedrin waiting for her when and if she wakes up. There is a bucket in there in case she gets sick. Mikey, you're up for nightmare duty.”

“She usually goes to Sebastian for that though?” He said, scrunching his eyebrows together.

“Sebastian has a head injury. Tonight, with the amount of alcohol she's consumed and with the very little food she's had, I think she will be OK. Now go to sleep. It's been a long night,” Adonis said in a biting tone.

Adonis looked at me and smirked once Mike was out of the room. He pulled out a phone and waited… ASSHOLE… came across the screen and he laughed. He showed me what was on there. Nicolette had stripped out of her clothes and was lying in the bed completely naked. I laughed until there were tears in my eyes.

She looked so peaceful, but I know that is far from the truth…” so do we tell her what we know?” I asked.

“I don't know. If we tell her, then she will be more prepared for the days to come. If we don't, then she will just figure it out on her own. She's very smart. I don't want her to go and try to find these people on her own. You know she will.” He looked at me with questioning eyes, “what would you do?”

“Tell her everything we know. We don't know how the Russians tie into this, but we do know the other one. If she feels included, then she won't try or do anything too stupid. We already tried to control her life once…look how that turned out.” I said thoughtfully.

“Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Gah, I hate this. She's our innocent. She's not supposed to be wrapped up in this world. f**k a duck. Someone is going to pay for this.” Adonis clenched his hands into fists. “Sleep brother, I will stand watch.”

I slowly drifted off to sleep knowing we had at least some kind of plan.

MICHAEL POV

I got those pictures of Nicolette in the limo. Holy s**t. I'm definitely going to get one of those framed. This girl is out of this world drop-dead gorgeous. I could already feel myself getting hard. Since they were in the limo, that meant they were on the way home. I put on some music thinking maybe she would dance for us once she got here.

The lights flickered, which was odd. There was no storm that was supposed to be here. There was no reason for the power to flicker, unless we had been breached. I grabbed my gun just in case. I didn't know where Sebastian was, so I just kept going. I saw Tony in the control room on the floor along with some of the security team. f**k we had been breached. I didn't have my phone to let Adonis know. How stupid am I. He and Nicolette are on their way here, completely in the dark.

This can't be happening. Our girl was on her way here. This was supposed to be a fun carefree night for her. Just as I came around the corner, I heard a shot and my arm twitched. Damn it, I was shot. This hurts. I was put in a chair tied up and gagged. f**k me. I could feel the blood running down my arm. I didn't feel the pain as adrenaline was coursing through me. Then it happened. I heard that melodic laugh come through the door and my heart ached for what was about to happen. I tried to get up, but I was promptly forced back down. Adonis and Nicolette came around the corner. She was carrying her dress and only wearing a matching bra and short set. It was hot, and now those animals were going to see it.

I watched her face go through many emotions all at once and land with a determined look. I saw, ever so subtlety, she grabbed Adonis’s gun. She fired it and shot the guy in the head and blood went everywhere, including her. I was so proud of her. I knew she would be traumatized by this to some degree. Tony came from behind and tackled Sebastian and the Russian. Adonis took out the other one. Nicolette just stood there frozen in shock. We had taught her how to use a gun, but never thought she would have to.

Things began to settle down, and I heard her whisper, “it's not safe here.”

She was right. As Tony was bandaging Sebastian and I, Adonis took Nicolette upstairs to get her cleaned up. It was moments later when we heard her scream. I tried to get up to go up the stairs, but my damn arm stopped me. Tony pulled his gun out and ran up the stairs two at a time. Nicolette came down a few moments later looking stunned with her go bag. She was obviously in shock. Adonis came downstairs carrying all of our go bags. We were going to the hotel for safety; the penthouse suite. She would be safe and that is what matters. No one could get to her in the penthouse.

We loaded into the SUV. The only available person to drive was Adonis. Instead of sitting up front, Nicolette sat between Sebastian and I. The death grip on our hands proved that our girl wasn’t OK. She was barely holding it together. We got to the hotel lobby and went off to one side. This hotel was the most opulent that we had. There were marble columns throughout. There were little lounges in various areas where people could sit and talk. There was a bar and restaurant on one side that was meant for the guests. There were people in all their finery. I was looking around, and a lady came up to Sebastian trying to get his attention. She clearly didn’t read the room. Nicolette handled it with ease. I tried so hard not to laugh when she told this lady off. We made it upstairs to the penthouse. As we sat and talked, we watched Nicolette get more and more drunk. She’s not a big drinker, so this was kind of epic to watch. The more she drank, the more her feelings came out. We all sat and listened to her. I was kind of in shock over the fact that Adonis didn’t admonish her. Then the bastard had to put her in my bed. I groaned as I made my way to my room. She had stripped completely naked. I made sure that I was on the opposite side of the bed. I hoped that she would stay where she was. If she moved closer to me, then I didn’t know what would happen. I would have to restrain myself.

It was a few hours later when she rolled over onto me. She put her hand on my chest. I moved her hand so it was over my heart and left it. She sighed contently in her sleep. As long as she didn’t have nightmares, I didn’t care. I would be uncomfortable all night. I kissed the top of her head. She smelled like lavender and roses. It was nice. She began to mumble and move in her sleep. I held her close and rubbed her arm as I whispered in her hair. I kept telling her she was safe and that everything was OK. When she heard my voice she would stop moving and settle down. I began to fall asleep too. This was an all-night routine. The next morning, when she woke up, I could tell that she was still plagued by nightmares. She looked at me with sad eyes. I wanted nothing more than to make her smile and laugh.

“Hey innamorata (sweetness). Are you done snoring?” I asked in a light voice.

“I don’t snore, but I do have one hell of a headache though. What the hell did I drink?” Nicolette asked me.

“You had champagne at the ball and in the limo on the way home. Then here you take five drinks from us. It was a high-end whiskey, Old Rip Van Winkle. Smooth isn't it?” I said laughing, “Adonis left you some Excedrin and water. Take it and I will get you some breakfast, OK?”

“Omg. I think I love you. Greasy please…and why am I naked?” She looked at me with wide eyes as her face turned bright red.

“You got in here and danced around a little and decided that you were hot, so once you rode out your high you stripped naked and climbed into bed. You didn’t want to be alone. Oh! And the song you chose for whatever reason you started to shout was "I'm a barbie girl.” I said, laughing even harder.

Nicolette’s face got even redder, and she hid under the blanket. I started to laugh even harder. It was cute. She was cute and innocent. I wanted to preserve that innocence as much as I could. She was so adorable.

I kissed her forehead and her cheek and then left to go get greasy food for her. I walked into the main room. Sebastian was on the couch covered up and Adonis was sitting in a chair going over some papers. I went to get some coffee. “The princess would like some greasy food and regrets her drinking choices.” I said, laughing.

Adonis chuckled, “Well, what does the princess want to eat? How did she sleep last night?”

“As long as it’s greasy. She slept like s**t. Every time she had a nightmare I could tell. I had to keep telling her that she was safe and everything was going to be OK. It was every few hours. I had to keep her hand on my heart so that she could feel my heartbeat. It helped some, but not much.”